Mobilisation At the end of July 1914, the units of the West Riding Division left for their annual training camps, but on 3–4 August the 2nd West Riding Brigade was ordered to its war stations, guarding coastal defences near
Hull and
Grimsby. On 5 November they were relieved and moved to billets in Doncaster,
1/5th Battalion On 31 March 1915 the West Riding Division was informed that it had been selected to proceed to France to join the
British Expeditionary Force, and the infantry embarked at
Folkestone,
Somme For the attack on the
first day of the Battle of the Somme (the
Battle of Albert, 1 July 1916), 49th was the reserve division for
X Corps, which was tasked with capturing the
Thiepval plateau. 147th Brigade was moved up in the late morning, crossing the swampy River Ancre, and then occupying dug-outs previously occupied by the attacking divisions. The brigade thus escaped the casualties suffered by the rest of the 49th Division as it renewed the fruitless attacks on Thiepval. However, the 49th Division was thrown into action repeatedly during the long Battle of the Somme:
Disbandment By the beginning of 1918 the British manpower crisis was so bad that one battalion in each brigade was broken up to provide reinforcements. At the end of January 1918 the 1/5th Duke of Wellingtons was disbanded. Some men were drafted to other battalions of 147 Bde, the remainder were transferred to the 62nd Division where they amalgamated with 2/5th Bn, which became simply the 5th Bn. Arms and equipment were slow to reach the units. A few drill and service rifles were received in April 1915, but these were soon withdrawn and replaced by
.256-in Japanese Ariska rifles with which to train. These were not replaced with
Lee-Enfield service rifles until January 1916. Meanwhile, the troops trained in the
Dukeries area of Nottinghamshire and in south and east Yorkshire until November 1915, when it moved to
Newcastle upon Tyne, where it dug an entrenched defence line. Finally, it moved to
Salisbury Plain for battle training at the beginning of 1916. On the second day of the battle, 186th Bde attacked towards
Bourlon with 2/5th Duke of Wellington's as the reserve battalion. The last attack on Bourlon village was made on 27 November, when 2/5th Bn was checked by heavy machine-gun fire and was unable to link up with the flanking division. The division was then relieved.
1918 At the end of January 1918 the battalion absorbed part of the 1/5th Bn (
see above) and was redesignated simply 5th Bn; at the same time the 2/6th Duke of Wellingtons in 186 Bde was also broken up, and some of the men were drafted into the 5th Bn. In June 1918, the 2/7th Duke of Wellingtons in 186 Bde was broken up, and some of the men were drafted into the 5th Bn. From 20 to 30 July the 62nd Division counter-attacked under French command in the
Battle of Tardenois. It then reverted to British command for the Allied
Hundred Days Offensive, beginning with the
Second Battle of Bapaume, when the division effectively exploited a pre-dawn attack by
2nd Division on 25 August, and then attacked again in the afternoon of 29 August, when the 5th Bn was recorded as having followed the
Creeping barrage and achieving a great success 'with the bayonet'. It continued with the
Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line (2 September) and then advanced to the Hindenburg Line to participate in the battles of
Havrincourt (12 September) and
Canal du Nord (27–30 September). At the Canal du Nord, 186th Bde was tasked with passing through the first wave of attackers to seize the canal crossings at
Marcoing to form a bridgehead on 28 September. The canal here was 50 foot (15 m) wide, and the water had run out of the damaged locks, resulting in thick mud. However, 5th Duke's crossed the damaged bridge in single file and by 11.00 was aligned along the railway embankment beyond. From here any further advance was stopped by heavy fire. A fresh
barrage at 18.00 allowed the battalion to renew its advance to the final objective, the support trench of the German Marcoing Line. At this point the centre and left companies were heavily counter-attacked, and were fired at from the rear where insufficiently guarded prisoners had picked up weapons and returned to the fight. The two centre companies succeeded in retiring to the railway embankment but the left company was almost surrounded and had to fight its way out. The right company, however, maintained its position in the Marcoing Line. The following day 2/4th Duke's passed through the battalion's position and continued the advance. Private
Henry Tandey, a pre-war Regular soldier, had joined the battalion from 12th Bn Green Howards on 26 July. In a single month he won a
Distinguished Conduct Medal at Vaulx Vraucourt on 28 August, a
Military Medal at Havrincourt on 12 September and finally a
Victoria Cross at Marcoing on 28 September (when he was wounded), making him the most highly decorated private soldier of the British Army in the war. On 20 October, during the
Battle of the Selle, a company of 5th Duke's waded across the River Selle unopposed at St Python even before Zero hour and the rest of the battalion crossed by bridges erected by the sappers in the dark. After some hard fighting they pushed on to their objective, forming a defensive flank to cover the capture of
Solesmes by the rest of the brigade. At the opening of the
Battle of the Sambre on 4 November, 186th Bde led off, but the start was hampered by German counter-bombardment and mist. Resistance was slight at first, but stiffened as the advance continued. However, they pushed on again in the afternoon, the brigade taking hundreds of prisoners. Afterwards, the division remained in the front line and fought its way toward
Maubeuge, passing through the southern outskirts and crossing the River Sambre on 9 November. When the
Armistice came into force on 11 November there was no sign of the rapidly retreating enemy in front of the division's outposts. The division was selected to move into Germany and occupy bridgeheads on the Rhine, taking up its positions on 25 December. It was the only TF division to cross the frontier into Germany. From 21 February 1919 the infantry battalions were progressively relieved by other units and returned to England for
demobilisation. The battalion was formally disembodied on 26 May 1919.
3/5th Battalion This battalion was formed at Huddersfield on 25 March 1915 to provide drafts to the 1st and 2nd Line. In April 1916 it was designated the 5th Reserve Bn, and went with the other reserve battalions of the regiment to
Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire. On 1 September 1916 it was absorbed by the 4th Reserve Bn. ==Interwar==