The Death of Second Lieutenant Perham

Sunday 10th March 1918

The adjutant of 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, guarding a vital bridge over the River Piave at Bidasio reports that Second Lieutenant W F G Perham has died of the wounds he received yesterday. He will be buried this evening in the growing British cemetery at Arcade and several officers and a number of men of his platoon have been given leave to attend the funeral. Arcade is a village about two miles south-west of the bridge and the cemetery is about two miles or more to the west of the village

Source: X550/2/5

1st Bedfords Defend the Bridge

Tuesday 5th March 1918

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, in northern Italy is going back into the front line today at Bisasio on the River Piave. This time they will have specific responsibility for defending a bridge across this wide, shallow, fast-flowing river, the Ponte della Priula.

Meanwhile 2nd Battalion, which has been working on trying to improve defences in the “battle zone” behind the front line, where any enemy attack is expected to be halted, has moved back to billets. They are at Villers-Saint-Christophe, a mile or so north-west of their previous billets at Aubigny-aux-Kaisnes.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd

1st Battalion Relieved

Monday 18th February 1918

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has completed its first spell in the front line in northern Italy. It has been at Bidasio on the southern bank of the River Piave. As I write these lines they are being relieved by the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and will be marching back to the town of Visnadello. The adjutant remarked, in his wire, that enemy aircraft have been very active at night.

Source: X550/2/5

Repair Work

Monday 4th February 1918

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment have been carrying out repairs to communication trenches at Bidasio on the River Piave. They work from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The work is necessitated by the effects of the Austrian artillery. Major W Allason DSO has joined the Battalion during the day, along with Second Lieutenant J C Meade and nineteen other ranks

Source: X550/2/5

First Night at Rotonda Bidasio

Sunday 3rd February 1918

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment are in the front line on the River Piave at a village called Bidasio. Last night they suffered their first casualties as two other ranks were wounded by Austrian light artillery of 77 mm calibre. The night was spent clearing communication trenches.

The adjutant of 8th Battalion, at Lebucquière near Bapaume, tells us that Lieutenant Leonard Dolman has been posthumously awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre; he died of his wounds on the last day of 1917; 20454 Lance Sergeant W Cooper of A Company has been similarly honoured but is still very much alive.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/9/1

In the Line in Italy

Saturday  2nd February 1918

The 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment will go into the front line in northern Italy for the first time today when thet relieve 14th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment at Bidasio on the south bank of the River Piave. Headquarters is at a building called the Rotonda. The adjutant described it as “a very superior type of farm with frescoes on the walls(1) and a large pleasure garden. It has suffered to a certain extent from shell fire but is sandbagged up sufficiently to make it safe against anything other than a direct hit”. The front line trenches are in an embankment above the river with the enemy about a thousand yards distant.

Source: X550/2/5

(1) Sadly destroyed later that year