HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE 18th (SERVICE) BATTALION NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS (1st TYNESIDE PIONEERS)

This is an exceptionally detailed and intimate Battalion History of the 18th (Service) Battalion of the Notrhumberland Fusiliers - a unit rapidly raised in the Newcastle area on the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. The battlion spent the remainder of the year and 1915 in training in their home area, but like many other units of Kitchener’s New Armies, found themselves at the beginning of 1916 in France preparing for the Somme offensive. The Battalion was used both in a Pioneer role - supplying and maintaining the trench lines - and in a purely combatant role, and was in almost continuous action for the remainder of the war. The Battalion fought at La Boiselle on the Somme and at Arras in April 1917. For the rest of the war it was in the infamous Ypres salient, where it was in the thick of the fighting in March and April 1918 during the German spring offensives. The author of this book, Lt.-Col. John Shakespear, was instrumental in raising the Battalion and commanded it throughout its service on the western front. The volume includes the Battalion’s Embarkation Roll from January 1916; its Roll of Honour; honours and awards and appendices - including one on a Prisoner of War’s experiences. Illustrated with photographs and maps.