11th (Northern) Division
| 11th (Northern) Division | |
|---|---|
_Division_Insignia.png){kind=small} | |
| Active | 21 August 1914 – 28 June 1919 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom |
| Branch |
 British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements | |
The 11th (Northern) Division, was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I, raised from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. The division fought in the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front. The division's insignia was an ankh or ankhus.
History
The division came into existence on 21 August 1914 under Army Order No. 324, which authorised the formation of the first six new divisions of Kitchener's Army. The division was composed of early wartime volunteers and assembled at Belton Park near Grantham. By late spring 1915, the recruits were judged to be ready for active service, and the division was consequently ordered to reinforce the beleaguered garrison on Gallipoli. The division sailed for the Mediterranean in June and July 1915 and formed part of the Suvla Bay landing force on 7 August. The 6th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own (Yorkshire Regiment) of the 32nd Brigade was the first Kitchener unit to be involved in a major offensive operation of the war. Their action at Lala Baba Hill, on 7 August 1915, during the Suvla Bay landings, was costly, the commanding officer –Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Chapman –was killed as were all but 3 of the officers but they enter the history books with the hill being renamed York hill for the duration of the Gallipoli Campaign.[1]
The division continued to serve at Gallipoli, suffering high casualties, until the evacuation of Suvla in December 1915. After a period of time in Egypt guarding the Suez Canal, the division was transferred to the Western Front and served there from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 until the end of the war, which arrived on 11 November 1918. On 28 June 1919, exactly five years since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the 11th (Northern) Division was officially disbanded, having sustained more than 32,100 casualties during the war.[2]
Commanders
- Major General F. Hammersley (August 1914 – August 1915)
- Major General Sir Edward Fanshawe (August 1915 – July 1916)
- Lieutenant General Sir Charles Woollcombe (July 1916 – December 1916)
- Brigadier-General J. Erskine (acting) (December 1916)
- Major General A. Ritchie (wounded in action) (December 1916 – May 1917)
- Major General H. Davies (wounded in action) (May 1917 – September 1918)
- Brigadier General Sir Ormonde Winter (acting) (September 1918)
- Major-General H. Davies (September 1918 – October 1918)
Order of battle
The division comprised the following infantry brigades:
- 9th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment)
- 6th Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own (Yorkshire Regiment)
- 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)
- 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
- 6th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
- 6th Battalion, Border Regiment
- 7th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
- 9th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment)
- 8th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
- 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
- 11th Battalion, Manchester Regiment
- 5th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment
- Pioneers
- 6th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
Battles
- Battle of Gallipoli
- Battle of the Somme
- Battle of Messines (1917)
- Third Battle of Ypres
- Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Aspinall-Oglander 1932, p. 336.
- ↑ Spring 2008, p. 107.
References
- Aspinall-Oglander, C. F. (1932). Military Operations Gallipoli: May 1915 to the Evacuation. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. II (IWM & Battery Press 1992 ed.). London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-89839-175-X.
- Spring, F. G. (2008). The History of the 6th (Service) Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, 1914–1919. Boston: Poacher Books. ISBN 0-9559914-0-4.