Durham Light Infantry, 2nd/7th Battalion
Territorial Force battalion
Before the First World War began in August 1914, the Durham Light Infantry, County Durham’s own infantry regiment, was made up of nine battalions each of about 1,000 men. There were two Regular battalions of full-time professional soldiers, many of whom came from outside the North East of England; two Reserve battalions of part-time volunteers and ex-Regular soldiers; and five Territorial Force battalions of part-time volunteers centred on key County towns. There was also a Depot or headquarters shared with the Northumberland Fusiliers at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle upon Tyne.
By the end of the war in November 1918, the DLI had grown to 43 battalions, as new Reserve, Service, Territorial, Young Soldier, and other battalions were formed. Of these 43 battalions, 22 served in war zones from the Western Front to the North West Frontier of India.
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As soon as the First World War began, so many recruits went to drill halls across County Durham to join the DLI’s Territorial battalions that second line battalions were soon possible. On 16 September, the 2nd/7th Battalion DLI was formed in Sunderland and, over the next six months, exchanged men with 1/7 DLI, as the first line battalion weeded out those men less fit for active service.
When the Northumbrian Division was sent to France in April 1915, the role of the second line Territorial battalions was reviewed and it was decided to create a new reserve third line battalion from men, who were only fit for home service. Thus, in June 1915, the 3rd/7th Battalion was formed out of the 2nd/7th Battalion.
After moves to Doncaster in November 1915, and then to Catterick, Andover, and Colchester, the 2nd/7th Battalion arrived in Frinton in Essex in September 1917, where it continued to train men for active service overseas. There it was re-named as a Garrison battalion of men unfit for active service.
However, in October 1918, the battalion was ordered to join an Allied expedition to North Russia to assist the White Russians in their fight with the Red Army. Sailing from Glasgow, the 2nd/7th Battalion, some 600 men strong, landed in Russia on 24 October and set to guarding the docks, supply dumps, and a prison in Archangel. Adding to the miseries of the Arctic cold and ‘flu, was the ever-present threat from Bolshevik snipers and arsonists, and mutinous White Russian soldiers.
With the failure of the Allies’ intervention in Russia’s civil war, the expedition was ordered home, and the last soldiers of the 2nd/7th Battalion DLI left Russia in August 1919 for Britain and demobilisation.
Contributed by Durham County Record Office
