Description

A British territorial battalion during the First World War

The Sherwood Foresters were described before the outbreak of the Great War as part of the 'best territorial brigade in the kingdom.' These were part time soldiers mainly from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and, of course, they derived their regimental name from the great forest of Sherwood, legendary haunt of Robin Hood. The magnitude of the 1914-18 war demanded a huge and steady supply of manpower from Britain and its colonies and so the attrition of the early period of the war made the mobilisation of the Territorial Force inevitable. Thus it was that these amateur soldiers, together with others who had volunteered, were destined to fight their war on the Western Front and in the author of this book they had an able chronicler to record their services. Most regimental histories of this period include a list of engagements which reads like a history of the war and this book is no exception; here are the Salient, the Hohenzollern Redoubt, Vimy Ridge and the Somme together with descriptions of the regiment's achievements at Gommecourt, Bellacourt, Lens, St. Elie, Hill 70, Gorre, Essars and other iconic engagements. It was not until the last bullet had been fired that the men who survived marched home again.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.