First published in 1924, this is Volume 1 of a two-volume set covering the history of the Guards Division during the First World War. The Guards Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed in the Great War in France in 1915 from battalions of the elite Guards regiments from the Regular Army. “From its formation in August, 1915, to the Armistice in November, 1918, the division served on the Western Front and took part in all the great battles of the war with the exception of that of Arras. Its troops had a great tradition to maintain and very faithfully they maintained it. To the Guards Division attached the prestige that had been so gallantly won in the first year of the war by the battalions of Guards which formed part of the original Expeditionary Force. The high standard of discipline and the devotion to duty which had characterized those splendid troops were gloriously upheld by their successors. And the loyalty, patriotism and keen esprit de corps which inspired the infantry were fully shared by the other arms of the Service belonging to the Guards Division. “The record of the Guards Division is very fully described by Colonel Headlam in the following pages. He has told his story dispassionately and without making any attempt to give undue prominence to the part played by the Guards in the Great War. He has thus succeeded, I think, in giving to those who may read his book a true picture of the life and work of the Guards Division, and has handed down to future generations of Guardsmen a record of military achievement which should be a guide and inspiration to them for all time.”

First published in 1924, this is Volume 1 of a two-volume set covering the history of the Guards Division during the First World War. The Guards Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed in the Great War in France in 1915 from battalions of the elite Guards regiments from the Regular Army. “From its formation in August, 1915, to the Armistice in November, 1918, the division served on the Western Front and took part in all the great battles of the war with the exception of that of Arras. Its troops had a great tradition to maintain and very faithfully they maintained it. To the Guards Division attached the prestige that had been so gallantly won in the first year of the war by the battalions of Guards which formed part of the original Expeditionary Force. The high standard of discipline and the devotion to duty which had characterized those splendid troops were gloriously upheld by their successors. And the loyalty, patriotism and keen esprit de corps which inspired the infantry were fully shared by the other arms of the Service belonging to the Guards Division. “The record of the Guards Division is very fully described by Colonel Headlam in the following pages. He has told his story dispassionately and without making any attempt to give undue prominence to the part played by the Guards in the Great War. He has thus succeeded, I think, in giving to those who may read his book a true picture of the life and work of the Guards Division, and has handed down to future generations of Guardsmen a record of military achievement which should be a guide and inspiration to them for all time.”