Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 881

2ND BATT. ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT.

[photo, portrait] Pte. E. WILDE, Wheat's Cottage, Mortimer. - Missing

[photo, portrait] The late Pte. A. J. WHEELER, 196, Gosbrook Road, Caversham. Killed in action. Aged 19.

[photo, portrait] Pte. A. S. FLETCHER, West Hanney, Wantage. -€” Prisoner of war.

[photo, portrait] Pte. G. CHALK, Whitley Wood Lane, Reading. - Prisoner of war.

THE COUNTY REGIMENT IN THE AISNE BATTLE.

When the Germans made their great attack between Rheims and Soissons on May 27th, the 8th Division, which included a battalion of the Royal Berks, was between Craonne and Berry-au-Bac. The division had suffered heavily on the Somme and around Villers-Bretonneux, and therefore contained a large proportion of new m en. The bombardment began about one o'clock in the morning and continued with great intensity, and with an enormous amount of gas shells and very heavy trench mortar fire on the forward positions, for three hours, when about four o'clock the infantry attack on the right portion of our front began. There was a dense fog, so that it was impossible to see 50 yards, and the Germans seem to have been through and around all our outposts and before five o'clock up to the battle line before they were discovered. By six o'clock the Germans seem to have pierced the battle line on the extreme right. At five minutes past six a pigeon message, dated 5.15 a.m., was received from the colonel of the Royal Berks saying that he and his Headquarters Staff were surrounded. "The Germans threw bombs down the dugout", he wrote, "and passed on. They appear to approach from the right, in considerable strength. No idea what has happened elsewhere. Holding out in hopes of relief." The first thrust of the Germans seems to have fallen so far as the 8th Division was involved on the right, and the men, holding and fighting desperately, were gradually forced back, except where the Royal Berks were still holding their ground. Reinforcements from a Lancashire regiment were sent forward in support, and the troops continued to resist stubbornly, causing the enemy heavy losses, until they were borne down by the overwhelming weight of numbers, the Germans using tanks against those on the left. It was necessary for the 8th Division to take up a new line between Bouffignereux and Roucy, and every living man, including the Lewis gun class, was called in to hold this new line at all cost. The Germicourt positions had been turned from south-west, and the garrison fought to the last.

On May 29th the 19th Division was brought up in buses, and later in the day our battalions were intermingled with French regiments. The remnants of the 8th Division remained to help holding the line for many days before they were relieved.

In his Victory despatch of January 7th, 1919, Sir Douglas Haig says of the battle: "Throughout this long period of incessant fighting against greatly superior numbers the behaviour of all arms of the British forces engaged was magnificent. What they achieved is best described in the words of the French General under whose orders they were, who wrote of them: "They have enabled us to establish a barrier against which the hostile wave have beaten and shattered themselves. This none of the French who witnessed it will ever forget." "
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[photo, portrait] Lce.-Corpl. W. J. STRONG, Ryeish Green, Spencers Wood. -€” Wounded.

[photo, portrait] Pte. W. F. WHITE, 125, Wolseley St., Reading. -” Missing.

[photo, portrait] Pte. W. AVERY, 51, Highgrove Street, Reading. -” Prisoner of war in Germany.

[photo, portrait] Pte. G. T. SAYERS, 3, William Street, Reading. - Prisoner of war.