Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 963

Berks Royal Horse Artillery -€” continued.

Temples of Baal and Bacchus.

The armistice news was received at Baalbek and hailed with what little enthusiasm the men could muster. Baalbek was an interesting place, with its temples of Baal and Baachus and other ancient ruins, but Syria was bitterly cold after the Palestine sun. There was snow on Lebanon, and banks of foggy cloud and cold hill winds swept through the camp, which was on high ground. Naturally everyone was glad when winter clothing put in an appearance, as "dril"€ and sun helmets were hardly fashionable in cutting winds and sleet. Another very acceptable feature of Baalbek was the plentiful supply of green vegetables, including such things as cauliflowers, carrots and other delights that had not been seen, let alone tasted, for nearly four years. The Ammunition Column were billeted in a hotel that had been used by tourists in the piping days of peace, and one driver, after studying the inscription for several minutes, asked laconically "What tourists?"€ as though he could not conceive of people actually coming there for pleasure. Meanwhile the divisions which had suffered less severely from the epidemic had pushed on northwards and occupied Homs and Aleppo, thus putting the final touches to the break-up of the Turkish Empire.

Lebanon'€™s Scenery.

No move could be made from Baalbek until reinforcements had arrived, and it was very slow work getting them there. At last sufficient men were got together to move all the vehicles, although, as a fighting force, the division was hopelessly short of numbers and lacking organisation. The seaport of Beyrut was the destination and this was two day's€™ march away across the mountains of Lebanon. The first day carried the division to Shtora and then the hill climbing began. It was stiff work for the horses, but luckily a good hard road, and by mid-day the worst was over. The scenery on these mountains is indescribably beautiful. From the road one can look almost sheer down to the plains 8,000 feet below, where the pine forests make a carpet of green and villages peep, white and red, from unexpected corners or hang ridiculously from the face of the mountainside. A halt for the night in a large village on the plateau at the summit and then the downhill journey to Beyrut began. The town could be seen from this halting place, white houses and red tiles, surrounded by the green of the pines, and all gleaming in the sun, but all day long the column wound laboriously down in loops and spirals, and the end of the journey seemed to draw no nearer. How some of the mountain dwellers climb up and down to and from their abodes is somewhat of a mystery. Here there are no trams to drop them at their doors, only a rugged path worn by the shepherds and their flocks, the shaggy mountain sheep that somehow contrive to crop a living from the sparse grass and herbage that clothe the steep slopes of this wild district. A mountain railway winds its circuitous way from Beyrut over these mountains to Damascus and for half of its journey the train has to run on a cogged rail fixed between the other two, so that it cannot slip when puffing up steep gradients or running down a sudden decline.

[photo, building] THE TEMPLE OF BACCHUS, BAALBEK. The Berks Battery Reached "Farthest North"€ Here.

[photo, view] BEYRUT ROADS, WITH THE LEBANON CHAIN IN THE BACKGROUND. (Reprinted from "The Bible in the World".) [Photo by Dr. Van Dyck.]

Weeks of Waiting.

When Beyrut was reached the division passed right through the town and away several miles to the south, where a camp was made on the sand dunes among the pine forests. It was a healthy spot, although rain fell almost continually for several weeks. Something was soon done to arouse the interest of the men and keep them amused in these weeks of waiting for they knew not what. Race meetings, mounted steeplechases, sports, football and boxing, besides many concerts, were organised and stimulated everyone's enthusiasm. At Beyrut there were two excellent race-courses and many exciting meetings were carried through. Horses from the Artillery brigade competed and took a fair share of the honours. In the divisional football contest the Battery were beaten by the Dorset Yeomanry in the second round, while the Ammunition Column succumbed to the Staffordshire Yeomanry, who eventually won the trophy. In a competition afterwards, which was held to pick a team to represent the division in the Theatre of War Championships at Cairo, the Artillery Brigade team were successful in defeating all opposition and had the distinction of playing at Cairo, although they were beaten in the first round. Demobilization was now getting well under way and many of the older service m en were leaving for "Blighty" by weekly batches. By April the majority had left and the battery was now the Berks R.H.A. in name only. It is still serving in Syria, but all the old Territorials have now returned to their homes and civil occupations, and the history of the Berkshire Royal Horse Artillery in connection with the great war should draw to a close with the demobilization of the "Terriers"€ who formed its personnel on mobilization and were the chief actors in all its journeyings and tribulations. Here, then, we will leave them, and we hope that readers of this brief history will agree that the Battery has played a part worthy of Berkshire men in the fight against tyranny, and although spared the carnage of Flanders, has faced the rigours of climate and campaign in the inimitable Berkshire style, in the sphere of action assigned to them.

Happily the majority of the men who served throughout the war with the unit have lived to come home again, but there are, nevertheless, faces which will be missed, and it is gratifying to know that the names of those who died in battle or of sickness, will be inscribed in St. Laurence's Church, together with those of the gallant dead of the 2/1st Battery, who served in France.

G. F. BREACH.

[photo, portrait] [lacking caption, probably G. F. Breach]