World War One

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the two Regular Battalions and the two Territorial Battalions (4th and 5th) were mobilized. In addition, New Army’ Battalions (6th, 7th and 8th) were raised, together with a 9th Battalion, which provided reinforcements for the other Battalions, and a 10th (Garrison) Battalion.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), known as the The Old Contemptibles, following comments by Kaiser who referred to the BEF as a ‘Contemptible Little Army’.

The 2nd Battalion KOSB served with the BEF in 1914 at the crucial early battles of Le Cateau and on the Aisne. In 1915 they fought at Hill 60 in the Ypres salient and were then transferred to the Somme sector. There in July 1916 they fought in an area between Morval and High Wood. In September they continued on the Somme and in April 1917 were moved to Vimy Ridge. Later that year they took part in Third Ypres. A brief sojourn on the Italian front in November was followed by a return to the trenches and in the summer of 1918 the battalion fought on the Lys.

The 1st Battalion KOSB served and fought with 29^th Division on the Gallipoli Peninsula and subsequently on the Western Front, in France. (29^th Division famous for winning 27 Victoria Crosses during WW1). Their story at Gallipoli is typical of that ill-fated campaign. Having been severely mauled in the initial assault, they took part in the Suvla Bay assault on 21 August. On 8 January 1916 the Battalion was eventually withdrawn from the Dardanelles. The Gallipoli casualties were horrendous because of the conditions over and above the fighting the soldiers had to endure with disease from dysentery caused by the heat and lack of any sanitation, all this resulted in 100% casualties ratio.

In April 1916, the 29^th Division was deployed to the Wester Front; 1^st Battalion was moved to Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme. Here they fought in support of the Inniskillings on 1st July 1916. In December they fought on the Ancre and April 1917 in the battle of Arras at Monchy. In August of that year, awards of the Victoria Cross were made to two men of the 1^st Battalion on the same day the 16^th August 1917, one to CSM John ‘Jock’ K Skinner DCM and the other to CQMS William H Grimbaldeston, at the Third Battle of Ypres, in the dreadful campaign known as ‘Passchendaele’. In November they fought at the Battle of Cambrai and in the new year back into the bloodbath of Passchendaele.

The 4th and 5th Battalions KOSB fought at Gallipoli, arriving in June 1915. Their history is a similarly tragic tale as the 1^st Battalion they were evacuated to Palestine, fought at the Battle of Gaza and in 1918 handled themselves with distinction at Vimy Ridge on the Western Front, in France, where at ‘Piccadilly Farm’ near Ypres on the 29^th September Sgt Louis McGuffie won a Victoria Cross, sadly he was killed a few days later by shell fire, without knowing he won a VC.

The 6th Battalion KOSB suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Loos in September 1915 and later fought on the Somme. In August 1916 they were at Vimy Ridge. In April 1917 they attacked at Arras and in September back at Ypres where they assaulted the infamous Zonnebeke redoubt.

The 7th Battalion KOSB lost about two-thirds of its strength and the 8^th Battalion KOSB lost over one-third at the Battle of Loos. It was here that famously Piper Daniel Laidlaw of the 7th Battalion KOSB on the 25th September 1915, encouraged by Lt Young, who himself was mortally wounded, to climbed out of the trench in the face of shellfire, machine guns and gas, he played the Regimental March, as he strode back and forth along the parapet, inspiring the men to attack and win the day, he won the Victora Cross.

The 7^th and 8^th Battalions were amalgamated in the spring of 1916 and went on to fight on the Somme at Martinpuich, at Arras in the great push of 1917, at Pilckem and again at Arras during the great German Spring Offensive of 1918, and on the Marne (with the French and Americans), ending the war in Belgium.