Description
Book SynopsisThe final part of the Lion and the Rose trilogy detailing the TF battalions of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in the Great War. Established in August 1914, the 2/5th spent the next thirty months in England perfecting their ability to `form fours’; engaged in almost every sort of training other than that which they would need at the Front. When they deployed to France in February 1917, they were pitted against an aggressive and experienced foe. This book tells the story of their struggle to learn the skills necessary to survive in the pitiless arena of modern warfare and their progress to become the fighting equals of any by the end of the war. With no history written for either 57 Division or the 2/5th, this book—based on dozens of contemporary and unpublished sources, tells their story for the first time. The book contains sketch maps of the sectors the battalion fought in and accurate coordinates for all positions; previously unpublished photographs of men from the battalion; the most complete battalion roll yet compiled and narrates the individual parts played by 1,000 of the officers and men during the war.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Glossary; Foreword; 1 Your King and Country Needs You: September 1914 to 6 February 1917; 2 The Apprenticeship- Fleurbaix: 6 February 1917 to 29 July 1917; 3 Houplines: 30 July 1917 to 16 September 1917; 4 Rest, 17 September 1917 to 22 October 1917; 5 `A Desert of Hideous Misery’: 23 October 1917 to 2 January 1918; 6 Return to Armentières: 3 January 1918 to 1 April 1918; 7 The Somme: 2 April 1918 to 2 July 1918; 8 Feuchy: 3 July 1918 to 22 August 1918; 9 The Hard Road to Victory: 23 August 1918 to 11 November 1918; Epilogue; Appendix: Battalion Roll 1914-1918; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.
