2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment
World War One 1914-1918
Established in 2013 for the Centennial of the Great War, The Royal Sussex's 2nd battalion, along with our VAD detachment, is the primary interpretation for our World War One work. 2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment, part of the 1st Division, 2nd Brigade, went over to France with the first wave of men in the summer of 1914 and stayed on the western front until the final victory in November of 1918. Most of the Royal Sussex battalions which saw action served on the western front. The 1/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex served as divisional pioneers on the Italian front from 1917-1918. 1st Battalion remained in India during the Great War. The regiment was engaged in the 3rd Anglo-Afghan War on the Northwest Frontier which broke out in 1919. Additionally, two battalions were sent to Russia as part of the Allied intervention force in the Russian Civil War, an unsuccessful bid to stop the Bolsheviks.
Victory came at a heavy cost for the servicemen of the Royal Sussex Regiment. By the end of the war, the regiment had lost over 6,800. Their names are recorded and preserved in the regimental chapel in Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex along with those who fell in the Second World War twenty years after.
Expanding its Great War commemorative and educational mission, Royal Sussex Society is also a partnered with the Italian Front Project.
Victory came at a heavy cost for the servicemen of the Royal Sussex Regiment. By the end of the war, the regiment had lost over 6,800. Their names are recorded and preserved in the regimental chapel in Chichester Cathedral in West Sussex along with those who fell in the Second World War twenty years after.
Expanding its Great War commemorative and educational mission, Royal Sussex Society is also a partnered with the Italian Front Project.