The Hertfordshire Infantry march away

The Watford Company of the 1st Battalion Herts Regiment marching from Clarendon Hall, Watford, Wednesday August 5th, for active service.

When the "F" Company left Hemel Hempstead on the 5th August they joined up with the rest of the Regiment at Hertford, before moving on to Romford, and later Bury St Edmunds. On the 5th November they left for France, travelling via Southampton and Havre. Their arrival at the front was remembered by Quartermaster Sergeant Gordon Fisher of St. Albans : 

As soon as the Territorials arrived, we were rushed up in London general omnibuses to stop the gap in the line. It was the night of 11th November, midnight when we got to Ypres. The Cloth Hall was burning. There were flames coming out the top of it and it was all on fire. As we marched through, a French regiment was marching down on the other side of the road and as soon as they heard a shell coming over they all dived into the gutter. I thought, 'Why are they doing that?' - but I very soon learnt to do the same. My first reaction was 'Doesn't it look pretty! Just like fireworks.' It didn't occur to me that it was lethal.

 Later in November the Battalion joined the 4th Guards Brigade under General the Earl of Cavan. Christmas was spent at the front, and Private V. Batchelor, of Hudnall, went into the trenches on Christmas Eve and spent a week there. He wrote home: 

We are up to our knees in mud and water ... Well what sort of a Christmas Day did you have, better than we did, I hope? I was busy looking through loop holes, watching for Germans to come up. They were busy singing at midnight and playing some sort of whistle; of course our side was singing as well. We were only 15 yards away from the Germans in one place, and between two and three hundred yards away in others, so you see we are not very far from the enemy. 

Extract from The London Gunners come to Town

They continued to fight on the Western Front, and were decimated in an attack at Pilckem Ridge in July 1917, After this attack 7 officers had been killed, 7 were missing and 6 were wounded. There were 459 casualties among other ranks, and the only officer surviving was the battalion chaplain.

For very extensive information on the regiment - and its activities during the First World War see J. D Sainsbury's book
The Hertfordshire Regiment
An Illustrated History