STORIES of heroism displayed by soldiers from Oxfordshire during the First World War have been uncovered for the first time.

Thousands of men from Oxfordshire laid down their lives for their country between 1914 and 1918.

In charge of many of them was Lt Col Richard Crosse, who led the Second Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry into some of the fiercest battles the world has ever seen.

Despite being seriously wounded, he refused to give up and had to be lifted on to his horse to fight again.

But incredibly, the story of this brave battalion – also known as the 52nd Light Infantry – has remained largely untold until now.

Dr Simon Harris, a retired anaesthetist from King’s Lynn in Norfolk uncovered the tales while researching a family member.

He said: “My great-uncle, Capt Ralph Kite, fought with the Ox and Bucks and was mortally wounded at the Somme in 1916. I wrote a book about him, he had the most horrendous death. He was wounded in November and died a slow and lingering death a month later.”

Capt Kite, who was a student at Keble College, was killed by a shard from a British shell. His great-nephew described how a nurse used her hand to stem the bleeding under his arm.

He said: “The history of the First Battalion during the First World War was recorded by a man named Sir Edmund Neville in 1938.

“Then unfortunately a chap called Hitler came along and started a war. The history was never completed.”

The 700-page book is complete with rare photographs, maps, letters and diaries and is dedicated to Lt Col Crosse, who commanded the battalion from 1916 until 1919.

Dr Harris said: “In 1918 he was wounded by a German shell in the back and suffered a broken rib. In order not to lose command of his battalion he returned to the fray after three weeks with a gaping wound and had to be lifted into the saddle of his horse.”

More than 15,000 members of the regiment lost their lives at Ypres, Loos, the Somme and Passchendaele.

Dr Harris said: “It is the record of a very special band of brothers. You name it, they were there in the thick of it.”