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The British '2nd Infantry Division' has seen much service including fighting in Burma against the Japanese during World War II.

Contents

History

World War I Formation

World War II Structure

4th Infantry Brigade

5th Infantry Brigade

6th Infantry Brigade

Support

Current Structure

References

See also

External links

Further Reading

History

The British '2nd Division' was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War. 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 the duration of the war. After the war the division was part of the occupation force stationed at Cologne.
It continued life as a regular army formation that served in France 1940, and after being stationed in Britain until April 1942 was then shipped off to India where it would spend the rest of the war fighting in the Burma Campaign. It gained the World War II Battle Honours of the Dyle, St. Omer-La Bassee, Kohima and Mandalay. Amalgamated in the Far East with the 36th Division in 1946-7, the division was disbanded soon afterwards there and reformed in Germany by February 1947 utilising the structure of the disbanding 53rd Welsh Division. The Division was to stay in Germany with I(BR) Corps for decades, and spend a period as '2nd Armoured Division', a small five-battle group armoured division probably incorporating Task Force Charlie and Task Force Delta, from 1976 to 1983.
The Division was brought home in the 1982-3 reorganisation, and headquartered at York. Consisting of 15 (TA), 49 (TA) and 24th Brigades, its war role would have been to cross the Channel and protect the corps rear area in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.
Following the end of the Cold War, the division disbanded, but the title was resurrected for the amalgamation of several military districts - North East District and part of Eastern District, when the formation reformed on 1 April 1995. The 1998 Strategic Defence Review led to a reorganisation of Land Command and 2nd Division absorbed Scotland District and it's headquarters moved to Craigiehall, near Edinburgh. The Division reports to Commander Regional Forces, a Lieutenant General, at Headquarters Land Command at Wilton.
Following further reshuffing, 52nd Infantry Brigade was reformed as an operational, rather than regional, brigade consisting of several light infantry battalions, and as a result will leave the formation to join 3 Division in 2007.

World War I Formation

; '4th (Guards) Brigade' :

★ 2nd Battalion, the Grenadier Guards

★ 2nd Battalion, the Coldstream Guards

★ 3rd Battalion, the Coldstream Guards

★ 1st Battalion, the Irish Guards

★ 1/1st Battalion, The Hertfordshire Regiment (''to 6th Bde. August 1915'')
The brigade left the division on August 20 1915 to join the
Guards Division and was renamed the 1st Guards Brigade.
; '5th Brigade' :

★ 2nd Battalion, the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

★ 2nd Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry

★ 17th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (''from 99th Bde. December 1915, to 6th Bde. in February 1918'')

★ 24th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (''from 99th Bde. December 1915'')
The following battalions were part of the brigade during 1915.

★ 1/7th Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (''September 1915 to November 1915'')

★ 2nd Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (''January 1915 to July 1915'')

★ 2nd Battalion, The Worcestershire Regiment (''August 1914 to December 1915'')

★ 1/9th Battalion (Glasgow Highlanders), the Highland Light Infantry (''November 1914 to January 1916'')

★ 1st Battalion, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (''July 1915 to December 1915'')
; '6th Brigade' :

★ 1st Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment)

★ 2nd Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment

★ 13th (Service) Battalion (West Ham), The Essex Regiment

★ 1st Battalion, the King's Royal Rifle Corps (''to 99th Bde. December 1915'')
The following battalions were part of the brigade during 1915.

★ 1st Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment (''August 1914 to December 1915'')

★ 1/5th Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (''February 1915 to December 1915'')

★ 1/7th Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (''March 1915 to September 1915'')

★ 1/1st Battalion, The Hertfordshire Regiment (''August 1915 to June 1916'')
The 17th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers joined the brigade from
the 5th Brigade in February 1918.
; '19th Brigade' (August 19 1915 to November 25 1915) :

★ 2nd Battalion, the Royal Welch Fusiliers

★ 1st Battalion, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

★ 1/5th Battalion, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

★ 1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment

★ 2nd Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
The brigade joined the division in August 1915 from the 27th Division and left in November for the 33rd Division,
where it swapped with the 99th Brigade.
; '99th Brigade' :

★ 22nd (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers

★ 23rd (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers

★ 1st Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment (''from 6th Bde. December 1915'')

★ 1st Battalion, the King's Royal Rifle Corps (''from 6th Bde. December 1915'')
The brigade joined the division from the 33rd Division in November 1915.
The following battalions left the brigade shortly afterwards:

★ 17th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (''to 5th Bde. December 1915'')

★ 24th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (''to 5th Bde. December 1915'')

★ 1/5th Battalion, The King's (Liverpool Regiment) (''from 6th Bde. December 1915'')

World War II Structure

(On Deployment to India, April 1942)

4th Infantry Brigade

Main articles: 4th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom), l1=4th Infantry Brigade


★ 1st Bn, Royal Scots

★ 2nd Bn, The Royal Norfolk Regiment

★ 1/8th Bn, The Lancashire Fusiliers

5th Infantry Brigade

Main articles: 5th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom), l1=5th Infantry Brigade


★ 1st Bn, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

★ 2nd Bn, The Dorsetshire Regiment

★ 7th Bn, The Worcestershire Regiment

6th Infantry Brigade

Main articles: 6th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom), l1=6th Infantry Brigade


★ 1st Bn, The Royal Berkshire Regiment

★ 1st Bn, The Royal Welch Fusiliers

★ 2nd Bn, Durham Light Infantry

Support

★ 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment RAC

★ 2nd Bn, The Manchester Regiment

★ 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards)

★ 10th Field Regt. Royal Artillery

★ 16th Field Regt, Royal Artillery

★ 99th (Buckinghamshire Yeomanry) Field Regt, RA

★ 100th (Gordon Highlanders) Anti-Tank Regt. RA

Current Structure

The Division is tasked with maintaining the infrastructure and resources and the command and control responsibilities, for the training and administration of all Regular Army and Territorial Army units in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England. The Division has it's Headquarters at Craigiehall, near Edinburgh and comprises Catterick Garrison and three Regional Brigades:

★ 15th (North East) Brigade

★ 42nd (North West) Brigade

★ 51st (Scottish) Brigade

★ 38th (Irish) Brigade
52nd Infantry Brigade was transferred from the 2nd Division to 3 (Mechanised) Division in April 2007.

References

1. MoD Appointments List

See also

★ List of British divisions in WWI

External links

★ 2nd Division Website

★

★ History

★ British Unit History Site

★ The British Army in the Great War: The 2nd Division

Further Reading

★ Jon Latimer, ''Burma: The Forgotten War'', London: John Murray, 2004 ISBN 0-7195-6576-6