Second World War: The Bolton Rifles, later the 5th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, was a volunteer unit of the British Army from 1859 until 1967.

[2][3][4][7] The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war.

[7] During the Second Boer War the battalion formed a service company of six officers and 172 volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars, earning the Battle honour South Africa 1900–1902.

[14][15] Annual training for the West Lancashire Division had just begun at Kirkby Lonsdale when war was declared on 4 August 1914, and all units at once returned to their headquarters for mobilisation.

[3][14][15][16] Following this the War Office issued instructions on 15 August to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units.

[3][15][18][19][20] The 1/5th Bn mobilised in Bolton and moved to Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, where it guarded the railway line from Wootton Bassett to Avonmouth Docks.

[15][18][19][21][22] Many units from the West Lancashire Division went to France to provide reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and the 1/5th Loyals was one of these, disembarking at Le Havre on 13 February 1915.

During the night of 16/17 June the battalion was ordered up to Sanctuary Wood to reinforce 5th Bn Border Regiment of 149th (Northumberland) Brigade, although it was not heavily engaged.

During the early summer the division carried out a number of trench raids to divert attention from the Somme sector where a great offensive was being prepared.

[20][30][31] During August the battalion received a draft of reinforcements and returned to the line on 5 September, but it took no direct part in the division's battles of that month except to hold reserve trenches.

At the end of the month the division moved to the Ypres area, where the battalion occupied a reserve line on the Yser Canal, suffering numerous casualties from artillery fire.

Thereafter it took its turns in holding the front line, the only notable action being a large raid carried out in January 1917, which was only partially successful and resulted in heavy losses in proportion to the numbers engaged: 8 killed, 50 wounded and 2 missing from a party of 144.

Severe fighting ensued, and at 09.45 two companies of 1/5th Loyals were ordered forward to reinforce 1/6th King's Liverpool Regiment and attack Hill 37.

A counter-attack by 1/4th Loyals coming from reserve saved the situation, briefly retaking Villers-Guislain and eventually digging in at Vaucellette Farm before nightfall.

[20][37][38] When the BEF's manpower crisis in early 1918 led to each brigade being reduced by one battalion, the shattered 1/5th Loyals was an obvious candidate for disbandment.

[15][17][18][19][43][45] In January 1917 the division was deemed fit for service and crossed to France, the 2/5th Loyals landing at Le Havre on 9 February 1917 under the command of Lt-Col C.G.

The battalion was heavily shelled throughout the 10-day detachment [45][46] In mid-September 57th Division was withdrawn from the line and underwent a month's training before moving to the Ypres Salient to participate in the Second Battle of Passchendaele.

[15][14][17][49] The division remained in quiet sectors during the German spring offensive, but the 5th Loyals were moved about frequently on different pioneer tasks, suffering a trickle of casualties as a result.

Once the Allied Hundred Days Offensive was under way, the pioneers were distributed by companies to follow closely behind the advancing troops and improve the roads in the forward area.

Again, they were among the first British troops to enter Lille, and afterwards the battalion provided a Guard of honour for President Georges Clemenceau when he visited the city on 16 October.

[15][50] After hostilities ceased, the battalion was assigned to 171st Bde, clearing and evacuating stores in the Arras area, where demobilisation began in January 1919.

A few of these pillboxes were captured and a counter-attack was driven off, but for most of the day the battalion lay in the mud suffering heavy casualties from machine guns and air attack.

Having lost the bulk of its weapons and equipment when Japanese dive-bombers attacked its troopship Empress of Asia, the unit hastily re-equipped as an infantry battalion and moved into the northern sector of the defences of Singapore Island.

[75] The British commander, Lt-Gen Arthur Percival, considered that the village of Bukit Timah was the key to the defence and on 10 February he ordered 18th Division to form an ad hoc force to occupy it.

[73][76] Tomforce counter-attacked on 11 February, with 4th Norfolks on the right, 18th Recce astride the road in the centre and 1/5th Sherwood Foresters on the left, but it was facing two Japanese divisions and was driven back.

[73][74][77][78] By 13 February the whole force was defending a perimeter covering Singapore city, with the remnants of Tomforce still holding the Burkit Timah road.

[79][81] The regiment was reorganised, gaining an additional squadron (D Sqn), while A and later C Sqns were equipped with amphibious LVT-1 Alligators and assigned to 36th Indian Division for a proposed operation on the coast of Burma.

Then in May, after the division had relieved the garrison of Kohima, the regiment was given an infantry role, to force the enemy off the high jungle-covered slopes of Aradura Spur, which they had held since the beginning of the battle.

It later provided a covering force ('Hookforce') for an RAF airstrip at Sadaung consisting of C Sqn under Major Hook with A Company of the Nepalese Army's Mahindra Dal Regiment.

However it operated aggressively: Lieutenant Tarmey's troop developed the tactic of driving into enemy positions 'with Brens firing before dismounting and rolling grenades into Japanese bunkers'.