The History of 'Bristol's Own' The 12th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment 1914

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There are now very many Battalion histories of the BritishArmy during the Great War. As might be expected, they begin to tell a storywhich is in many ways very similar: we have the description of a city or area seemingly basking in Edwardian peace, we have the outbreak of war, and the mass of volunteers who answered "The Call", and the return of Boer War veterans to the colours. The territorial summer camp is interrupted by mobilisation, and city councils and civic movements equip their battalions of volunteers with comforts and billets. We have the training of a citizen army, as white-collar volunteers are turned into Great War soldiers. Then there's the inevitable transfer to France , the march through cheering French civilians, the introduction to the grim conditions of the trenches. Then comes the sequence of names: Somme , Arras , Passchendaele, the German Spring Offensive of 1918, perhaps even these days Advance to Victory. Then the return, presentation of colours to the cathedral, and perhaps as the years passed, the bowler-hatted and cloth-capped veterans return to the battlefields in the years between the two world wars. The final pages perhaps outline memorials that stand proudly in some corner of a foreign field. Every now and again a book comes out which reminds you why you are fascinated by the Great War, and why the story of the war and its effect on our country still, after a century, has a power t o m ove and evoke deep feelings. Dean Marks' excellent history of the 12th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment from 1914 to 1918 is a book which evokes those very same feelings. It is, and I make no apologies repeating the phrase later on, a labour of love. It is a very handsome volume with an outstanding picture of a proud recruit against the backdrop of the Clifton suspension Bridge placing us very securely in time and place. Those with a particular affinity for the Gloucestershire Regiment will be delighted to see that this handsome front cover is matched by a "back badge" on the rear of the cover - an unnecessary but delightful touch. Turning to the content of the volume, I have to declare a slight bias: my great-grandfather, whose service triggered my own interest in the Great War, served with the 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment who spent some time brigaded with the 12th Gloucesters, and served alongside them for most of the Great War in the 5th Division. The author has integrated a variety of sources, and these result in a lavishly illustrated volume that draws on photographs, poetry, advertisements from the Bristol press and an impressive range of portraits and postcards. A unique perspective is offered by the battalion's first camp just outside Bristol , on the site of the Bristol International Exhibition Centre, which was still being used in August 1914, and was cleared use by the Battalion as a rather novel headquarters during the initial stages of their training. I particularly enjoyed the photographs of the Battalion still in civilian clothes marching through the Somerset countryside. The author gives a thorough treatment of recruitment and training, but it is with a grim inevitability that the scene moves to France , and the first entry into the trenches at Maricourt. The Battalion, along with s o m any, are truly bloodied in action during the Somme, most specifically fighting a major action on the 29th - 30th July 1916 at Longueval, immediately west of Delville wood, and subsequent actions on 3 September 1916 in Guillemont (the reviewers great-grandfather was killed by shellfire during the preparation for the attack on Falfemont Farm described in this book). One of the more moving quotations from the book is by the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 14th Royal Warwickshire to his opposite number of the 12th Gloucesters who describes their attack "no troops could have carried through such a difficult attack with more dash, or indifference to consequences". Perhaps the most chilling description is of the fighting by the Battalion in May 1917 at Fresnoy, particularly the account... read more

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