As the war in South Africa dragged on, a number of regiments containing large centres of population formed additional regular battalions. The Worcestershire regiment formed 3rd and 4th regular Battalions in February 1900,[5] when the existing militia battalions were relabeled as the 5th and 6th battalions.[6] The 3rd and 4th (Militia) battalions, from 1900 renamed as 5th and 6th battalions, were reserve battalions formed from the Worcester Militia in 1881. The 6th battalion was embodied in May 1900, disembodied in October that year, and later re-embodied for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War.[7] About 615 officers and men returned to Southampton on the SS Greek in early October 1902, following the end of the war, when the battalion was disembodied at Worcester.[8]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve;[9] the regiment now had two Reserve and two Territorial battalions.[10][6] Troops from the regiment shot dead two men during the Llanelli railway strike in August 1911.[11]
The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 24th Brigade in the 8th Division in November 1914 for service on the Western Front.[13] The 1st Battalion played an important role at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 but lost their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. F. Wodehouse, who was killed in action.[14]
The 4th Battalion landed in Gallipoli as part of the 88th Brigade in the 29th Division in March 1915; the battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt in January 1916 and then landed at Marseille for service in on the Western Front in March 1916.[13] The 4th Battalion then took part in the Battle of Le Transloy in October 1916.[18]
The 9th (Service) Battalion landed in Gallipoli as part of the 39th Brigade in the 13th (Western) Division in July 1915; the battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli and moved to Egypt in January 1916 and transferred to North Persia Force in July 1918.[13] The 10th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 57th Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front.[13] The 11th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 78th Brigade in the 26th Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front and then moved to Salonika in November 1915.[13]
In December 1918, the regiment was used to suppress the Taranto Revolt, executing one of the rebels by firing squad.[19]
The 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment was a Regular Army battalion that was stationed in the Middle East on the outbreak of the Second World War, having been stationed there since 1938 due to the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine.[22] On 7 September 1939, just four days after the outbreak of the war, Private Darby of the 1st Battalion died in Jerusalem of wounds he had sustained earlier in the year, the first British soldier to die in the war.[23] The battalion was destined to see service in the Western Desert. In July 1940, the battalion was assigned to the 21st Infantry Brigade, serving alongside the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment and the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment. On 11 October 1940, however, the brigade was redesignated 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, and the other two battalions of the brigade were replaced by two battalions from the Indian Army, the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment and 6th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles.[24] The brigade was assigned to the 5th Indian Infantry Division and saw service in the East African Campaign.[25] On 22 June 1942, the battalion, still fighting in North Africa, surrendered, along with 30,000 other British Commonwealth troops, at Tobruk during the disastrous Battle of Gazala. Of the men of the original battalion, only 68 officers and men remained.[26] The battalion was reformed in England by the redesignation of the 11th Battalion, a war service battalion raised in 1940.[22]
Both the 9th and 10th battalions were formed in late August 1939, the 9th as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 7th Battalion, and the 10th a duplicate of the 8th. The 9th Battalion, formed from many former members of the 7th Battalion, was assigned to the 182nd Infantry Brigade, alongside the 2/7th and 9th battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, part of the 61st Infantry Division and remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war, as training battalions to supply drafts of replacements for battalions of other regiments overseas.[37][38]
The 10th Battalion was, like the 9th, also made up of former members of the 8th Battalion and was assigned to the 183rd Infantry Brigade, alongside the 7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment and 4th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, also of the 61st Infantry Division. The service history of the 10th was much the same as with the 9th, both remaining in the United Kingdom throughout the war. However, in January 1944, while the Allies were training throughout England and preparing for the invasion of Normandy, the 10th Worcesters and 4th Northants both played an important part in the deception plan to fool the German Army.[38]
Gheluvelt Park in Worcester was opened on 17 June 1922 to commemorate the Worcestershire Regiment's 2nd Battalion after their part in Battle of Gheluvelt, a First World War battle that took place on 31 October 1914 in Gheluvelt (near Ypres), Belgium. The park was opened by Field MarshalJohn French, 1st Earl of Ypres, who stated, "on that day the 2nd Worcesters saved the British Empire." A plaque inside the park commemorates Captain Gerald Ernest Lea, who died on 15 September 1914 while commanding D. Company of the 2nd Battalion.[45]
From the 29th Regiment of Foot: Rolica, Vimiera, Talavera, Albuhera, Peninsula, Ferozeshah, Sobraon, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub
From the 36th Regiment of Foot: Hindoostan, Rolica, Vimiera, Corunna, Salamanca, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula
Ramillies, Bellisle, Ushant, Mysore, South Africa 1900–02
The Great War (22 battalions): Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914 ‘18, La Bassée 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914 '17, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 ‘18, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Messines 1917 '18, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 ‘18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Villers Bretonneux, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917–18, Doiran 1917 ‘18, Macedonia 1915–18, Helles, Landing at Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Sari Bair, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915–16, Egypt 1916, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916–18, Baku, Persia 1918
The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, St. Omer-La Bassée, Wormhoudt, Odon, Bourguébus Ridge, Maltot, Mont Pincon, Jurques, La Varinière, Noireau Crossing, Seine 1944, Nederrijn, Geilenkirchen, Rhineland, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44–45, Gogni, Barentu, Keren, Amba Alagi, Abyssinia 1940–41, Gazala, Via Balbia, North Africa 1941–42, Kohima, Relief of Kohima, Naga Village, Mao Songsang, Shwebo, Mandalay, Irrawaddy, Mt. Popa, Burma 1944–45
^These were the 5th Battalion (Special Reserve) and the 6th Battalion (Special Reserve), with 7th Battalion at The Shrubbery in Kidderminster and the 8th Battalion in Silver Street in Worcester (since demolished) (both Territorial Force).