Charles George Alfred Piper
Pioneer 137844
98th Field Company Royal Engineers
Division 13
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Charles George Alfred Piper was the son of Alfred and Emma or Emily Piper, of 9 Anstey Road, Reading. He was the eldest of the four children recorded as living at home in the 1901 census. His father was a grocers assistant and Charles, then 18, was recorded as a painters apprentice. In 1911 he was 27 and still living at home in 9 Anstey Road, his occupation was that of housepainter.
Charles Piper died on the 27th May 1918 and is named on a special memorial in the Hermonville Military Cemetery, Marne. Location III. AA. 1/5. Piper, aged 35, was buried in the German part of this cemetery, but his grave and that of four other Sappers could not be found after the Armistice.
Piper was serving in the British IXth Corps which served under French Command as part of the French 6th Army. The following information may explain how he met his death.
The Divisions which made up the Corps had been sent to this ‘quiet’ sector of Champagne, where No Man’s Land was often as wide as 800 yards, in order to recover from previous ordeals. The ground had been fought over before but nature had taken its course and the land was green and full of flowers, birds and insects. However, as soon as the British arrived the area saw more action and increased shelling. Later it was known that the Germans were registering new guns. During the afternoon 26th May, with the capture of a German prisoner, the British got the first indication that an all out attack was immanent. The men were called to “stand to” amid rumours that the whole thing was just “wind up”. However, at 1a.m. the German barrage began, with guns and trench mortars using gas ammunition for 10mins. This was followed by high explosives and the systematic destruction of the Allied line. The name given to the bombardment was “Trummelfeuer” or “drum fire” such was the noise which was made. The German infantry was set to go over at 3.40a.m. and thus the German attack on the “Chemin Des Dames” in what was officially recorded as the 3rd Battle of the Aisne, began. Virtually the whole of the front line in the sector broke, with hardly a British gun intact to return fire. The trenches were overrun and the survivors of the shelling were killed with rifle fire and bayonet, many more were taken prisoner. The Germans got nearer to Paris than at any other time in the war.