Veterans of the Dorset Regiment will meet in Dorchester for what is likely to be the last formal event in their regiment’s three centuries of history. The event is taking place on Saturday, September 27.

Until now the regiment’s published histories, which begin in 1702, have stopped abruptly in 1939. Now, however, a new book has been written to complete their story, and this party celebrates its launch.

They Couldn’t Have Done Better tells the story of the four Dorset battalions who fought in the Second World War and of the regiment’s post-war service in the years of Britain’s withdrawal from empire, the Cold War and National Service.

This year marks three 70th anniversaries for the Regiment. In May 1944 the 2nd Dorsets won a bloody battle at Kohima, which proved the turning point in the war in Burma.

The book’s title is a quote from a Brigadier describing the Dorsets’ courage at Kohima. On June 6, 1944 the 1st Dorsets were one of the first assault troops to land on the Normandy beaches and, despite their losses, captured all their objectives on D-Day.

And, in late September 1944, the 4th and 5th Dorsets fought near Arnhem and enabled some of the Airborne troops trapped north of the Neder Rijn to escape across the river.

The 4th Dorsets, who sacrificed themselves to save their Airborne comrades, were the only non-Airborne unit to be awarded the Arnhem battle honour.

The book launch on September 27 falls on the anniversary of the tragic end of the Arnhem battle and it will be attended by four Dorset Regiment veterans of the Second World War. 100-year-old Bill Chutter fought in Malta, Sicily and Italy with the 1st Dorsets before landing with them in France on D-Day.

Ron Beale and Harry Carter served in the 4th Battalion, which (beside the 5th) fought its way from the Normandy beachhead in June 1944 to Bremerhaven the following May.

The fourth is Cliff Lloyd of the 4th Dorsets. Wounded in Normandy in July 1944, he returned in September to take part in the Arnhem operation. Crossing the river to help the Airborne troops fight their way out, he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Germans.