Raised in Salford, Greater Manchester, it fought as infantry at Gallipoli, in Egypt and on the Western Front during the First World War.

On 20 August the division moved into camps for training, with 7th Lancashire Fusiliers at Turton, and on 9 September it entrained for Southampton to embark for Egypt.

The division began to disembark at Alexandria on 25 September and the Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade concentrated for training round Cairo.

[10][11][12][13][14] Meanwhile, those men who had not volunteered for overseas service, or were unfit, remained at Salford to help train the flood of recruits coming in.

The 1/7th supported an attack by the 1/6th Bn and the following day moved forward through the captured line, but was forced to retire after two attempts to take Gurkha Bluff.

[11][17][22] The fighting was 'a singularly brainless and suicidal type of warfare',[23] and virtually nothing was achieved in any of these attacks, at the cost of heavy casualties.

Two brigades of 42nd Division attacked on the second day of the Krithia Vineyard battle: 'By nightfall both brigades were back in their old lines, with the exception of some parties of the 6th and 7th Lancashire Fusiliers, who defended the Vineyard against repeated Turkish attacks until, after a bitter and pointless struggle during the following five days, a trench dug across the centre of this worthless tract of scrub became the British front line'.

[17][29][30] The 1/7th Bn moved down to 'W' Beach on 27 December and sailed aboard the SS Ermine for Mudros and then to Egypt, landing at Alexandria on 15 January 1916.

[10][17][31] The 42nd Division settled into No 3 Section of the Suez Canal defences at Kantara until 4 August when a Turkish attack began the Battle of Romani.

[11][41][42] Despite having held its positions, both of 42nd Division's flanks were 'in the air' and it had to withdraw the following day, retiring to Bucquoy to continue the defence during the 1st Battle of Arras (28 March).

At 05.00 on 5 April heavy shelling with high explosive and poison gas on the brigade front heralded the opening of the Battle of the Ancre.

Supported by 1/5th Bn forming a defensive flank, the battalion fought a bitter battle all day, until the enemy advance was brought to a standstill that evening.

[11][45][46] The division was withdrawn for rest and refit, returning to a quiet sector of the line around Gommecourt, where they refortified parts of the old Somme battlefield and helped to train newly arrived US Army troops.

An attempt was made to hold a shell-hole position but the enemy was in strong force, and a fierce counter-attack practically wiped out the defenders.

However, in the course of the afternoon a joint attack by the two brigades drove the enemy from the entire line of the final objective, the 7th L.F., assisted by two machine-gun sections, capturing the Dovecot'.

[53] After two days' rest (26–27 August) the division returned to the attack in the Second Battle of Bapaume,[11][54] and by 3 September it was advancing across open country in pursuit of the enemy until they reached the line of the Canal du Nord.

On the opening day of the Battle of the Canal du Nord (27 September), 42nd Division failed to achieve its objectives, the 1/7th and 1/8th Bns being 'exposed to a terrible enfilading fire from the high ground around Beaucamp, and the leading companies were practically blotted out ... With great gallantry the two battalions persisted in face of a murderous fire, but the failure to drive the enemy out of Beaucamp made it impossible for the Fusiliers to get beyond their first objective ... until towards midday'.

O'Bryen won a rare second bar to his MC by leading his men round by a flank and capturing a machine gun nest that was holding them up.

In the evening the 1/7th's patrols entered Ferrière and Les Trieux – nearly two miles beyond the outpost line – and captured three trains full of munitions, together with a lorry and machine guns.

[2] The divisional history lists 27 officers (including those attached) and 540 other ranks of the 1/7th Bn who were killed, died of wounds or sickness, or were posted missing during the war.

In 1916 the division was transferred to Southern Army of Home Forces and made responsible for a portion of the East Coast defences, with the 2/7th based at Hyderabad Barracks, Colchester.

[84][85] What remained of the 66th Division – maybe only 500 fighting men by the end – retreated for a week, with one brief stand on the Somme Canal, until a line was patched up by reinforcements on 29 March.

[2][10][12][76][77][88][89] The following officers commanded 2/7th Lancashire Fusiliers during the First World War:[75] The 3/7th Bn was formed on 25 March 1915 at Salford as a training unit.

In April 1942, 354 Bty was converted into a mobile searchlight battery and moved away to Peterborough, and regimental HQ shifted to Myerscough House near Preston the following month.

By early 1943 the threat from Luftwaffe air raids in Northern England had receded, and a number of searchlight units were reduced or converted to other roles.

RHQ moved from Todmorden, first to Maghull on Merseyside, and then in March to Swansea in 61 AA Bde's area to act as a headquarters for independent S/L batteries, including 557 S/L Bty.

By now, 356, 474 and 557 Btys had become independent mobile units destined for the invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord), and 357 Bty had been converted into 414 Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) Battery.

[117][118][119] 356 Battery became an independent unit before the regiment was reduced to cadre, and it took part in the campaign in NW Europe, leading elements landing on D-day itself.

As the campaign progressed, the searchlight units with 21st Army Group were increasingly used to provide artificial illumination, or 'Monty's Moonlight', for night operations.

356 Battery was particularly commended by Lt-Gen Brian Horrocks, commander of XXX Corps, for its work in the Klever Reichswald battles (Operation Veritable).