Hallamshire Battalion The Hallamshire Battalion was part of the York and Lancaster Regiment of the British Army . History . Formed in 1859 as The Hallamshire Volunteer Rifle Corps with its H . Q . at Sheffield . The title Hallamshire came from the ancient lordship of West Riding that comprised the parishes of Sheffield , Ecclesfield and Bradfield . In 1862 the Hallamshire Rifles were presented with Colours . In 1881 with the reorganisation of the British Army , during the Cardwell Reforms , the Hallamshires became a volunteer battalion for the York and Lancaster Regiment and were renamed ; 1st ( Hallamshire ) Volunteer Battalion . Boer War . The Hallamshires ( in common with other Volunteer units ) raised a second " active service " battalion . They were awarded the Battle Honour South Africa 1900 - 1902 . In 1908 they were redesignated as the 4th ( Territorial ) Battalion . A year later it regained its title becoming 4th ( Hallamshire ) Battalion . World War I . In April 1915 the battalion was moved to France as part of the 49th ( West Riding ) Division and sent to the Ypres salient by June . Over the next six months they lost 94 killed and 401 injured in the attrition warfare of the trenches . After a period of rest in Calais they moved to the Somme . On 1 July the battalion was part of the follow - up assault wave . During the next three months of the campaign the Hallamshires lost 27 officers and 750 soldiers killed and wounded . During the rest of the war the Hallamshires suffered many more casualties including 288 in the first use of Mustard Gas at Nieuwpoort in July 1917 . In the final Allied Advance to Victory , the Hallamshires were ordered on 13 October to reach the line of the river Selle which was supposedly undefended on the western bank . They advanced across open ground without artillery support to find strongly defended enemy positions . They achieved their objective but with only 4 officers and 240 men present of the 20 officers and 600 men who had started the advance . In 1924 the number was dropped by order of King George V in recognition of their war service and the battalion was known as simply The Hallamshire Battalion , Yorks and Lancs . World War II . The Hallamshires first saw action in World War II as part of the ill fated Norwegian campaign in 1940 . The battalion arrived with the 146th Infantry Brigade . They were ashore for twelve days seeing limited action and losing their only casualties on the journey home when one of their transports was sunk . The battalion spent the next two years " defending " Iceland before returning to Scotland for garrison duties and to prepare for the invasion of North West Europe . The Hallamshires landed in France on 9 June 1944 with the 49th Infantry Division and moved into the front line four days later . Twelve days after landing the Hallamshires were involved in the attack on Fontenay - le - Pesnel ( Operation Martlet ) against the 26th Panzer Grenadier Regiment . The attack was successful but at the expense of 123 members of the battalion killed or wounded . To this day , former members of the battalion at that time still celebrate the victory as the Fontenay Club . The battalion was involved in the capture of the docks at Le Havre before the Germans could destroy the vital installations . Here they captured 1 , 005 prisoners , three Dornier flying boats and a submarine . In September , the Hallamshires crossed the Antwerp - Turnhout canal and for his part in a subsequent action , Corporal JW Harper was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross . During the winter months , the battalion served in the Nijmegen salient and participated in the liberation of Arnhem in April 1945 , their final action in World War II . Eleven months had seen the battalion suffer 158 killed and 689 wounded .