The 8th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (8th EYR), was a unit of 'Kitchener's Army' raised shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Following a short period of training it went to the Western Front with other Kitchener battalions and endured a disastrous initiation at the Battle of Loos. It was then transferred to the experienced 3rd Division and fought with it on the Somme, at Arras and Ypres. After heavy casualties the battalion was disbanded early in 1918.
Recruitment and training
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and 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. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1', and was quickly followed by 'K2' and 'K3' as a flood of volunteers poured into the recruiting offices and were formed into 'Service' battalions at the regimental depots. The East Yorkshire Regiment formed its third such battalion, the 8th (Service) Battalion, on 22 September at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, from a draft of recruits sent from the depot at Victoria Barracks, Beverley.
The new battalion was assigned to 62nd Brigade in 21st Division, the senior K3 division, formed from units raised in North East England, which was assembling around Tring in Hertfordshire. The men started out in billets, but the division soon moved under canvas at Halton Park. Throughout October drafts arrived from Beverley until on 4 November the battalion reached a strength of 25 officers and 1092 other ranks under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel L.C. Fryer. Mud and rain brought a return to billets for the winter, with 8th East Yorkshires housed in Wendover, Aston Clinton and Weston Turville.
Service in France
Huts had been built at Halton by the time the division returned there in May 1915, and training continued. Towards the end of June the first service rifles arrived and the men began their musketry courses. This was completed by 9 August, when the infantry began moving to Witley Camp in Surrey. Although its training was still woefully inadequate (the K1 and K2 units had taken all the best instructors and staff officers), the division soon received orders to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, and advance parties left at the beginning of September. 8th East Yorkshires crossed to Boulogne on 8–9 September under the command of Lt-Col B.I. Way (North Staffordshire Regiment). By 13 September 21st Division was concentrated west of St Omer with 8th EYR billeted in Moulle. Final training took place, in route marching, bomb-throwing, sniping, and machine-gun practice, culminating in an attack on practice trenches. Less than two weeks after arrival it was thrown into a major attack at the Battle of Loos, without the men ever having visited the frontline trenches.