5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 5th Infantry Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was established by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, and has been active for most of the period since, including the First World War and the Second World War. The modern day division was established in 1995 and is an administrative division covering Wales and the English regions of West Midlands, East Midlands and East. Its headquarters are in Shrewsbury.
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[edit] Peninsula War
The 5th Division during the Peninsular War under the command of General James Leith was present at most of the major engagements including the Battle of Bussaco, the Battle of Sabugal, the Siege of Almeida (1811), the Battle of Badajoz (1812), the Battle of Salamanca, the Battle of Vitoria, the Siege of San Sebastian, the Battle of Nivelle and the Battle of the Nive.
[edit] Formation
- 1st Brigade
- 3/1st (Royal Scots) Regiment of Foot
- 1/9th (Norfolk) Regiment of Foot
- 1/38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot (from June 1812)
- 2/38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot (to December 1812)
- 2/47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot (from October 1813)
- 1 Coy., Brunswick-Oels Jaegers
- 2nd Brigade
- 1/4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot
- 2/4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot (May to December 1812)
- 2/30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot
- 2/44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot
- 2/47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot (to October 1813)
- Portuguese Brigade
- 1/3rd Infantry Regiment, Portuguese Army
- 2/3rd Infantry Regiment, Portuguese Army
- 1/15th Infantry Regiment, Portuguese Army
- 2/15th Infantry Regiment, Portuguese Army
- 8th Caçadores Battalion, Portuguese Army
[edit] Waterloo Campaign
The Division was also present during the Waterloo Campaign first seeing action at the Battle of Quatre Bras then at the Battle of Waterloo under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton
the formation was
- 8th British Brigade, Major-General Sir James Kempt
- 9th British Brigade, Major-General Sir Dennis Pack
- 5th Hanoverian Brigade, Colonel Ernst von Vincke
- Landwehr Battalion Gifhorn
- Landwehr Battalion Hameln
- Landwehr Battalion Hildesheim
- Landwehr Battalion Peine
- Artillery, Major Heinrich Heise
- Roger's Battery, Royal Artillery
- Braun's Battery, Hanoverian Foot Artillery
[edit] First World War
The 5th Division was a permanently established Regular Army division that was amongst the first to be sent to France at the outbreak of the First World War. It served on the Western Front for most of the war except for a brief period in Italy.
The 5th Division, as a regular army formation (one of the Old Contemptibles) fought in many of the major battles of the Western Front from The Battle of Mons in 1914, the later stages of the Somme offensive, including the first battle using tanks, up to the Battle of the Selle in 1918. They were in almost continuous action throughout the war and suffered a tremendous amount of casualties as can be seen from the way the battalions that made up the division changed during the war. By 1918 the 5th Division, like most other regular divisions, contained very few of those regulars who went to France in 1914.
[edit] First World War formation
13th Brigade This Brigade was temporarily under the command of 28th Division between 23 February and 7 April 1915, when it was replaced by 84th Brigade from that Division.
- 2nd Bn, The King's Own Scottish Borderers
- 2nd Bn, The Duke of Wellington's left January 1916
- 1st Bn, The Royal West Kent Regiment
- 2nd Bn, The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry left December 1915
- 1/9th (City of London) Bn, The London Regiment joined November 1914, left February 1915
- 14th (Service) Bn, The Royal Warwicks joined December 1915, became Divisional Pioneers October 1918
- 15th (Service) Bn, The Royal Warwicks joined January 1916, disbanded October 1918
- 16th (Service) Bn, The Royal Warwicks joined October 1918
14th Brigade Brigade transferred to 32nd Division on 30 December 1915
- 1st Bn, The Devons
- 2nd Bn, The Suffolk Regiment left September 1914
- 1st Bn, The East Surrey Regiment
- 1st Bn, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
- 2nd Bn, The Manchesters
- 1/5th Bn, The Cheshires joined February 1915, left November 1915
- 1/9th (Highlanders) Bn, The Royal Scots joined November 1915
- 2nd Bn, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers joined November 1915
15th Brigade This Brigade was temporarily under the command of 28th Division between 3 March and 7 April 1915, when it was replaced by 83rd Brigade from that Division.
