The Norfolk Regiment on the Western Front: 1914-1918

Steve Smith tells the story of the five Battalions of the Norfolk Regiment who served on the Western Front using previously unseen photographs, diaries, accounts, and letters. He has also had full access to the Norfolk Regiment Museum archives. It is the men who served in the Norfolks who will tell this story.

This book will interest readers nationally & locally as it not only studies the Regiment’s participation in well-known battles such as Ypres and the Somme, but also takes a fresh look at the lesser-known battles fought, battles such as Elouges in 1914 and Kaiserschlacht in 1918. Steve has considered the German perspective too, looking at the men who faced them at places such as Falfemont Farm in 1916.

Using new evidence from the Regiment’s participation in the Christmas Truce, he separates the truth from myth surrounding the stories of soccer played at this time, a controversy that still rages.

Steve has walked the ground over which they fought and fresh maps complement this research so the book serves as a history book for those at home and a guidebook for those who wish to get out and explore, down to trench level, the ground covered in its pages.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Glossary of Terms
An Overview of Cemeteries and Memorials
Memorials in Belgium and France
Introduction

1 The Road to War: June to August 1914
2 1st Battalion, Élouges to La Bassée: 4 August to 30 October 1914
3 1st Battalion, Messines-Wulverghem Road: Christmas Truce 1914
4 The Service Battalions of the Norfolk Regiment: The Kitchener Men
51st Battalion, St Eloi and Hill 60: March to June 1915
6 Trench Warfare and the Service Battalions Initial Moves: May to August 1915
7 The 7th and 9th Battalions, The Battles of Loos, The Quarries: 26 September to 13 October 1915
8 On the Eve of the Somme, The Norfolk Regiment Battalions: 30 June 1916
9 The 8th Battalion, The Battle of the Somme, Montauban to Delville Wood: 1–19 July 1916
10 The 1st Battalion, The Battle of the Somme, High Wood and Longueval, 21–27 July 1916
11 The 6th (Cyclist) Battalion to the Somme and the 7th Battalion at Ovillers to 6th Avenue Trench: 3 July to 13 August 1916
12 The 1st and 9th Battalions, The Battle of the Somme, Falfemont Farm to Morval: 4–25 September 1916;2 13 The 8th Battalion, The Battle of the Somme, Thiepval to the Schwaben Redoubt: 26 September to 5 October 1916
14 The 7th and 9th Battalions, The Battle of the Somme, Bayonet and Mild Trenches: 12–18 October 1916
12 The Norfolk Regiment on the Western Front 1914–1918 15 The 8th Battalion, The Battle of the Somme, Regina Trench: 21–23 October 1916
16 The 8th Battalion, Operations on the Ancre, Boom Ravine to Irles: 17 February to 10 March 1917
17 The 7th Battalion, First Battle of the Scarpe, Maison Rouge: 9 April 1917
18 The 1st Battalion, La Coulotte: 23 April 1917
19 The 7th Battalion, The Battle of Arleux, Rifle Trench: 28 April 1917
20 The 1st Battalion, Oppy Wood: 28 June 1917
21 The 9th Battalion, Hill 70, Loos: 1 July to 3 October 1917
22 The 1st and 8th Battalions, The Third Battle of Ypres: 31 July to 22 October 1917
23 Shot at Dawn, Private John Abigail (9694), 8th Battalion Norfolk Regiment
24 The 7th and 9th Battalions, The Battle of Cambrai, Ribécourt to Nine Wood: 20 November to 7 December 1917
25 The 7th and 9th Battalions, The Kaiser’s Battle, Lagnicourt to Bouzincourt Ridge: 21 March to 5 April 1918
26 The 9th Battalion, The Battle of the Lys, Neuve-Église to Château Segard: 1–29 April 1918
27 The 12th (Norfolk Yeomanry) Battalion, Nieppe Forest: 25 June to 27 July 1918
28 The 7th Battalion, The Battle of Amiens, Morlancourt: 8–9 August 1918
29 The 12th (Norfolk Yeomanry) Battalion, The Advance into Flanders, Vieux Berquin, and Bailleul: 18–31 August 1918
30 The 1st and 7th Battalions, The Battle of Albert and Bapaume: 21 August to 3 September 1918
31 The 1st Battalion, Norfolk Pioneers: 2 December 1916 to 30 August 1918
32 The 7th and 9th Battalions, The Battles of the Hindenbu