History of the 43rd and 52nd (Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire) Light Infantry in the Great War 1914-1918 Volume II The 52nd Light Infantry in France and Belgium Description The Second Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Or the 52nd light Infantry, as they liked to be called, were an elite professional fighting force at the onset of the Great War 1914-18. Their already fine reputation, dating back to the battle of Waterloo and before, was enhanced on the battlefields of Ypres, Festubert, the Somme, Arras, Cambrai and the Hindenburg Line. The vast majority of Britain’s regular battalions who went to war in August 1914 have had their histories written. The 52nd Light Infantry were an exception, and their great Commanding Officer from 1916-19, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Crosse D.S.O., felt that this was a pity as in a hundred years’ time people would be as interested in the exploits of his men as he was in the well-documented peninsular war. Read of the heroism of the young men of a previous generation who were so proud to serve with the 52nd Light Infantry. Hardback, 690 pages. Author: Simon Harris. Published 2012. Contents The Outbreak of War, Mobilization, and the Advance to and Battle of Mons. The Retreat from Mons and the battle of the Marne The Battle of the Aisne and La Cour de Soupir The Battle of Langemarck Fighting in the Woods around Ypres: The Battle of Gheluvelt Action in Nonne Bosschen Wood The Onset of Trench Warfare The Battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert Trench Warfare at Mazingarbe, Vermelles, Givenchy, and Cuinchy. The Battle of Loos: the subsidiary Attack, at Givenchy.