In answer to Lord Kitchener's appeal, in late August and September 1914 many men joined Alexandra's Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment, better known as The Green Howards. Recruits came from around the Middlesbrough area and the ironstone mines on the North Yorkshire moors, while others came from the East Durham coalfield and the Durham City area. The 8th and 9th Battalions left the Regimental Depot in Richmond in late September and moved to Frensham on the Hampshire/Surrey border, where they trained hard until bad weather forced a move to barracks in Aldershot. They arrived on the Somme front at the end of June 1916, but were not involved in the fighting until 5 July, when the 9th Battalion captured Horseshoe trench and Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell won the VC when he destroyed a German machine gun position. On 10 July both battalions took part in the capture of Contalmaison, a village that had been a first day objective. A second VC was awarded posthumously to Private William Short of the 8th Battalion during the fighting in Munster Alley in August 1916. The next year found the 23rd Division in the Ypres Salient, where they were in and out of the line until June 1917 when they took part in the Battle of Messines and the 8th Battalion had the honour of taking Hill 60. In November 1917 the division was sent to Italy to bolster the hard-pressed Italian Army, but the 9th Battalion returned to France in 1918 where they fought until the Armistice. The 8th Battalion stayed on in Italy and fought at the crossing of the Piave and Vittorio Veneto, which brought the war to an end in Italy. AUTHOR: John Sheen was born and raised in Durham. In 1968 he enlisted in D (Durham) Company of The Light Infantry (Volunteers) and the following year enlisted into the Regular Army. Over the next 23 Years he served in Germany, Canada, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, France, Denmark and Belgium as well as the U.K. On leaving the army he returned to Durham and found employment with the local water company. He retired in 2016 and started on a part-time MA course in Britain and the First World War at Wolverhampton University, under Professor Gary Sheffield, and graduated in spring 2019. Much of the research for this book was taken from the author's dissertation for this degree. He has always been fascinated by the men of Kitchener's New Armies, as his great-grandfather served in the Tyneside Irish Brigade. His maternal grandfather served in the 9th (Pioneer) Battalion of The Border Regiment, whilst his fraternal grandfather, Walter, served with the 8th Green Howards. 120 b/w illustrations
