42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division


The 42nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force, originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd Division on 25 May 1915. It was the first TF division to be sent overseas during the First World War. 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, in the Second World War it served as the 42nd Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force 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 Division, was created when the Territorials were doubled in both world wars.
The division was disbanded during the war but was reformed in the TA in 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. From December 1955, the division was placed on a lower establishment, for home defence purposes only. On 1 May 1961, the division was merged with North West District to become 42nd Lancashire Division/North West District.

Formation

The Territorial Force was formed on 1 April 1908 following the enactment of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 which combined and re-organised the old Volunteer Force, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Yeomanry. On formation, the TF contained 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted yeomanry brigades. One of the divisions was the East Lancashire Division. In peacetime, the divisional headquarters was, from 1910, in the National Buildings at St Mary's Parsonage in Manchester.

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, Chesham and Holingworth Lake, Littleborough. The personnel were asked to volunteer for overseas service, and the overwhelming majority did so, the deficiencies 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 Division.
In 1914, the East Lancashire Division was one of 14 infantry divisions and 55 mounted regiments, called the Yeomanry, that 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. Kitchener sent these forces to the peripheral campaigns; to the Sudan, Mesopotamia, Egypt and 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'.

Egypt

The East Lancashire Division arrived in Egypt on 25 September 1914 and served in the interior, around Cairo together with some Yeomanry units, and the Australian and New Zealand contingents before going to Gallipoli.
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 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. The 19th Battery 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.

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 Division, and the brigades were also numbered, becoming 125th Brigade, 126th Brigade and 127th Brigade.
The 4th battery, 1 section of the 6th battery, and 19th and 20th batteries did not join the division on Gallipoli until 23/24 September, and the 1st/2nd East Lancs Brigade RFA arrived in Egypt in May from Britain and remained in Egypt.
The 125th Brigade landed in time to participate in the Second Battle of Krithia on 6 May and 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.

Egypt and the Sinai Campaign

After the evacuation of Gallipoli, the division returned to Egypt, and was renamed the 42nd Division. As such it 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 the railhead at Pelusium on the first day of the Battle of Romani on 4 August 1916.
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.
On the second day of battle, 5 August 1916, the 42nd Division along with the 52nd 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. 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.
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.
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. Nearly 50 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".
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.
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 Division commanded by Dallas. The two other Territorial infantry divisions, the 52nd at Rafa and the 54th Division ordered out to Romani from the Suez Canal, were put directly under General Dobell commander of Eastern Force. The 42nd Division departed Egypt early in February 1917.

