Welcome to
Ox and Bucks Light Infantry
contact info@oxandbucks.org.uk
This website was set up Jan 2018. It is under construction and new material is being added and regularly updated. If you have relevant information you would like to share (with full acknowledgement) please contact using the above email
During the 1930s many young men volunteered for the Territorial Army, meeting once a week in the evenings and at an annual summer camp. Men from Wolverton and the surrounding area (that is the area that is now better known as Milton Keynes) formed A Company of the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion, those from around Aylesbury, B Company, Princes Risborough C Company and High Wycombe D Company
This site aims to tell the story of the men of the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. It will focus on their experiences as part of the British Expeditionary Force in Northern France and Belgium in 1940 and after. They were ordinary men, many of them only nineteen or twenty years old, who did extraordinary things. Of course, they were not the only ones who, in extraordinary times, conducted themselves with great courage, dignity and honour. There are many such stories. This is just one of them.
I am undertaking research with the aim of trying to compile a complete list of the names and service numbers of all of the men in the battalion and to find out as much as I can about their individual experiences.
The battalion played a heroic and valiant part in the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1940. They were one of several battalions diverted from the retreat to try to hold key positions in an attempt to slow the German advance and facilitate the escape of the rest of the BEF.
Their orders were to hold Hazebrouck, a small industrial town a few kilometres south of Dunkirk which had been the site of the BEF GHQ. Outnumbered, out equipped and in the face of fierce Panzer attacks they succeeded in delaying the German advance for close on two days. The Germans themselves praised the ferocious tenacity of the defenders of Hazebrouck. Approximately half of the battalion made it back to Britain, the rest having been killed, injured or taken prisoner.
The various rear-guard actions are a less well known part of the Dunkirk story. My aim is to shine a light on the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion's part in that rear-guard story and ensure the men are remembered and honoured.
Since setting up this website in 2018 I have been successful in finding a wealth of information about the men of the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and their time in France and Belgium in 1940 and after. The information has come from a variety of sources including archive and record offices, online and books and has made it possible to tell the story from the point of view of the men themselves. There is much more to do as in some cases permission will need to be sought to use some of the material I have found. The aim is to tell a compelling story, one which will replace this website as part of a new, reconstructed website. In the meantime the following website pages will remain, although the new website will be quite different to the current one.
My original aim had been to focus on the men in the battalion who came from Buckinghamshire, particularly North Bucks and the pages here set out the reasons why, but the scope of the story has widened. As with any territorial battalion the Bucks took in a wide variety of volunteers. But once war broke out and service overseas became inevitable the battalion was subject to the age and fitness rules for active service overseas. This meant that many of the battalion had to be transferred to other units and the strength made up with newly trained volunteers who came from other areas. They became a cohesive and effective fighting force that played a significant and heroic part in the rear guard action that was crucial to the success of the Dunkirk evacuations. A mixture of part-time and newly trained soldiers they may have been, but the Germans who fought against them at Hazebrouck had assumed they were up against a battle hardened, elite unit so ferocious was the defence they mounted.
I have identified over 700 men who were part of the battalion and between them they had a wealth of extraordinary experiences. I have uncovered some of them and look forward to telling their stories. But there is always more to discover. If you have any stories or information from relatives that you would like included, please do not hesitate to contact me
HYPERLINK "mailto:info@oxandbucks.org.uk" info@oxandbucks.org.uk
I am undertaking research with the aim of trying to compile a complete list of the names and service numbers of all of the men in the battalion and to find out as much as I can about their individual experiences.
The battalion played a heroic and valiant part in the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1940. They were one of several battalions diverted from the retreat to try to hold key positions in an attempt to slow the German advance and facilitate the escape of the rest of the BEF.
Their orders were to hold Hazebrouck, a small industrial town a few kilometres south of Dunkirk which had been the site of the BEF GHQ. Outnumbered, out equipped and in the face of fierce Panzer attacks they succeeded in delaying the German advance for close on two days. The Germans themselves praised the ferocious tenacity of the defenders of Hazebrouck. Approximately half of the battalion made it back to Britain, the rest having been killed, injured or taken prisoner.
The various rear-guard actions are a less well known part of the Dunkirk story. My aim is to shine a light on the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion's part in that rear-guard story and ensure the men are remembered and honoured.
Since setting up this website in 2018 I have been successful in finding a wealth of information about the men of the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and their time in France and Belgium in 1940 and after. The information has come from a variety of sources including archive and record offices, online and books and has made it possible to tell the story from the point of view of the men themselves. There is much more to do as in some cases permission will need to be sought to use some of the material I have found. The aim is to tell a compelling story, one which will replace this website as part of a new, reconstructed website. In the meantime the following website pages will remain, although the new website will be quite different to the current one.
My original aim had been to focus on the men in the battalion who came from Buckinghamshire, particularly North Bucks and the pages here set out the reasons why, but the scope of the story has widened. As with any territorial battalion the Bucks took in a wide variety of volunteers. But once war broke out and service overseas became inevitable the battalion was subject to the age and fitness rules for active service overseas. This meant that many of the battalion had to be transferred to other units and the strength made up with newly trained volunteers who came from other areas. They became a cohesive and effective fighting force that played a significant and heroic part in the rear guard action that was crucial to the success of the Dunkirk evacuations. A mixture of part-time and newly trained soldiers they may have been, but the Germans who fought against them at Hazebrouck had assumed they were up against a battle hardened, elite unit so ferocious was the defence they mounted.
I have identified over 700 men who were part of the battalion and between them they had a wealth of extraordinary experiences. I have uncovered some of them and look forward to telling their stories. But there is always more to discover. If you have any stories or information from relatives that you would like included, please do not hesitate to contact me
HYPERLINK "mailto:info@oxandbucks.org.uk" info@oxandbucks.org.uk