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As with all Wyrall's books these two volumes are excellent, comprehensive and this detailed account is an easy read. Wyrall has taken care to name many individuals in the actions and events he is describing. Casualty details are given in appendices and in the text, and there is a nominal roll of divisional staff with all the changes throughout the war.
The 2nd Division landed in France with the original BEF as part of Haig’s I Corps in August 1914. I Corps was not directly engaged at Mons but during the retreat units were engaged in the minor actions at Landrecies and Villers Cotterets. 2nd Division’s first major battles were at the Marne and the Aisne, and then all the battles of First Ypres, suffering some 8,500 casualties between September to the end of November 1914. At the end of 1914, Haig’s I Corp moved south to the Bethune sector where it remained throughout 1915, and the 2nd Division fought at Festubert, Loos and the Hohenzollern Redoubt, which in all cost almost 9,000 casualties. In February 1916 it moved down to the Vimy sector in IV Corps where it stayed till July. Then to the Somme where the division stayed till March 1917, during which time it was in action at Delville Wood, Guillemont and the Ancre, incurring nearly 8,000 casualties. The 2nd was one of the few divisions not involved Third Ypres (July-November 1917), but it had earlier taken part in the April/May Arras offensive and later, in November/December, in the Battle of Cambrai. Throughout 1918 the division was in the line for much of the time, in the German offensive and in the Advance to Victory; its final action was the Battle of the Selle, 23-25 October. The final casualty figure was around 45,000 and seventeen VCs were won.
