137 likes. In July 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with two other Northern infantry regiments to form the Duke … 1944.09 Burma/India 36 Inf Div The East Lancashire Regiment was, from 1881 to 1958, a line infantry regiment of the British Army.The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot with the militia and rifle volunteer units of eastern Lancashire. East Lancashire Regiment. Marching on through Courtrai to the River Schelde, which they crossed without opposition on 9th November, the ‘Pals’ were near Grammont on the Dendre, some twenty miles from Brussels, when the Armistice brought hostilities to an end. A company of the 1/4th East Lancashires, with appropriate local support transport, parade in the Citadel, Cairo. 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. 1925 India: Quetta The Diamond shape and primrose colour were introduced in 1945 by The East Lancashire Regiment. Thiepval Some two miles north of La Boiselle, on 3rd July, the 2nd South Lancashires attacked the strongly fortified Thiepval Spur, the highest point of the German defences, losing 14 officers and over three hundred other ranks. Over the next few months they were initiated into the arduous routines of trench warfare. At dawn on 24th April the 2nd East Lancashires were occupying trenches in front of Villers-Bretonneux when they were overwhelmed and forced back by a heavy bombardment and infantry assault supported by tanks, gas and liquid fire. G750 East Lancashire Regiment pals, Lahane … 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. Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916-17, The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Dunkirk 1940, Caen, 1696. Palestine In June 1917 the 1/12th Loyal North Lancashires were among the reinforcements for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force which had by then pushed the Turks back to Gaza in Palestine. Ajax Modal Box Content × G992 Unnamed pals, Shropshire Light Infantry and East Lancashire Regiment (seated), France, July 1917. By European standards the peacetime British Army was very small, but what it lacked in numbers it made up for in quality. The regiment adopted a cap badge that reflected both its geographical recruiting ground and its antecedents regimental history. Amalgamated with the Lancashire Regiment to form the Queen's Lancashire Regiment which was, in 2006, amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the King's Regiment to form the Duke of Lancaster Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border). 1881.07.01 The East Lancashire Regiment 1907 Karachi This attack was supported by the first ever appearance of tanks, two of which were dug out of the mud by the 1/4th South Lancashires during the action known as Flers-Courcelette. Remarkably, the survivors marched off singing. The 31st Division, including 11th East Lancashires raced north to fill the gap behind the Portuguese sector, and fought the enemy to a standstill in three days of incessant fighting to defend Hazebrouck. 1937 India: Ambala 1934.12 Germany: Saar International Force supervising plebiscite Two days later in the same area the 1/5th South Lancashires lost ten officers and 204 other ranks to artillery and machine gun fire in a failed attack afterwards commemorated each year by the St Helens Territorials. On account of the German Emperor’s 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 advance continued to the River Adhaim where, on 17th/18th April, all three battalions took part in a brilliantly-executed silent night attack, during which the Lancashire troops were ferried across the river and scaled cliffs to surprise the Turkish pickets and then routed the main enemy force. The terrain is well-suited to defence, and on the high ground the Germans had prepared three lines of trench systems, sited in depth, whose defenders were protected by barbed wire entanglements and deep dug-outs. with 1st Battalion), Please 1891 Mullingar On the 18th October the 1st East Lancashires, who had only recently returned to the Somme, attacked at Le Transloy through “a vast lake of mud, pitted with shell-holes”, losing all the officers, warrant officers and senior NCOs of the assaulting companies and a total of 362 other ranks, while on the 23rd the 2nd East Lancashires captured and held German positions near Guedecourt. 1944.08 NW Europe 53 Inf Div The East Lancashire Regiment wore a white diamond patch on sun helmets whilst in India in 1902. East Lancashire Regiment. P&P: + £12.00 P&P . (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) Division, pressed the enemy back over the Ancre to take Miraumont and some five hundred prisoners. Division had rushed forward from GHQ reserve to occupy blocking positions on the northern flank of the German breakthrough, south of Arras where on 26th March the 1/5th East Lancashires inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in the open at Gomiecourt. 1916.07 France and Flanders 8 Div 1958.07.01 amalgamated with The South Lancashire Regiment Within a few hours The East Lancashire Regiment suffered more casualties than on any other day in its long history. 