5th Infantry Division (India)

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5th Indian Infantry Division
Active 1939 - 1945
Country India
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Indian Army
Type Infantry
Size Division
Nickname "Ball of Fire".
Engagements East African Campaign (World War II)
Western Desert Campaign
Burma Campaign
Battle of Kohima
Operation Tiderace
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Lewis Heath
Harold Rawdon Briggs
Geoffrey Evans
East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941
East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941

Indian 5th Infantry Division was an infantry division in the British Indian Army which fought in several theatres of World War II and more than earned its nickname the "Ball of Fire".

Contents

[edit] History

The Division was formed in India from the Deccan District Headquarters with two brigades each with three Indian infantry battalions. It moved to the Sudan in 1940 and was joined by three British infantry battalions already there. The division was reorganised into three brigades each with one British and two Indian battalions (as was the prevailing custom).

It fought the East African Campaign in Eritrea and Ethiopia during 1940 and 1941 thence moving to Egypt, Cyprus and Iraq. In 1942 the division was heavily engaged in the Western Desert Campaign and in the fighting withdrawal to Alamein. From late 1943 to the Japanese surrender it fought continuously from India through the length of Burma. It was the first unit into Singapore and then fought in Eastern Java.

Lord Louis Mountbatten wrote in his memoirs paying tribute to the division whose record was "second to none", saying:[1]

“ When the Division came under my command in South-East Asia towards the end of 1943, it had already had three years' hard fighting in Africa. In 1941 it had played a leading part in the defeat of the Italian Army in the Sudan, Eritrea, and Abyssinia; in the summer of 1942 it had been very heavily engaged with the Germans and Italians in the crucial battle of the Knightsbridge 'Cauldron,' and in the fighting withdrawal across North Africa to the defence of the Alamein line...when I first met the men of this Division, soon after the formation of the South-East Asia Command---indeed it was the first Division that I visited---its reputation was already high...the Division was heavily engaged in the first land battle to be fought since the Command had been set up...and a large share of the credit must go to the Fifth Indian Division for the first decisive victory against the Japanese since they had invaded two years previously...(the) land victory at Kohima and Imphal, in which the Division played an important part, proved to be the turning-point of the Burma Campaign...The Division continued to fight and to advance throughout the rest of the war, except for one period of rest and reorganization...Its record was second to none and I was proud to have such a fine formation under my command. ”

[edit] East African Campaign

Main article: East African Campaign

On 10 June 1940, in all of the Sudan, prior to the arrival of the Indian 4th Infantry Division and Indian 5th Infantry Division, Platt had only three infantry battalions (which were absorbed into the under-strength 5th Indian Division when it arrived)[2] and the machine-gun companies of the Sudan Defence Force. The three battalions were which in mid-September became part of Indian 29th, 10th and 9th Infantry Brigades respectively.

The Indian 5th Infantry Division, under the command of Major-General Lewis Heath and comprising only two brigades at the time, was sent from India to the Sudan to reinforce the British forces there under Lieutenant-General Sir William Platt which had been attacked by Italian forces in Eritrea, at the time part of the Italian East African Empire. They and started to arrive in early September 1940 and here, they absorbed three British infantry battalions, the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment and the 2nd Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, and reorganised to form a third infantry brigade.

For the next three months the division were involved in a series of aggressive skirmishing operations to keep the Italian forces off balance and confused as to Platt's longer-term intentions. In early 1941 Platt's forces were further augmented by Indian 4th Infantry Division, rushed from the Western Desert after the breakthrough during Operation Compass, and an attack was launched into Eritrea on 18 January. The climax of the campaign was the Battle of Keren, a fiercley fought series of engagements against superior numbers which ended with victory for Platt's forces on 1 April.

After Keren, 4th Indian Division was withdrawn back to Cairo and 5th Indian Division continued the campaign in Eritrea, finally joining up with elements of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham's forces, which had advanced north from Kenya to capture Italian Somaliland and the Italian capital of Addis Ababba in Ethiopia, to take the surrender of Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, the Italian Viceroy at Amba Alagi.

[edit] North Africa and the Middle East

WIP

[edit] Burma campaign

A soldier from the 5th Division stands guard over Japanese prisoners who surrendered during the liberation of Singapore. September 1945.
A soldier from the 5th Division stands guard over Japanese prisoners who surrendered during the liberation of Singapore. September 1945.

