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.

There it embarked on the SS Mona's Queen and landed at Le Havre next day to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front.

Many of the surviving Germans ran from the tanks, though several machine gun teams stuck to their task and caused heavy casualties to the leading waves.

A mixed party pressed on under Capt Henry Robinson (32nd RF) and took 150 prisoners, though it was now suffering casualties from rifle and machine gun fire.

The brigade was relieved by 123rd Bde at 23.00 and 26th RF went back to the support line, except for Capt Thomas Etchell's company out in front of the others, which had to remain in place until the following night.

[14][16][20][23][25][26][27][28] Lieutenant-Col North relinquished command on 27 September and the Brigade major of 122nd Bde, Maj Gwyn Gwyn-Thomas (2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse)), was promoted to succeed him.

In the weeks before the battle units were withdrawn for careful rehearsals behind the lines, and leaders down to platoon level were taken to see a large model of the ridge constructed at Scherpenberg.

Working parties dug six lines of assembly trenches extending into No man's land, some as close as 150 yards (140 m) to the German sentry posts.

That night they patrolled No man's land and found the German wire thoroughly cut by the artillery; the rest of the battalion moved up to occupy 'GHQ 2nd Line'.

It was supposed to be in place by 01.10, two hours before Zero, but was held up in the crowded communication trenches and did not get into position until 02.35, by which time the men were 'a bit tired' but 'in splendid spirits' according to the battalion War Diary.

The startled fusiliers checked briefly, then advanced in good order following 32nd RF under bright moonlight, although the visibility became bad because of the smoke and dust from the mine explosions and barrage.

The enemy defensive barrage was weak because so many of their batteries had been knocked out over preceding days, and it came down late, only catching the battalion's rear wave as it crossed No man's land, and causing little damage.

The officers of 21st KRRC had been concerned about it, and the chief of staff of Second Army, Major-General Charles Harington promised them to make it a particular target for destruction by 9.2-inch howitzers.

[14][30] On 29 July the battalion returned to Ridge Wood Camp and the following day it moved into the Bluff Tunnels ready for the opening of the Flanders Offensive (the Third Battle of Ypres).

Both support battalions advanced close behind the leading troops, and the enemy's defensive barrage fell behind them, but 26th RF ran into heavy machine gun fire almost immediately.

In response to a pigeon message, 20th Durham Light Infantry (DLI) of 123rd Bde came up at 16.00, but the enemy artillery had got the range of the position and casualties continued to mount: all five 26th RF officers sent up from the rear were hit before nightfall.

At one point a German counter-attack penetrated past the left flank and the men in the support trench had to turn round and fire to their rear: this drove off the attackers.

Major Henry Tuite took command next day, and was later promoted to Lt-Col.[14] On the coast the battalion took turns of duty holding the line at Coxyde and Nieuport Bains, suffering some heavy bombardments.

On 1 December the brigade took up a sector of the front line along the River Piave around Nervesa, and remained there for the rest of the month, under occasional shellfire and bombing.

Next day (24 March) the Germans made repeated attacks against the troops to 124th Bde's right, who began to fall back, and 26th RF sent A Company forward to form a defensive flank.

As the Germans continued to advance on the right, 124th Bde went back further that night, to a previously selected line behind the Bapaume–Arras road, with A and B Companies of 26th RF holding the left of the brigade front near Sapignies.

The brigade held this line until midday on 25 March, but it received no rations or ammunition, and the left flank was now exposed, so in the afternoon it was ordered back to Bihucourt.

Meanwhile, on the night of 25/26 March 124th Bde was ordered to concentrate at Gommecourt, where every available man from the brigade transport lines had been sent with a rifle to join the detachments and stragglers.

The defences were thinned out that night, 26th RF being pulled out to man two strongpoints ('Carte Keep' and 'Mills Keep') on the 'Oxford' and 'Cambridge' roads, leaving 10th Queen's to form an outpost line in front.

Following the fighting in April, the positions were no more than shallow rifle pits that were not linked up and were overlooked from Mont Kemmel, the high point of the recent German advance.

They suffered casualties from rifle and machine gun fire but reached their objective, the road running north-east from Houthem on the Comines Canal.

So on 30 September 10th Queen's passed through, followed by 26th RF, and advancing rapidly despite their open flanks they reached the bank of the Lys by 10.00, taking prisoners including a complete machine gun team surrounded at Schoonveld Farm.

An enemy counter-attack at dusk on 2 October led to 26th RF being ordered to deploy on the forward slope facing Geluwe, but the attack was repulsed.

From 20 December the battalion trained at Huy, then on 6 January 1919 it entrained for the last part of its journey, crossing into Germany and detraining at Bensberg in the suburbs of Cologne.

[5][10][12][55][72][74] There is a stained glass memorial window to the 26th (Service) Bn, Royal Fusiliers (Bankers) in the church of St Edmund, King and Martyr, in Lombard Street in the traditional financial district of the City of London.