New book tells epic story of the East Lancashire territorial division

The 21 March to mid-April marks the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest battles of the First World War - a battle that involved thousands of East Lancashire territorial soldiers of the 66th Division whose full story of heroism and sacrifice has never been properly told.

They were ordinary clerks and men from the mills, collieries and railways of towns across East Lancashire including Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton.

They faced the onslaught of the German army and fought with incredible bravery and sacrifice to turn the tide of the war to allied victory, despite being heavily out-numbered.

Between 21 March and 31 March, 1918, their division was almost wiped out but their story is little known. 

‘Death of a Division’, by military historian David Martin, explores the extraordinary story of the 66^th (2/1^st East Lancashire) Division.

It charts the origin of the division from recruitment from some of the poorest parts of East Lancashire, through to providing drafts at Gallipoli, serving in the Home forces, the Third Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele to the Great German Offensive of March 1918 that decimated the division.

In eight days of action in this battle the 66^th suffered 7,000 casualties out of a force of nearly 9,500 men.

The fighting is brought to life through first-hand accounts and the heroic and tragic stories of the men swept up in the terrifying maelstrom of war.

The German Army unleashed an enormous offensive on 21 March 1918, in a last major effort to win the war, and they very nearly succeeded. One million German soldiers poured from their trenches to attack a British expeditionary force along a frontline of nearly 50 miles.

Facing the onslaught of more than 40 German divisions and heavily out-numbered stood a dozen British divisions. Among them were the territorial soldiers of the 66^th Division – mostly ordinary mill workers, colliers, railwaymen and clerks from the East Lancashire mill towns who fought valiantly for eight days and whose ultimate sacrifice helped to put the allies on the road to victory.

“For the first time this book tells the complete story of the 66^th. They are so far down the army order their history was never written,” said author David Martin.

“It’s why I chose to write the book. In the church at Passchendaele village there’s a memorial window to the 66^th Division, but in fact their most important story and contribution to the Great War was this battle of March 1918 in which they were nearly wiped out and for which there is no memorial.

“Each man played their role in one of the greatest battles of the First World War, one that is often overlooked when compared with the Somme in 1916 and Passchendaele in 1917.

“The 1918 offensive differed from those earlier battles. It was mostly open warfare, fought over a very large area with artillery, cavalry and tanks.

“These men who had been mill workers, railwaymen, colliers and clerks found themselves out-numbered in the frontline facing the onslaught of the German army. They were steadfast. They fought bravely. They got on with the job.

"‘Death of a Division’ acts as a memorial for the men of Lancashire and Britain who served in The East Lancashire Division and is a tribute to their sacrifice.”

The 66^th was made up of the territorial units of the Lancashire Fusiliers, the East Lancashire Regiment and the Manchester Regiment.

The men were from across East Lancashire but were largely recruited from Accrington, Ashton-under-Lyne, Atherton Bacup, Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton, Bury, Clitheroe, Church, Darwen Heywood, Haslingden, Leigh, Manchester, Middleton, Oldham, Padiham, Ramsbottom, Rochdale, Salford, Patricroft and Wigan as well as Todmorden.

Later in the war, as casualties mounted, men were recruited from all over Britain.

The 66^th Division were in the thick of the fighting during the 1918 German Offensive, from 21 March to 31 March, at the battles of St Quentin and Peronne through to the defence of Amiens.

The German attack failed to break through. Amiens, a key French city, was held and by 27 March, eight days into the offensive, the High Command of both sides came to the conclusion that the Allies had won the war. The British held until the Australians could take over at Villers-Bretonneux in April.

Casualties during the Spring Offensive were huge on both sides. More than 267,000 British casualties, either killed missing or wounded and 72,000 taken prisoner. French losses stood at 77,000 and German losses at 239,000.

Of the 9,472 men who formed the 66^th Division on 21 March, only 2,483 were still on duty by 31 March. A total of 6,989 were killed, missing, injured or taken prisoner, including 5,600 infantry. Of those serving on the frontline only 500 remained.

Fighting on the Western Front continued for a further eight months until the Allies were sure that the war could be brought to a conclusion and the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

The 66^th had been devastated to such an extent that, after the German Spring Offensive, it was used to train American forces until it was reinforced by the famous South African Brigade and other British units and returned to the war in October 1918.

The loss of so many men had a devastating effect on the lives and economy of the cotton-manufacturing towns of East Lancashire.

Interwoven with the blow-by-blow accounts of the fighting ‘Death of a Division’ documents the stories of individual men who had left their families and jobs back home to bolster the British frontline defences.

After the war two representatives from the 66^th Division were selected to take part in the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey in 1920.

‘Death Of A Division: Eight Days In March 1918 and the Untold Story of the 66^th (2/1^st East Lancashire) Division’ is published by Pen & Sword, priced at £19.99.