What was the name of the British Army regiment 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.

Tolkien was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1915. He served on the Western Front and took part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He later became ill with trench fever and was sent back to Britain, ending his active front-line service.

The experience affected Tolkien deeply, as it did many members of his generation. Several of his close school friends were killed in the war, and memories of industrialized conflict, devastated landscapes, and comradeship are often discussed in connection with themes in his fiction. Tolkien did not present Middle-earth as a direct war memoir, however, and simplistic one-to-one comparisons can be misleading.

The regiment is sometimes confused with other British infantry units because Tolkien trained with different formations before serving at the front. His wartime commission and service are specifically associated with the Lancashire Fusiliers.