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The King's Shropshire Light Infantry, 1914-18
Outlines of war service of the K.S.L.I. battalions, 1914-18
The KSLI during "the Great War", 1914-18
As with all the other infantry regiments of the British army, the K.S.L.I. was greatly expanded during the First World War. In all, twelve battalions were raised, of which eight saw active service overseas.
The K.S.L.I. gained no less than 60 battle honours for the Great War ; those marked * in the sections below are emblazoned on the King's Colour.
1st Battalion, 1914-18
In UK and Ireland, 1903-14.
In Tipperary in August 1914 when mobilised for war.
Joined 16th Brigade, 6th Division and landed at St.Nazaire on September 10th and thereafter served entirely on the Western Front.
It fought in the last stages of the battle of the Aisne and in the First Battle of Ypres, 1914 and in the Ypres salient, 1915.
Saw service on the Somme in 1916 (Morval and Transloy Ridges) and at Arras and Cambrai in 1917.
After taking part in the fighting on the Hindenburg Line in 1918 and the final operations against the Germans, the 1st K.S.L.I. became part of the Rhineland occupation force.
Battle Honours:
France and Flanders 1914; France and Flanders 1915; France and Flanders 1916 ; France and Flanders 1917 ; France and Flanders 1918 ; Aisne 1914 ; Armentieres 1914* ; Hooge 1915 ; Somme 1916* ; Flers-Courcelette ; Morva1 ; Le Transloy ; Hill 70 ; Cambrai 1917* ; Somme 1918* ; Hindenburg Line; Epehy* ; Cambrai 1918* ; Selle . (19)
2nd Battalion 1914-18
In India from 1903-14; at Secunderabad, India, in August 1914 when mobilised for war.
Joined 80th Brigade, 27th Division and landed at Le Havre on 21st December 1914.
After some of the hardest fighting in the Ypres Salient at St.Eloi, St.Julien and on Frezenburg Ridge in 1915, moved to the Somme.
It was sent to Salonika in December 1915 and spent nearly three years fighting the Bulgarians in Macedonia, for the most part based on the Struma front.
Absorbed the 8th Battalion in November 1918.
Returned home via Southern Turkey and sent to Dublin during the last stages of British rule.
The last British battalion to leave Dublin Castle on the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921.
Battle Honours:
France and Flanders 1915 ; Macedonia 1915-18 ; Gravenstafel ; Ypres 1915* ; St. Julien ; Frezenberg* ; Bellewaerde. (7)
3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, 1914-18
The Special Reserve Battalion (formerly the old county Militia) served in Wales and Scotland until December 1917 when it moved to Cork.
It ended the war at Fermoy and was later absorbed into the 2nd Battalion.
As a training unit, it had no overseas war service but fed large numbers of men into the KSLI and other units.
4th (Territorial) Battalion, 1914-18
The I-4th Battalion:
Formed from the county Rifle Volunteers which became the Volunteer Battalions of the KSLI) and designated as the 4th Battalion in 1908 on the creation of the Territorial Force.
The Battalion was mobilised at Shrewsbury on August 4th, 1914 and embarked for India in October 1914.
Its prime function - as with many of the TF battalions at this stage - was to take over routine imperial garrison duty, to free Regular soldiers for active campaigning.
Served in the Far East in Hong Kong, Singapore and Rangoon 1914-17.
It escorted the prisoners of the German ship "Emden" to Australia and helped suppress the Singapore Mutiny in 1915.
To South Africa, May-June 1917, where it suffered greatly from sickness, and from there straight to the Western Front in July 1917, without the men having time to visit their homes after three years' absence.
It was at Passchendaele (3rd Ypres) in October and fought during the great German offensives of 1918.
Its greatest moment came in the capture of Bligny Hill on June 6th 1918, for which feat the battalion - reduced to company strength by then - was awarded the French Croix-de-Guerre avec Palme.
With the 56th Brigade of the 19th Division near Bavai, France, when the war ended.
Battle Honours :
France and Flanders 1917 ; France and Flanders 1918 ; Passchendaele ; Cambrai 1917* ; Bapaume 1918 ; Messines 1918 ; Bailleul ; Kemmel ; Bligny* ; Aisne 1918 ; Cambrai 1918* ; Selle ; Valenciennes ; Sambre. (14)
The 2-4th Battalion :
Formed at Shrewsbury, October 1914. Served on the Isle of Man and on the east coast 1915-17.
Became the 50th Provisional Battalion in December 1916. Personnel absorbed by other battalions by December 1917.
No overseas war service.
The 3-4th Battalion :
Raised in May 1915 in Shrewsbury. Stationed in various towns in South Wales, 1915-18.
Re-styled the 4th (Reserve) Battalion in April 1916. Absorbed the 2nd Herefordshire Regt. in Swansea in 1917.
Disbanded at Pembroke Dock at the end of the war.
No overseas war service.
5th (Service) Battalion, 1914-18
A war-raised Service Battalion, formed in Shrewsbury in August 1914 from the mass of enthusiastic volunteers coming forward to enlist.
To 42nd Brigade, 14th Division.
After training around Aldershot, it landed at Boulogne on 20th May 1915 and served entirely on the Western Front.
Saw some of the worst fighting of the war in the Ypres Salient in 1915 ; was on the Somme in 1916, at Arras and in the 3rd Battle of Ypres in 1917.
