The 6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, was a Territorial Force unit of the British Army. Originally recruited in Gloucestershire as a Volunteer battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment ('The Glosters') during the Second Boer War, it fought on the Western Front and in Italy during World War I. In the late 1930s it was converted into an armoured regiment and served as such during and after World War II

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force, originally organised with great enthusiasm in 1859, had declined in numbers in the later 19th Century, but received a boost when Volunteers were allowed to serve alongside Regular Army units during the Second Boer War. A number of new units were formed at the time, including the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, raised at Bristol from February 1900 and officially accepted on 24 July 1900. The new battalion consisted of eight companies based at St Michael's Hill, Bristol, and was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Greville McLellan, a retired Major in the 3rd Dragoon Guards. Among the officers was the Rt Hon Charles Hobhouse, MP for Bristol East, a former Militia Captain in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was appointed major in the new battalion and succeeded to its command three years later. It adopted the khaki uniform worn by the Imperial Yeomanry serving at that time in South Africa, and the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, Lord Roberts became its Honorary Colonel.Daniell, p. 202.Frederick, pp. 50–1, 101.Army List, various dates.6th Glosters/44th RTR at Regiments.org.Westlake, p. 99.

Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908 the battalion became the 6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. It formed part of the Gloucester & Worcester Brigade in the TF's South Midland Division.London Gazette 20 March 1908.Conrad, British Army, 1914.Daniell, pp. 204–5.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 77–83.48 (SM) Div at Long, Long Trail The battalion also had two cadet companies attached to it

World War I Mobilisation The units of the South Midland Division had just set out for annual training when war broke out in August 1914. The Gloucester & Worcester Brigade travelled to Minehead on 2 August, but in view of the international situation the 6th Gloucesters returned to Bristol next day and the men were dismissed to their homes to await orders for mobilisation, which were issued on 4 August. The South Midland Division began concentrating at Swindon in Wiltshire, shortly afterwards moving to Essex as part of Central Force. 6th Gloucesters was billeted in villages outside Chelmsford.Gloucesters at Long, Long Trail.Grist, pp. 49–50.Wyrall, pp. 59–60.

Shortly after the declaration of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August 1914, the War Office (WO) issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form them into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created from the recruits who were flooding in. Later they were mobilised for overseas service in their own right and a 3rd Line created.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Daniell, Appendix I.

1/6th Gloucesters

The South Midland Division underwent progressive training in Essex, and on 13 March 1915 received orders to embark to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. The Gloucester & Worcester Brigade crossed from Folkestone to Boulogne, and by 3 April the whole division had concentrated near Cassel. After training in Trench warfare the battalion went into the line near Ploegsteert ('Plugstreet') attached to experienced 17th Brigade for instruction. By the middle of the month the South Midland Division had become responsible for its own section of the front, with 1/6th Gloucesters at Plugstreet Wood. Here the commanding officer (CO), Lt-Col William Anderson, went sick and command temporarily devolved on the adjutant, Capt John Micklem, a Regular officer of the Rifle Brigade who had been on the Western Front since August 1914 (Micklem was later promoted to the command permanently). On 12 May 1915 the division was designated 48th (South Midland) Division and the brigade became 144th (Gloucester & Worcester) Brigade. It moved to take over the Hébuterne sector from the French Army on 20 July, and remained there until July 1916.Daniell, p. 211.Wyrall, pp. 128–32.

On the night of 25/26 November 1915 C Company carried out 1/6th Gloucesters' first trench raid, on German trenches and shelters in a corner of Gommecourt Wood. An artillery bombardment to cut the German barbed wire had been fired by 1/III South Midland Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, on the preceding afternoon, and the hope was to catch a German working party repairing the wire during the night. The five officers and 100 other ranks of the raiding party had practised the operation and an officer and 20 men crept out after dark to occupy 'Z Hedge' half-way across No man's land. It was now bright moonlight, and the officer in charge, Capt V.N. Young, telephoned the CO to say that the raiders would never get in: Lt-Col Micklen ordered them to carry on. The main body moved up to Z Hedge, then two raiding parties went out slowly under the moonlight and got within of the German trenches just before midnight. Captain Young waited until a cloud obscured the moon, then the artillery Forward Observation Officer called down a Box barrage, isolating the sector to be attacked. The raiders dashed forward as the shells fell: the right party got into the trench, causing damage and many casualties, and taking a prisoner; the left part ran into intact wire, which had to be cut before they could enter the trench. At the end of the raid both parties retired to join the support party at Z Hedge, which fired Rifle grenades into the vacated trenches while the raiders returned to the British line. The casualties from this successful raid were one man killed and one missing, two officers and 18 other ranks slightly wounded.Grist, pp. 98–9.Wyrall, pp. 137–41.242 South Midland Bde War Diary April 1915–October 1917, The National Archives, Kew, file WO 95/2750/1. 1/6th Gloucesters were themselves raided on the night of 18/19 March 1916, but managed to defend their outposts for the loss of 12 men killed, 29 wounded or gassed, and three missing.Wyrall, pp. 145–6.

Somme

The battalion served in the trenches for 16 months before it participated in its first major battle, during the Somme offensive. On the First day on the Somme (1 July) 1/6th Bn was in reserve and did not participate in the division's actions. An attack the following day was cancelled.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 426–7.Wyrall, p. 151. On 19 July the division went into the line north-east of Ovillers-la-Boiselle and began 'softening' the German strongpoints in front of the Pozières Ridge by sending out bombing parties.Daniell, p. 224. The main attack (the Battle of Pozières) was launched at 00.30 on 23 July. 144th Brigade was bombarded in its forming-up trenches, and when the leading platoons went 'over the top' they walked straight into a storm of machine-gun fire. The Official History recorded that 'the 1/6th Gloucestershire was literally mown down, only a few bombers succeeding in entering the German line near the railway. These gallant men were soon overwhelmed'.Grist, pp. 141–2.Miles, 1916, Vol II, p. 144.Wyrall, pp. 160–3.

The division was back in action on Pozières Ridge on the night of 14–15 August, trying unsuccessfully to recapture and hold 'Skyline Trench'. 1/6th Gloucesters was reported 'fighting gamely for possession of the German trenches on the slope at the south-western end of Skyline Trench, but met with no success'. The battalion assisted a renewed attempt the next night, but gained no more lasting success.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 144, 218–20.

The 1/6th Battalion went into the line for another spell on 21 August, and early in the morning the Germans made a counter-attack against their forward position. This was repulsed, but between 05.30 and 1200 the battalion made three separate attempts to occupy a particular enemy position, and each time was bombed out. At 05.00 next morning the Germans assembled under a bank in front of the battalion's position, shielded by morning mist, and got through the line. The platoon beyond the point of breakthrough was cut off and scattered. The remainder of their company was forced back to the original line. The 1/6th Battalion sent out bombing parties covered by machine guns erected on the parapet. While they were being mounted Private Kerr spotted a German machine gun team coming into action. He knelt on the parapet in full view of the enemy and shot three of the German machine gunners, preventing the gun being opened on his company. There was further fierce fighting that night.Daniell, p. 225.Wyrall, pp. 169–73.

The battalion spent the winter on the Ancre Heights, and then participated in following the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line (Operation Alberich) in the spring of 1917. On 1 April 144th Brigade attacked Épehy, 1/6th Gloucesters advancing at 05.00 with A, C and D Companies in the firing line. Although met by brisk rifle fire from the outskirts, the battalion pushed through the village, meeting no serious resistance until it reached the objective, a railway embankment beyond, at about 06.30. At that time the artillery put a barrage down on the embankment and as soon as it ceased A and C Companies pushed on to consolidate the position.Daniell, pp. 229–30.Grist, pp. 183–4.Wyrall, pp. 179–90.

Although the pursuit was over by 5 April along most of the line, fighting continued on 48th (SM) Division's front as it advanced its outposts towards the main Hindenburg position. 1/6th Gloucesters established battalion HQ in a cellar at Villers-Faucon, but early in the morning of 18 April this was destroyed by explosives left on a delayed-action fuse by the retreating Germans. The CO, Lt-Col Thomas Nott, and his brother Capt Louis Nott the adjutant were killed together with the battalion Medical Officer and three other officers. Captain John Crosskey, from the 1/5th Warwickshire Regiment, assumed temporary command of the battalion for its next operation, on 23 April. The objective was The Knoll, with A and B Companies in the first line, C in support and D in reserve in the original line. At Zero hour, 03.45, the companies advanced, and had got about before running into a machine gun barrage. The first line reached its objective, but the second line got broken up and the two forward companies were outnumbered and were thrown out of the enemy line. C Company made another attempt to get forward with fighting patrols but these were subjected to heavy small arms fire as soon as they showed themselves on the skyline and were forced to return to the starting line. In this failed attack the battalion lost two officers and four other ranks killed or died of wounds, five officers and 72 men wounded and 12 missing.Grist, pp. 194–5.Wyrall, pp. 210–2.

Ypres