The 6th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment, was a prewar Territorial
battalion that recruited in the North Cheshire towns of Stockport, Hyde
and Stalybridge, together with the Derbyshire town of Glossop. The
majority of its part-time soldiers worked in the area's cotton mills and
hat making factories. One of the first Territorial battalions to see
action in the Great War, it went overseas in November 1914, taking part
in the famous Christmas truce a few weeks later.
In 1916, it saw major action during the Battle of the Somme. The
following year, it suffered heavy casualties during the action around
the Belgian town of Ypres, which is often known as the Battle of
Passchendaele. In 1918 the Battalion fought to hold off German advances
in the spring but, along with the rest of the BEF, was forced to retreat
many miles. By the summer of that year the tide had turned and the
Cheshire's took part in the final advances that ended the war in
November.
The story is told from the Battalion's formation in 1908 to its
disbandment in the 1920s and beyond with details of the Old Comrades
Association. Official accounts are supplemented by the men's own words,
taken from diaries, letters and newspaper reports.