On the 27th May the Germans mounted a third offensive, this time in a French sector near the River Aisne. Warrant Officers and NCOs of the 2nd Loyals, c1920, 1st Loyals engaged in railway protection duties near Haifa, 1936. The 5th East Lancashires again distinguished themselves at Riencourt, near Bapaume on 28th-31st August, and on 27th-29th September they stormed through the vaunted Hindenburg Line. The British troops involved included 2nd East Lancashires, in the 8th Division, and the 2nd South Lancashires and 9th Loyal North Lancashires, in the 25th Division. Out of 700 officers and men of the 1st Battalion who went into action, only 237 were present to answer their names when the roll was called, while the 11th Battalion lost 594 killed, wounded and missing out of the 720 in the attack. August 1914 : in Preston. This poor-quality but historically priceless photograph shows the 1st East Lancashire Regiment facing the enemy at Solesmes on 25 August 1914. The 4th Battalion had been converted to the 62nd Searchlight Regiment, Royal Engineers before the war. They served in North West Europe, Malaya, North Africa and Italy. [13][14], The 1/4th Battalion landed at Boulogne as part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division in May 1915 for service on the Western Front. 1900s First World War (1914-1916) On the 8th September 1914 Thomas (now aged 34 years 5 months) was enlisted into the 10th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire (LNL) Regiment, service no. [39] B Company was dispatched to Aden during the Emergency in 1966. Moved on to Aldershot in July 1916 and nearby Blackdown in October. In 1947, 1st Battalion was sent to Cyprus. The enemy poured into the gap, attacking the exposed flanks and rear areas of divisions to the north and south. Name. Formed at Felixstowe in October 1914 as a Service battalion for K4 and came under command of 94th Brigade, original 31st Division. Formed in 1915 and moved to Ashford, attached to 170th Brigade in 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division. For a few moments there was silence, and then suddenly machine guns opened up from behind largely unbroken wire and cut down the attackers in swathes. Moved to Chichester in March 1915. The three Lancashire battalions on the Aisne had fought through all three of the Kaiser Battles and had suffered accordingly: the total losses of 1st East Lancashires between March 23rd and June 1st 1918 amounted to 63 officers and 1,254 other ranks, double the original fighting strength, the 9th Loyals casualties were no fewer than 1,200, and 2nd South Lancashires too was reduced to a cadre. Just to the south, 11th East Lancashires were in action around Ploegsteert, where on 28th September, in what proved to be their last major attack, the Accrington Pals cleared German strongholds to the north of Ploegsteert Wood and took 17 machine-guns, a field gun, an anti-tank gun and many prisoners at the cost of another 353 casualties. The relief force made some progress up the River Tigris, capturing Turkish defensive lines at Hanna and Falahiya, but repeated and desperate assaults on very strong positions at Sanna-i-Yat failed with heavy casualties and Kut fell at the end of April. An Armistice came into effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, when all troops were ordered to stand fast. A typical Trench scene. Moved to Ashford in September 1915 and placed under command of 170th Brigade in 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division. 8th (Service) Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Cardwell reforms of the British Army. Formed at Preston in September 1914 as part of K3 and came under command of 74th Brigade in 25th Division. TigrisIn February 1916 the 6th Battalions of the East Lancashires, South Lancashires and Loyal North Lancashires, veterans of Gallipoli, were sent to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) where an Anglo-Indian force was besieged by the Turks at Kut-al-Amara. During the fighting in the Tunisian campaign, in April 1943, Lieutenant Willward Alexander Sandys-Clarke was posthumously awarded the regiment's only Victoria Cross of the war. The re-formed 11th South Lancashires were also in action on the Sambre-et-Oise Canal that day, leading to the liberation of Landrecies. Messines Seven Lancashire battalions were involved in the carefully-prepared victory of Messines. 12 May 1915 : the formation became the 154th Brigade in 51st (Highland) Division. The 57th Division, with the 2nd/4th South Lancashires, and the 2nd/4th, 1st/5th and 3rd/5th Loyal North Lancashires, took part in the battle of the Scarpe 29th-30th August, and the assault on the Drocourt-Queant Line, the northern extension of the Hindenburg Line, where on 2nd September the South Lancashires took 56 machine guns and 400 prisoners, and then made opposed crossings the Canal du Nord and Canal de lEscaut to capture Cambrai on 9th October before moving north to occupy Lille. Winter now brought an end to this terrible battle, in which the men of the New Army had most worthily maintained the reputation of the Lancashire regiments for invincible determination, cheerfulness and gallantry. Son of Mary Clarke of 29, Lower Morris Street, Wigan, Lancashire, UK. In all, 112 Battle Honours were earned, together with twelve Victoria Crosses. On 18th September they fought a preliminary operation near St Quentin, and on the 29th they took part in the main assault, clearing a maze of trenches in severe fighting around the St Quentin Canal over the next two days, then beating off a counter-attack at Sequehart. [13][14] The 4/5th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 170th Brigade in the 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division in February 1917 also for service on the Western Front. 