Mud, Blood and Bayonet

This is the story of the 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment in 1918. They fought numerous, bloody actions, suffering the highest casualties of any year of the war. Their experiences are captured on the pages of the war diaries, personal diaries and in the orders and operational reports.

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This is the story of the 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment in 1918. They fought numerous, bloody actions, suffering the highest casualties of any year of the war. Of the 44 Officers and 757 Other Ranks killed during the entire war, 17 Officers and 359 Other Ranks were reported killed in 1918.
Their first major action was the German Spring Offensive. Five days of determined rear-guard fighting, against overwhelming numbers, was halted 20 miles behind the original front line. There they `dug-in' and repelled constant enemy attack until their successful raid on Y Ravine at Beaumont-Hamel in June. In August, the final push saw them attack Thiepval Ridge, Flers, Gauche Wood and on to Cambrai. The final major battle was at Neuvilly in October, but the last fight was in the Mormal Forest near Locquignol on 4th November 1918.
Whilst the brave men of the 6th Battalion are no longer with us, their experiences are captured on the pages of the war diaries, personal diaries and in the orders and operational reports; their hand-written notes still legible on the `dog-eared' trench maps. This is their story, in their words, day by day.