The 2nd City of London Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC), founded on 16 May 1860, was one of many RVCs raised as a result of an invasion scare the previous year.

The City of London Livery companies contributed to the building costs, and the battalion raised much of the rest by holding an assault-at-arms display at the Royal Aquarium.

Like the other London TF units, a sufficiently high proportion of the CLR volunteered for foreign service to make the battalion eligible to be sent overseas.

The battalion moved to Watford to join its new brigade, and field training continued until 16 March 1915, when it entrained for Southampton to embark for the Western Front.

[34][35] 1/6th Battalion was withdrawn from the Loos sector on 30 September, and after a period of line-holding, it was sent in mid-November for rest and training with new equipment such as Lewis guns and rifle grenades.

The following day a follow-up attack linked up with the 1/6th holding out in the Cough Drop, and at dawn on 18 September the battalion contributed to a mixed force that succeeded in occupying the Flers Line.

This action won the regiment the battle honour Le Transloy[44][45] The 47th Division transferred to the Ypres Salient, and the 1/6th Bn absorbed a large draft of reinforcements.

[48][49] The 1/6th Bn spent the summer of 1917 holding the line in the Ypres Salient, taking part in the usual small actions and trench raids, and during the autumn it was in the Oppy sector.

In October 1914 the London TF Association rented a large country house, Mount Felix at Walton-on-Thames, to accommodate the battalion and provide training facilities.

[59] In July 1916, 58th Division left its coastal defence role and concentrated at Sutton Veny for final training on Salisbury Plain before embarkation for the Western Front.

As the battalion consolidated its gains, messages sent by dog and carrier-pigeon brought down supporting artillery fire on any German troops seen attempting to form up for counter-attacks.

The battalion fell back on 26 March, leaving a fighting patrol in the forest, and set up posts to guard the crossings over the Oise and St Quentin Canal until the bridges could be blown.

The battalion was resting in the town when the German bombardment fell early on 4 April and moved out later in the day to support Australian troops attempting to hold a gap in the line.

The reduced battalion was not directly engaged when the reassembled 58th Division helped to beat off the next phase of the German Spring Offensive on 24–26 April (the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux).

[67] When the unit returned to action in October, it was pursuing at about 10 miles a day, skirmishing with rearguards and raiding parties, and suffering occasional gas attacks.

[21][70] While quartered on Salisbury Plain, the men of the 3/6th cut their regimental badge into the turf of Fovant Down to reveal the white chalk beneath, making it visible from a long distance.

[3][21][22][72] It left Fovant at the end of 1916 and moved to nearby Hurdcott Camp, to Newton Abbot, and finally to Blackdown in April 1917, where it remained for the rest of the war training replacements and convalescents for service on the Western Front.

[21][22][74][75][76] On the night of 8 September 1915, Zeppelin L13 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy attacked London, and two of his bombs hit Messrs Frank Stadelman's warehouse at 59–61 Farringdon Road.

[77][78] On 31 March 1916, Sgt J.C. "Charlie" May of 2/6th Bn won the first Military Medal awarded for bravery in inland Britain, for rescuing members of his section from a burning house during a Zeppelin raid on Stowmarket.

[3][86][87][99][100][101][102] The regiment supplied a cadre of experienced officers and men to 231st S/L Training Rgt at Blandford Camp where it provided the basis for a new 555 S/L Bty formed on 13 February 1941.

It came under GHQ Home Forces but retained its existing AA Command responsibilities and took over various vulnerable points (VPs) in East Anglia, mainly RAF airfields.

The defences of these towns were reinforced by moving detachments of 123rd LAA Rgt from guarding RAF stations and equipping them with 20 mm Hispano cannon.

[107] On 2 January 1944, 123rd LAA Rgt temporarily rejoined 103 AA Bde, which was at that time in South West England defending the build-up of troops (mainly US Army) and landing craft for the Invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord).

Bénouville and the famous Pegasus Bridge in the airborne bridgehead received heavy German air and ground attacks during the early weeks of the invasion, and 123 LAA Rgt's two batteries lost five guns, six vehicles and 30 casualties.

The brigade's columns following up were twice attacked from the air and on 22 September their approach to Nijmegen was halted by German tanks and infantry covering the roads.

On 26 September there were 16 separate raids trying to knock out the bridges by fast low-level bombing, employing the new Me 262 and Me 410 aircraft as well as conventional Bf 109 and Fw 190 single-engined fighter-bombers.

Once VIII Corps had secured Venlo, 123 LAA Rgt was deployed there to provide the close protection element of the AA defences, and remained until it was relieved by US forces.

With searchlight assistance, three-gun sections of the regiment also spotted and destroyed 31 Naval mines floated downriver against the engineers' bridging operation.

There were some brisk actions here against Me 262 and Ar 234 jets, and Ju 88 bombers, as well as low-level attacks by Fw 190s, but the combination of AA defence and Allied fighters defeated every Luftwaffe attempt to disrupt the crossings.

Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917, St Quentin, Avre, Amiens, Albert 1918, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Epehy, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1915–1918.