With Bayonets Fixed

The victorious achievements—and tragic losses—of two of Great Britain's most heroic battalions in World War I, featuring the soldiers' personal accounts.

In August and September 1914, the Regimental Depot of the Durham Light Infantry at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle was overwhelmed by the number of men enlisting. Accommodation was tight so the men were formed into batches and sent off to training grounds in the south of England. Over two,zero men were sent to Bulllswater near Woking in Surrey where they became the 12th and 13th Battalions of the DLI serving in sixty-eight Brigade of the 23rd Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir James Babington, KCB KCMG. The Division never failed to take an objective between 1915 and 1918.

After initial training around Aldershot and Ashford, they embarked for France in August 1915. Their engagements included taking part on the capture of Contalmaison on the Somme, fighting in Flanders at the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres, capturing enemy soldiers on the Italian Front, and—for Private Thomas Kenny—winning the Victoria Cross for rescuing his wounded officer. The 13th DLI was ordered back to France in September 1918 where it took part in the advance to victory; the battalion suffered many casualties in the last six weeks of the war. The 12th DLI remained in Italy and took part in the crossing of the River Piave in October 1918 and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto that led to the end of the war in Italy.

With Bayonets Fixed tells these stories and more, using unpublished memoirs and diaries along with letters from officers and men of both battalions. These personal documents reveal many of the tragic stories that led to unnecessary loss of life, and this book also includes lists of gallantry awards and nominal rolls of the battalions' officers.