Corps of Royal Engineers
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Lt Gen Sir Aylmer G Hunter-Weston, KCB, DSO HISTORY 01; THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS VOLUME VI GALLIPOLI,MACEDOMA, EC:yw ANI PALESTINE 1914-18 CUTHAM THE INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS 1952 HISTORY OF THE COWS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS VOLUME V THE HOhrE FRONT,FRANCE, FLANDERS AND ITALY IN THE FIRSTWORLD WAR VOLUME VI GALLIPOLI,MACEDONIA, EGYPTAND PALESTINE VOLUME VI1 CAMPAIGNSIN MESOPOTAMIAAND EASTAFRICA, AND THE INTEK-WARPERIOD, 1918 TO 1938 Volumes V, VI and VI1 are published simultaneously. Printed and bound in England by Staples Printers Rochener Limited ai The Sianhope Press FOREWORD IT is now thirty-eight years since the last volume (Vol. 111) of The History of the Corps (If Royal Etigiweers was published. The first two volumes were written bj? Major-General W. Porter and covered the period from early times till 1886. Colonel Sir Charles Watson then continued the story up till 1912 in Volume 111. After an interval of time certain episodes of history can he seen in better perspective and it may be found that there are gaps that should be filled. It was to fill such gaps in the period covered by VoIume 111 that Brigadier- General W. Baker Brown wrote Volume IV, which is now being published. These four volumes thus take us up to the eve of the first World War. As soon as official data became available after that war it was obviously our duty to continue the history, and this has been done, the events occurring during the period from 1914 until about 1939 being now recorded in Volumes V, VI and VII. As explained in the Preface, these have not been the work of one man, as were Volumes I to IV, but many officers have helped with the writing and compilation. Their efforts have, however, been collected and co-ordinated by one Editor -Major-General H. L. Pritchard, who has also himself written a considerable part of the work. I feel that every member of the Corps should be most grateful to him for his labours, especially as he has continued unremittingIy during the last few years although suffering from very seriously failing eye- sight. He and his team have certainly produced agreat work, and his personal example of devotion to duty must be an inspiration to us all. Mention must also be made of the work done by Major- General Sir Eustace Tickell in preparing the typescript for printing and in correcting all the proofs, and by Co€onel F. C. Molesworth in compiling the index. It is always difficult to decide how long after the event history should be written. A regimental historian must cer- tainly wait until the oficial histories, founded an allied and iii iv FOREWORD enemy documents, have been published, but should not wait $0 long that the personal memories of those who took part in the events have faded. General Pritchard followed this happy mean, but could not complete his task before the second World War intervened. The result was that a considerable time elapsed before publication became possible. This in no “ay detracts from the value of his work as a history to bc read by members of the Corps and others in years to come, It is, however, in some ways unfortunate that these volumes were not available for study before we once again embarked upon a war involving engineering of very great magnitude and diversity. I feel sure that we as a Corps could have profited more fully from the many lessons of 1914-18, had we been able to study them in time in the clearly marshalled form that is now available in these volumes. As to their use €or future generations who may have to repeat these things yet once again, there arc many parallels between the two great wars, and lessons can still be learnt by comparing them in many of their details. It is only by studying how things have changed that one can make any sort of estimate as to their future trend. It is for this reason perhaps a pity that attention could not have been drawn in many places in this work to points of similarity or difference between the conditions of 1914-18and those of a quarter of a century later. To have done so would have entailed much labour, and would, moreover, have still further delayed publication, This task is perhaps the duty of the author of later volumcs. To that ever dwindling body of sappers who took part in the events here recorded this history has a personal appeal ; and to those who have since become, or are still to become, sappers this story of the deeds of their Corps in what was then the greatest war in history will certainly be of very great interest. It was a sapper war, and we entered it, through no fault of our own, both ill-prepared and under-manned, but, as these pages show, we achieved great things. GUY C. WILLIAMS, GENERAL, 1st JflTZUUYy, 1951. CHIEF ROYALENGINEER. PREFACE IN January, 1937, the Institution of Royal Engineers appointed an Editor to arrange for the continuation of the History of llre Corps of Royal Engineers from the outbreak of the first World War on 4th August, 1914,to about the end of 1938,when preparations for the second World War were beginning. The three tdumes covering this period have been produced by team-work, The Editor advertised in. the R.E. Journal for officers who would volunteer to write such portions of the history as they might select. He supplemented this advertise- ment by hting individually to many who had played pro- minent parts in certain events or in special types of work. The response to these appeals was most satisfactory, and as a reslllt the history has been written by numerous authors. Some officers were good enough to act as sub-editors for a whole campaign OF for definite portions of the history, finding the authors and compiling their work into a co-ordinated story. Others, invited by the Editor on account of the important part they had played in events, reviewed and commented upon the authors’ and the Editor’s productions. Amendments suggested by these commentators were usually accepted. The Editor asked some very senior omcers to hct as referees upon certain questions that he submitted to them. Several other officers undettook to search official historical tecords for information. The reader &U notice variations in style, but there seems to be no necessity to apologize for this. The names of the 138 officers who have thus helped to produce Volumes V, VI and VI1 follow this preface in Volume V. On 3rd September, rg39, the second World War broke out. By that date a considerable quantity of valuable information had been received by the Editor. Several officers had finished what they had undertaken to write, others had made good progress and hoped to complete shortly, while some had not succeeded in getting very far. The outbreak of war brought V vi PKEFACE the production of these volumes to a staiidstill because prac- tically everyone concerned, including the Editor, became involved in ivar work. The writing of history had to give way to the making of it. Moreover, all official historical records were hustled into air-raid shelters, and became inaccessible. In 1943, the Editor was able to recommence the work of editing and compiling those papers that he had’ received, and some other officers resumed the work that they had promised. In 1945, after the conclusion of the war with Germany, the official records began to be brought back to London or to record offices, but, like many other evacuees, they were not in the condition in which they had left five years bcfore. Their hasty evacuation had upset the filing systems, and the tracing of particular documents had becomc difficult. Time was required to re-establish order. In 1945, when the Editor tried to regain touch with some officcrs whose promised work had not yet been received, he found that thcre had been casualties among intending contributors. It is often said with truth that history should not be written too soon after the events concerned, bui difficultics certainly arise if the work is postponed too long. The Editor and authors have hccn hclpcd by officcrs who have conscientiously searched through many cubic yards of war diarics, but, with some notable cxceptions, the war diaries of the commanders of most R.E. units were, to put it mildly, thoroughly disappointing and of little value to an historian., The history of the Corps in India has been written by Lieut.-Colonel E. W. C. Sandes, D.s.o., M.c.,in two volumes, entitled The hlilifary Eirgiizeer iu Iiidia. He’has followed these up by another one, published by the Institution of R.E. in 1948, entitled The Iiidinii Su+$ers arid Afiueus. In relating those events in which Sappers and Miners from India have played a great part in many theatres of war alongside the British RE., we have utilized information from Lieut.-Colonel Sandes’s volumes to co-ordinate the accounts of the great work of both British and Indian engineers. There remains much his- I tory of engineer work in India between 1914and 1939 for which space could not be allotted in the present volumes, nor, so far I PREFACE vii I as the Editor knows, has it been written elsewhere. It is to be hoped that this will be done in due course. I It was not until July, 1920, that the Royal Corps of Signals was created.