HISTORY OF THE 1ST AND 2ND BATTALIONS. THE LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT IN THE GREAT WAR

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 1030 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.