The units in the Great War. Each battalion is treated separately. 1st
Battalion fought on the Western Front, arriving in France with 6th Division in
September 1914; 2nd Battalion came from India with Meerut Division, fought on
Western Front, in Mesopotamia and Palestine. Despite its title, this history
begins the story of the regiment from where Webb’s history (1688 -1910) finishes
and takes it on to the end of 1927, though the bulk of the book is, of course,
devoted to the Great War. Each battalion is treated separately. There are no
Rolls of Honour nor lists of Honours and Awards, but casualties are given in the
text following periods of action, officers by name, other ranks by totals.
Gallantry awards are also described in the text with recipients named. Details
of drafts joining the battalions are also given as they occur, again officers by
name, other ranks by totals and, very useful, officers serving in the battalions
at various specified times are listed. When war broke out the 1st Battalion was
stationed in Fermoy, Ireland, part of 16th Brigade, 6th Division, which arrived
in France, the last of the original six regular divisions to do so, in the first
half of September 1914, and joined the BEF on the Aisne. The battalion remained
on the Western Front in 6th Division for the whole of the war. It fought at
First Ypres, Hooge, the Somme, Hill 70, Cambrai and during the German offensives
of 1918 it was in action at St Quentin, Bailleul, Kemmel and the Scherpenberg;
during the final advance to victory it took part in various actions. Total dead
amounted to 41 officers 987 other ranks. After the war the battalion served in
BAOR and in 1920 it was sent to Athlone, S Ireland, at the time of the
“troubles” when it suffered several casualties, including the CO’s wife, wounded
in an ambush. In 1923 the battalion moved to Aldershot, and in January 1925 it
went to Egypt. In November 1927 the battalion sailed for India where it took
over the garrison in Kamptee, Central Provinces. The 2nd Battalion was in
Ranikhet, India, in August 1914 and went to France with the Indian Corps in the
Meerut Division in which it served throughout the war. It fought on the Western
Front from October 1914 till November 1915, winning a VC at Neuve Chapelle. In
November 1915 the Meerut Division left France for Mesopotamia where the
battalion arrived in the first week of December 1915. For the next two years it
fought in many actions in Mesopotamia including the reoccupation of Kut and the
capture of Baghdad in 1917. At the end of 1917 the division was moved to
Palestine where it fought its final battles at Megiddo in September 1918. Total
battalion dead numbered 33 officers and 1,030 other ranks. In July 1919 it was
sent to India where it served for the next four years in Delhi and Jhansi. In
October 1923 it went to Khartoum in response to unrest in the Sudan involving
Egyptian and Sudanese troops.
Reprint of the 1928 original edition.
