What was the name of J.R.R. Tolkien’s battalion during the Battle of the Somme?

During the Battle of the Somme, J.R.R. Tolkien served with the 11th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. He was a second lieutenant and worked as a signals officer.

Tolkien was commissioned in the British Army in 1915 after graduating from Oxford. He trained with the Lancashire Fusiliers and was posted to France in June 1916. The Battle of the Somme began on 1 July 1916, one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War.

Tolkien returned to England later in 1916 after becoming ill with trench fever. His wartime experiences influenced his imagination, but direct one-to-one identifications between individual characters and military comrades are often overstated.

The 11th Battalion was a service battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, part of the British Army’s expansion during the war. Tolkien’s military service also contributed to his friendship with members of the T.C.B.S., a group of school friends interested in literature and mythology.