WW1 1st Monmouthshire Regiment Cap Badge – LONG SLIDER First Pattern

Guaranteed original. Complete & intact. This is an original WW1 1st Monmouthshire Regiment Cap Badge for sale. In good condition. Please see our other items for more original WW1, WW2 & post war British military cap badges for sale including other 1st Monmouthshire Regimentcap badges.

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The Monmouthshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army and the Territorial Army. With the outbreak of war in August 1914 the Territorial Force was mobilised. In all the Monmouthshire Regiment formed battalions during the conflict as follows: 1/1st (Rifle) Battalion: redesignation of 1st Battalion in September 1914 on formation of second-line 2/1st Battalion. Transferred to the newly formed 28th Division in France in February 1915, they quickly saw service in the Second Battle of Ypres, suffering severe casualties. In May 1915 they were temporarily amalgamated with the 1/2nd and 1/3rd Battalions at Vlamertinghe in Flanders to form a composite unit. Brought up to strength with replacements, the 1/1st resumed its own identity in August 1915. In September 1915 they were assigned to the 46th (North Midland) Division as a pioneer battalion. They remained with the division for the rest of the war, and were at Avesnes in northern France at the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. 2/1st (Rifle) Battalion: formed as a second-line duplicate of the 1st Battalion in Newport in September 1914. It did not move outside the United Kingdom, performing home defence duties, mostly in Suffolk, as part of the 53rd and 68th Divisions. They were disbanded at Lowestoft in March 1918. 3/1st (Rifle) Battalion: formed as a “third-line” duplicate of the 1st Battalion in February 1915. They remained in the United Kingdom (in Shropshire and Flintshire). In April 1916 they were redesignated as the 1st (Reserve) Battalion. 1/2nd Battalion: redesignation of 2nd Battalion in September 1914 on formation of second-line 2/2nd Battalion. Transferred to the 4th Division in France in November 1914. They spent the winter taking part in trench warfare near Armentieres. They subsequently took part in the Second Battle of Ypres in April and May 1915, fighting alongside the 1/1st and 1/3rd Monmouths in the 28th Division. Such were the losses that the three battalions were temporarily amalgamated.

The 2nd Battalion was mobilised on the outbreak of war in September 1939, as part of 160th Infantry Brigade, attached to 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. After a long period of training in Northern Ireland and England, they landed in Normandy on 28 June 1944, twenty-two days after the initial D-Day landings, with the rest of 53rd (Welsh) Division and fought in the Normandy Campaign in the Battle for Caen. They took part in Operation Epsom, spending two weeks in trenches between Hill 112 and the River Odon. They next saw action in the Battle of the Falaise Gap in August 1944, and advanced with the 53rd (Welsh) Division, liberating Merville and crossing into the Netherlands. By October they had reached the Nederrijn and took part in the attack on ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In December 1944 they took part in the counter offensive against German advances in the Ardennes forest. In January 1945 they moved to The Netherlands for a period of training prior to Operation Veritable (the Battle of the Reichswald). They entered Germany on 8 February, taking part in a month’s heavy fighting and suffering 300 casualties before being withdrawn for rest.

Please see our other items for more original WW1, WW2 & post war British military badges for sale including other 1st Monmouthshire Regiment cap badges.