For some time no uniforms were available for the men, and even blankets were scarce in the improvised billets and in the tented camps erected in October.

However, before the end of 1914 the infantry were equipped with old pattern magazine Lee–Enfield rifles and a 'generous' supply of ammunition allowed elementary musketry training to begin.

In that month the division received a limited issue of Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk III service rifles and new leather equipment.

It landed at Boulogne next day with a strength of 30 officers and 945 other ranks (ORs) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E.G. Harrison, and marched to join the division, which was concentrating south of Saint-Omer.

[4][7][8][9] The battalion settled down to the routine of spells in the front line alternating with reserve positions, providing working parties, and occasional trench raids, such as one carried out by 12th Manchesters n 'Gravel Farm' on 17 September.

A German attack captured the Bluff, while 12th Manchesters south of the canal came under heavy bombardment, leading to the cancellation of a planned relief that night.

[8] The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was preparing for that summer's 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme), and 17th (N) Division was sent to join the newly formed XV Corps for this offensive.

At 07.25 the 12th Manchesters and 9th Bn Duke of Wellington's Regiment were ordered to make a second attempt at 08.00 when the neighbouring formations made their main attack.

As the Official History relates, 'in broad daylight the two battalions had no chance of reaching Quadrangle Support over bare and open ground'.

As the fighting continued, 17th (N) Division was released to VI Corps on 11 April and it moved into the line, 12th Manchesters being in the divisional support trenches.

The battalion remained in brigade reserve and constructing trenches on Orange Hill while the division waited to play its part in the fighting.

The enemy machine gunners detected the advance and opened up, but by 03.45 the battalion had taken the trench except at the right, where two platoons were held up 10 yards (9.1 m) short by a German strongpoint.

The divisional artillery provided a Box barrage and in conjunction with 93rd Field Company, RE, the raiders destroyed dugouts, machine guns and trench mortars.

By now the mud was very bad, resulting in ragged artillery barrages fired from unsteady platforms, and painfully slow infantry advances.

Shortly after midnight the enemy put down a heavy barrage on Gravel Farm and rushed it: the whole of No 9 Platoon were killed or captured.

There was heavy enemy shelling at intervals during the day, with numerous German aircraft over the battlefield signalling the British positions with flares.

During 12 and 13 November the German aircraft were again active, calling down shellfire, dropping bombs and machine-gunning the narrow duckboard tracks which were the only routes across the mud.

On 21 December it relieved 59th (2nd North Midland) Division in V Corps' line in the Flesquières Salient, where the Battle of Cambrai had recently ended.

12th (DLOY) Battalion was in the captured Hindenburg Line support trenches, where it spent time reversing the firesteps, moving the barbed wire to the side facing the enemy and providing working parties for 256th Tunnelling Company, RE, which was re-opening deep German dugouts.

However, the German attacks further north had been successful and during the night 12th (DLOY) Bn was ordered to abandon the outposts and fall back on the defended village of Havrincourt.

On 24 March, supported by some tanks, 52nd Bde held onto its positions at Rocquigny until 15.00 when the troops on either flank had retired, after which it fell back rapidly under shrapnel fire and joined up with 63rd (Royal Naval) Division at Martinpuich, having lost touch with 17th (N) Divisional HQ.

[5][8] When the Allied Hundred Days Offensive was launched at the Battle of Amiens on 8 August, 17th (N) Division stood by in reserve behind the attacking Australian Corps but was not required.

Another attempt by the battalion at an outflanking move, against Le Transloy on 1 September, however, came to nothing when it was stopped by machine gun fire from the sugar factory, which another division had failed to capture.

The village was heavily shelled overnight and 12th (DLOY) Bn, attacking at 05.00, worked round the flank across the Sailly-Saillisel road by 07.00, after which the Germans evacuated Le Transloy.

52nd Brigade led the attack for 17th (N) Division at 05.20: 12th (DLOY) and the other two battalions met considerable opposition from machine guns on the first objective, Chapel Hill, but had taken it by 05.50.

On the night of 11/12 October the divisional engineers built footbridges over the river and next morning 52nd Bde attacked Neuvilly, with 12th (DLOY) Manchesters and 9th Duke of Wellington's Regiment passing either side of the village, leaving it to be mopped up by 10th Lancashire Fusiliers.

After being reinforced with a mixture of old soldiers and raw recruits, 12th (DLOY) Bn advanced again on 31 October, fording the river and pushing onto the ridge beyond against German shelling and rearguards.

52nd Brigade attacked again on 4 November (the Battle of the Sambre): German shelling on the forming-up positions was heavy and their resistance in the orchards and hedgerows was obstinate, leading to considerable casualties.

Hostilities ended at 11.00 on 11 November when the Armistice with Germany came into force, at which time 52nd Bde had reached the River Solre, south-east of Maubeuge.

[4][7][8][28] After the Armistice, 17th (N) Division withdrew and was employed in salvage work, In December it moved back to the Abbeville area where it went into winter quarters.