2nd Bn South Lancashire Regiment - 7th Brigade, 3rd Division. In June the East Lancashire Territorials played a gallant part in desperate fighting around Krithia. The Regimental Depot was at Fulwood Barracks, Preston, creating a link which has continued unbroken to the present day. BaghdadThe Lancashire battalions then earned immortal honour for their gallant assault crossing of the River Diyala, 7th-10th March, which led to the fall of Baghdad. Arras On 9th April 1917 the British spring offensive was launched at Arras, penetrating successive German trench systems on Vimy Ridge and astride the River Scarpe with dramatic initial gains in ground and prisoners. The survivors of the 6th Battalions then held a sector of the Suvla front in appalling weather until they were evacuated at the end of the year, among the last to leave being a detachment of the South Lancashires commanded by Captain Clement Attlee, the future Prime Minister. [36] The battalion was again re-designated as the 2nd Battalion on 28 May 1942 after the original 2nd Battalion was lost at Singapore in February. Your Country Needs You The First Battle of Ypres was the graveyard of much of the pre-war professional Army, but by the winter of 1914/15 the surviving Old Contemptibles were being reinforced by Regular battalions returning from imperial garrisons and by the Territorial Army. In 2006 the Queens Lancashire Regiment was amalgamated with the Kings Own Royal Border Regiment and the Kings Regiment to form the present-day Duke of Lancasters Regiment. Aubers Ridge On 9th May the 2nd East Lancashires and 1st Loyals took part in the assault on Aubers Ridge which failed bloodily against strong German defences and well-sited machine guns. La Boiselle This village, on the Albert-Bapaume road astride the main thrust of the British offensive, was eventally cleared on 4th July by the New Army 19th Division after severe close-quarter fighting with bomb, bayonet and Lewis gun. Moved on to Aldershot in July 1916 and nearby Blackdown in October. The 2nd East Lancashires arrived from South Africa in November 1914 and, early in 1915, the 1/4th and 1/5th South Lancashires and 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires were also in Flanders. Age 29. The trenches were recaptured, but battalion casualties amounted to six officers and over four hundred men. A company of the 1/4th East Lancashires, with appropriate local support transport, parade in the Citadel, Cairo. Date of death. The 2nd Battalion was already in India at the time of the merger, but returned to Britain for 16 years in 1883. CSV Export Grid view List view. On account of the German Emperors sneering dismissal of the BEF as the contemptible little British Army the survivors of that gallant band proudly annexed the title by which they will be known for all time, the Old Contemptibles. The main line of defense was quickly breached and overwhelmed and the reserves were committed piecemeal in desperate and confused fighting against odds of at least four to one. It also saw our allies in profound difficulties, with mutinies in the French armies and revolution in Russia. 13th (Home Service) Battalion Joe Armstrong, of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, witnessed first-hand how organised the Germans were. The battalion embarked for home on 13 February 1902 and was disembodied on 15 March. Both Battalions took part in the Allenbys successful advance, earning six Battle Honours including Gaza, Jaffa and Jerusalem before they departed for France in April 1918. This celebrated the 47th Regiment's participation in the capture of Quebec under General Wolfe. The next phase of the German offensive started on 9th April with an attack further north near the River Lys, where the main weight of the assault fell on a Portuguese division, which collapsed. Lancaster's Regiment Lancashire Infantry Museum 0 The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Cardwell reforms of the British Army. This success was followed by an action at Dahuba on the 24th April and a fierce fight at Band-i-Adhaim on the 30th, when the Turks were again defeated. A1023 Wilfred Woodburn, 6th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. The battle was fought in France, astride the River Somme, in a rolling, open countryside of chalk slopes, spurs and valleys studded with small villages and woods. 10 April 1918 : transferred to 74th (Yeomanry) Division. Battalions of the Loyals served at home stations, on the Western Front, in Salonika, Palestine and Mesopotamia. Remembered Today: 5708 Private William Henry FLINN "B" Coy. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. The ground over which the Accrington Pals attacked, and died. January 1916: Evacuated from Gallipoli 21 December to Egypt via Mudros. On 1 January 1917, the 42nd Provisional Bn became the 14th Bn of this regiment. The caption to the original photograph describes these shallow scrapes as "trenches" - little did they know what these earthworks would develop into within a very few months. The 2nd Battalion spent 1899 to 1902 in Malta before deploying to Gibraltar, South Africa and Mauritius. Fighting was particularly severe around Shell Trap Farm, where the 1st East Lancashires were supported by the 4th and 5th South Lancashires the Warrington and St Helens Territorials. In September 1939 they were sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and remained there alongside the French Army until May 1940. Then on 26th October 2/4th, 2/5th and 4/5th Loyal North Lancashires, all in 170 Brigade of 57th Division, made a most gallant attack through mud so pervasive that the men had to trust to their bayonets when assaulting the German machine-guns. During the conflict, the regiment expanded to 10 battalions. While two soldiers carefully keep watch over the parapet, the Sergeant in the foreground uses a mirror attached to the tip of his bayonet to observe no-man's-land without exposing himself to enemy snipers. They were awarded a total of 80 Battle Honours. 2/4th Battalion The 1st Battalion was sent to face the Turkish threat to British forces at Chanak in the Dardanelles in 1922, but moved to Guernsey later that year. [13][14], Even though The Great War ended with the Armistice, battalions of the Loyal Regiment remained active in the early post-war years. August 1914 : in Bangalore, India. The 2nd South Lancashires continued the advance that day, capturing twenty artillery pieces, ten machine guns and two mortars. The Regular battalions passed the winter of 1914/15 in shallow, muddy trenches, enduring great hardship and a steady drain of casualties with characteristic stoicism and humour. Losses in the April offensive were again terrible: 662 for the 2nd South Lancashires and 821 for 9th Loyals; but, remarkably, morale remained high. 4 February 1918 : absorbed by 1/5th Bn. In December 1915 the 9th East Lancashires were in action at Kosturino and, on 13th-14th September 1916, the same battalion saw more serious fighting at Macukovo. The battalion, like its parent unit, was also trained as a motorcycle battalion in the 59th Division. Object description. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. [17], At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 1st Battalion, Loyal Regiment were part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, which also included, in addition to 1st Loyals, the 2nd Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment and the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders (6th Gordons from early March 1940). 11th (Reserve) Battalion The survivors spent the rest of the war as prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army. Undated booklet c 1963. Soldiers from the 1/4th South Lancashires rescue two British tanks from the mud of the Somme battlefield. Its title changed to The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) in 1921. The 1st Loyals would participate in the fighting in France and Belgium in 1940, including acting as part of the rearguard for the Dunkirk evacuation during the Battle of Dunkirk. It was there that, on 1st/2nd November Drummer John Bent won the Regiments first Victoria Cross of the war. 21 June 1918 : formed a composite battalion with the 8th Border Regiment. Formed as a Pioneer Battalion at Lytham St. Annes in April 1915. Published by the Trustees of the Duke of Lancasters Regiment Lancashire Infantry Museum without the use of public funds. After a fierce fight the battalion was literally wiped out. Formed at Preston in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under command of 56th Brigade in 19th (Western) Division. Oswald Reid was promoted to Full Lieutenant on 5th March . It continued in British Army service until 1970, when it amalgamated with The Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Waless Volunteers) to form The Queens Lancashire Regiment. Second Ypres The 1st East Lancashires and the 2nd, 4th and 5th South Lancashires all took part in heavy fighting in the course of the Second Battle of Ypres, which opened on 22nd April with a German offensive using poison gas for the first time. Compared to other theatres of war, stalemate characterised this arduous campaign in mountainous Balkan terrain, with offensive operations largely confined to raids and patrolling. From 1966 to 1968, it was stationed on Malta, but each of the regiment's three companies briefly served on rotation in Aden for two months during 1966. Despite repeated assaults on this dominating feature, including attacks by 8th Loyals on 24th and 26th August, and by 2nd and 8th South Lancashires on 3rd September, the trench systems around Thiepval remained in German hands until late September. 1 September 1916 : converted into 17th Training Reserve Battalion of 4th Reserve Brigade at Seaford. Each of these became one of the new units two regular battalions. [38], The Loyal Regiment continued to serve during the sunset of the British Empire. The 2nd East Lancashires joined the battle on the 23rd when they occupied the west bank of the River Somme near Bethencourt, but the river was forded by the enemy and the outflanked battalion lost heavily as they withdrew; despite this, they fought on, with at least one action a day over the next nine days, including successful counter-attacks at Rosieres on the 26th and at Thiennes on the 31st. The Loyal Regiment : (North Lancashire) (the 47th and 81st Regiments of Foot) by Langley, Michael and a great selection of related . 