What was the name of J.R.R. Tolkien’s regiment during his First World War service?

J.R.R. Tolkien served with the Lancashire Fusiliers during the First World War.

Tolkien received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1915. He served in France during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, one of the war’s largest and bloodiest campaigns. He was later sent home after becoming ill with trench fever.

His wartime experience influenced his writing, although Middle-earth is not a direct allegory of the First World War. Tolkien repeatedly resisted simple one-to-one interpretations of his stories. Still, his memories of comrades, loss, landscapes, machinery, and industrialized warfare contributed to the emotional and physical texture of his fiction.

Tolkien’s close friend Geoffrey Bache Smith was killed in the war, as were several other members of the informal literary group known as the Tea Club and Barrovian Society. Tolkien’s service ended after illness prevented his return to the front.