The first Devon's had arrived in Italy at the beginning of December 1917 where they remained in reserve until the middle of January 1918. They marched up to the Piave to replace two Italian divisions it was a horrible March as the roads were very steep and slippery. Fighting was sporadic and it was impossible to push forward over the river plans were made for a big attack from the middle of March however on March 21st news came of the breakthrough by the German troops on the Western Front, orders where issued on the 24th and on April 3rd they entrained for France.
The long expected German offensive which was launched on 21st March 1918 found 2nd Devon's in reserve at St Omer. they detrained on 23rd of March and proceeded to Villers-Carbonel and were in position by the end of the day. The Germans attacked strongly over the next two days. Casualties were heavy but below the enemies and at the end of the 25th the position was intact but the Battalion was exhausted. There was no respite the next day, and despite heavy attack the Devons hang on. There were now in danger of being outflanked so were forced to withdraw. Part of the battalion were almost cut off but managed to reach safety although there were casualties. Despite being exhausted they managed to dig in and even put out wire. On the 26th it was apparent that the Germans were making advances in other parts other line and a general retirement was decided on. They reached safety behind Rosieres. On the 27th another strong German attack took place elsewhere on the line and the Devons were sent to help. Moving all the equipment cause confusion and the battalion soon became caught up in the general Chaos. Finally an attack was launched by the allies and some heavy casualties were inflicted by the Devons and others. The position was held until early on the 28th when they received orders to fall back again. By afternoon the Devons had have you joined and were in reserve near Beaucourt. The neighbouring divisions were outflanked and once again they were ordered to retire and fell back to Moreuil.
Attempting to rest that night they were woken in the early hours of 29th and move back to Jumail with the rest of the division. The line had broken that day and the Devons were reduced to under 500 men. On the morning of the 30th they were ordered to move North to Amiens. On the way they were diverted to Moreuil Wood to relieve the cavalry the weather was terrible heavy rain and very difficult. Again the battalion faced heavy shelling were outflanked and again forced to retire. They were relieved buy French forces on the morning of April the 1st. Around this time battalion had lost five officers and 92 men killed and missing 10 officers and 215 men were wounded.
1st Devon's near Arras put under notice to move on 10th of April. Conflicting orders were issued but eventually they ended up entrenching between Bois des vache and the Berquin river on the 12th. At 3 p.m. The battalion advanced to a position on the Merville-lamotte Road where they managed to dig in well early the next morning the enemy began pushing pushing forward. The attack was repulsed but early on the 14th they attacked the Devons again, this time backed up by heavy barrages which prevented reinforcements reaching the Devons. They continued to hold the line at the salient near Nieppe for the next two days and were relieved on the evening of 16th April. Before going into action the Officers and non commissioned men had taken a solemn oath to stand their ground at all costs and inspired by their determination the battalion had proved equal to every call. The Brigadier expressed his confidence in them and wrote “the Devons have never failed me yet and in the last 20 months during which your battalion has been under my command you have done wonders”. They remained in this area until late July, although patrols were still active they sustained very few casualties.
In August the German army began to fall back and the first Devons were part of the allied advance between 21st and 31st of August they attacked and captured several German positions; on the 22nd of August Lance Corporal Onions and private Eades took 200 German prisoners; Onions received the Victoria Cross and Eades the distinguished conduct medal those 10 days cost the Devons 263 casualties.
The 2nd Devon's came back to the front line on the 20th of April where they spent 2 days strengthening the defences of Villers-Bretonneux. Early on 24th a tremendous bombardment opened first with gas and then high explosive. About four hours later it was seen that the Germans were pushing a dozen tanks forward, meanwhile they were trying to outflank part of the Devon battalion with machine gun crews, the British tanks were brought up and the helped the Devons who managed to hang on and repulse the German attack. The Devons remained in line until the 27th of April they had suffered quite high casualties but fared better than the other battalions. II Devons hold the Front trenches from 12th to 20th and May.
On May 26th the battalion were warned that a German attack was imminent and at 1 p.m. by now they were at Bois des buttes. There was a tremendous bombardment compelling everyone to fit their gas masks, the Germans advanced later that day against heavy defence by the British, the next morning the Devons were almost surrounded an eyewitness describes them “as merely an island in the midst of an innumerable and determined foe fighting with perfect discipline and by the steadiness of their fire mowing down the enemy in large numbers”.
On the 27th amongst the chaos and confusion, the CO of the second devon's and a handful of men were found holding the last Trench north of the Aisne canal, they held this and together with their support company which by then numbered less than 50 men charged down the hill. During this battle at Bois des Buttes 23 officers and 528 men were killed or missing the Regiment was cited in the French orders of the day and awarded the Croix de Guerre.
By the next day the small remnant of the seconds were back and animated by the spirit and determination of their fallen comrades had been placed and were attempting to block the German advance. Later that day, 28th, they mustered about 140 men with details up from the transport line and dashed forward with a swift and resolute advanced thrusting the army back and securing the dominating ground. They continued in the fight to stop the German advance when finally on the 30th of May the line was held. On 12th of June 2nd Devon now reduced to two second lieutenants and 90 men rejoined battalion HQ moving back so that the process of reconstruction could begin. This action cost the battalion 551 killed and missing among those killed was there colonel. The French awarded the Regiment the Croix de Guerre, whose ribbon all devon's wore on their sleeve.
