History
The Dorsetshire Regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot.
The 1st Battalion took part in operations on the North West Frontier of India in 1897-98 and the 2nd Battalion fought in the Second Boer War, participating in the Relief of Ladysmith.
During the Great War, nine hostilities-only battalions were formed, six battalions serving overseas. The 1st and 6th Battalions served on the Western Front throughout the war. The 2nd Battalion was in Poona, India, when war broke out and was shipped to Mesopotamia where it was trapped in the Siege of Kut and captured by the Turks. (Of the 350 men of the battalion captured, only 70 survived their captivity.) During the siege, returning sick and wounded, and the few replacements who were sent out, were unable to re-join their battalion, so they, and similar drafts of the 2nd Battalion, The Norfolk Regiment, were amalgamated into a scratch battalion forming part of the force attempting to relieve Kut. This battalion was formally titled the Composite English Battalion, but was more commonly known as The Norsets, and was broken up in July, 1916, when the 2nd Dorsets was re-constituted. 1/4 Battalion served in India and Mesopotamia and 1/5 Battalion in India and Egypt and Palestine. The 5th Battalion fought at Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine, and the Western Front.
In 1921, the 2nd Battalion was in India and helped put down the Moplah Rebellion. It was stationed in Palestine in 1936 to 1939, at the time of the Arab revolt.
In the Second World War, eight hostilities-only battalions were raised. The 1st Battalion was part of 231st Infantry Brigade for the duration of the war, fighting in Malta, Sicily, and Italy. It landed on Gold Beach on D-Day and fought with the Brigade in the Battle of Normandy and North-West Europe. The 2nd Battalion was part of 5th Infantry Brigade throughout the war, participating in the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. In 1944, it took part in the Burma Campaign of 1944-1945 and the Battle of Kohima. The 4th and 5th Battalions fought in the liberation of Northwest Europe in 1944-1945. The 30th Battalion was with 43rd Infantry Brigade in North Africa and the invasion of Sicily, after which it spent the rest of the war in Gibraltar.
In 1958 the regiment amalgamated with The Devonshire Regiment to form the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment.
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