At the end of 1943 the division was taking part in the Burma Campaign as one of the Divisions in the British Fourteenth Army under the command of General William Slim. It was facing the Japanese 55th Division on the coastal flank of the Arakan front. The defeat of the Japanese 55th Division, to which a large share of the credit must go to the Indian 5th Division, was the first decisive victory against the Japanese since they had invaded Burma two years previously.

From the victory in the Arakan sector the Indian 5th Infantry Division was air-lifted to the central front. 161 Brigade joined III Corps, which was beginning to arrive at Dimapur, and fought in the Battle of Kohima while the remainder of the division reinforced IV Corps, whose land victory at Kohima and Imphal, in which the Division played an important part, proved to be the turning-point of the Burma Campaign.

Except for one period of rest and reorganization, the Indian 5th Division continued to fight and to advance throughout the rest of the war, and took part in the final thrust by IV Corps down to Rangoon.

[edit] Formation During World War II

General Officer Commanding:

  • Major-General Lewis Heath (Jul 1940 - Apr 1941)
  • Major-General Mosley Mayne (Apr 1941 May 1942)
  • Brigadier Claude M. Vallentin (May 1942 - May 1942)
  • Major-General H.R. Briggs (May 1942 - Jul 1944)
  • Major-General Geoffrey Evans (Jul 1944 - Sep 1944)
  • Brigadier Eric Mansergh (Sep 1944 - Sep 1944)
  • Major-General Cameron Nicholson (Sep 1944 - Sep 1944)
  • Major-General Dermot Warren (Sep 1944 - Feb 1945)
  • Brigadier Joseph A Salomons (Feb 1945 - Feb 1945)
  • Major-General Eric Mansergh (Feb 1945 - Aug 1945)

[edit] Headquarters

Commanders divisional artillery:

  • Brigadier Claude M. Vallentin (Jul 1940 - Jun 1942)
  • Brigadier Eric Mansergh (Jun 1942 - Sep 1944)
  • Brigadier Geoffrey B.J. Kellie (Sep 1944 - Jun 1945)
  • Brigadier R.G. Loder-Symonds (Jun 1945 - Aug 1945)
    • HQ
    • 4, 28, & 144 Field Regts. RA
    • 56 Anti-Tank Regts. RA
    • 24 Indian Mountain Regt IA
  • Indian Engineers: Sappers and Miners
    • 2 & 74 Field Coys. King George's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners
    • 20 Field Coy. Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners
    • 44 Field Park Coy. Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
  • 5 Indian Division Signals
  • Machine Gun Battalion 17th Dogra Regiment

[edit] 9 Indian Infantry Brigade

Commanders:

[edit] 10 Indian Infantry Brigade (1940-1942)

Commanders:

[edit] 29 Indian Infantry Brigade (1940-1942)

Commanders:

[edit] 123 Indian Infantry Brigade (1942-1946)

Commanders:

[edit] 161 Indian Infantry Brigade (1942-1946)

Commanders:

  • Brigadier William Donovan Stamer (Nov 1941 - May 1942)
  • Brigadier Francis E.C. Hughes (May 1942 - Jul 1942)
  • Lieutenant-Colonel D Barker (Jul 1942 - Jul 1942)
  • Brigadier Dermot Warren (Jul 1943 - Sep 1944)
  • Brigadier Robert G.C. Poole (Sep 1944 - Mar 1945)
  • Colonel Ewing Grimshaw (Mar 1945 - Mar 1945)
  • Brigadier Ewing Grimshaw (Mar 1945 - Aug 1945)

[edit] Support Units

  • Royal Indian Army Service Corps
    • 15, 17 & 29 M.T. Coys
    • 20, 60, 74 &82 Animal Transport Coys (Mule)
    • 238, 239 & 240 GP Transport Coys
    • Composite Issue Units
  • Medical Services
    • I.M.S-R.A.M.C-I.M.D-I.H.C-I.A.M.C
    • 10, 21, 45 & 75 Indian Field Ambulances
    • 5 Indian Division Provost Unit
  • Indian Army Ordnance Corps
    • 5 Indian Div Sub Park
  • Indian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers
    • 112, 113 & 123 Infantry Workshop Coys.
    • 5 Indian Div Recovery Coy.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Antony Brett-James (1951), in the foreword by Earl Mountbatten of Burma
  2. ^ Compton Mackenzie, Eastern Epic, p. 21 & 30
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