Description
1914-15 trio – 6th battalion Bedford regiment.
1914-15 Star, 12857 Pte S.J. Petty, Bedf.R.; British War and Victory Medals, 12857 Pte S.J. Petty. Beef.R.
Stanley James Petty is confirmed on medal rolls and his MIC as serving in the 6th battalion Bedford regiment, landing in France on the 30th July 1915.
Discharged 6th April 1919.
Condition – NE
Raised in August 1914 at Bedford as part of Lord Kitchener’s First New Army (K1), the 6th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment served with distinct valour exclusively on the Western Front throughout the First World War. Assigned to the 112th Infantry Brigade, initially within the 37th Division, the unit landed in France in July 1915.
The Battle of the Somme (1916):
In mid-1916, the 112th Brigade was temporarily attached to the 34th Division during the brutal Somme offensive. The 6th Bedfords suffered heavy casualties during the relentless assaults on Pozières and Bazentin-le-Petit in July and August 1916. Later that year, rejoining the 37th Division, they took part in the bloody capture of trenches during the Battle of the Ancre in November.
The Battle of Arras (1917):
The spring of 1917 marked one of the battalion’s most intense periods. Opening on 9 April 1917, the Arras offensive saw the 6th Bedfords engaged in furious fighting near Monchy-le-Preux and Guémappe. Facing sub-zero blizzards, continuous heavy shellfire, and fierce German counter-attacks, individual soldiers earned prestigious gallantry awards, including the Military Medal, for holding lines under devastating fire.
Passchendaele & Defensive Battles (1917–1918):
Later in 1917, the battalion was thrown into the mud of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), holding frontline sectors under severe artillery bombardments. When the German Spring Offensive struck in March 1918, the 6th Bedfords fought in desperate defensive actions across the Somme sector to stem the enemy’s advance.
By May 1918, severe manpower shortages forced the British Army to reorganize its frontline infantry brigades. On 21–22 May 1918, the 6th Battalion was officially disbanded. Its remaining personnel were transferred to reinforce the 1/1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, carrying their fighting spirit into the final victorious campaigns of 1918.
