The 18th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (Arts and Crafts) (18th KRRC) was an infantry unit recruited as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in World War I.

The newly-appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward.

One such unit was the 18th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (Arts and Crafts) (18th KRRC) raised by Sir Herbert Raphael, 1st Baronet, MP.

Before the war he had been developing his estate at Gidea Park, Essex, as a 'Garden suburb' as part of the Arts and Crafts movement, and the name became attached to the battalion raised there.

[4][9][10] During February 1916 122nd Bde returned to Marlborough Lines, Aldershot, to begin final intensive training prior to going overseas to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front.

On 25 June Maj Charles Marten (West Yorkshire Regiment), the second-in-command of 32nd Royal Fusiliers (East Ham) in 124th Bde, arrived to take over command of 18th KRRC.

The battalion carried out its own raid on 12/13 July, but the parties found the enemy barbed wire newly repaired and their trenches strongly held: the raiders withdrew with some casualties.

On the night of 5/6 August 18th KRRC and 228th (Barnsley) Field Company, Royal Engineers (RE), carried out an operation under the codename 'Jump' to advance the line by digging new trenches and erecting a new belt of barbed wire in No Man's land.

After confused fighting, Flers (the third or Blue Line objective) was in British hands by 10.30, and the troops began 'mopping up' the dugouts with 'P Bombs' (phosphorus grenades), sending large numbers of prisoners back.

Dinnaken had broken down while withdrawing to the rally point, but two tanks that had accompanied the New Zealand Division up the west side of Flers came out of cover in the village and broke up a German counter-attack.

Over the next six months, the battalions rotated between rest and training at Chippewa Camp and the front and reserve trench lines, either in the Voormezeele area near Dickebusch or the St Eloi sector on the southern side of the Ypres Salient, with 18th KRRC usually alternating with 23rd (2nd Football) Bn, Middlesex Regiment, of 123rd Bde.

There was much work to do in maintaining the trenches in the waterlogged ground, under German observation and shellfire from Wytschaete–Messines Ridge, and battalions were relieved every five days, suffering a trickle of casualties on every tour of duty.

In the weeks before the battle units were withdrawn for careful rehearsals behind the lines, and leaders down to platoon level were taken to see a large model of the ridge constructed at Scherpenberg.

At the end of the training, which included a fullscale rehearsal of the brigade's planned attack, 41st Division returned to the Dickebusch area, with 18th KRRC back at Chippewa Camp on 17 May, going into the St Eloi trenches again on 19 May.

122nd Brigade moved to La Roukloshille on 28 June, where it underwent a month's training, which emphasised techniques for overcoming pillboxes and culminated in fullscale practice attacks on 20 and 22 July.

18th KRRC detailed special mopping-up parties for the dugouts at Forret Farm, at Hollebeke village and to its south-east, and the roads between the Red and Green lines.

The Red Line was easily taken, but the second objective proved much tougher: the dugouts had not been touched by the artillery and were strongly held, while the attacking troops ran into uncut wire.

(12th ESR captured Forret Farm next day when it was found to be abandoned, and then recovered it again after a German counter-attack on 5 August, for which A/Lt-Col Pennell received a DSO.

[9][11][16][16][52][53][54] On 14 September the battalion began marching by stages back to the Ypres Salient as 41st Division moved into its positions by the canal for the next attack up onto the 'Tower Hamlets' spur.

[13][14][5][59][63][64][65][66] The BEF was suffering a manpower crisis in early 1918, and each infantry brigade was reduced from four to three battalions, the surplus units being disbanded and drafted to provide reinforcements.

Early on 21 March 18th KRRC entrained at Mondicourt for the Edgehill training area near Albert, Somme, but the long-anticipated German spring offensive began that morning and Third Army was soon under intense pressure.

At 06.00 next morning 41st Division was ordered into IV Corps' Reserve area, and 18th KRRC set off at 11.00 to a position between Favreuil and Sapignies in the rear defence zone (the 'Green Line').

All four companies were now heavily engaged and the enemy was advancing fast on both flanks, but belts of wire behind the front and support lines and a hostile barrage behind the battalion made it difficult to escape.

18th KRRC rested at 'School Camp' at Poperinge where it received large reinforcement drafts, bringing the battalion back up to a strength of 26 officers and 917 ORs, organised as four companies once more.

The Germans had launched the second phase of their Spring offensive (the Battle of the Lys) just south of Ypres and made such rapid progress that by 12 April the position in the Passchendaele salient was critical and the defenders were thinned out in readiness for a withdrawal.

Over the following days the troops salvaged equipment and destroyed the dugouts and then early on 16 April 18th KRRC withdrew its outposts and marched back to 'Salvation Camp' just outside Ypres as the Passchendaele Salient was evacuated.

On 11 August the Germans carried out a strong counter-attack following a heavy morning bombardment: it drove in 18th KRRC's left company front where one platoon was isolated and overrun.

41st and 27th US Divisions immediately began following up, and 18th KRRC was recalled from its billets, moving into reserve at Vierstraat on the night of 2/3 September and relieving American troops who had been engaged in heavy fighting.

While the rest of 122nd Bde attacked, 18th KRRC remained in reserve, being heavily shelled with Mustard gas and taking part in a small operation to straighten the line on 4/5 September.

The left attack was unnecessary, the neighbouring division already having cleared the ground, but the right lost direction and got too far ahead, an officer and 20 men subsequently being reported missing.