Durham Light Infantry

On the right was a company of 29th Division Royal Engineers, and away to their right again, I could see no signs of anyone north of the road.

I heard there was a party of DLI, and beyond them, Durham Light Infantry, and beyond them, a reinforcement battalion.

Moving out from the village, I saw the Germans advancing en masse from Astaire.

three lines of men at two paces interval or so and behind them columns in artillery formation it was a fine sight but as i only saw a mere handful of men to stop them and the huns were only one thousand yards away the situation looked very precarious I moved over to a farm on the right and found Colonel Gilbert Spence with about 30 men.

And the British brought with them the tactics of 1917, which said a heavy artillery bombardment, which will destroy most of the ridge of a hill, will be sufficient to persuade the defenders to surrender.

However, an attack on the night of the 26th of April by the Durham Light Infantry, along with the Dorsetshire and Berkshire regiments, succeed in recapturing the ruins of the tennis clubhouse, which overlooks much of the Japanese position on the ridge.

The main attack to push the enemy off the ridgeline will involve the British 2nd Infantry Division's 4th Infantry Brigade attacking the southern flank of Kohima Ridge, known as Transport Bridge.

The 5th Brigade will strike from the northwest to capture Naga Village, less than two miles to the east.

By the end of the day, the Norfolks and the Royal Scots secure most of the ridge and dig in to form defensive boxes, ready to receive any Japanese counterattacks.

By 7.45am the British 2nd Infantry Division's artillery finally opens up an ear-splitting barrage which is focused on the hills of the Cooke Piquet and Supply Hill.

The Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the Durham Light Infantry follow the shellfire.

The Fusiliers attack from their positions on Garrison Hill while the DLI advances down the Dimapur-Inphal Road supported by Grant tanks.

And in the first war, so many members of his family had died.

Uh, they'd, they'd joined the Durham Light Infantry or, you know, some of the other regionally, uh, focused regiments, and they'd all just died en masse, and he'd been very affected by that and thought that, you know, you had to basically stand up and try to actually do something to, you know, stave off the worst of times and, you know, participate.

He wasn't jingoistic.

It wasn't about-

At 9am, Grant's tanks once again begin their advance towards Garrison Hill, backed by intense artillery and air bombardment.

This time, the armour is carrying men of the 2nd Durham Light Infantry, while the 1st Royal Berkshires follow on foot behind them.

By 9.45am, the column reaches the main dressing station and the Berkshires begin clambering up Garrison Hill.

The Berkshires cast aside feeble Japanese resistance.

Now the city is about to get a new art venue, which nods to that history, called The Light.

Built on the site of the Durham Light Infantry Museum, when it opens this weekend, it will become the first venue of this scale to house contemporary art in the whole of County Durham.

I visited last week, and the contrast between the centuries-old Durham Cathedral on one side of the city and this new light-filled glass and steel building was really striking.

And joining me now are Tony Gillon, the artistic director of The Light, and the art critic Louisa Buck, who specializes in contemporary art.

Well, as you just said, uh, Durham, uh, is-- has had a long, uh, legacy with, uh, Durham Lumiere.

Um, it was an incredibly, uh, successful project, and we wanted to nod both to that, uh, that legacy, but also, uh, the building's been closed since twenty sixteen after, uh, several years of regeneration.

Uh, it was originally the home of the Durham Light Infantry, uh, Museum and, uh, as well as a contemporary art gallery.

So, um, it nods both to that heritage and to, uh, the contemporary art side.

Most of the British pilots at the field were veterans of the Battles of Britain and were sent to Keflavik for a spell of more relaxed duty.

By the summer of 1941, the British contingent had about 25,000 troops in Iceland, including the Tyneside Scottish, the Durham Light Infantry, and the Duke of Wellington's regiment in the 79th Division, as well as some Royal Artillery field batteries, Royal Army engineers, and other detachments.

in addition five hundred r a f personnel and about two thousand sailors who manned and serviced the anti-submarine vessels and mine-sweepers based at cavalfierthur were on the island british soldiers tommies in their rugged battle-dress uniforms heavy black boots and garrison type caps cocked over one ear waved and yelled at the marines as the american ships tied up at the quay a few british officers also in battle dress but with peaked caps swagger sticks and gleaming leather walked along the quay examining the ships and their marine passengers british officers came on board to welcome the marines and in due course departed with some of the senior brigade staff to confer about landing plans camp areas and missions the cargo ships and the fifth defense battalion had to unload at the quays so the troop ships moved out in the harbor from where they landed marine style over a rocky beach named balbo using higgins boats and a few tank lighters the marines coming ashore from the transports appeared to be a motley crew wearing mixed uniforms and carrying odd personal baggage Some wore service caps and some wore broad-brimmed campaign hats.

Others were in working party blue coveralls and still others in greens.

But Hitler ordered the famous 48-hour halt because the tanks had outrun themselves, which allowed the Arras counterattack to happen with the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment, the Dürer and Leipzig Infantry.

And if you're in the tank regiment or the Durham Light Infantry, you'll say it was that stop that enabled Dunkirk to happen.

Now, there's a lot of debate about that, but it was outrunning.

So a long answer to your question, I think, you know, Guderian was the great thinker and mover because in the 30s, it was only Germany who was really rebuilding their forces to a massive effect.