- 1st Bn, The Norfolk Regiment
- 1st Bn, The Bedfordshire Regiment
- 1st Bn, The Cheshires
- 1st Bn, The Dorsets left December 1915
- 1/6th Bn, The Cheshires joined December 1914, left March 1915
- 1/6th Bn, The King's (Liverpool) Regimentjoined February 1915, left November 1915
- 16th (Service) Bn, the Royal Warwicks joined December 1915, left October 1918
95th Brigade Brigade transferred from 32nd Division on 26 December 1915
- 12th (Service) Bn (Bristol), The Gloucesters joined December 1915, disbanded October 1918
- 1st Bn, The Devonshire Regiment joined January 1916
- 1st Bn, The East Surrey Regiment joined January 1916
- 1st Bn, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry joined January 1916
[edit] Insignia
The division was unusual among other British divisions in that no battle patches were worn on their tunics or helmets, aside from those briefly worn by New Army battalions bringing them from their former division.[2]
[edit] Second World War
In September 1939 the Division was a regular formation in the UK. Both its infantry brigades went to France by early October as independent infantry brigades, but Divisional Headquarters crossed to France on 19 December and by the new year the Division was reformed.
[edit] Globe Trotting
The 5th Infantry Division saw action in France and Belgium in 1940 including at the Ypres-Comines Canal from 26th to 28 May 1940, and then was withdrawn, along with the rest of the British Expeditionary Force, from Dunkirk. After this it served and travelled in so many regions of the world that they became known as the Globe Trotters. In April 1942 13th and 17th Infantry Brigades and a portion of the Divisional Troops were detached to 'Force 121' for Operation Ironclad, the invasion of Vichy French held Madagascar. The Division was not complete again until August 1942. It was sent from the UK to India to Iraq, and Persia to join Tenth Army, where it spent time under the command of III Corps and XXI Indian Corps. It then went to Syria and Egypt before being withdrawn in preparation for the Sicily landings.
[edit] Sicily and Italy
The 5th Division saw action in the Sicily Landings from 9th to 12 July 1943, and then was part of the British Eighth Army in Italy. Under XIII Corps, it was in the Messina area in September 1943, involved in the Sangro battles from 19 Nov. to 3 Dec. 1943, engagements at Garigliano Crossing from 17th to 31 January1944.
After the British 1st Infantry Division and other British forces, as part of the U.S. VI Corps under Major General John P. Lucas, landed at Anzio in January 1944, the 5th Division was part of later reinforcements sent there, along with the 56th (London) Infantry Division .
It was part of the drive on Rome from 22 May to 4 June 1944. From there they were sent to Palestine, back to Italy and finally to North West Europe for the final months of the war.
During the Second World War, unlike during the First World War, the Division used a 'Y' on a black square background as its insignia.
[edit] Second World War formation
13th Infantry Brigade (26 April 1942 – 2 August 1942 detached to Force 121 in Madagascar)
- 2nd Battalion, The Cameronians
- 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (30 Nov.1939-14 Aug.1944)
- 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment
- 5th Battalion, The Essex Regiment (From 14 Aug.1944)
- 1st Battalion, Green Howards
- 1st Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
- 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
17th Infantry Brigade (15 March 1942 - 30 June 1942 Detached to Force 121 in Madagascar)
- 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers
- 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (Until 30 Mar.1940)
- 6th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (From 30 Mar. 1940)
Division Troops
- 7th Bn. The Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun Battalion)
- 5th Reconnaissance Regt. Royal Armoured Corps
[edit] Post Second World War
It was reformed briefly from the 7th Armoured Division in Germany on 16 April 1958, with the 7th and 20th Armoured Brigades but was then redesignated the 1st Division on 30 June 1960. It was again reformed in the UK on 1 April 1968, under Army Strategic Command, incorporating the 2nd, 8th, and 39th Brigades, but disbanded in February 1971.
[edit] Current formation
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Today the 5th Division is an administrative division - effectively a military district, having been reformed from North West, Wales, and Western Districts on 1 April 1995. It has administrative control over a wide range of regiments, training establishments and cadet corps. It has its permanent headquarters at the Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, which is also the headquarters of the 143rd Brigade.
