3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)

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3rd Infantry Division
Image: British_3rd_Infantry_Division2.png
Insignia of the 3rd Division
Active Since 18 June 1809
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Infantry
Size Five Brigades
Part of Land Command
Garrison/HQ Bulford, Wiltshire
Nickname Iron Sides
Engagements Napoleonic Wars
Crimean War
Second Boer War
World War I
World War II
- Battle of France
- D-day landings
- Battle of Normandy
- Operation Market Garden
- Overloon and Venraij
- Reichswald
- Rhine crossing
- Bremen
Commanders
Current
commander		 Major General BW White-Spunner CBE
Notable
commanders		 Bernard Montgomery
K.A.N.Anderson
William Ramsden

The British 3rd Infantry Division, known at various times as the Iron Division, 3rd (Iron) Division or as Iron Sides[1], was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War, and was known as the "Fighting 3rd" under Sir Thomas Picton during the Napoleonic Wars. The division is also sometimes referred to as the "Iron Division", a nickname earned during the bitter fighting of 1916, during World War I. The division's other battle honours include: the Battle of Waterloo, the Crimean War, the Second Boer War, the Battle of France (1940) and D-Day (1944). It was commanded for a time, during World War II, by General Bernard Montgomery. The division was to have been part of a proposed Commonwealth Corps, formed for a planned invasion of Japan in 1945-46, but was disbanded when the war was ended by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

During World War II, the insignia became the "pattern of three" — a black triangle trisected by an inverted red triangle.

Contents

[edit] Crimean War Formation

Commanding General:Lieutenant-General Sir Richard England

[edit] World War I

During the First World War it was a permanently established Regular Army division that was amongst the first to be sent to France at the outbreak of the war. It served on the Western Front for four years. During this time, it was nicknamed "The Iron Division". Its first commander during the war, Major-General Hubert Hamilton, was killed by shellfire near Béthune in October 1914.

[edit] World War I formation

7th Brigade (to October 18, 1915) 

The brigade moved to the 25th Division in October 1915 and was replaced by the 76th Brigade.


8th Brigade 

The following battalions joined the brigade for periods in 1914 and 1915.

The following battalions joined the brigade for periods in 1915 and 1916.

The following battalions left the brigade for the 76th Brigade when it joined the division in October 1915:


9th Brigade 

Other battalions to serve with the brigade were:

The brigade moved to the 28th Division for a brief period in early 1915.


76th Infantry Brigade (from October 15 1915) 

The brigade joined the division from the 25th Division in October 1915.

After the end of the First World War, the division was stationed in southern England where it formed part of the Southern Command. In 1937, one of its brigades was commanded by Bernard Montgomery. He assumed command of the division shortly before Britain declared war on Germany.

[edit] World War II

The Division was part of the ill-fated British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk early in World War II.

After the evacuation, the Division spent four years training in the UK, in preparation for an eventual assault landing in Europe.

The Third Division was the first British division to land at Sword Beach on D-Day and fought through the Battle of Normandy, the Netherlands and later the invasion of Germany. For the campaign in Normandy, the division was commanded by Major General Thomas Rennie until 13 June, 1944; Major General L.G. Whistler, a highly popular commander, took command on 23 June 1944.

During the often intense fighting from Sword Beach to Bremen, the Division suffered 2,586 killed. [2]

[edit] World War II formation

8th Brigade 
9th Brigade 
185th Brigade 
Divisional Troops

[edit] Post World War II

Post war, the Division was reformed on April 1, 1951, under the command of Sir Hugh Stockwell. It consisted of three recently reraised brigades, the 32nd Guards, the 19th Infantry, and the 39th Infantry. It served in the UK for many years; in 1968 it was part of the Army Strategic Command, comprising 5th, 19th, and 24th Brigades. It was an armoured division in the British Army of the Rhine from 1976 to 1991. When its sub-units were Task Force Echo (TFE) and Task Force Foxtrot (TFF), these changed around 1980 to 6 Armoured Brigade and 33 Armoured Brigade.

[edit] Current formation

Structure 3rd Mechanized Div.
Structure 3rd Mechanized Div.

On 1 September 1999 the Division was freed from its administrative and regional responsibilities and it become a deployable or "fly-away" division.[3]

As 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division it is now the only division at continual operational readiness in the United Kingdom (the other at operational readiness being 1st (UK) Armoured Division in Germany). It is based at Bulford in Wiltshire and reports to the Commander Field Army within Headquarters Land Command at Wilton, Wiltshire.

Under the divisional command are four ready brigades and one logistics support brigade:

British Army Portal

[edit] Recent Commanders

Recent Commanders have been:[4]

  • 1999-2000 Major General FR Dannatt
  • 2000-2003 Major General JC McColl
  • 2003-2004 Major General GCM Lamb
  • 2005-2006 Major General A Shirreff
  • 2007-present Major General BW White-Spunner

[edit] References

  1. ^ Delaforce, Patrick (1995). Monty's Iron Sides. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Allan Sutton Publishing, p.ix. ISBN 0-7509-0781-9. 
  2. ^ Delaforce, Patrick (1995). Monty's Iron Sides. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Allan Sutton Publishing, p.206. ISBN 0-7509-0781-9. 
  3. ^ Soldier Magazine, December 1998, p.13
  4. ^ Whitaker's Almanacks

[edit] External links

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Divisions of the British Army

1st (UK) Armoured Division • 2nd Division • 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division • 4th Division • 5th Division • 6th (UK) Division
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