Exhaustive research did full justice to the many battalions of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry which served their country with characteristic distinction during the Great War, writes Robert Jobson.

Captain Everard Wyrall, a prolific military historian, completed his DCLI History in 1932, after 13 years of toil funded by a generous response to a public appeal.

Spanning more than 500 pages, his weighty tome contained 21 illustrations, 21 maps and a 33 page roll of honour listing the thousands of DCLI men who died in battle or on active service.

The Colonel-in-Chief of the Bodmin-based regiment, Edward Prince of Wales, often to be seen in Cornwall during the 1920's, wrote in his foreword: "It would indeed have been a calamity if the History had not been written.

"Those of us who remember the years 1914-18 well know that the story of the Regiment during those years is one of a continued gallantry and endurance worthy of its highest traditions.

"But already a younger generation is with us which knows these things by hearsay only. It is for them, and the generations which will follow them, that the sufferings and achievements of the men of this Regiment should be recorded in permanent form."

During the Great War the DCLI comprised regular, territorial and service battalions largely recruited from across the River Tamar, in particular from London and the Midlands.

Following the decline and almost total collapse of Cornish mining, a third of Cornwall's young men had left their homeland between 1860 and 1900 in search of work overseas and upcountry.

But enough of this special breed remained for the DCLI's 10th Infantry Pioneer Battalion to be raised entirely from scratch in Cornwall not by the War Office, but by the Mayor And Citizens of Truro. For its first few months in 1915 it was in effect a private Cornish army.

Brevet Colonel Dudley Acland Mills, of the Royal Artillery, was appointed by the City of Truro as its first commanding officer, supported by a renowned Cornish historian and writer known by his many admirers as Q: Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, of Fowey.

Q had no military training but he did have pedigree from the previous century-his father had been surgeon to the Royal Cornwall Militia. Like so many, he felt driven by patriotic duty.

Making light of his exam duties at Cambridge, he found time to train his 210 Cornish recruits in drill, fieldcraft and musketry.

He insisted on them shaving every day, inspecting chins at 9.30am, took them to tea at his home, The Haven, after route marches, encouraged them to swim in the sea and even cut their toenails.

From these eccentric beginnings the 10th DCLI was to become one of the outstanding Infantry Pioneer battalions on the Western Front, doing vital work within range and sight of enemy guns.

In the summer of 1916 they were plunged into a baptism of fire at Delville Wood, one of the bitterest fought and bloodiest battles of the war. Under heavy bombardment, they carried ammunition to the front line, dug trenches and fought as infantrymen.

Under cover of darkness, much further digging and laying of trench boards followed along the River Ancre, as well as excavating stone for ballasting light railway tracks.

Without their work, the Allies' guns, ammunition, rations and water could not have been moved forward to the infantry holding the front line.

Their next assignment was to repair bridges, deal with booby traps and remove trees felled by the Germans to hinder the Allies' advances. Working day and night, they stuck to their many tasks with grim tenacity,despite coming under shellfire and losing three of their senior officers.

They were in the thick of the Battle of Cambrai towards the end of 1917 and saved the 17th Royal Fusilliers from being over-run. They started 1918 digging yet more trenches in atrocious conditions as the Germans' win or bust spring offensive loomed.

Hugo White, in his 'One and All' History of the DCLI 1702-1959, wrote: "As men became ever more exhausted, the 10th Battalion seemed to have been gripped by a superhuman determination.

"The battle of the River Selle in October 1918, the last great battle of the war, saw the 10th working steadily and efficiently just behind the front line, keeping the lines of communication open: heavy and unglamorous work but absolutely vital to the Allies, now in full pursuit of the Germans."

Few of those who had rallied to the Mayor of Truro's call in 1915 remained. 257 had been killed and many times that figure wounded' but the 10th remained predominantly and proudly Cornish.