Complete regimental history of the DLI, one of the British army's most celebrated infantry regiments, from tis 18th century origins to the Korean War via the Peninsular, Crimea, India, South Africa, the Great War and the Second World War.

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The Durham Light Infantry is deservedly celebrated as one of the most distinguished regiments in the British Army, and this history does full justice to their long, honourable and action-packed story, from their 18th century origins down to their participation in the Korean War in the early 1950s. The regiment arose from various militias and volunteer units recruited in the Durham area in the mid-18th century. Its first service came in the Seven Years' War with France, and it was stationed in the West Indies for much of the later years' of the century. In the Napoleonic Wars, the DLI took part in the Walcheren expedition and the Peninsular War where its battle honours included Salamanca, Vitoria, the Nivelle and Orthez. In the mid-19th century, the DLI saw combat in the Crtmea at the battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman and the siege of Sebastopol. After serrvice in Burma, it was stationed in India and participated in many campaigns - including the Indian Mutiny - and also took part in the Maori Wars in New Zealand of the 1860s. The DLI was in the Sudan in the 1880s and the Boer War of 1899-1902. In the Great War it formed part of the BEF from the outset, fighting on the Aisne in September 1914 and in 1915 at the second battle of Ypres and Loos. It fought through the Somme offensive in 1916, where its battle honours included Bazentin, Pozieres, Delville Wood, Flers, Courcelette, Morval, Lesboefs and Gueuducourt. In 1917 it fought at Arrras and the Scarpe; and at Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai. In 1918 the DLI was among the formatilons that bore the brunt of the German offensives at St Quentin, the Lys and on the Marne, before taking part in the victorious allied colunter-offensives. Apart from the western front, DLI battalions fought in Italy and Macedonia and fomed part of the allied anti-Bolshevik intervention force at Archangel in 1919. In the Second World War, the DLI was again sent to France as part of the BEF, taking part in the fighting retreat to Dunkirk. It was in action in North Africa from 1940 to 1943, fighting at Tobruk, El Alamein, Mareth and took part in the invasions of Sicily and Italy. It fought in the Normandy campaign as well as in Greece, Burma ( Arakan and Kohima) and in the final push into Germany. 

GB/DS