Museum of the Manchester Regiment

History

Graduated (Later Service) Battalions

51st Battalion The Manchester Regiment

Formed from 15th Cheshire 's in October 1917. Re-designated 225th Graduated Battalion. Transferred as 51st Battalion in 203 Brigade, 68 Division. To Yarmouth , then to Herringfleet in May 1918. To Rhine Army in the Cologne and Bonn area as a Service Battalion in Northern Brigade of the Independent Division in February 1919. Then as per the 52nd Battalion. Disbanded 13th February 1920.

52nd Battalion The Manchester Regiment

Formed as 52nd (Graduated) Battalion from 10th South Lancashire Regiment in October 1917.

To Yarmouth for the winter and to Herringfleet in May 1918.

Following the Armistice in November 1918 Winston Churchill, then Secretary of State for War, decided to send to Germany battalions of conscripted 18 year olds. They were to relieve the battalions of older men who had fought in the war. In Churchill's words 'They themselves will have a chance to see the German provinces which are now in our keeping and the battlefields where the British Army won immortal fame.'

The battalion was sent to Rhine Army in the Cologne and Bonn area as a Service Battalion in Northern Brigade of the Independent Division in February 1919. No longer a Graduated battalion that had been a term used during the war for training purposes.

On Friday 23rd May 1919 the 51st Manchester 's and the 52nd Manchester's with the 51st Bedfordshire's advanced east across the Rhine into Germany proper. The objective being the occupation of the Ruhr and the complete control of the German railway systems.

We believe that the Manchester battalions were disbanded in February 1920

53rd (Young Soldiers) Battalion The Manchester Regiment

Formed from 17th Cheshire Regiment. Re-designated 74th Training Reserve Battalion. In October 1917 it became a Young Soldiers Battalion as 53rd Battalion in 14 Reserve Brigade at Prees Heath, Cheshire. Then to Kinmel, North Wales where it remained until disbandment.