page_title: Royal Leicestershire Regiment
section_title: Territorial Army battalions
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Leicestershire Regiment / History / The Second World War / Territorial Army battalions
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 Officers of the Leicestershire Regiment study their maps by the side of a camouflaged 15-cwt command vehicle, 46th (North Midland) Division, Scotland, 5 December 1940.
context_page_description: The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both World War I and World War II, before being amalgamated, in September 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment, the 2nd East Anglian Regiment and the 3rd East Anglian Regiment to form the present day Royal Anglian Regiment, of which B Company of the 2nd Battalion continues the lineage of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.
context_section_description: The 1/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, initially commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Barrett, who had won the VC while serving with the regiment during the Great War, was part of the 148th Infantry Brigade of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The battalion fought briefly in the disastrous Norwegian Campaign before being withdrawn to the United Kingdom and then to Northern Ireland. The battalion remained there for the rest of the war and saw no further active service.
  The 2/5th Battalion, created in 1939 as a duplicate of the 1/5th Battalion, and containing many formers of that battalion, was part of the 138th Infantry Brigade of the 46th Infantry Division and was sent to France in April 1940. The battalion fought in the Battle of France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in 1940, taking part in the Dunkirk evacuation, before returning to England. The battalion, briefly commanded by Richard Gale, remained there for the next two-and-a-half years on home defence and anti-invasion duties, leaving for North Africa in early 1943, fighting in the Tunisian Campaign, including the Battle of Kasserine Pass, until the campaign ended in mid-May 1943. After resting for the next three months the battalion's next action was in the Allied invasion of Italy, where, holding off against numerous German counterattacks, heavy casualties were sustained. After a brief rest the battalion breached the Volturno Line in October before taking part in the battles around the Winter Line, most notably the Battle of Monte Cassino. The battalion was withdrawn from the Italian Front in March 1944, sent to the Middle East to rest and retrain and absorb replacements after nearly six months of continuous action. Returning to Italy in July, the battalion fought on the Gothic Line until December when it was transported by air to Athens, Greece, to help calm the Greek Civil War, later returning to Italy in April 1945 but too late for participation in the final offensive. The end of World War II in Europe came soon afterwards and the battalion moved into Austria, where it was disbanded in 1946.
  The 44th AA Battalion transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1940, becoming 44th (The Leicestershire Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, in which role it served through the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. In 1942 it changed role again, becoming 121st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, which served in North West Europe from Operation Overlord to Germany.
caption: Officers of the 2/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment study their maps by the side of a camouflaged 15-cwt command vehicle, 46th Division, Scotland, 5 December 1940.
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