Western Front

The division moved to France and joined 3 Corps in the Fourth Army in March 1917. It relieved 48th Division on 8 May 1917 and held the line at Épehy before relieving 20th Division and holding the line at Havrincourt, north of Epéhy, from 23 May 1917. Its infantry was relieved by 58th Division on 8 July 1917 but its divisional artillery remained in the line in support of 58th and then 9th Division at Havrincourt Wood. It moved to the Ytres sector on 9 July 1917.
On 23 August 1917, it joined 5 Corps in the Fifth Army, although the infantry in Poperinghe area behind Ypres for training. Its divisional artillery entered line immediately in support of 15th Division near Potijze Chateau. Its infantry relieved 15th Division in the line to the right of Potijze Road near Frezenberg Ridge at Ypres on 1 September 1917 and on 6 September 125 Brigade made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the fortified Iberian, Borry and Beck Farms during the Third Battle of Ypres.
The divisional infantry were relieved by the 9th Division and retired to Poperinghe area on 18 September 1917. Its divisional artillery remained in the Line until 29 September, participated in heavy fighting from 20 September and advanced to exposed positions on Frezenberg Ridge on 25 September during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge. On 26 September it relieved 66th Division. The divisional artillery rejoined and it held the line at Nieuport.
, 26 January 1918
On 29 November 1917 it relieved the 25th Division and held the line at Givenchy on La Bassée sector. It constructed fortifications according to the new British defensive doctrine of "defended localities" in anticipation of major German attack. Private Walter Mills of C Company, the 1/10th Manchesters, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Red Dragon Crater, Givenchy on the night of 10 December 1917.
It relieved by 55th Division on 15 February 1918. It was held in reserve and undertook training at Busnes – Burbure – Fouquieres area, forming part of the 1 Corps reserve and then the GHQ reserve from 1 March 1918.
On 23 March 1918 it joined 6 Corps under the command of Lt-General Sir Aylmer Haldane in the Third Army, initially in reserve, and then at Ervillers, to defend the line against the German Seventeenth Army under the command of General Otto von Below on the right wing of the "Michael 1" German Spring Offensive in the First Battle of the Somme and then the First Battle of Bapaume.
It counterattacked in the afternoon with 7 tanks and 300 infantry from Logeast Wood to delay the German VI Reserve Corps on 25 March 1918. The 10th Manchesters repelled eight attacks by the German 2nd Guards Reserve Division, at Ervillers.
It retired the Ervillers – Bucquoy area on 26 March 1918. Together the 42nd and 62nd Division it held the Rossignol Wood – Bucquoy sector under heavy shelling against six attacks by the German 3rd Guards Infantry Division, the last with assistance of 11 Mk. IV tanks.
Crossroads, held by 125 Brigade in heavy fighting on 5 April 1918
It then held the line until end of final German assault on 5 April 1918 at Bucquoy and held the line at Bucquoy, Gommecourt, Hébuterne from 6 April 1918. It served with the 4 Corps in Third Army from 21 August 1918 and attacked and advanced Miraumont, across the River Ancre, Pys, Warlencourt during the Second Battle of the Somme including the Battle of Albert. Their opponent was the German 183rd Division. Lance-Sergeant Edward Smith of the 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions in the capture of The Lozenge on 21 August and enemy counterattacks on 22 August.
The infantry withdrew for two days rest in Miraumont-Pys area on 25 August 1918. The divisional artillery went into action under heavy fire in support of 63rd Division on outskirts of Loupart Wood. It then relieved 63rd Division in the line and resumed advance on 28 August 1918. It attacked and advanced to Thilloy, Riencourt-lès-Bapaume, Villers-au-Flos, Ytres, across the Canal du Nord to Metz-en-Couture in the Second Battle of the Somme including the Second Battle of Bapaume. Its infantry relieved by New Zealand Division and moved to rest in Pys-Tholloy area on 6 September 1918. The divisional artillery remained in the line in support of New Zealand Division. On 21 September 1918 it relieved 37th Division east of Havrincourt Wood.
On 27 September 1918 it attacked and advanced Havrincourt Wood through the Siegfried Stellung section of the Hindenburg Line via successive planned objectives denoted Black, Red, Brown, Yellow, Blue Lines, to Welsh Ridge. The Hindenburg Line was attacked in enfilade, or diagonally, as can be seen from the map. Many casualties were sustained from machine guns situated in Beaucamps to the right of the Division's front during the Battle of the Canal du Nord. Its infantry relieved by New Zealand Division and withdrew to Havrincourt Wood for rest on 29 September 2018. The divisional artillery remained in action in support of the New Zealand Division in the Pursuit to the Selle.
On 9 October 1918 its infantry marched up to the front through Lesdain, Esnes, Beauvois and relieved New Zealand Division, who had established a bridgehead across the River Selle at Briastre. It defended Briastre against heavy German counterattacks and shelling from 12 October 1918 and then advanced across the River Selle to Marou, Virtigneul and Belle Vue Farm during the Battle of the Selle. Private Alfred Robert Wilkinson of the 1/5th Manchesters was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions on 20 October 1918 at Marou. The Division's opponent in these actions was the German 25th Division.
It was relieved by New Zealand Division on 24 October 1918 and withdrew to Beauvois for a rest. It then moved up though Le Quesnoy and Forest of Mormal in support of the advance of 37th and New Zealand Divisions on 3 November 1918. It relieved the New Zealand Division in line of attack on eastern edge of Forest of Mormal and attacked and advanced to Hautmont in the Arrondissement of Avesnes-sur-Helpe on 6 November 1918. It was standing fast on line Maubeuge – Avesnes-sur-Helpe Road when the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.

First World War composition

The infantry were equipped with the obsolescent Long Magazine Lee–Enfield 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.

