56 Division 168 Infantry Brigade London Regiment 4th City Of London Battalion Royal Fusiliers And London Regiment 12th County Of London Battalion The Rangers

The War Diaries for the Great War, held under WO95, represent one of the most popular record collections held at the National Archives, Kew, London. For researchers and family historians, the War Diaries contain a wealth of information of far greater interest than the army could ever have predicted. They provide unrivalled insight into daily events on the front line and are packed with fascinating detail. They contain no modern editing, opinions or poorly judged comments, just the war day by day, written by the men who fought this 'War to end all Wars. They are without question, the most important source of information available on the war on the Western Front. Full colour facsimile of each page with specially created chronological index. What is a War Diary? The headquarters of each unit and formation of the British Army in the field was ordered to maintain a record of its location, movements and activities. For the most part, these details were recorded on a standard army form headed 'War diary or intelligence summary'. What details are given? Details given vary greatly, depending on the nature of the unit, what it was doing and, to some extent, the style of the man writing it. The entries vary from very simple and repetitive statements like 'Training' up to many pages of description when a unit was in battle. Production of the diary was the responsibility of the Adjutant of the headquarters concerned. Is there any other information or documents with the diaries? Some diaries have other documentation attached, such as maps, operational orders and after-action reports.

John Joseph Steward fought in the Great War, from the Battle of the Somme to the final offensives of 1918, and he was an acute, unflinching observer of the conflict he took part in - of life and death on the Western Front. He was a writer, too. He recorded his experiences in accurate detail and later in life he wrote a graphic fictionalized account of his wartime career - the story of his war, his comrades and his platoon. His narrative is published here for the first time, edited, annotated and with an introduction by Andrew Robertshaw and Steve Roberts. Their research into Stewards story is a fascinating example of how such work can be used to give a vivid insight into the experiences of a Great War ancestor. About the EditorsAndrew Robertshaw is Curator/Manager of The Royal Logistic Corps Museum in Deepcut, Surrey. For the past twelve years he has been coordinating a group conducting an archaeological dig of British trenches and other sites on the Somme. He frequently appears on television as a commentator on battlefield archaeology and the soldier in history. His publications include A Soldiers Life, The Somme 1st July 1916, Digging the Trenches (with David Kenyon) and Ghosts of the Somme (with Alastair Fraser and Steve Roberts).Steve Roberts is a retired police officer and an ex-regular soldier. He has a keen interest in military history and as a result of his grandfathers service a particular passion for the Great War. He specializes in researching the individuals who served during the period and has worked in this field on a number of television projects. He is a founder member of the Great War archaeology group No Mans Land and also a battlefield guide regularly taking groups to France and Belgium. He has previously co-authored Ghosts on the Somme (with Alastair Fraser and Andrew Robertshaw)

Excerpt from The War History of the 4th Battalion the London Regiment: Royal Fusiliers, 1914-1919 IT was considered by the past and present members of the 4th Battalion, The London Regiment (royal Fusiliers), that some permanent record of the part taken by the Regiment in the European War should be compiled, and a War History Committee was formed in February 1920 to consider the preparation Of such a record. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The London Rifle Brigade (LRB) began life in 1859 as a Volunteer Rifle Corps with the title London Rifle Volunteer Brigade and the motto Primus in Urbe. It was a sore point that when the London Regiment was formed in 1908 as part of the new Territorial Force, the four Royal Fusilier Volunteer battalions (also London battalions) were given precedence relegating the LRB to fifth place, despite its motto; it became the 5th (City of London) Bn The London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade). The first 60 or so pages deal with the pre-war history; they sent five officers and 145 NCOs and men to S Africa and the names are given in an appendix. The rest of book is devoted to the Great War in which three battalions served, the 1st and 2nd Battalions on the Western Front, the 3rd was a training battalion. Each battalion is covered separately concluding, in the case of the active service battalions, with a detailed itinerary. On the outbreak of war the LRB was in the 2nd Brigade of the 1st London Division, which was effectively broken up in the early months to provide replacements for regular battalions coming home from abroad and reinforcements for the BEF. In September 1914 a second line battalion was formed and in November a third line giving 1/5th, 2/5th and 3/5th Battalions of the LRB. The 1st Battalion was soon in France where it arrived on 5 November 1914. During 1914/15 it was with 4th and 3rd Divisions and at GHQ; in February 1916 the 1st London Division was reformed in France and numbered 56th; the 1/5th LRB rejoined the division in 169th Brigade where it remained for the rest of the war. In all it suffered just under 4,200 casualties of whom 755 were dead. The 2nd Battalion arrived in France in January 1917 as part of 174th Brigade, 58th (2nd/1st London) Division. A year later, In the reorganisation of the BEF in which divisions were reduced from twelve to nine battalions the 2/5th LRB was broken up and the personnel distributed among other battalions. This is a very good history with many informative appendices including casualty lists by battalions, nominal roll of all officers who served between 1859 and 1919 with service, and in a number of cases biographical details (genealogists), honours and awards including mentions (medallists). The divisional report on the attack on Gommecourt on 1st July 1916, with casualty details is included as is the translation of the War Diary of the 55th Reserve Infantry Regiment which opposed them.

The War Diaries for the Great War, held under WO95, represent one of the most popular record collections held at the National Archives, Kew, London. For researchers and family historians, the War Diaries contain a wealth of information of far greater interest than the army could ever have predicted. They provide unrivalled insight into daily events on the front line and are packed with fascinating detail. They contain no modern editing, opinions or poorly judged comments, just the war day by day, written by the men who fought this 'War to end all Wars. They are without question, the most important source of information available on the war on the Western Front. Full colour facsimile of each page with specially created chronological index. What is a War Diary? The headquarters of each unit and formation of the British Army in the field was ordered to maintain a record of its location, movements and activities. For the most part, these details were recorded on a standard army form headed 'War diary or intelligence summary'. What details are given? Details given vary greatly, depending on the nature of the unit, what it was doing and, to some extent, the style of the man writing it. The entries vary from very simple and repetitive statements like 'Training' up to many pages of description when a unit was in battle. Production of the diary was the responsibility of the Adjutant of the headquarters concerned. Is there any other information or documents with the diaries? Some diaries have other documentation attached, such as maps, operational orders and after-action reports.