HISTORY OF THE EAST LANCASHIRE ROYAL ENGINEERS

This book tells the story of the field engineers of two Territorial divisions in the Great War, the 42nd (1st/East Lancashire) Division and the 66th (2nd/East Lancashire) Division, though nearly all of it (220 pages) is devoted to the 42nd as it describes the fortunes of each of the field companies, 427th, 428th, 429th and the 42nd Divisional Signal Company in turn. In the case of the 66th the story of their engineers (430th, 431st, 432nd Companies and 66th Divisional Signal Company) is given in one continuous, 30-page narrative which embraces all companies. There is a very brief account of the third line units which did not go overseas. The Honours and Awards list includes awards to engineer personnel of both divisions, and the Roll of Honour of both divisions is made out by companies .
After an introduction giving a brief account of the pre-war history of the Lancashire Volunteer and Territorial engineers the narrative begins, most usefully, with a diary of the movements of 42nd Divisional Engineers which opens on 4th August 1914 and then records, with dates, every move of any of the engineer units on and off the battlefields. This division served not only in Egypt in the early days of the war, but also at Gallipoli (May-Dec 1915), again in Egypt and the desert throughout 1916, transferring to the Western front in March 1917 where it remained for the rest of the war. There follow a summary of the war history of the divisional engineers as a whole and then detailed accounts of each field company in turn and the signal company. The 66th Divisional engineers concludes the book and for these,too, there is a calendar of all movements beginning with the arrival of the division in France at the end of February 1917, about the same time as the 42nd Division from Egypt. We then have a summary of the war history of the 66th Divisional engineers. Certainly for the 42nd Division this is an excellent history of the part played by its engineers