The 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex was a regular service battalion and at the outbreak of the First World War was stationed at Woking.
In its history, it had been sent to Egypt in 1882 as part of General Wolseley's expedition to crush the Urabi Revolt and conquer Egypt in the name of the Khedive. The Battalion was stationed in Alexandria after its bombardment by the Royal Navy and later, in 1884, the regiment was part of the Nile Expedition--the unsuccessful attempt to save General Gordon and his garrison at Khartoum during the Mahdist War.
In 1888, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in India, as part of the Black Mountain Expedition, one of many battles fought along the North-West Frontier Province.
The 2nd Battalion crossed the channel with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was of 2nd Brigade, 1st Division.
The 1st Division of the British Army :
1st (Guards) Brigade (On formation of the Guards Division in August 1915, this Brigade lost its two Guards battalions and was redesignated without the Guards reference in its title).
1st Battalion, the Coldstream Guards (left August 1915).
1st Battalion, the Scots Guards (left August 1915).
1st Battalion, the Black Watch.
2nd Battalion, the Royal Munster Fusiliers (left September 1914, after suffering high losses in the Rearguard Affair of Etreux).
1st Battalion, the Cameron Highlanders (joined to replace the Royal Munster Fusiliers in September 1914).
14th (County of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (joined November 1914, left February 1916).
8th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Berkshire (joined August 1915, left February 1918).
10th (Service) Battalion, the Gloucester’s (joined August 1915, disbanded February 1918).
1st Battalion, the Loyal North Lancs (joined February 1918).
1st Brigade Machine Gun Company (formed on 26 January 1916, moved into 1 MG Bn 28 February 1918).
1st Trench Mortar Battery (joined by 27 November 1915).
2nd Brigade
2nd Battalion, the Royal Sussex.
1st Battalion, the Northamptonshire.
1st Battalion, the Loyal North Lancs (left February 1918).
2nd Battalion, the King's Royal Rifle Corps.
5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion, the Royal Sussex (joined February 1915, left August 1915).
9th Battalion, the King's (Liverpool) (joined March 1915, left November 1915).
5th Battalion, the King's Own (joined October 1915, left January 1916).
2nd Brigade Machine Gun Company (formed on 26 January 1916, moved into 1 MG Bn 28 February 1918).
2nd Trench Mortar Battery (joined by 27 November 1915).
3rd Brigade
1st Battalion, the Queen's (transferred to I Corps, November 1914).
1st Battalion, the South Wales Borderers.
1st Battalion, the Gloucester’s.
2nd Battalion, the Welsh.
2nd Battalion, the Royal Munster Fusiliers (joined November 1914, left February 1918).
4th (Denbighshire) Battalion, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (joined November 1914, left September 1915).
6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, the Welsh (joined October 1915, left May 1916).
9th Battalion, the King's (Liverpool) (joined November 1915, left January 1916).
3rd Brigade Machine Gun Company (formed on 26 January 1916, moved into 1 MG Bn 28 February 1918).
3rd Trench Mortar Battery (joined by 27 November 1915).
Divisional Troops
6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, the Welsh (joined as Pioneers May 1916).
216th Machine Gun Company (joined 22 March 1917, joined Divisional MG Battalion 1 March 1918).
No 1 Machine Gun Battalion (created 28 February 1918).
Divisional Mounted Troops
C Squadron, 15th (King's) Hussars (left April 1915).
B Squadron, 1st Northumberland Hussars (joined 13 April 1915, left 18 April 1916).
1st Cyclist Company (left 15 June 1916).
Divisional Artillery
LXI (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA (joined August 1915, broken up 14 November 1916)
XXV Brigade, RFA.
XXVI Brigade, RFA (left January 1917).
XXXIX Brigade, RFA .
26 Heavy Battery, RFA (left April 1915).
1st Divisional Ammunition Column
V.1 Heavy Trench Mortar Battery RFA (formed 30 January 1917, broken up 9 February 1918)
X.1, Y.1 and Z.1 Medium Mortar Batteries RFA (joined by 16 March 1916; on 9 February 1918, Z broken up and batteries reorganised to have 6 x 6-inch weapons each)
Engineer Units
23rd Field Company.
26th Field Company.
1st (Lowland) Field Company (joined Dec 1914, renamed 409th Field Coy).
1st Divisional Signal Company.
The 2nd Battalion fought through the war on the Western Front and it was during the first Battle of Ypres that it was given the unofficial title "The Iron Regiment" as an unsolicited testimonial by German prisoners captured on November 1st 1914.
