Cap Badge - 12th Battalion, The London Regiment - "The Rangers" 1/12th (County of London) Battalion (The Rangers) August 1914 : at 14 Chenies Street. Part of 3rd London Brigade, 1st London Division. Moved on mobilisation to Bullswater, going on in September to Crowborough. In October, guarded the Waterloo-North Camp (Aldershot) railway and in December went to Roehampton. 25 December 1914 : left the Division and landed at Le Havre. 8 February 1915 : came under command of 84th Brigade in 28th Division. 20 May 1915 : transferred to GHQ Troops and formed a composite unit with 1/5th and 1/13th Bns. Resumed identity 11 August. 12 February 1916 : transferred to 168th Brigade in 56th (London) Division. 31 January 1918 : transferred to 175th Brigade in 58th (2/1st London) Division, absorbed the disbanded 2/12th Bn and renamed 12th Bn. The Rangers were a Territorial Force unit which existed before the war and the men who agreed to go overseas on the outbreak of war (not all did) formed the first line battalion, i.e. the 1/12th London Regt (The Rangers). Back in the UK new recruits and anyone left over from the original battalion, etc., formed a second line battalion, i.e. the 2/12th based in the UK for training purposes and from this unit drafts would have been sent out to replenish losses in the 1/12th. Later the second line battalions were also sent out so a third UK based training battalion was formed and then sometimes a fourth. Up until the summer of 1916 the drafts of men sent for active service would normally have gone to their own first line battalion but, such were the losses in the first days of the Somme battle, which hit community based units like the numerous Pals battalions especially hard, that this policy was abandoned. In the 56th (1st London) Division, of which the 1/12th London Regt was part, men from the various reserve battalions in the UK were split up across the whole division and some went to completely different divisions. This was a cause for great complaint when men from, say, The Rangers saw drafts from their reserve battalion marching past their billets to join a completely different unit. In 1908 the 12th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (The Rangers) was formed. Three Battalions formed were formed in The Great War. 1914 1st / 12th Battalion 2nd / 12th Battalion 1915 3rd / 12th Battalion 1916 Re-designated as a Territorial Battalion of The King's Royal Rifle Corps without change of title 3rd / 12th Battalion re-designated as 12th (Reserve) Battalion 12th (Reserve) Battalion absorbed into 9th (Reserve) Battalion Battle Honours awarded to 12th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (The Rangers): Ypres 1915, '17, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg, Somme 1916, '18, Albert 1916, '18, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Le Transloy, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917, Villers Bretonneux, Bapaume 1918, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Epéhy, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18 In 1920 it reformed as:12th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (The Rangers) and in 1922, it was re-designated as: 12th London Regiment (The Rangers) It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the 26 Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. Now part of the Territorial Force, the London Regiment expanded to 88 battalions in the First World War. Of these 49 battalions saw action in France and Flanders, 6 saw action at the Gallipoli Campaign, 12 saw action at Salonika, 14 saw action against the Turks in Palestine, and one saw action in Waziristan and Afghanistan. The London Regiment ceased to exist in 1938 and the battalions transferred to regular infantry regiments, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers.