42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division

East Lancashire Division
42nd (East Lancashire) Division
42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division
42nd Armoured Division
42nd (Lancashire) Division
42nd (East Lancashire) Division insignia, World War I.
Active 1908–1919
1920–1941
1947–1961
Country  United Kingdom
Branch  British Army
Type Infantry
Size Division
Motto(s) Go One Better[note 1]
Engagements World War I
World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 William Douglas
Bertram Mitford
Arthur Solly-Flood
William Beach
Sir Miles Dempsey
Vyvyan Evelegh
Insignia
Identification
symbol


42nd Division insignia, World War II.

The 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division on 25 May 1915.[1] It was the first TF division to be sent overseas during World War I. The division fought at Gallipoli, in the Sinai desert and on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Disbanded after the war, it was reformed in the Territorial Army (TA), in World War II it served as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and fought in Belgium and France before being evacuated at Dunkirk. The division was later reformed in the United Kingdom and, in November 1941, was converted into the 42nd Armoured Division which was disbanded in October 1943 without serving overseas. A 2nd Line duplicate formation, the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, was created when the Territorials were doubled in both world wars.

The division was disbanded during the war but was reformed in the TAin 1947 after the Second World War. Beckett 2008 says that TA units that were in suspended animation were formally reactivated on 1 January 1947, although no personnel were assigned until commanding officers and permanent staff had been appointed in March and April 1947.[2] From December 1955, the division was placed on a lower establishment, for home defence purposes only.[3] On 1 May 1961 the division was merged with North West District to become 42nd Lancashire Division/North West District.[4]

First World War

The division was embodied upon the outbreak of war. The war station was intended to be Ireland, but due to its pacific state, the intended move did not materialise. After a brief period at their drill halls, the various units proceeded to large tented camps at Turton Bottoms (near Bolton), Chesham (near Bury) and Holingworth Lake, Littleborough (near Rochdale). The personnel were asked to volunteer for overseas service, and the overwhelming majority did so, the deficiences made up of men from the National Reserve and other re-enlistments. The 'home service' men formed the cadre of duplicate units, intended to train the rush of volunteers at the drill halls. These would form the divisional reserve, and later become the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division.

In 1914 the East Lancashire Division was one of 14 infantry divisions and 55 mounted regiments called the Yeomanry which made up the Territorial Force. Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, described these divisions and regiments of mainly white–collar workers as "a town clerk's army." Their junior officers were trained at the Officer Training Corps set up at the universities and large public schools such as Eton and Harrow and Kitchener sent these forces to the peripheral campaigns; to the Sudan, Mesopotamia, Egypt, to the Caucasus to release Regular British Army soldiers for duty on the Western Front because he thought these amateur soldiers 'might not be able to hold their own with the German Army.'[5]

Egypt

Suez Canal zone and Sinai, WWI

The East Lancashire Division arrived in Egypt on 25 September 1914 and served in the interior, around Cairo (with some elements stationed in Cyprus and the Sudan) together with some Yeomanry units, and the Australian and New Zealand contingents before going to Gallipoli.[6]

The division was sent to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal against anticipated Turkish attacks. The 15 pounder gun batteries were deployed at key points on the west bank in support of Indian Army and New Zealand troops manning guardposts. The 20th Battery (Bolton Artillery) fired the Division's first artillery rounds of the Great War, and the first of the Territorial Force of the campaign, near El Ferdan on 2 February 1915.[7] The 19th Battery (Bolton Artillery) was in action in support of Indian and New Zealand troops between Tussum and Serapeum on the night and morning of 3–4 February 1915, against the attempted crossing of the canal by the 74th Regiment, Turkish 25th Division.[8]

Gallipoli

A boat carrying Lancashire Fusiliers, bound for Gallipoli. Photo by Ernest Brooks.
Area of operations of 42nd Division on Gallipoli

Beginning in early May 1915 the division joined the British Army Corps, from June known as VIII Corps, at Cape Helles following the failure of the Allies to achieve the anticipated swift success at Gallipoli during April. On 26 May 1915 the division received its number, becoming the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, and the brigades were also numbered, becoming 125th (1/1st Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade, 126th (1/1st East Lancashire) Brigade and 127th (1/1st Manchester) Brigade.[9]

The 4th (Blackburn) battery, 1 section of the 6th (Burnley) battery, and 19th and 20th (Bolton) batteries did not join the division on Gallipoli until 23/24 September, and the 1st/2nd East Lancs Brigade RFA (Manchester Artillery) arrived in Egypt in May from Britain and remained in Egypt.[10]

The 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade landed in time to participate in the Second Battle of Krithia on 6 May. The 126th Brigade arrived on 11 May. The entire division was involved in the Third Battle of Krithia on 4 June.

The division carried out the Helles diversion at the start of the Battle of Sari Bair in what became known as the Battle of Krithia Vineyard. Captain William Thomas Forshaw of the 1/9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in this battle from 7 to 9 August.

2nd Lieutenant Alfred Victor Smith of the 1/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his action at Helles on 23 December.

The division remained at Gallipoli until the final evacuation of Helles in January 1916 but was severely depleted by casualties and illness.

42nd Division's casualties at Gallipoli were 395 officers and 8152 other ranks killed, wounded and missing.[11]

Egypt and the Sinai Campaign

After the evacuation of Gallipoli, the division returned to Egypt, and was renamed the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division.[12] As such the participated in the Battle of Romani and the advance from Romani to Katia.

The 42nd Division served at Kantara on the Suez Canal in No. 3 Section of the Suez Canal Defences under General Lawrence until they were entrained for railhead at Pelusium on the first day of the Battle of Romani 4 August 1916.[13][14][15]

Map of Romani Battlefield

On arrival late in the day, the 127th Brigade of the 42nd Division took over outpost duties at 1930 hours while the New Zealand Mounted Rifle and 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigades, which had been heavily involved in fighting during the day, withdrew to water and rest at Pelusium.[16][17]

On the second day of battle, 5 August 1916, the 42nd Division along with the 52nd (Lowland) Division which had fought the previous day from their entrenched position, were ordered to move out to support the Australian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades in a pursuit of the enemy.[18][19] The 42nd Division was not prepared for the conditions they found in the Sinai desert. They had not been trained to operate in heavy sand in mid summer heat, and with insufficient water, extreme distress and tragedy followed. The mounted troops alone, were unable to stop the enemy making a disciplined withdrawal to water at Katia and to fall back in good order, the following day.[20][21][22][23]

The 127th Brigade, 42nd Division eventually reached Katia the next day, 6 August; 800 men had died in the two-day march from Pelusium Station. The 125th Brigade of the 42nd Division and the 155th, and 157th brigades of the 52nd Division also had many men fall victim to thirst and the blazing sun; the infantry pursuit could not go on.[24][25][26]

Robert Bethel, Army Service Corps, and McPherson, an officer in the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, worked to transport provisions and water to the 125th and 127th brigades. They recorded what they saw of these terrible days.[27][28] Nearly fifty years after serving with the 42nd Division in the Sinai, one veteran, gunner J. Thompson, confessed that the "sight of a leaking tap" made him "squirm."[29]

By December 1916, the 42nd Division was furnishing units to protect the lines of communication at Salmana, Abu Tilul and the railway station Maadan and took part in a practice attack on 13 December. On 21 December 42nd and 52nd Divisions marched from Kilo 128 to Bardawil and continued to move eastwards towards Masaid.[30]

On 17 January 1917, the 42nd Division was no longer in the Sinai Campaign, having been among the first of the Territorial Force to receive orders for the Western Front. The division was replaced in Desert Column by another Territorial Division, the 53rd (Welsh) Division commanded by Dallas. The two other Territorial infantry divisions; the 52nd at Rafa and the 54th (East Anglian) Division ordered out to Romani from the Suez Canal, were put directly under General Dobell commander of Eastern Force.[31][32][33] The 42nd Division departed Egypt early in February 1917.[34]

Western Front

42nd Division 8 April – 22 August 1917, and 23 March – 11 November 1918

In March 1917 the division moved to France and joined 3 Corps in Fourth Army.

Area of 42nd Division's operations near Ypres, 23 August – 29 September 1917
Trench message dog of 10th Manchesters waits while message is written, Cuinchy, 26 January 1918
Men of the 4th East Lancs at a sap-head, Givenchy, 28 January 1918
Positions on 5 April 1918
Bucquoy Crossroads, held by 125 Brigade in heavy fighting on 5 April 1918
Graves of 42nd Division's fallen in the breaking of the Hindenburg Line, near Bilhem Farm, Trescault – Ribecourt Road, photographed in 1919 (Today known as Ribecourt Road Cemetery)
42nd Division's attack through the Hindenburg Line 27/28 September 1918
Trench in the Hindenburg Line near Havrincourt taken by 42nd Division

First World War battles

First World War composition

The infantry were equipped with the obsolescent Long Magazine Lee–Enfield (MLE) rifle from embarkation in 1914 until arrival in France in March 1917, when they were re-equipped with the standard modern Short Magazine Lee–Enfield (SMLE).[38]

Infantry

The division comprised three infantry brigades:

125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade[39]

Disbanded February 1918. Men transferred within 42nd Division and to 66th Division.

126th (East Lancashire) Brigade

Disbanded February 1918. Men transferred within 42nd Division and to 66th Division.
Disbanded February 1918. Men transferred within 42nd Division and to 66th Division.
Transferred from 127th Brigade February 1918.

127th (Manchester) Brigade[40]

Transferred to 126th Brigade February 1918.

Pioneers and Cavalry

Joined the 42nd Division from 50th (Northumbrian) Division on 12 February 1918 near Bethune after being converted from an infantry battalion.[41] 3 companies
Did not proceed to Gallipoli; remained in Egypt and fought in the Western Desert expedition against the Senussi. Rejoined 42nd Division after it returned to Egypt from Gallipoli. Transferred to 53rd Division January 1917 and fought at Gaza, then served with 60th and 52nd Divisions in Palestine and Syria.

Divisional Artillery

Originally each of the field gun batteries was equipped with four obsolescent BLC 15 pounder field guns (referred to somewhat inaccurately by Ian Hamilton as "relics of South Africa"[42]). They were replaced on 29 February 1916 with modern QF 18 pounder guns handed over by 29th Division in Egypt.[43]

1917 field artillery reorganization

In February 1917 the Cumberland Artillery / 213 Brigade was disbanded and its two howitzer batteries merged into the 18-pounder brigades in accordance with the new artillery brigade philosophy. Existing four-gun, 18-pounder batteries in each of 210, 211 and 212 Brigades were merged into six-gun batteries, and the four brigades replaced by new 210 and 211 Brigades each with 3 six-gun, 18-pounder batteries and one howitzer battery.

Gibbon's divisional history states that the above occurred on paper on Christmas Day 1916, when the division was on manoeuvres at Al Mazar, and the reorganization actually occurred in February 1917 on return to the canal zone.[46]

Hence from February 1917 to 11 November 1918 the divisional artillery consisted of 210 and 211 Brigades, each with 3 six-gun batteries of 18-pounders (A,B,C) and one battery of four 4.5-inch howitzers (D).

Trench mortar batteries

42 Battalion Machine Gun Corps

Formed 23 February 1918 from the previous four separate companies. One company was attached to each of the three infantry brigades and one company in Divisional Reserve.

Royal Engineers

Combat Service Support

A surgery of one of the division's field ambulances. A surgeon Capt John Morley FRCS, who after the war became Professor of Surgery at Manchester University, removes a bullet from a soldier wounded during fighting at Cape Helles. Photo by Ernest Brooks.

Between the wars

The division was disbanded after the war, along with the rest of the Territorial Force. However, it was later reformed in the 1920s as the Territorial Army and the 42nd Division was reconstituted.

Second World War

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, the 42nd Division, commanded by Major General William Holmes,[47] was serving under Western Command with its headquarters stationed in Manchester, and was mobilised for war service.[47][48] The division, still comprising the 125th, 126th, and 127th Infantry Brigades, was understrength, having sent many of its best officers and men to help create a duplicate formation, the 66th Infantry Division, when the possibility of another conflict became obvious.[48] Although war was declared, many of the division's units, widely scattered, were engaged in static defensive duties and guarding vulnerable positions, and so were initially unable to concentrate on training. In late September the division moved to Northumberland where it came under Northern Command[47] and was able to begin training, which continued into the winter.[48]

In January 1940 the division moved to Wiltshire, coming under Southern Command[47] and continued training in order to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. By late March training had progressed sufficiently and, in mid-April, the division crossed over to France, coming under the control of General Headquarters (GHQ) BEF, before being assigned to Lieutenant General Ronald Adam's III Corps on 29 April.[47] While there the division exchanged some of its units for Regular Army units, as part of official BEF policy, which was, in theory, intended to strengthen the inexperienced TA formations with experienced Regular units but this also had the simultaneous effect of weakening the Regular formations with relatively untrained troops.[47]

The 42nd Division transferred from Adam's III Corps to Lieutenant General Michael Barker's I Corps on 19 May 1940, nine days after the German Army invaded France, as the division moved into the front line on the River Escaut.[47] On 17 May Brigadier John Smyth's 127th Brigade was detached to join "Mac Force", under Major General Noel Mason-MacFarlane, temporarily leaving the division with two brigades, returning on 20 May.[49] After the speed of the German advance, the division, along with the rest of the BEF, was forced to retreat to Dunkirk, and was evacuated from Dunkirk on 31 May/1 June, having suffered significant casualties.[47] Around this time the 42nd Division gained its first and only Victoria Cross (VC) of the Second World War, belonging to Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews of the 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, of the 126th Brigade. In addition to being one of the first VCs won by the British Army during World War II, he was also the first Irishman to be awarded the medal during the war.[48]

Men from Bolton Wanderers Football Club serving together with a battery of artillery in the 53rd (Bolton) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery at Beccles, Suffolk on the east coast of England. The photograph, pictured sometime in 1940, shows the nine footballers in uniform pulling an artillery piece.

The next few months for the division were spent in England, being re-equipped and reformed, along with anti-invasion duties in the event of a German invasion.[48] Due to the heavy casualties sustained in France the division absorbed thousands of conscripts as replacements. The division was stationed initially near Middlesbrough, Yorkshire under Northern Command, and in mid-June Major General Holmes, who had been General Officer Commanding (GOC) for over two years, was given command of X Corps and succeeded as GOC 42nd Division by Major General Henry Willcox.[47] On 4 July, the division came under the command of X Corps and then on 9 September, moving to East Anglia, IV Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Francis Nosworthy, under Eastern Command.[47] The corps was intended by General Sir Alan Brooke, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, to be used in a counterattack role if the Germans invaded. On 5 November 1940, the division moved to Gloucestershire upon transferring again, this time to Lieutenant General Hugh Massy's XI Corps,[47] and continued its routine of alternating between beach defence and training for potential future operations overseas. In late April 1941 Major General Eric Miles, who had commanded the 126th Brigade with distinction in France and Belgium the year before, assumed command from Major General Willcox,[47] upon the latter's promotion to command I Corps, and, after further training which included numerous large-scale exercises, on 23 October, the 42nd Division transferred again to Northern Command and, five days later, Major General Miles Dempsey assumed command from Major General Miles, who was posted to the 56th (London) Infantry Division as its GOC.[47]

Soon afterwards the division was, due to a shortage of armoured troops in the British Army to face a German invasion of the country, selected by General Brooke (soon to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff), as the most senior TA division, and, in his opinion, "a good division" (as he wrote in his diary after having spent the day with the division on 1 July),[50] for conversion into an armoured formation.[47] Consequently, on 1 November the division was redesignated as the 42nd Armoured Division, the 125th and 126th Brigades becoming the 10th and 11th Armoured Brigades and the 127th Brigade becoming the 42nd Support Group, respectively.[47] Thus the division ceased to be an infantry formation.[47][48] However, after undergoing numerous changes in organisation and personnel, the 42nd Armoured Division, after an existence of just less than two years, was broken up, many of its units reconverting to infantry or disbanding.[48]

Order of battle

The 42nd Infantry Division was constituted as follows during the war:[47]

125th Infantry Brigade[51]

126th Infantry Brigade[52]

127th Infantry Brigade[49]

Divisional Troops

Post 1945

In 1947, the 42nd and 55th (West Lancashire) Divisions were amalgamated to form the 42nd (Lancashire) Division as part of the post-war Territorial Army but this was disbanded by 1968 with changes to the Territorial Army structure.[53]

In the modern British Army the 42 North West Brigade has adopted the former 42nd (Lancashire) Division badge.

Commanders

Memorials and Monuments

The 42nd Division Memorial stands on the north edge of Trescault village (Multimap external link) on the left of the road to Havrincourt. It was unveiled by Major-General Solly-Flood on Easter Sunday, 1922.

The inscription reads: "In memory of all ranks of the 42nd East Lancashire Territorial Division who gave their lives for King and Country during the Great War and in commemoration of the attack and capture of the Hindenburg line at Trescault by the Division on 28 September 1918"

On the north-east side of Trescault, 274 metres to the east of the monument, is Ribecourt Road Cemetery, which the 42nd Division called the Divisional Cemetery, Trescault.

Further details and photographs can be found on the World War One Battlefields: Cambrai page (external link).

There is also a memorial at Bucquoy, France.

Recipients of the Victoria Cross

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The motto "Go One Better" was bestowed on the division by its commander Major-General Arthur Solly-Flood on 1 March 1918, as part of his address to the officers and N.C.O.s in anticipation of the German Spring Offensive. Gibbon 1920, page 125

References

  1. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 33
  2. ↑ Beckett 2008, 169.
  3. ↑ Beckett 2008, 180.
  4. ↑ Beckett 2008, 183, 185, and regiments.org (archive), Lancashire District and North West District, 1905–1995.
  5. ↑ David R. Woodward, Hell in the Holy Land World War I in the Middle East (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2006) pp. 2–3
  6. ↑ Powles, C. Guy, The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine Volume III Official History New Zealand's Effort in the Great War (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, 1922) p. viii; Field Marshal Earl Wavell, The Palestine Campaigns 3rd Edition thirteenth Printing Series: A Short History of the British Army 4th Edition by Major E.W. Sheppard (London: Constable & Co., 1968) p. 27
  7. ↑ Farndale 1988, page 5
  8. ↑ Bean, page 156-162. See map of positions page 156
  9. ↑ http://www.1914-1918.net/42div.htm
  10. ↑ Farndale 1988, page 39
  11. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 62
  12. ↑ Baker, Chris. "42nd (East Lancashire) Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  13. ↑ Bruce 2002, p. 43
  14. ↑ Hill 1978, p. 74
  15. ↑ Kinloch 2007, p. 81
  16. ↑ Powles 1922, pp. 32–3
  17. ↑ Keogh 1955, p. 53
  18. ↑ Powles 1922, p. 35
  19. ↑ Keogh 1955, p. 54
  20. ↑ Powles 1922, pp. 33–4
  21. ↑ Bruce 2002, p. 46 & 47
  22. ↑ Carver 2003, pp. 190–1
  23. ↑ Keogh 1955, p. 55
  24. ↑ Woodward 2006, pp. 48–9
  25. ↑ Keogh 1955, pp. 55–6
  26. ↑ Bruce 2002, p. 47
  27. ↑ Bethel Papers, The National Army Museum 1994-10-56-2 in Carver 2003, pp. 191–2
  28. ↑ McPherson MSS 80/25/1; War letter 105, Vol. 11, Imperial War Museum in Woodward 2006, pp. 48–9
  29. ↑ Woodward 2006, p. 52
  30. ↑ Anzac Mounted Division War Diary AWM4-1-60-10 pages 13, 18 & 23
  31. ↑ Powles 1922, p. 85
  32. ↑ Keogh 1955, p. 78 & 84
  33. ↑ Woodward 2006, p. 20
  34. ↑ Bruce 2002, p. 89
  35. ↑ Gray 2002, page 57
  36. ↑ Gray 2002, page 62
  37. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 180
  38. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 86-87
  39. ↑ Fusiliers' Museum, Lancashire
  40. ↑ Museum of The Manchester Regiment. History Territorial Force 1914 – 1919
  41. ↑ Captain Francis Buckley, Extract from "War History of The Seventh Northumberland Fusiliers" Archived 24 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  42. 1 2 Hamilton, Gallipoli Diary Volume I 1920
  43. 1 2 3 4 Farndale 1988, page 71
  44. 1 2 Simpson-Baikie 1920
  45. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 70
  46. ↑ Gibbon 1920, page 83, 85
  47. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Joslen, p. 68
  48. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "badge, formation/unit, 42nd Armoured Division & 42nd (East Lancashire) Division & 42nd Assault Regiment RE & 42nd Armoured Engineer Regiment". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  49. 1 2 Joslen, p. 312
  50. ↑ Danchev and Todman, p. 168
  51. ↑ Joslen, p. 310
  52. ↑ Joslen, p. 311
  53. ↑ History of 42 (North West) Brigade, official British Army website

Bibliography

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