At the Battle of Aubers Ridge and Festubert in 1915, the Battalion fought alongside the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion. Later that year, on 25th September, during the Battle of Loos Sgt Harry Wells won a posthumous VC, when the Battalion took part in the attack in the vicinity of the Lone Tree in front of Hulluch.
Throughout the war the 2nd battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, lost a total of 1,723 officers and men.
The Battle honors of the Battalion:
Battle of Mons. (23-24 Aug 1914).
Rearguard affair of Etreux. (27 Aug 1914).
Battle of the Marne. (7-10 Sep 1914, including the passage of the Petit Morin and the passage of the Marne).
Battle of the Aisne. (12-15 Sep 1914, including the capture of the Aisne Heights including the Chemin des Dames).
Actions of the Aisne Heights. (20 Sep 1914).
Action of Chivy. (26 Sep 1914).
Battle of Langemarck. (21-24 Oct 1914).
Battle of Gheluvelt. (29-31 Oct 1914).
Battle of Nunne Bosschen. (11 Nov 1914).
Defence of Givenchy. (20-21 Dec 1914).
First action of Givenchy. (25 Jan 1915).
Affairs of Cuinchy. (29 Jan. 1 Feb. 6 Feb 1915).
Battle of Aubers. (9 May 1915, including the attack on Fromelles and the attack at Rue du Bois).
Battle of Loos. (25 Sep-8 Oct 1915).
Actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. (13-19 Oct 1915).
Battle of Albert. (1-13 Jul 1916, including the capture of Montauban, Mametz, Fricourt, Contalmaison and La Boisselle).
Battle of Bazentin. (14-17 Jul 1916, including the capture of Longueval, Trones Wood and Ovillers).
Battle of Pozieres. (23 Jul 1916, including the fighting for Mouquet Farm).
Battle of Flers-Courcelette. (15-22 Sep 1916, including the capture of Martinpuich).
Battle of Morval. (25-28 Sep 1916, including the capture of Combles, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt).
German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. (14 Mar-5 Apr 1917).
Operations on the Flanders Coast. (20 Jun-11 Nov 1917).
German attacks on Nieuport. (10-11 Jul 1917).
Second Battle of Passchendaele. (26 Oct-10 Nov 1917).
Battle of Estaires. (9-11 Apr 1918, including the first defence of Givenchy).
Battle of Hazebrouck. (12-15 Apr 1918, including the defence of the Hinges Ridge and the Nieppe Forest).
Battle of Bethune. (18 Apr 1918, including the second defence of Givenchy).
Battle of Drocourt-Queant. (2-3 Sep 1918).
Battle of Epehy. (18 Sep 1918).
Battle of Beaurevoir. (3-5 Oct 1918).
Battle of the Selle. (17-25 Oct 1918).Battle of the Sambre. (4 Nov 1918, including the passage of the Sambre-Oise canal and the capture of Le Quesnoy).
6 comments:
Very pleased to have found your site: very informative. Thank you. DO you happen to know anything about the use of gas at the battles of the Selle and the Battle of the Sambre? My grandfather was in the Coldstream Guards Machine Gun regiment and I was always told that a contributory factor to his premature death (he lived through the war but died in 1936 at the age of 48) was damage to his lungs from gas in the war. I can't find any official record of that though. Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks again for your interesting pages.
Hi Mary
Thanks for the comment.
I will have a look and get back to you!
Cheers
Hi Mary
I don't know if you will pick this up, anyhow.
I've found 2 references to Gas shells being used in the Battle of Selle.
The offical record of the Royal West Kent's talks about gas shells being fired late night and early morning during that battle.
And there are references to it in the history of the Welsh Fusallirs.
Also, Lieut Wilfred Owen in a letter home during the last days wrote about being under a heavy artillery attack which inclued Gas.
I hope that helps, if you want i can try to copy the sections and send them on.
Cheers
Alan
my wifes grandfather was pte harry a vivash 2nd bn royal sussex regd kia november 1914 his mother was laura vivash lived in lambert. if their are any photos of 2nd bn of said regd please publish michael coady
Hello,
I don't know whether any of your sources would reveal what 2nd Bn Royal Sussex Regiment were doing between end of Defence of Givenchy on 22 Dec 1914 and 31 Dec 1914 when my great-uncle died. I imagine it was patrolling. He may have been killed by a sniper.
Any pointers would be very gratefully received.
Thank you
Robin Goldsmith
My second great grandfather was with the 2nd battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment and stationed in India in about 1895. I can find very little info on this group. Can you provide anything on George Neville Brodrick (Broadrick? Broderick?) any photos which may be available or a list of those lost and those who survived? Many thanks....fascinating histories!
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