The 7th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Territorial Army from 1908 until 1967. Raised in Salford, Greater Manchester, it fought as infantry at Gallipoli, in Egypt and on the Western Front during the First World War. It served as a searchlight unit during the Second World War, particularly during the 'Liverpool Blitz', and continued in an air defence role postwar.
Origin The origin of the 7th Lancashire Fusiliers lies in the 56th Lancashire Rifle Volunteers of four companies, formed at Salford on 5 March 1860 as part of the enthusiasm for joining local Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) following an invasion scare.Beckett.Frederick, p. 291.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers, pp. 145, 150.Gibbon, p. 4.Lancashire Record Office, Handlist 72 When the RVCs were consolidated the 56th Lancashire was renumbered 17th on 3 September 1880, and in the following year, under the Childers Reforms, RVCs were attached to Regular Army regiments. The 17th Lancashire became a Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on 1 July 1881 without changing its title, but on 1 March 1886 it transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers as its 3rd Volunteer Battalion. In December 1899 the Cross Lane drill hall in Salford was opened and occupied by the battalion.Drill Hall at Salford History blogspot. Some 117 volunteers from the battalion served in the 2nd Boer War, earning the Battle honour South Africa 1900–1902.Leslie.
Territorial Force On the formation of the Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the 3rd VB formed two battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers, the 7th and 8th.London Gazette, 20 March 1908. The two battalions continued to share the Drill Hall at Cross Lane, Salford, and formally separated on 24 January 1914.Monthly Army List. Previously, the Lancashire Fusiliers' VBs had been part of the North Lancashire Volunteer Infantry Brigade; now they formed a full brigade in their own right (the Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade in the East Lancashire Division).James, pp. 63–64.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 35–41.Lancashire Fusiliers at Long, Long Trail42 Division at Long, Long Trail.
First World War On the outbreak of war, the units of the East Lancashire Division were at their annual training camps. They received the order to mobilise at 17.30 on 4 August, and returned to their battalion HQs, where the men were billeted close by. On 10 August the TF was invited to volunteer for overseas service, and within a few days 90 per cent of the division had accepted. On 20 August the division moved into camps for training, with 7th Lancashire Fusiliers at Turton, and on 9 September it entrained for Southampton to embark for Egypt. The division began to disembark at Alexandria on 25 September and the Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade concentrated for training round Cairo. At first their role was simply to relieve Regular troops from the garrison for service on the Western Front, but on 5 November Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire and Egypt became a war zone. The East Lancashire Division went to guard the Suez Canal.Gibbon, pp. 4–10.
Meanwhile, those men who had not volunteered for overseas service, or were unfit, remained at Salford to help train the flood of recruits coming in. On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised, and the men at Salford became the 2/7th Bn, after which the parent battalion was designated the 1/7th. Later a 3/7th Bn was raised to provide reinforcements for the 1st and 2nd Line.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Gibbon, p. 6.
1/7th Battalion
Gallipoli
After a period spent in the canal defences, the battalion embarked on SS Nile at Alexandria between 1 and 6 May 1915 for the Gallipoli Peninsula and disembarked at 'W' Beach at Cape Helles, where Allied troops had landed a few days earlier. The Lancashire Fusilier Brigade was the first part of the division to go into action, temporarily attached to the 29th Division for the Second Battle of Krithia on 6 May. The 1/7th supported an attack by the 1/6th Bn and the following day moved forward through the captured line, but was forced to retire after two attempts to take Gurkha Bluff. The battalion was relieved at sundown.Westlake, Gallipoli, pp. 58–59.Gibbon, pp. 20–21.Latter, Vol I, p. 61.
The Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade then reverted to the East Lancashire Division, which later that month was numbered as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, when the brigade became the 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade. For the next three weeks there was little actual fighting, and the brigade occupied part of the Redoubt Line. On 4 June it took part in the Third Battle of Krithia, where the 1/7th moved up from divisional reserve to join the fighting, but was more heavily engaged on 6 June in fending off Turkish counter-attacks. The battalion suffered 179 casualties.Gibbon, pp. 28, 35–40.Latter, Vol I, pp. 63–66.
During July the battalion took turns in holding the front and support lines, apart from a brief relief (8–13 July) to the island of Imbros. On 4 August it moved into the Redoubt Line and on 7 August to the front line at Krithia Road to take part in the Battle of Krithia Vineyard.Gibbon, p. 41–3. The fighting was 'a singularly brainless and suicidal type of warfare',North, p. 144 and virtually nothing was achieved in any of these attacks, at the cost of heavy casualties. Two brigades of 42nd Division attacked on the second day of the Krithia Vineyard battle: 'By nightfall both brigades were back in their old lines, with the exception of some parties of the 6th and 7th Lancashire Fusiliers, who defended the Vineyard against repeated Turkish attacks until, after a bitter and pointless struggle during the following five days, a trench dug across the centre of this worthless tract of scrub became the British front line'.Gibbon, pp. 44–45.Latter, Vol I, pp. 74–76. The battalion war diary notes that the men were 'thoroughly worn out; and that out of a strength of 410 NCOs and men, only 139 returned when they were relieved. Three Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to members of the battalion.Latter, Vol I, p. 76.
After this failure, the Helles front was shut down and no further attacks were made. The 1/7th Bn took turns in the front and reserve lines at Gully Ravine, Gully Beach and Gully Spur, losing several men buried when the Turks exploded a mine at Cawley's Crater. In October the 1/7th was temporarily amalgamated with the 1/6th Lancashire Fusiliers due to casualties and sickness.Gibbon, pp. 47–8.Latter, Vol I, p. 79.
Throughout the first two weeks of December, the 1/7th Bn dug and sniped its way forwards by slow and steady stages. On 14 December the 1/7th was occupying Cawley's Crater when a patrol detected an enemy mine-shaft at the Gridiron, just 6 yards from the battalion's position. The following day a party led by Capt A.W. Boyd successfully laid and exploded a charge in the enemy mine-shaft. A decision had been made to evacuate the Peninsula, beginning on 16 December. A small operation was laid on at the Gridiron for that day as a diversion. The attacking force under Capt Boyd was drawn from 1/7th Bn, supported by 1/2nd West Lancashire Field Company, Royal Engineers and by 1/6th Bn behind using catapults to throw grenades. A mine was exploded on the far side of the crater, blowing in the Turkish trench and extending the crater, and the storming party occupied the trench and advanced some way along it in both directions, erecting barricades. That evening a Turkish counter-attack drove them out, but Boyd organised a fresh attack, supported by a bombing team from the Sussex Yeomanry, and regained the position within 15 minutes – the bombing teams had to be restrained from penetrating too far down the trenches in pursuit. The VIII Corps commander (Lt-Gen Sir Francis Davies) officially named the position 'Boyd's Crater'.Gibbon, pp. 55-57.Latter, Vol I, pp. 80–82.
The 1/7th Bn moved down to 'W' Beach on 27 December and sailed aboard the SS Ermine for Mudros and then to Egypt, landing at Alexandria on 15 January 1916. Its battle casualties for the Gallipoli campaign had been 7 officers and 242 other ranks, but the numbers hospitalised for sickness were considerably higher.Latter, Vol I, p. 82.
Egypt The 42nd Division settled into No 3 Section of the Suez Canal defences at Kantara until 4 August when a Turkish attack began the Battle of Romani. The division entrained for Pelusium. The following day the British sallied out from their entrenched positions to support the ANZAC Mounted Division in pursuing the enemy. However, the 42nd was untrained in desert conditions, and suffered badly from heat and thirst in the Sinai Desert: large numbers fell out and there were many deaths. The infantry pursuit was ineffective and the enemy retreated in good order.Gibbon, pp. 71–78.Latter, Vol I, pp. 82–84.
In December 1916, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force began its advance across Sinai to attack the Turkish forces in Palestine. 42nd Division's units were protecting the lines of communication, and on 13 December took part in a practice attack. However, after reaching El Arish, the division received orders on 28 January 1917 to transfer to the Western Front. On 22 February it began embarking at Alexandria for Marseille, landing on 27 February.Gibbon, pp. 81–85.
Ypres The move of the 42nd Division to France was completed on 15 March, and on 8 April it went into the line near Épehy, the 1/7th being the first battalion to enter the line.Gibbon, p. 90.Latter, Vol I, pp. 184, 202. The division remained in that sector until 8 July, when it moved to the Ypres Salient. From 23 August until the end of the month the infantry were behind the line at Poperinghe, training to take part in the Third Ypres Offensive then under way. On 1 September the division went into the line near Frezenberg Ridge, and on 6 September the Lancashire Fusiliers made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the fortified Iberian, Borry and Beck Farms; the 1/7th was not in the attack, but still suffered casualties, particularly among a carrying party supporting the 1/5th Bn. The division's infantry were relieved and returned for rest at Poperinghe on 18 September, then moved to the Nieuport area until November.Gibbon, pp. 97–102.Latter, pp. 228–230, 260.
Spring Offensive During the winter, the division held the line near Givenchy, constructing defences on the new principle of 'defended localities' in anticipation of the German spring offensive. On 12 February a patrol from 1/7th Bn detected a German mine-shaft, and fetched a demolition party to destroy it.Gibbon, pp. 114, 121–122.Latter, Vol I, pp. 280–281. When the German attack came on 21 March the division was in General Headquarters reserve, but it was moved into the line to relieve 40th Division and defend against the north wing of the German offensive (the 1st Battle of Bapaume). On the morning of 25 March the Germans pushed through 40th Division to Sapignies: a company of 1/7th Bn and part of 1/5th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers tried to check this advance and were subjected to fire from massed machine guns and a field artillery battery until support arrived and Sapignies was regained. The remainder of 1/7th Bn was dug in on the ridge to the north, and was also heavily attacked.Gibbon, pp. 127–134.Latter, Vol I, pp. 307–312.