Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. Introduction [3]

when th e Armistice cam e w as near Mons,
afterwards proceedin g to near Brussels.

ROYAL ENGINEERS.

The history of the three Companies
raised at Wantage Hall is briefly as follows

32nd Company.-€” L a te in 1917 th e 32nd
Division was moved up north in alliance
w ith th e 2nd Belgian Army opposite
Houthoulst Forest. Early in 1918 the
Division w ent south to Arras, in the
sector of Boiry St. Martin, and in May
helped to hold th e line. Then th e sector
at Villers-Bretonneux was occupied.
In th e advance later, by w ay of Bohain, the
new Hindendburg line w as stru ck a t Bellinglise.
T w o da ys b e fo re th e Armistice
Avernes was relieved, and then by daily
m arches th e 97th Brigade passed th rou gh
Belgium and spent Christmas, 1918, near
Namur. The Division form ed pa rt o f the
origin a l Army o f Occupation and was
stationed at Bonn.

38th C o m p a n y . -€” A few m on th s at the
end of 1917 and th e b egin ing of 1918 were
spent in th e vicinity of Ypres.
D uring th e critica l fightin g on March 24th Lieut.
E. M . Sutton , of Reading, was killed.
L a te r th e Company w ere in action in the
Kemmel sector, and in August rested at
Cassel. On September 20th th e Division
atta ck ed south o f Ypres, and from th a t
day k e p t up th e pressure on the Germans,
passin g by way of Courtrai to Grammont.
This con tin ued advance entailed enorm ous
w ork fo r th e Signal Company, b ut all
obsta cles w ere overcom e.

237th Field Company . - On arrival in
Italy on N ovem ber 18th th e re was a
forced m arch of 200 miles t o th e fam ous
Montello line. A g re a t deal o f w ork w as
p u t in h ere and a stron g system of
d efen ces con stru cted , w hich p r o v e d m ost
valu able du rin g th e subsequent Austrian
atta ck . The first w eek in March, 1918,
th e Company was back again in France,
a t w ork on th e Arras defences - defences
w hich held so finely again st the Germans
a few w eeks later. They had an e x citin g
tim e at th e end o f March, when, w ith
tw o oth er Field Companies, u nder comm an d of Major Read , M .C .,
th e y closed a gap in th e lin e at Bihucourt, near
Bapaume, and h eld on fo r m any hours
again st d esp era te a ttack s b y th e enem y.
O w ing to h eavy casualties th e Division
w as w ithdraw n, b u t by April 8th was back
in th e lin e at Passchendaele. T he Company
stayed som e tim e at Ypres and w ere
su bjected t o heavy gas shelling, a b ou t 60
being in ca pacitated in tw o days, b ut there
w ere n o fa ta l cases.
F ollow in g up th e
enem y en tailed arduous w ork in bridgin g
and rem oving ob stru ction s
and land mines. On Armistice D ay th e y w ere near
Grammont, and later m arched t o Liege,
fro m w hence th e y entrained fo r Germany
early in January, 1919.

Space does n o t perm it to d ea l w ith the
m any phases of th e w ar w ork d on e at
hom e, in th e munition factories, th e
various camps, and fo r th e wounded, b u t
in terestin g particu la rs are scattered over
th e variou s pages1 o f th is volum e.
N ew s o f th e Armistice was everyw h ere joy ou sly
received, and when th e tim e cam e t o celeb ra te
th e Peace in July , 1919, alth ough
th e proceedin gs w ere t o som e e x te n t
spoilt b y th e rain, th e u nfavourable
w eather did n ot p reven t a jo y o u s tim e
b ein g spent. T h e preva ilin g fe elin g was
th a t o f th a n k fu ln ess th a t th e w orld
stru ggle w as over, ohastened by the
m em ory o f th e m any gallan t lives sacrificed
on land, sea, and in the air in th e a ttainm ent of th e grea t victory .
W . C. G. CL.ARIDGE.



THE THEALE WAR MEMORIAL
War Memorial s ar e bei n g erected in ev er y
di st r i ct of Berkshire. T h e above p i c t u r e of
the unveiling ceremony at Theale is t ypi cal of m a n y ot her s in t he c o u n t y .

[P h o t o by C. E. & A . M a y,