HISTORY OF THE EAST SURREY REGIMENT Volumes II (1914-1917) and III (1917-1919).

These two volumes cover the history of the East Surrey Regiment throughout the Great War. In August 1914 the East Surreys comprised two Regular (1st and 2nd), one Reserve (3rd), one Extra Reserve (4th) and two Territorial battalions (5th and 6th); the Regimental Depot was at Kingston-on-Thames. As the war went on further battalions were added: eight so-called ‘Service’ battalions (7th to 14th) in Kitchener’s New Armies and a second and a third line battalion for each of the Territorial battalions for a total of eighteen battalions of which only nine saw active service overseas, and it is their war record which is the subject of this history. Each volume is divided into sections dealing with different periods, such periods being so defined as to bring out the successive phases of the war on the Western Front or in other theatres, and the successive chapters in each section deal with each battalion in the order of its seniority.
Volume II, which has three sections, contains the records, up to March 1917, of all the battalions which served overseas, including operations in Salonika, and in addition, in Chapter I, the services up to December 1919 of those battalions that remained in the UK. This same chapter also describes the raising of all the battalions that came into being after the outbreak of war. Volume III has four sections the first three of which cover operations from April 1917, including Salonika and Mesopotamia, Italy and Aden, to the Armistice; the fourth section takes the record from the Armistice to December 1919 describing the disbandment of the Service battalions and operations in North Russia and Mesopotamia. Officer casualties are given by name in the text whereas other rank casualties are shown periodically as totals. However, the one appendix contains the consolidated Roll of Honour of other ranks, listed alphabetically giving rank but not date nor theatre nor battalion identification. Total casualties amounted to 6,750, seven VCs were won and 62 Battle Honours awarded.