No Bad Soldiers

On 20 November 1916 the newly promoted Brigadier-General Frank Percy Crozier took command of 119 Brigade, one of three infantry brigades that made up the 40th Division, once labelled “the forgotten Fortieth”. This book brings the history and achievements of the brigade to a wider audience and adds to the story of the controversial Frank Crozier.

Raised in 1915 and originally intended as a formation of the Welsh Army Corps, 119 Brigade, consisting of four battalions of Welsh bantams, had crossed to France in June 1916 - more than a year after it was formed - as a part of the last of the New Army divisions to join the BEF. It then spent an undistinguished few months in the Loos sector. According to Crozier, fresh from his service commanding the 9th Royal Irish Rifles on the Somme, he was told on arrival at divisional headquarters, that the brigade was “very bad – quite the worst in the Division”.