The second Evans we're back in the line on the 21st July having been brought up to strength with reinforcements. They followed a period of very little action until the 26th of August with the front line now at Fresnoy. On September the 1st the Germans made repeated attacks on the advanced posts for the next four days finishing with a strong attack near crucifix. This attack was fought off with few casualties and after this the Germans became less active. At the end of September the Devons were involved in clearing the Germans out of the back trenches on the prisoners fresnes- Rouvroy line. This resulted in a highly successful operation and then on the 27th and the Battalion received warm congratulations from the commander in chief. The Division pushed forward and the Devon were on the front line again on the 13th of October slowly pushing forward they reached saint-amand by the 21st they met little resistance there. The end of the month found the second devon's attempting to establish a bridgehead East of the river scheldt, this was repulsed butt on the 30th another effort was made with pontoons across the river by the 31st they were established on the other side. The ground here was very swampy and difficult to defend and the Germans made a concentrated attack on the battalion who were forced 2 cross back to the other side which was very difficult as there were numerous stretcher cases to be removed and they came under heavy shelling. On the 31st of October the Battalion was back in billets at st. amand the month has been quite costly in the number of casualties. This was their last fight in the war and they had been asked to attempt the impossible.
3rd Battalion Devonshire Regiment
March 1918 found them still at Devonport where they had been recruiting and training young officers and Men for sending out drafts to fill the vacancies in the main battalions.
5th Battalion and 2/4 Devonshire Regiment
They had been busy during January and February road making in the Middle East however they were involved in the March and April advance against the Turks in Palestine pushing North from Jerusalem. The 1/5th were transferred to France when relieved on 5 May. At the end of July the 2/4 continued in Palestine. Were then broken up and dispatched to other units.
The 16th Devon's arrived in France on 7th of May from Palestine they were moved to various parts of the Western Front eventually making their way to the Somme in the late summer.
The 1/5 Devons found themselves in France on 1st of June they spent some time training before going to the Marne. The Germans attacked on 14th of July and by the 16th the 5th Devons were moving to an area North of epernay. The Germans were in great force and well provided with artillery and machine guns. By 5:30 a.m. On the 20th the Battalion was lined up and ready, later going forward in support. A&B companies caught the German Barrage as they came out of the woods and suffered heavy losses. Pushing on they could make little headway so they had to hang on and consolidate. On 23rd a fresh attack was launched and carried the line forward, devons helped clear the woods and again consolidate the new position eventually reaching Bligny on 27th. The Devons found they're right flank was exposed and attack was launched early on the 28th at first there was little opposition but then they were attacked buy tremendous machine gun fire on the right flank. Many Fell but the Devons push down and up the hill securing the Higher Ground further to the right. These were important games and special credit was attached to the 5th Devon's. They were relieved 2 Days Later after enduring severe shelling and gas bombardement. This action caused them nearly a toll of 388 killed and wounded.
The battalion now went into reserve for over a fortnight during which time it was replenished by two large drafts of men. On the 28th of August they were back in line near Vaulx Vraucourt which they attacked with courage but machine gun fire was severe and casualties were heavy. Another attack was launched on the 31st the line was held under heavy shellfire for several days and the Devons were relieved and went back to reserve.
They took part in the action around havrincourt and on to Cambrai from 10th of September until the 16th during which time again they had heavy casualties. They returned to the HavrinCourt area on the 27th and attacked forward against the Hindenburg line to Flesquieres. Hear the German army seemed to becoming demoralised and they took no fewer than 350 prisoners. They then pushed forward to Marcoing. Late on the 29th V Devon were ordered to form the advanced guard and next morning the battalion was filing through Masnieres. Here they were shelled and fired on although the area was supposedly cleared. Despite casualties they pushed on but eventually the small band were record and the roll call showed just 10 offices and 194 other men were present. They ended the war at mon plaisir.
16th Devon's were approaching the Hindenburg line near Epehy on the 1st of September during the next three days then counted heavy resistance and by the end of the 4th the casualties numbered almost 200. After gaining a foothold they were eventually driven back but then were relieved and went into reserve. On the 18th of September they rejoined the front in the big attack near Epehy. A few days later they were on the attack at Ronssoy, this had cost them another 100 casualties.
The first battalion were in action again on the 23rd of September moving forward until they came under heavy shelling at Metz where they sustained several casualties. from the 28th onwards the Battalion moved forward but did not sustained many casualties engaging in the battles at Beauchamp and Ovillers. The Last Action was in the final week of the war beyond the sombra canal when they have advanced under heavy shell and machine gun fire.
9th battalion had been in Northern Italy for most of 1918 but returned to France in September in early October they broke through the German line at beaurevoir on the Somme. Casualties however were very heavy and the Battalion was reconstituted into two companies instead of the normal 4. They went into reserve on the 11th of October. They found themselves back at the front when they were placed in the centre of the attacks on Richmonte on the 23rd they then commenced to Pommereuil where they remained for the next five days however there were a lot of hostile attacks and had nearly 100 casualties. After 4 days rest at Le cateau were they received more reinforcements they attacked on the 3rd of November through the forest of Mormal. They continued to push gradually forward and on armistice day had moved to Landrecies.
Two memorials erected at end of the war, in Exeter Cathedral and in France at Les Bois des Buttes.