Published 2010 by: Pen and Sword
Hardback 272 pages
ISBN: 9781848842472
This new history of 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, is the product of decades of research. It shows. But any research, even with access to such an unusually rich archive, without a passion for the subject would not have delivered this outstanding tribute to those who served with the Kensington Battalion.
Geoff Inglis began work on "Never Lost a Yard of a Trench" in 1983 when there were ten Kensingtons still living. And Kensingtons they remained thanks to a remarkable post-war old comrades association despite being disbanded in February 1918 to provide the reinforcements denied to the army by Lloyd George.
Less associated with the ‘pals' movement than their northern counterparts, the Kensingtons were pals nevertheless. Perhaps their absence from the opening day of the Battle of the Somme didn't fit with that particular narrative but the battalion saw action enough during its service with the 2nd Division. Indeed, what Gary Sheffield calls in his foreword the ‘First of July syndrome' often blinds many to the totality of the Great War on the Western Front.
The Kensingtons' participation in the war did not begin and end with the Somme. This book gives due attention to the scale of the fighting in frequently neglected actions, such as that at Oppy Wood in April 1917, where another pals battalion, the Grimsby Chums, lost more men than they did on 1 July 1916.
Skilful use of first-hand accounts, woven deftly into the narrative provides the reader with a clear insight into the Kensington's experiences. And the continuation of the battalion's story and the community from which it came makes this an unusually complete history.
In one of the more hackneyed Second World War films, ‘633 Squadron', Harry Andrews delivers the line after all the aircrew were lost that "you can't kill a squadron". In this outstanding work, Geoff Inglis has ensured that the memory of all those who served in the Kensington Battalion will live on, too.
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Reviewed by: Jim Grundy
