page_title: King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Italy 1943 Men of the 1st King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry climb a steep slope, 5 November 1943.
context_page_description: The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the Durham Light Infantry to form The Light Infantry, which in turn was merged with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and the Royal Green Jackets to become The Rifles in 2007.
context_section_description: During the Second World War, the battalions served in all three fronts (Europe, North Africa and Asia-Pacific).
  The 1st Battalion, a Regular Army unit, was serving with the 15th Infantry Brigade, alongside the 1st Battalion, Green Howards and the 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, and was sent to France in 1939, as part of 5th Infantry Division. In April 1940, with the brigade, the battalion was sent to Aandelsnes, Norway where they saw service as part of "Sickleforce" in the Norwegian Campaign and earned its first battle honour "Kvam" before it was evacuated on 1 May / 2 May. A period of training followed, with the battalion spending time in Scotland, Lancashire and Northern Ireland. In January 1942, the battalion commenced training for tropical service and moved to Poona, India. It was then decided to train for desert warfare and so the battalion was moved to Iran and then the Canal Zone for further training. The battalion next saw action in July 1943 during the Allied invasion of Sicily, and later the Allied invasion of Italy, before fighting through the Italian Campaign, in the Battle of Anzio and Operation Diadem before, in July 1944, being sent to Palestine to rest and refit. The battalion remained there until early 1945, when it was transferred to Italy again, only to be transferred to Marseilles in March 1945 for service in North-western Europe for the invasion of Germany. There, the battalion ended its war, fighting its last action at Potrau on 1 May 1945, some five years after it was evacuated from Norway.
  The 2nd Battalion, also a Regular Army unit, fought as a rearguard in the retreat through Burma in 1942. However, the battalion saw little active service afterwards, remaining in British India on internal security duties.
  The 1/4th Battalion served with the 146th Infantry Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division throughout the War. The Battalion first saw action when it was transferred to Norway in April 1940 as part of the disastrous British and French intervention against the German invasion, serving as part of "Mauriceforce" at Namsos under Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart. The Battalion was soon evacuated and was moved to Iceland with the rest of the 49th Division in May 1940 as part "Alabasterforce", where they were part of the occupying garrison until returning to England in August 1942. Following training for the invasion of France, the Battalion did not land on D-Day but landed in France on 9 June 1944 and was soon fighting in the Battle of Normandy. The 1/4th Battalion fought during the battle for Caen during Operation Martlet, the Second Battle of the Odon and later clearing the Channel Coast in Operation Astonia, garrisoning "The Island" during the aftermath of Operation Market Garden, where they then fought in the Battle of the Scheldt. The Battalions' last battle was during the Second Battle of Arnhem.
  The 2/4th Battalion was created in 1939 in the Territorial Army when the 4th Battalion was split in two, creating the 1/4th Battalion and the 2/4th Battalion. The 2/4th fought with the 138th Infantry Brigade, part of the 46th Infantry Division in the Battle of Dunkirk with the rest of the BEF. They also fought in the Tunisia Campaign in the final stages of the North African Campaign and later in the Italian Campaign.
  The 5th Battalion was transferred to the Royal Artillery before the war and converted into the 53rd (KOYLI) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. It served in the Battle of France and on the beach at the Dunkirk Evacuation and was then sent to Egypt, joining the British Eighth Army. It served with the 10th Armoured Division at the Second Battle of El Alamein and then in AA defence of airfields during the Eighth Army's dash to Tunisia. Afterwards, it landed in Sicily and in Italy, where it served as infantry and mortar troops as well as LAA gunners. Before the outbreak of war, the 53rd LAA Regiment formed a duplicate, 57th (KOYLI) LAA Regiment. This saw action in the Anglo-Iraqi War and Syria–Lebanon Campaign, then joined 4th Indian Division, with which it served in Operation 
caption: Men of the 1st Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry climb a steep hill in Italy, November 1943.
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