Gentlemen and Officers: The Impact and Experience of War on a Territorial Regiment 1914-1918An impressive work of research which is not so much a regimental history as a social study of the three battalions of the 5th (London Rifle Brigade) London Regiment: 1/5th, 2/5th and 3/5th. The first two served on the Western Front, the third (3/5th) did not leave the UK. LRB was a battalion which required an entrance fee from its members and excluded the labourers' class. It had a strong esprit de corps, a high morale and was not ashamed of its exclusiveness. These characteristics and the reason for them are examined in detail. The author describes the background of those who served in the unit at various stages of the war, their civilian occupation, where they lived how long they had been with the LRB and so forth. Appendices list casualties, COs and adjutants and those who obtained commissions. This record is all the more interesting for the unusual perspective from which it is written. |
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16 August 1st Battalion 2nd Battalion 56th Division Amatt April Army arrived artillery attack Aubrey Smith Battalion HQ battle began bombing British Bunhill Row camp casualties Cemetery Chyebassa commissioned continued County of London dead Diary died of wounds Divisional draft dugouts enemy enlisted esprit fighting fire former Fovant France friends front line Gavrelle German German lines Gommecourt Groom Houle Husey infantry January Jim Whitehead July June Killed in Action Lance Corporal large number later Latham Lewis gun Lieutenant London Regiment LRB's machine gun Man's Land March Menin Gate Middlesex months NCOs night November October ordered overseas parade parties patrol platoon Plugstreet Polhill Post Office Rifles Posted to 1st pre-war ranks recruits Regimental History Regular rejoined returned Rifle Brigade Rifleman road sent September 1916 Sergeant serving soldiers Somme strength trenches troops unit village volunteers Wallis wire Wood Ypres