The Gloucestershire Regiment was formed in 1881 as a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and at the outbreak of World War I it comprised two regular battalions, three territorial battalions, and a reserve battalion. As the war progressed, it raised 18 more battalions, most of them New Army battalions of citizen soldiers answering Lord Kitchener's call to arms. The Battle of the Somme was one of many battles to involve the Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I. It was a major offensive launched on 1 July 1916 by the British Army, with French support, on the River Somme between Montauban in the south and Serre in the north. Initially planned to break through the German lines and restore mobile warfare to the Western Front, a stubborn defence by German forces in well-defended positi