What was the name of the army unit J.R.R. Tolkien served with during the First World War?

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

After graduating from Oxford in 1915, Tolkien received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He trained in England before being sent to the Western Front in 1916, where he served as a signals officer with the 11th Service Battalion.

Tolkien took part in the Battle of the Somme and developed trench fever. He was sent back to England for treatment later in 1916 and was eventually found medically unfit for general service. His wartime experience became an important part of his biography, although direct one-to-one links between particular battlefield events and individual scenes in his fiction should be treated cautiously.

The Lancashire Fusiliers were an infantry regiment of the British Army. Tolkien’s service is sometimes simplified by saying he fought throughout the entire war, but illness prevented him from returning to active service on the Western Front after 1916.