An iconic photograph of a soldier of 12th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment advancing through a smokescreen with a bayonet attached. Hengistbury Head, Dorset, 1941
Colour by Dan Steele
12th Battalion spent the duration of the Second World War at home as part of 136th Brigade, effectively in the Territorial Army. They were formed when the 50th (Holding) Battalion (Isle of Wight) absorbed the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey and subsequently split in to two Battalions, the 11th (Training) and 12th.
As the Allied Army advanced through Europe in 1944, elements of the 136th Brigade were dispatched overseas to expand the invasion force, until the Brigade was disbanded in 31st August 1944.
