The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum Message Board

Lest we Forget: The 1st Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment crossed to France in August 1914. From near Mons the 1st Battalion had retreated with the B.E.F for two hundred miles back to the Marne in thirteen gruelling hot days and then advanced to the Aisne. Then began the race between the Germans and the Allies to the Channel Ports, culminating in the first battles of Ypres (19th October – 22nd November 1914).

It was during this conflict that the 1st Battalion first distinguished itself outside the little town of Langemarck on 21 October. Here for two days it defended a vital salient, holding off repeated enemy attacks with rifle fire alone. 60% of the rifle companies became casualties, and it is said of one platoon of A company, that when later the Brigadier wished to have recommendations for gallantry awards no survivors could be found. Lieutenant Wetherall, later to become Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Wetherall, Colonel of the Regiment, won one of the first Military Crosses ever awarded for his part in the battle.