Disbanded at Jussy on 4th February 1918, its personnel going to other K.S.L.I. battalions.
Battle Honours:
France and Flanders 1915 ; France and Flanders 1916; France and Flanders 1917 ; Ypres 1915*; Somme 1916*; DelviIIe Wood; Flers-Courcelette; Arras 1917*; Ypres 1917*. (9)
6th (Service Battalion, 1914-18
A war-raised Service Battalion, formed in Shrewsbury in September 1914.
Joined the 60th Brigade of the 20th Division and landed at Boulogne on 22nd July 1915 and served entirely on the Western Front.
The 6th fought at Loos in September 1915, around Ypres in 1916 and then on the Somme.
Fought at Langemarck in August 1917 and on the Menin Road, Ypres, in September.
It served against the Hindenburg Line near Cambrai at the end of the year and through-out the German Spring Offensive in 1918.
Ended the war north west of Mauberge, France.
Battle Honours:
France and Flanders 1915 ; France and Flanders 1916 ; France and Flanders 1917 ; France and Flanders 1918 ; Mount Sorrel; GuiIIemont ; Flers-Courcelette ; Le Transloy ; Langemarck 1917 ; Menin Road; Cambrai 1917* ; St.Quentin ; Rosieres. (13)
7th (Service) Battalion, 1914-18
A war-raised Service Battalion, formed in Shrewsbury in September 1914.
Joined the 76th Brigade of the 25th Division and landed at Boulogne on 28th September 1915.
Served entirely on the Western Front.
First saw action in the Ypres Salient in the winter of 1915-16 and moved to the Somme in July 1916 ; fought at Bazentin Ridge and then on the Ancre.
In action in the three battles of the Scarpe in April-May 1917.
Back in the Ypres sector in 1917, the 7th took part in the fighting at Polygon Wood in September and was back on the Somme for the battles of 1918.
After taking part in the offensives of summer-autumn of 1918, at Albert, Bapaume, the Canal du Nord and the SeIIe, the 7th ended the war as part of the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Division, at Romeries, near Solesmes, France.
The 7th suffered more casualties than any other KSLI battalion, with 1048 killed in action or died during the war.
Battle Honours:
France and Flanders 1915 ; France and Flanders 1916 ; France and Flanders 1917 ; France and Flanders 1918 ; Mount Sorrel; Somme 1916* ; Albert 1916 ; Bazentin ; DelvilIe Wood; Arras 1917* ; Scarpe 1917 ; ArIeux ; Ypres 1917* ; Polygon Wood; Somme 1918* ; St.Quentin ; Bapaume 1918 ; Arras 1918 ; Lys ; Estaires ; Hazebrouk ; Bethune ; Albert 1918 ; Bapaume 1918 ; Canal du Nord ; SeIIe. (26)
8th (Service) Battalion, 1914-18
A war-raised Service Battalion, formed in Shrewsbury in September 1914.
Joined the 66th Brigade of the 22nd Division and landed in France on 28th October 1915, heading for Amiens.
After only a few weeks on the Western Front, the Battalion was sent to Macedonia, arriving on November 6th 1915.
It spent the remainder of the war on the Salonika front, suffereing severely from malaria as well as from its encounters with the enemy.
Periods of routine trench work, in reserve, along the Struma or in the defences of Salonika were interspersed with action at "Pip Ridge", near Lake Doiran, in February 1917 and again in September 1918.
The 8th ended the war near Stavros and was amalgamated with the 2nd KSLI.
Battle Honours:
Macedonia 1915-18; Doiran 1917*; Doiran 1918*. (3)
9th Battalion, 1914-18
A Reserve Battalion, formed at Pembroke Dock in October 1914.
Served only in the U.K., largely in a training role.
At Prees Heath from August 1915.
Like the 3rd Battalion, it sent trained men to other KSLI battalions and to other units.
10th (Shropshire & Cheshire Yeomanry) Battalion, 1914-18
Formed at Cairo on 2nd March 1917 from the dismounted troopers of the Shropshire Yeomanry and the Cheshire Yeomanry. Served in Palestine in the 231st Brigade of the 74th "Broken Spur" Division.
Took part in the second and third battles of Gaza, July-November 1917 and then in the operations for the capture of Jerusalem (December 1917) and in the capture of Jericho (February 1918).
In the attack on Birj-el-Lisaneh, near Tel Asur, on March 10th, Pte. Harold Whitfield won the only VC to a Shropshire regiment for the Great War.
In May 1918, the 10th went to France and served out the war on the Western Front, taking part in the battle of Epehy in September.
Ended the war near Ath, Belgium.
Battle Honours :
France and Flanders 1918 ; Palestine 1917-18 ; Epehy ; Pursuit to Mons ; Gaza ; Jerusalem* ; Jericho; Tel Asur. (8)
Books ...
The standard work on the KSLI during 1914-18 is : The History of the K.S.L.I. in the Great War, 1914-18 : by Major W. de B. Wood (Medici Society, 1925).
This has recently been reprinted and is available in our bookshop for £19-50 plus p/p.
In addition, pamphlets derived from the book are available on each separate battalion (except the 6th, for which there is a separate detailed history - see bookshop listings).
These are £2-00 each plus postage @ 50p.