2nd South Lancashires were in reserve during the capture of the ridge, but on 14th June the Battalion made a further advance to capture the Ferme de la Croix, in the course of which Private William Ratcliffe earned a Victoria Cross for charging alone to capture a German machine-gun. 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. Joined 72nd Infantry Brigade on 14 Jan. 1942. But tropical diseases took a heavy toll of the battalion and in December 1916 it was transferred to the healthier climate of Egypt. Festubert In an heroic attack on 15th June the Preston Territorials, the 4th Loyal North Lancashires, lost 431 men killed, wounded and missing in their first general action. On their right 1/5th Loyal North Lancashires made a gallant stand but at terrible cost, 434 casualties, while 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires, who were in reserve, saved the situation with a magnificent immediate counter-attack. 1923 England: Bordon 3 Bde All three Lancashire battalions took part in this fighting, which shattered German hopes of early victory but cost both the East Lancashires and the Loyals their Commanding Officers. Six Lancashire battalions took part in the offensive – 8th East Lancashires and 10th Loyal North Lancashires advanced up the Arras-Cambrai road and then saw heavy fighting around Gavrelle, where 1st East Lancashires were also engaged, while 11th South Lancashires supported the attack further south. 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. Over the next eight days the Division resisted five German divisions and broke the back of their offensive in that area. ‘The Hundred Days’ August-November 1918. Number Titles Date of raising or coming onto establishment Fate Successor 2012 31: 31st Regiment of Foot 1751–1782. 1957.12 Hong Kong Measured in terms of attrition, 3rd Ypres was a British victory, won by superior artillery firepower and the dogged endurance of the Infantry, but the horror of that blood-soaked swamp has endured as a folk memory to rival the Somme, Cambrai The Lancashire battalions were not engaged in the Cambrai offensive, which saw the historic first use of massed tanks, but in the foggy dawn of 30th November the 55th Division took the full weight of a massed German counter-attack near Villers-Guislain. 1940.04 France & Belgium 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. The 3 rd Regiment volunteered to remain in Ireland after peace was declared in May 1814, and when Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba so great was the enthusiasm shown by the officers and men to volunteer for the Regular Army that the Regiment was soon reduced to less than half strength. Further amalgamations occurred in 1970 The Lancashire Regiment was merged with The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment to form The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, and then in 2006 it was merged with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment … 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 l’Escaut to capture Cambrai on 9th October before moving north to occupy Lille. The East Lancashire Regiment was formed in 1881 from the 30th Foot and 59th Foot. Regiments and Corps 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot. The accurate and disciplined fire of the 2nd South Lancashires, in front of Frameries, took a heavy toll of the massed German infantry, but eventually the battalion was ordered to retire. 1896 Burma Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Harry Pilkington (30657), 11th East Lancashire Regiment, has died of his wounds in hospital. Next day the ‘Accrington Pals’ crossed the Deule in single file over the wreckage of a bridge, and on 18th October they liberated the large towns of Turcoing and Wattrelos. All six battalions were assigned to the Suez Canal Defence Zone, but in February the three 6th Battalions sailed for the Persian Gulf and the 11th for France. Givenchy The 55th Division, which included the 1/4th and 5th South Lancashires and the 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires, was in the line between Givenchy and Festubert when the Portuguese to their north collapsed, but the West Lancashire men held their positions on the southern flank of the assault with splendid valour and tenacity and refused to give ground. Casualties totalled 247, but when they were relieved after 48 hours of heavy fighting the ‘Pals’ received many compliments for their gallant conduct. The plan went equally well further south along the ridge where 8th South Lancashires and 8th and 9th Loyal North Lancashires, all in 25th Division, also took their objectives with comparatively little loss. This was the prelude to a continuous series of attacks, and by the Armistice the West Lancashire Territorial Division had reached the Tournai area, having advanced 50 miles in 80 days. E Shaw South Lancashire Regiment . Eighteen battalions of our Regimental forebears fought in this epic four and a half month struggle, which has ever since remained an emotive and tragic symbol of gallantry, endurance and sacrifice, earning two Victoria Crosses, eleven hard-won Battle Honours, and numerous other awards for bravery. Battalion, The East Lancashire Regiment 1844 15th. The Regiment was formed initially with two battalions, the 1st Battalion being created from the former 30th Regiment of Foot, and the 2nd from the former 59th.The first Regimental Depot was in Burnley, but moved to Fulwood Barracks, Preston in 1898. 