4 May 1915 : landed at Boulogne. On 28th June the 11th East Lancashires took part in a local offensive at La Becque near the Nieppe Forest, using speed and surprise to advance to a depth of nearly 2,000 yards, taking twelve machine-guns, three mortars and two pieces of artillery and defeating a counter-attack. 1 August 1915 : landed at Boulogne. In comparison with the largely conscript continental armies, the British Expeditionary Force(BEF) of 1914 was indeed a rapier among scythes. I want to remember everyone who served during WW1. Further north again, three Lancashire battalions took part in the recapture of the Messines Ridge and Ploegsteert. For the next 126 days, the North Lancs and the local militias would be cut off and subjected to regular shelling from the Boer artillery. South of the Albert-Bapaume road the initial British attack had met with greater success, in particular on the extreme right of the British advance where 30th Division, supported by the 11th South Lancashires ( known as the St Helens Pioneers), penetrated the German defences at Montauban. Like the 5th Battalion, the 6th Battalion Loyals were also converted in 1941 from their infantry role. Nearly twenty thousand officers and men laid down their lives, and the close association that was forged in those years between the Regiment and the people of Lancashire can never be expunged. During World War I the Regiment expanded to a total strength of 21 battalions. 66th Division, including 2/4th and 2/5th East Lancashires, attacked at dawn on 9th October after a nightmare eleven hour approach march, floundered a few hundred yards into the morass of the aptly-named Waterfields at the cost of almost seven hundred casualties, and in appalling conditions held their gains against repeated counter-attacks. On 25th September the 2nd South Lancashires made another brave but costly attack in the same area, losing heavily to the lethal combination of machine guns and barbed wire. 3rd Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, attached 1st Battalion Date of death: 28/01/1915 Kirkwood, Matthew Private 1st/14th Bn. The Loyals would continue to serve throughout the guerrilla phase, engaging Boer commandos on a number of occasions until the end of the war with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902. 16 November 1916 : transferred to 32nd Division. 7 January 1916 : transferred to 164th Brigade in 55th (West Lancashire) Division. It probably assisted in the formation of 11th (Reserve) Battalion at Felixstowe on 2 October 1914 from Kitchener's Army volunteers. (For a detailed summary of the full part played by the Regiment in World War I, click, (For a detailed summary of the full part played by the Regiment in World War II, click, PRESERVING THE HERITAGE OF FIVE LANCASHIRE REGIMENTS. [23], The 6th Battalion was raised in 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 5th Battalion and served with its parent unit in the 55th (West Lancashire) Division until being transferred to the 59th (Staffordshire) Division soon after the outbreak of war. The 10th Battalion, a hostilities-only battalion created in 1940, was re-designated as the new 2nd Battalion on 28 May 1942. On the 12th, and again on the 13th, the Battalion was forced back to the Ravelsberg where, after another days severe fighting the survivors were relieved on the night of the 14th. Recruiting poster, The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), c1930. [5], The end of 1900 found 1st Loyals back with the 9th Brigade. It then embarked on 12 January 1900 and sailed to Malta to relieve a regular army battalion in the garrison there. The 11th South Lancashires, in 30th Division, were in front of St Quentin when the storm broke, and were ordered to fall back on Ham, where it was intended to hold the line of the Somme Canal. This memorial to the 1st Battalion stands on the site of their attack on the Sucrerie at Cerny-en-Laonnois in September 1914. [22] The 18th Recce was transferred with the rest of the 18th Division as reinforcements for the Battle of Singapore. 9th Battalion, (A & S H). The 12th (Territorial) Battalion was raised in August 1915 in the Bolton area. August 1914 : in Preston. Lance Serjeant, 12784. Fierce fighting followed in which the three 6th Battalions were overwhelmed and almost wiped out, losing in all 41 officers and around one thousand five hundred men. Approximately 100 men of the battalion were able to make the initial crossing on 8 March 1917. 22 June 1918 : this unit now called 2nd Composite Battalion, transferred to 50th (Northumbrian) division. