The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Mud, marching orders and company routines give Geoffrey Keith Rose's regimental history its close view of the First World War. He follows the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry through service in France, with chapters on Laventie, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. The contents place raids and major actions alongside working parties, winter weather, rations and transport. Maps and illustrations accompany the account, which grew from articles published in the Oxford Times in 1919.

Rose also records moments that reveal the battalion as a group of people. Villagers at Noeux give the men a warm farewell, while an inspecting general tests their readiness by unexpectedly calling a gas alarm. Before the fighting at Ypres, Rose names company commanders and considers how replacements altered the unit's identity. Readers interested in military history can follow both the sequence of operations and the practical habits of soldiers preparing for another stretch at the front.