The Guards Division was formed in France in August 1915, the creation of Kitchener (then S of S for War), who, after first obtaining the permission of the King, proceeded to form the division withouTt consulting either the War Office or the C in C of the BEF, Field Marshal French. The first the latter knew about it was in a letter from Kitchener a month before the division came into being. It was formed by concentrating the eight Guards battalions already in France and bringing out from the UK four more, including the recently raised Welsh Guards, plus a pioneer battalion (4th Coldstream). The artillery (less the howitzer brigade), two of the three engineer companies and the signal company came from the 16th (Irish) Division, then still in Ireland; the howitzer brigade came from the 11th (Northern) Division, left behind in England when that division went to Gallipoli. The remaining divisional troops came from the UK or from divisions already in France. The first GOC was the Earl of Cavan, a Grenadier, who was later to command British troops in Italy and, in 1922, become Chief of the Imperial General Staff. A month after its formation the division was in action at Loos, suffering just over 2,100 casualties. Thereafter it was seldom out of the fighting - Somme, Passchendaele, Cambrai, the German March 1918 offensive, Hindenburg Line and the final advance to victory. It lived up to its name, earning the reputation of one of the finest fighting formations of the war, an elite. Fifteen VCs were won, and in addition a further seven recipients were awarded theirs while serving with Guards battalions during the year before the division was formed. In all it suffered 44,333 casualties of whom 13,981 were dead. In August 1914 the strength of the Foot Guards was 276 officers, 7,036 other ranks; in November 1918 it stood at 1,598 officers and 43,928 other ranks. This is a clear, factual and detailed history, an exceptionally good account, described by the author as a strictly military record, based on the divisional, brigade and battalion War Diaries and supplemented, where necessary, by other official records, private diaries, personal narratives and various published works. Plain facts, no purple passages. It opens with a brief account of the activities of the Guards with the BEF before the formation of the division: 4th (Guards) Brigade/2nd Division, 1st (Guards) Brigade/1st Division and 20th Brigade/7th Division. It also describes the work of the 4th Guards Brigade after it was reformed in Feb 1918 with the reorganization of the BEF from four to three-battalion brigades, and allotted to 31st Division, winning another VC. Appendices provide order of battle details, succession of officers, staffs and commands, operation orders for major attacks, VC citations, notes on the origin and history of the Guards MG Regiment, on the Entrenching Battalion, on dress and equipment and more besides. The maps are good, clear and uncluttered and there is a comprehensive (22-page) index. This is a very competent piece of work, one of the best of the divisional histories.

The Grenadier Guards began the war with three battalions of which only one, the 2nd, was committed to the BEF; it was in the 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division. As soon as war was declared the 4th (Reserve) Battalion was formed and within five days 1,700 reservists had reported. In September 1914 the 7th Division was formed and the1st Battalion was allocated to 20th Brigade of the new division. On 14th July 1915 another Grenadier battalion was formed and numbered the 4th, the Reserve battalion then became the 5th. A month later the 4th battalion went to France to join the newly created Guards Division, and it was at this stage, also, that the 3rd Battalion, which hitherto had been retained in London by Kitchener for some undefined reason, was sent out to join the new division. Thus, by August 1915 there were four battalions of Grenadiers on the Western front where they remained for the rest of the war. By the end the Regiment had suffered 11,915 casualties of which 203 Officers and 4,508 Other Ranks were dead, seven VCs had been won and 34 Battle Honours awarded. This, as might be expected, is a very good history with detailed descriptions of the fighting and of the conditions the men endured. One sentence in particular paints a graphic picture of the state of the trenches in January 1915: The gruesome task of removing the dead was effected by floating the bodies down the communication trenches. The author tells the story in chronological order; vol I takes the record of the four battalions to the end of 1915, vol II to the German offensive of March 1918 and vol III to the armistice and beyond to the division's march into Germany. Each volume is paginated separately with its own contents list though the chapters run consecutively through all three. Each chapter covers a specific period and the chapter heading indicates which battalions are involved. There are plenty of maps to support the narrative, showing tactical details. Among the appendices are the Roll of Honour, a list of officers wounded with dates, lists of Awards, Mentions in Despatches and of Divisional Certificates of Gallantry and an account of the 7th (Guards) Entrenching Battalion. There is a table naming all other ranks who were commissioned during the war showing the regiment or corps to which they went. Finally there is an index to the names of officers.

The Grenadier Guards began the war with three battalions of which only one, the 2nd, was committed to the BEF; it was in the 4th Guards Brigade, 2nd Division. As soon as war was declared the 4th (Reserve) Battalion was formed and within five days 1,700 reservists had reported. In September 1914 the 7th Division was formed and the1st Battalion was allocated to 20th Brigade of the new division. On 14th July 1915 another Grenadier battalion was formed and numbered the 4th, the Reserve battalion then became the 5th. A month later the 4th battalion went to France to join the newly created Guards Division, and it was at this stage, also, that the 3rd Battalion, which hitherto had been retained in London by Kitchener for some undefined reason, was sent out to join the new division. Thus, by August 1915 there were four battalions of Grenadiers on the Western front where they remained for the rest of the war. By the end the Regiment had suffered 11,915 casualties of which 203 Officers and 4,508 Other Ranks were dead, seven VCs had been won and 34 Battle Honours awarded. This, as might be expected, is a very good history with detailed descriptions of the fighting and of the conditions the men endured. One sentence in particular paints a graphic picture of the state of the trenches in January 1915: The gruesome task of removing the dead was effected by floating the bodies down the communication trenches. The author tells the story in chronological order; vol I takes the record of the four battalions to the end of 1915, vol II to the German offensive of March 1918 and vol III to the armistice and beyond to the division's march into Germany. Each volume is paginated separately with its own contents list though the chapters run consecutively through all three. Each chapter covers a specific period and the chapter heading indicates which battalions are involved. There are plenty of maps to support the narrative, showing tactical details. Among the appendices are the Roll of Honour, a list of officers wounded with dates, lists of Awards, Mentions in Despatches and of Divisional Certificates of Gallantry and an account of the 7th (Guards) Entrenching Battalion. There is a table naming all other ranks who were commissioned during the war showing the regiment or corps to which they went. Finally there is an index to the names of officers.