1/11th london regt

[kevin5686]

reserching my grandads regt 1/11th london regt in palistine can anyone help

[River97]

A very brief explination is on Chris Baker's Long, Long Trail here.

There are other references you could look up.

They wee part of the 54th Division, however, there were other British Divisions in Palestine who had very similar histories. The 60th London Division has a written history,

There are quite a few of these that can be found at Naval And Military Press here.

Cheers Andy.

[archangel9]

The War Diary is available here -

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=1%2F11+Battalion+London+Regiment&txtfirstdate=&txtlastdate=&txtrestriction=wo95&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=0&image1.y=0

WO 95/4325 162 Infantry Brigade: 1/11 Battalion London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles). 1915 July - Dec.

WO 95/4654 1/11 Battalion London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles) 1916 Jan. - 1919 July

WO 95/4325 is available to download from docs online. Unfortunately WO 95/4654, which covers the period you are after, isn't.

John

[liliasodell]

Out of interest - what was your grandfather's name?

I've dug out the following outline/info -

1/11th London Regiment formed part of the 54th Division, within which it was in the 162nd Infantry Brigade, along with 1/5th Bn Bedfordshire Regiment; 1/4th Bn Northants Reg; 1/10th London Reg; and 102nd Light Trench Mortar. Other Brigades in the Division were - 161st and 163rd, plus Divisional troops. It was a totally Territorial Division, which had also fought in Gallipoli, and remained unchanged in its compilation throughout the Palestine Campaign..

The Division landed in Egypt in December 1915, and marched across the desert from the Suez Canal.

The Division took part in the 1st and 2nd battles of Gaza in March and April 1917; held the left of the line in front of Gaza in June and July; and eventually was included in XXIs Corps on its formation in August.

2 Nov. 1917 - attack on Gaza - after initial fighting, the 1/11th Londons and the 1/5th Bedfords pushed on and seized Gun Hill and Sheikh Hassan respectively - strong points in the Turk's second line of defence. Positions were consolidated despite determined counter-attacks

7 Nov. - the Brigade occupied Belah Trench - Turtle Hill. Patrols through Gaza found it evacuated and a defensive line from Sheikh Redwan to the sea was occupied and linked up with the line held by the 75th Division on the right.

19 Nov. - Division reached Ludd and took over a portion of the new line covering Jaffa.

27 Nov. - Heavy Turkish attack on the line Beit Nabala-Dear Tureif-Wilhelma was repulsed by 162nd Brigade.

22 Dec - 161st & 162nd Brigades advanced the line to the River Anja, north of Mulebbis - the 1/11th Londons storming the strongly held Bald Hill during the course of this engagement.

12 March 1918 - 162nd and 163rd Brigades advanced the line further to a depth of 4 miles. 1/11th Londons and 1/5th Bedfords captured Mezeirah.

18 Sept 1918 - 162nd Brigade was at Mezeirah-Kuleh.

19 Sept - Division advanced on a front of 3,000 yards - over broken and difficult country - all objectives taken by nightfall, plus 600 prisoners and 11 guns.

24 Sept - Division concentrated in the Hableh area

28 Sept - Division started march to Haifa

4 Oct - Division concentrated at Haifa

23 Oct - Division advanced northwards towards Beirut.

31 Oct - Division marched through Beirut at the hour hostilities with the Turks ceased.

More detailed information can be found in -

"The Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force Under the Command of General Sir Edmund H H Allenby". Published 1919. This is now available as a reprint (and much more affordable than an original!)

Also - Col. A P Wavell's - "The Palestine Campaigns" (pub. 1928) is a great source - though a bit on the pricey side if you can track a copy down.

More modern books - "The Last Crusade" by Anthony Bruce is a very accessible book - but not easy to look up the activities of the individual regiments and battalions, without having the basic 'diary'.

I would also strongly suggest seeing if you can find the Regimental Diaries - they may be on-line (a few are - though not enough!), or someone on this site might be able to point you in the right direction.

Hope this has given you a rough starting point - and good luck!

ps - just spotted - while I've been typing this someone has given info on the War Diaries.

[RaySearching]

Quote ARTHURWO Out of interest - what was your grandfather's name?

His Grandfarthers name is Charles Patrick Anderson

Kevinmalton has two threads running on the same subject

one in Chitchat and this one here

Ray

[alantaylor2004@hotmail.com]

Hi there,

I have just purchased a medal which reads:

side one: 54th Division Egypt 1919

side two: 1 mile relay 3rd. Rfn F.J.Butler 1/11 London Reg

I would have thought that he would be easy to find, but I can't seem to pin him down. Any ideas?

Grateful for any help.

Alan