46th (North Midland) Division

For the equivalent formation in World War II, see 46th Infantry Division (United Kingdom).
North Midland Division
46th (North Midland) Division
Active 1908 – June 1919
1922–1935
Country  United Kingdom
Branch Territorial Army
Type Infantry
Size Division
Engagements Hohenzollern Redoubt
Gommecourt
Hill 70
St Quentin Canal
Selle
Sambre

The 46th (North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, that saw service in World War I. At the outbreak of the war, the 46th Division was commanded by Major-General Hon. E.J. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. Originally called the North Midland Division, it was redesignated as the 46th Division in May 1915.[1]

Origins

When the Territorial Force was formed in 1908 as a result of the Haldane Reforms, the North Midland Division was created by combining two existing Volunteer Infantry brigades, the Staffordshire Brigade and the North Midland Brigade. The Staffordshire Brigade was composed of battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment and the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment). The North Midland Brigade was split into two, one, the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade, composed of battalions of the Lincolnshire and Leicestershire Regiments, the other, the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Brigade, comprising the four TF battalions of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (later the Sherwood Foresters).[2] Artillery, engineer, medical and other support services for the division either came from the Volunteers of these counties, or were newly raised in the TF.

World War I

The North Midland Division was sent to France in February 1915 and served on the Western Front for the duration of World War I. On 12 May 1915 the division was numbered 46th (North Midland) Division and the brigades were also numbered. During the Battle of Loos the 46th Division was decimated in an attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October 1915.

It was later involved in the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, where in the opening phase as part of VII Corps, the southern-most corps of the Third Army, the Division took part in the diversionary attack at Gommecourt on the first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, which was a catastrophic failure resulting in heavy losses to its numbers, and the event of which dogged the Division afterwards with a poor reputation until 29 September 1918, when it re-established its name at the St. Quentin Canal where, utilising life-belts and collapsible boats, it crossed the formidable obstacle of the canal and used scaling ladders to surmount the steep gradient of the opposite bank and captured multiple fortified hostile machine gun posts covering that point.

Order of battle

Brig-Gen J.V. Campbell on Riqueval Bridge addresses men of 137th Brigade after breaking the German's Hindenburg Line defences on 29 September 1918

During World War I the composition of the division was as follows:[1][3][4][5]

137th (Staffordshire) Brigade
138th (Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade
139th (Sherwood Foresters) Brigade
Mounted Troops
Artillery 
Engineers
Pioneers 
Machine Guns
Medical Services
Transport
Labour

Memorials

Postwar

The Territorial Force was disbanded after the war. It was reformed as the Territorial Army in the 1920s as was the 46th Division. However, the 46th Division was disbanded in 1936, the headquarters being converted into 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division and several of its infantry battalions into AA units.[6] Most of the remainder of 46th Division's units were sent to other divisions, mainly the 49th (West Riding) and the 55th (West Lancashire) infantry divisions. A new 46th (West Riding and North Midland) Infantry Division was formed in October 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of 49th (West Riding) Division.[7] A 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division was also raised as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, and contained many units that served with 46th (North Midland) Division.

Commanders

The following officers commanded the division:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Becke, pp. 61–7.
  2. ↑ Monthly Army List.
  3. ↑ 46th Div at Long, Long Trail.
  4. ↑ MacDonald, Appendix 3.
  5. ↑ Priestley, Appendices IV & V.
  6. ↑ 2 AA Division 1936–38 at British Military History
  7. ↑ Joslen, p. 75.

Bibliography

External links

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