Infantry

The division comprised three infantry brigades:
125th Brigade
126th Brigade
127th Brigade
Originally, each of the field gun batteries was equipped with four obsolescent BLC 15-pounder field guns. They were replaced on 29 February 1916 with modern QF 18-pounder guns handed over by 29th Division in Egypt.
Renamed 210 Brigade 6 May 1916
Arrived Egypt May 1915, did not go to Gallipoli.
Renamed 211 Brigade 29 May 1916
Renamed 212 Brigade 29 May 1916
Originally, each of the 2 batteries was equipped with 4 obsolescent BL 5 inch Howitzers.
Joined Division on Gallipoli in July 1915 from Egypt. However, only limited supplies of the new 40 pound 5-inch shells were sent from Mudros. No range tables for the lighter and hence longer-range shell were available, and they had a new pattern fuse for which no fuse keys were available. Hence, use of these howitzers at Gallipoli became very limited.
Renamed 213 Brigade in May 1916.
Re-equipped in June 1916 with modern QF 4.5 inch Howitzers.
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.
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 and one battery of four 4.5-inch howitzers.

Trench mortar batteries

Equipped with four 9.45 inch Heavy Mortars. Part of Divisional Artillery until 15 February 1918 when it remained in La Bassée sector under Corps command when the division departed.
Initially 3 batteries, each equipped with four Newton 6 inch Mortars, and 2 batteries of 6 from February 1918, following the disbanding of Z Battery. Part of Divisional Artillery
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.

42nd (East Lancashire) Divisional Engineers">East Lancashire Royal Engineers">42nd (East Lancashire) Divisional Engineers

. Photo by Ernest Brooks.
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, was serving under Western Command with its headquarters stationed in Manchester, and was mobilised for war service. 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. 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 and was able to begin training, which continued into the winter.
In January 1940, the division moved to Wiltshire, coming under Southern Command and continued training in order to join the British Expeditionary Force 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 BEF, before being assigned to Lieutenant General Ronald Adam's III Corps on 29 April. 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.
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. 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. 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. Around this time the 42nd Division gained its first and only Victoria Cross 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 the Second World War, he was also the first Irishman to be awarded the medal during the war.
, 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. 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 for over two years, was given command of X Corps and succeeded as GOC 42nd Division by Major General Henry Willcox. 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. 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, 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, 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 Infantry Division as its GOC.
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, as the most senior TA division, and, in his opinion, "a good division", for conversion into an armoured formation. 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. Thus, the division ceased to be an infantry formation. 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.

Order of battle

The 42nd Infantry Division was constituted as follows during the war:
125th Infantry Brigade
126th Infantry Brigade
127th Infantry Brigade
Divisional Troops
In 1947, the 42nd and 55th Divisions were amalgamated to form the 42nd Division as part of the post-war Territorial Army. In 1961 the division became a district headquarters as 42nd Division/District, and it was disbanded on the reduction of the TA into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve on 1 April 1967, when many individual TA units lost their identities. The district headquarters itself formed the core of the structure for the creation of North West District under HQ UK Land Forces in 1972.
In the modern British Army, the 42 North West Brigade has adopted the former 42nd Division badge.

Commanders

General Officers Commanding have included:
AppointedGeneral officer commanding
April 1908Major-General William Fry
October 1910Major-General Cecil Park
May 1913Major-General Sir William Douglas
March 1917Major-General Bertram Mitford
October 1917Major-General Arthur Solly-Flood
June 1919Major-General Herbert Shoubridge
June 1923Major-General Arthur Solly-Flood
March 1927Major-General Claude Moore
January 1929Major-General William Beach
May 1933Major-General Arthur McNamara
October 1933Major-General Hugh Elles
March 1934Major-General Kenneth Buchanan
March 1938Major-General William Holmes
June 1940Major-General Henry Willcox
April 1941Major-General Eric Miles
October 1941Major-General Miles Dempsey
December 1942Major-General John Aizlewood
January 1947Major-General Geoffrey Evans
March 1948Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh
October 1950Major-General Valentine Blomfield
December 1953Major-General William Stratton
May 1956Major-General Thomas Scott
May 1959Major-General Claude Dunbar
April 1962Major-General George Lea
December 1963Major-General Noel Thomas
September 1965Major-General Bala Bredin

Memorials and monuments

The 42nd Division Memorial stands on the north edge of Trescault village on the left of the road to Havrincourt. It was unveiled by Major-General Arthur 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.

Recipients of the Victoria Cross