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment Volume I 1741-1915. Formed at Preston in October 1914 as a second line unit. [33] The regiment joined 33rd Armoured Brigade (previously 33rd Tank Brigade) and landed on the beaches of Normandy on 13 June 1944. [14] The 15th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne as pioneer battalion to the 14th (Light) Division in July 1918 also for service on the Western Front. On 15th September a renewed British offensive was launched to clear the last German strongpoints on the high ground and to break out towards Bapaume. The original force consisted of seven divisions and included three Regular battalions of the Regiment: 1st Bn East Lancashire Regiment 11th Brigade, 4th Division, 2nd Bn South Lancashire Regiment 7th Brigade, 3rd Division, 1st Bn Loyal North Lancashire Regiment 2nd Brigade, 1st Division. They served with 9th Brigade at the Battles of Belmont, Modder River and Magersfotein. A Company was also dispatched followed by C Company prior to the withdrawal of British troops that year. 1/4th and 1/5th East Lancashires were already in Egypt guarding the Suez Canal when in May 1915 they were ordered to the Gallipoli Peninsula. 1,399 likes. By that time the 2nd and 1/12th Loyal North Lancashires had arrived from Palestine and two new battalions, the 13th East Lancashires and the 15th Loyal North Lancashires, had been raised. The incident began over McCaffery's punishment for failing to vigorously pursue an investigation into some children who had broken some windows at the barracks. [45] On New Year's Eve, the Sergeants' Mess of the Loyals would hold a ball in celebration of Tarifa Day. This infantry unit was raised in 1755. In October 1914 Turkey, whose empire then stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Balkans, joined the Central Powers. Alexander. Six weeks after the capture of Messines the main British offensive of 1917 opened in Flanders.This battle, better known as Passchendaele after its truly terrible final phase, was launched on 31st July in torrential rain which turned much of the battlefield, its drainage system destroyed by artillery, into a deadly swamp.The German defence was based on machine-guns, sited in depth in strongpoints and concrete pill-boxes, with reserves concentrated for prompt counter-attack. 9th (Service) Battalion The battle swayed back and forth as fresh German divisions were committed and, with ever-decreasing numbers, the British Regular Army fought almost literally to the death, constantly attacking, withdrawing and counter-attacking. Operational Deployments Overseas 1914 1918, 1st & 2nd East Lancashires, 2nd South Lancashires, 1st & 2nd Loyal North Lancashires, 1/4th, 2/4th, 1/5th & 2/5th East Lancashires, South Lancashires & Loyal North Lancashires, 4/5th & 1/12th Loyal North Lancashires, 7th, 8th & 9th East Lancashires, South Lancashires & Loyal North Lancashires, 10th Loyal North Lancashires, 11th East Lancashires & South Lancashires, 13th East Lancashires & 15th Loyal North Lancashires, 6th East Lancashires, South Lancashires & Loyal North Lancashires, 6th East Lancashires, South Lancashires & Loyal North Lancashires, 11th East Lancashires. This allowed Christiaan de Wet to escape the British forces attempting to catch him. The following morning the British army advanced as part of the Allied counter-stroke known as the Battle of the Marne. On 25th March 1970 the Regiment amalgamated with The Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Waless Volunteers), to form The Queens Lancashire Regiment. The ball commemorated the defense of Tarifa by the 47th Regiment in 1811 against a determined assault by the French army. Remarkably, the survivors marched off singing. Marble Tablet with Regimental Crest depicted at the top. The 1st Battalion moved to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1896, then to South Africa two years later, where it fought in the Boer War (1899-1902). On 7 October 1899, an artillery battery and four companies of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment were dispatched to secure the town under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Kekewich. My Mastodon and Twitter accounts are both named @1418research. Includes VC citations & WW1 & WW2 battle honours. On the northern flank of the breakthrough the 34th Division, including 1st East Lancashires, was outflanked by the Portuguese collapse and fell back through Armentires to occupy a succession of blocking positions around Bailleul. Then on 4th October the 1st East Lancashires suffered severe losses in an attack near Poelcapelle. In this, their most famous action, the 55th Division fully sustained their hard-won reputation as an elite division. The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Left on 7 July. Landed at Cape Helles 6 July 1915. As part of the brigade, they took part in actions around Klerksdorp. However, on 8 August, they abandoned this task at the orders of Colonel Baden-Powell and left the area unguarded. The Loyals were dispatched to serve during the Chanak Crisis. Near Mons, on 23rd August 1914, the BEF was struck by the full weight of the German offensive. This includes cookies that track any click through to affiliate links and advertisers that appear on this site. By mid-September the Germans were back on the Hindenburg Line, and by the end of the month even that had broken. [29][30][31], The 8th Battalion was formed on 4 July 1940 at Ashton-under-Lyne, with the majority of the recruits coming from Liverpool and the cadre of experienced non-commissioned officers and men from the Manchester Regiment's Machine Gun Training Centre at Ladysmith Barracks, Ashton-under-Lyne.
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loyal north lancashire regiment ww1