The division was in charge of the majority of British Army units in Wales, the English West Midlands and South West England, with approximately 20,000 regular personnel, 9,000 TA personnel and around 5,000 civilians, between 1995 and 2007. The South West has now been transferred to the 4th Division, replaced by the East Midlands and the East English regions. The division therefore now covers the central regions of England as well as Wales.
The 5th Division took command of Headquarters Salisbury Plain Area and 43rd (Wessex) Brigade from 3rd Division on 1 April 1999, and 107 (Ulster) Brigade also fell under its responsibility.[3] However 107 Brigade was shifted back under HQ Northern Ireland, at a later date. HQ 43rd Brigade moved to Bulford by 1 September 1999, and HQ Salisbury Plain Area disbanded by that date. This process freed Headquarters 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division from its administrative and regional responsibilities and it become a deployable or "fly-away" division.
The Divisional Commander is Major General M. J. Rutledge OBE. The Division reports to Army Headquarters at Andover. The current composition is as follows:
- 49th (Eastern) Brigade
- 143rd (West Midlands) Brigade
- 160th (Wales) Brigade
- Colchester Garrison
- 16th Air Assault Brigade - operationally independent unit that, because its Headquarters is at Colchester, falls under purely administrative command of 5th Division.
[edit] Recent Commanders
Recent Commanders have been:[4]
GOC 5th Division
- 1902-1903 Major-General Sir Leslie Rundle
- 1903-1906 Lieutenant-General Henry Grant
- 1907-1909 Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Plumer
- 1909-1913 Major-General William Campbell
- 1913-1914 Major-General Sir Charles Fergusson
- 1914-1915 Major-General Thomas Morland
- 1915-1916 Major-General Charles Kavanagh
- 1916-1918 Major-General Reginald Stephens
- 1918-1919 Major-General John Ponsonby
- 1919-1922 Major-General Sir Hugh Jeudwine
- Note the Division was disbanded in 1922 and reformed in 1929
- 1929-1931 Lieutenant-General Walter Kirke
- 1931-1934 Lieutenant-General Thomas Humphreys
- 1934-1937 Major-General Geoffrey Howard
- 1937-1938 Major-General Guy Williams
- 1938-1940 Major-General Harold Franklyn
- 1940-1943 Major-General Horatio Berney-Ficklin
- 1943-1944 Major-General Gerard Bucknall
- Jan 1944-Nov 1944 Major-General Philip Gregson-Ellis
- 1944-1946 Major-General Richard Hull
- 1946-1947 Major-General Philip Gregson-Ellis
- Note the Division, having been disbanded at the end of the War, was reformed in 1958 but the brigades used to form 1st Armoured Division in 1959
- 1958-1959 Major-General Geoffrey Musson
- Note the Division was briefly reformed in 1968 but disbanded again in 1971
- 1968-1970 Major-General Walter Thomas
- 1970-1971 Major General Mervyn Janes
- Note the Division was reformed in 1995
- 1995-1996 Major General Ian Freer
- 1996-1999 Major General Robin Searby
- 1999-2000 Major General Peter Grant Peterkin
- 2000-2003 Major General Arthur Denaro
- 2003-2005 Major General Nicholas Cottam
- 2005-2008 Major General Andrew Farquhar
- 2008–Present Major General Martin Rutledge
[edit] The future
A single UK Support Command, which is planned to replace three existing divisional headquarters, will be based in Aldershot. HQ 2nd division in Edinburgh, HQ 4th division in Aldershot and HQ 5th division in Shrewsbury will all be disbanded in 2012.[5] 5th Division will disband on 1 April 2012.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Senior Officer appointments
- ^ Osprey Publishing MAA 182, p.9
- ^ Soldier Magazine, December 1998, p.13
- ^ Army Commands
- ^ House of Commons Library: Standard Note: SN06038
- ^ First tranche of Army unit moves confirmed Defence News, 10 November 2011
[edit] Further reading
- A Guide to Appointments and Invitations for High Commissions & Embassies in London, UK Ministry of Defence, June 2006 Edition
- Gregory Blaxland, The Regiments Depart: A History of the British Army 1945-70, William Kimber, London, 1971.
- