The 12th (Service) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment (Bermondsey) (12th East Surreys or 12th ESR) was an infantry unit recruited as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in World War I. It was raised in the summer of 1915 by the Mayor and Borough of Bermondsey in South East London. It served on the Western Front from May 1916, seeing action at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette when it famously followed one of the first tanks down the high street. Later it fought at Messines and Ypres. After a period on the Italian Front it returned to the west to serve against the German spring offensive. Lastly, it took part in the final advance to victory in Flanders, before participating in the Allied occupation of the Rhineland.

Recruitment

On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army. The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. Men flooded into the recruiting offices and the 'first hundred thousand' were enlisted within days. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.War Office Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8.Aston & Duggan, pp. 1–3. The K2, K3 and K4 battalions, brigades and divisions followed soon afterwards. But the flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the Army to absorb them, and the K5 units were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, often from men from particular localities or backgrounds who wished to serve together: these were known as 'Pals battalions'. The 'Pals' phenomenon quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office (WO). Encouraged by this response, in February 1915 Kitchener approached the 28 Metropolitan Borough Councils in the County of London, and the 'Great Metropolitan Recruiting Campaign' went ahead in April, with each mayor asked to raise a unit of local men.McCue, pp. 10–1.Pearse & Sloman, Vol II, pp. 28–9.

Kitchener's request was discussed by Bermondsey Borough Council on 4 May. There was some opposition on the grounds that the borough already hosted the 22nd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Queen's), a pre-war Territorial Force (TF) unit with its drill hall at Jamaica Road. This unit had quickly expanded to three battalions after the outbreak of war and continued to recruit in the borough. Nevertheless, the council resolved to raise a Bermondsey Battalion: this became the 12th (Service) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. (The East Surrey Regiment was the Regular Army regiment covering South London, while the London Regiment consisted entirely of part-time soldiers of the TF). WO authorisation was issued on14 May, recruiting began immediately, and the battalion was officially formed on 24 May. Battalion Headquarters (HQ) was established at the Town Hall, and the Oval in Southwark Park was used for drill. On 31 May Lieutenant-Colonel L.F. Beatson, formerly of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was appointed as the first commanding officer (CO). A number of other officers came from the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps, and Beatson borrowed non-commissioned officers (NCOs) from the depot and 3rd (Reserve) Bn of the East Surreys to carry out initial training. All manner of events were held to encourage men to join, including marches through the borough, one led by Harry Lauder's band of pipers and another on 8 July by 19-year-old Lance-Corporal Edward Dwyer of 1st Bn East Surreys, who had just been invested at Buckingham Palace with the Victoria Cross (VC) he won at Hill 60 at Ypres. By then over 500 men had been recruited and took part in the parade. Soon the number swelled to over 1000, mainly workers from the docks, the riverside and the tanneries in Rotherhithe, though these included significant numbers who were under- or over-age or unfit, and later had to be discharged or transferred to reserve units. At first the men lived at home or were billeted locally.Aston & Duggan, pp. 3–10.Frederick, p. 203.James. p. 74.James, pp. 114–6.East Surreys at Long, Long Trail.McCue, pp. 30–32.Dwyer VC at Queen's Royal Surreys.War Office Instruction No 56 of September 1915, Appendix IX.

The Mayor, John Hart, suggested that the battalion should have a distinctive cap badge incorporating the borough's coat of arms, as was done by the 13th East Surreys, recruited in Wandsworth. Lieutenant-Col Beatson refused, arguing that they were a battalion of a famous regiment and should wear its badge. As a compromise the Bermondsey battalion wore distinctive collar badges supplied by the borough and authorised by the WO.Aston & Duggan, p. 7.McCue, pp. 28–9.

Training On 2 October 1915 the battalion marched from Rotherhithe to Waterloo Station and entrained for Milford Station in Surrey. It then marched into Witley Camp to join 41st Division, the last 'K' division to be formed. It was assigned to 122nd Brigade, serving alongside the 15th (S) Bn, Hampshire Regiment (2nd Portsmouth) ('15th Hants', the 'Pompey Pals'), 11th (S) Bn, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (Lewisham) ('11th RWK') and 18th (S) Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps (Arts & Crafts) ('18th KRRC'). The battalions at Witley were equipped with Lee-Enfield Mark III rifles, specialists such as Lewis gunners, signallers and 'bombers' were selected and trained. Route marches were carried out with full kit, the pouches filled with iron weights (known as 'Kitchener's chocolate') to simulate the weight of ammunition; the men of 12th East Surreys were among those guilty of discarding these weights in roadside ditches. Unfit personnel were transferred to the 3rd and 14th Reserve battalions, and replaced with trained men from them and from the 10th and 11th Reserve battalions. On 8 November 12th ESR marched to Oudenarde Barracks at Aldershot, where the men fired their musketry courses, before returning to Witley. On 14 February 1916 the battalion returned to Aldershot to begin final intensive training prior to going overseas to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front. Lieutenant-Col Beatson was replaced by a younger man, Major H.H. Lee of the Cameronians, who had been wounded on the Western Front and was now promoted to take over command.Aston & Duggan, pp. 8–19.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 109–15.41st Division at Long, Long Trail.

14th (Reserve) Battalion The 14th (Reserve) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, was formed in Wandsworth in the summer of 1915 from the depot companies of 12th (Bermondsey) and 13th (Wandsworth) Bns as a Local Reserve battalion to supply reinforcement drafts to the two service battalions. In practice the majority of the men came from the surplus recruits to the Wandsworth Bn, whose first commanding officer transferred across to command it. On 1 November, when it had reached a strength of between 500 and 600 men it went to Gravesend, where it joined 26th Reserve Brigade. However, on 26 June 1916 it was absorbed into the other battalions of 26th Reserve Bde.Aston & Duggan, p. 17.McCue, pp. 35, 47, Appendix I.

Service On 1 May 12th East Surreys entrained at Farnborough for Southampton Docks, where the men embarked on the transport Caesarea and landed at Le Havre in France the following morning with a strength of 1018 officers and men. On 4 May the battalion went by train to Goodearsveldt and then marched to billets at Outtersteene in the division's concentration area west of Bailleul in Second Army's area.Aston & Duggan, pp. 19–22.12th East Surrey War Diary, May 1916–March 1919 at Queen's Royal Surreys.

While continuing its training, parties from the new division were sent up to the line for instruction in trench warfare from experienced units. Fifty-strong parties from 12th ESR were attached to units of 9th (Scottish) Division in Ploegsteert Wood ('Plugstreet Wood') for 48 hours each. On 13 May the enemy raided 6th King's Own Scottish Borderers to which one of 12th ESR's parties was currently attached. Although the enemy put down a heavy barrage and some of the parapets were caved in, the East Surrey party suffered no casualties. 41st Division then relieved 9th (S) Division in the Ploegsteert trenches, with 12th ESR going into brigade reserve at 'Soyer Farm' on 28 May before taking over the front line next morning. it then began a routine of the routine of two weeks in the trenches, one in support and one in reserve, usually alternating with 10th Queen's (Battersea) of 124th Bde. The battalion also had to supply working parties, and it began to suffer a trickle of casualties, particularly from chance shelling or trench mortar fire or random machine gun fire, or during patrolling or trench raids.Aston & Duggan, pp. 23–30.Eden, pp. 75–81.McCue, pp. 178–80.Pearse & Sloman, Vol II, pp. 183–4.Wylly, pp. 252–66.

When 41st Division arrived on the Western Front the BEF was preparing for that summer's 'Big Push', the Battle of the Somme, the bombardment beginning on 24 June. To confuse the enemy as to the extent of the offensive, 41st Division was ordered to make diversionary raids at Ploegsteert. 122nd Brigade's raid was preceded by its own lengthy bombardment, and during those days the infantry battalions carried up over 1000 gas cylinders and installed them along the division's front. The final bombardment began on the morning of 30 June, and the Germans retaliated strongly, causing considerable damage and numerous casualties. The British bombardment rose to full intensity at 21.15, and the gas was released at 22.00. 122nd Brigade's raiding parties went out just before 22.30: 12th ESR's raiders (2 officers and 34 other ranks (ORs)) had a feature known as 'The Fort' as their objective. They crossed No man's land without difficulty (the only party from 122nd Bde who succeeded) and entered the Fort, finding the strongpoint badly battered by the shelling and abandoned by the enemy. They bombed and searched the dugouts. Several of the battalion's most skilful raiders were pre-war members of Bermondsey's notorious 'Black Hand Gang', who left a signboard bearing a black hand in the Fort before retiring (the name was later sometimes applied to the whole battalion). Although the raiding party only had four casualties, the battalion suffered numerous others from the day's counter-bombardment. It was relieved by 10th Queen's at 05.00 next morning and went back to billets at Soyer Farm. The real offensive began that day (1 July) but did not involve the Ploegsteert sector, where 41st Division continued normal trench duty and preparing for a new gas attack. Lieutenant-Col Lee was wounded by shellfire on the night of 13/14 July and the second-in-command, Maj H.J. Walmisley-Dresser, assumed command of 12th ESR as acting Lt-Col (he was from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and had served with Paget's Horse during the Second Boer War).Aston & Duggan, pp. 30–5.Eden, p. 81.McCue, pp. 184–6.Pearse & Sloman, Vol II, pp. 252–6.Walmisley-Dresser at CWGC Records.

Flers–Courcelette