1895.03 Chitral expedition It was formed on 25 March 1970 at Connaught Barracks in Dover through the amalgamation of the two remaining Lancashire infantry regiments, the Lancashire Regiment and the Loyal Regiment. 1898 Chakratta There are over 39,000 East Lancashire Regiment pension and service records (for this regiment - and its antecedents) in various War Office series held at the National Archives. 15,000 French troops attack 3,000 British and Spanish troops, including 4 companies of the 82nd (later 2nd South Lancashires) in the little, fortified port of Tarifa, on the Straits of Gibraltar. Raised in 1689, this infantry regiment served in many campaigns until the 1881 Army reforms, when it was merged into the East Lancashire Regiment. Following this forced consolidation, by the Spring of 1918 the BEF was dangerously over-stretched. Five months later they were in the trenches. Here all three battalions were involved in intense combat through October and November as the Germans made desperate and repeated attempts to break through to the Channel ports. This memorable devotion to duty is commemorated in the Regiment annually to this day, most notably by a Service in Blackburn Cathedral. • Links I am happy to cover all costs, if you are a family member or can put me in touch with them, please get in touch. Both sides now extended their flanks north in a race to the sea, and the BEF was moved from the Aisne front to Flanders. The survivors held the rear of the village throughout the day, preventing a further enemy advance, and that evening the village was recovered by two Australian and two British brigades. 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. 1943.01.08 at sea On recovering he returned in December 1901, and served in the ORC up to his death. The South Lancashires attacked Pip Ridge on the 18th with ‘consumate gallantry and self-sacrifice’ but, despite initial success, were compelled to withdraw after several hours of fierce fighting with two thirds casualties. Lancashire Regiment. 4th Btn., The East Lancashire Regiment - To Northern Ireland around 22 Oct. 1941. On the 27th May the Germans mounted a third offensive, this time in a French sector near the River Aisne. Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Meanwhile the collapse of Russia following the Bolshevik revolution had enabled Germany to transfer seasoned divisions from their Eastern Front to France and Flanders. 1881 England: Gosport The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot with the militia and rifle volunteer units of eastern Lancashire. The East Lancashire Regiment. Privacy Policy: For full details click HERE, This is not an official MOD/Army web site. A few miles to the east, the 2nd South Lancashires were in action on the 10th at Ploegsteert, and next day also moved south to beat off two attacks at Neuve Eglise. Age 26. Over half a million men and 1537 guns were allocated for the British offensive.The main attack was to be launched on a frontage of 14 miles from Serre in the north to Montauban in the south, with the axis of advance along the old Roman road from Albert to Bapaume. Kut-al-Amara. 1922 Malta The shortages of artillery ammunition and trained manpower which had severely limited British capabilities were now over, for industry was at last geared up for mass production of munitions and the ‘New Army’ divisions had been in the field for some months. This created the Fricourt Salient, which over the next few weeks was progressively enlarged by a series of costly local attacks against the German second line of defence, which ran along the ridges from Thiepval to Pozieres, on the Bapaume road, and then through Bazentin and Delville Wood to Guillemont . No fewer than 33 other gallantry medals were won on that day by the South Lancashires. 1947 UK Troyon On 13th September 1st Loyal North Lancashires lost fourteen officers and over five hundred other ranks in its first major engagement of the war, attacking up the Troyon spur to capture a sugar factory. Printed Flags. Le Cateau The BEF now fell back to conform with their French allies, the South Lancashires fighting another successful rearguard action at Solesmes. 1943. Also on 24th August, on the 1916 Somme battlefields the Burnley Territorials of 5th East Lancashires, in 42nd Division, pressed the enemy back over the Ancre to take Miraumont and some five hundred prisoners. Soon after the outbreak of war the existing 4th and 5th battalions of each regiment were duplicated by the creation of ‘second line’ TA battalions, and additional Service battalions of Kitchener’s ‘New Army’ were raised and trained. 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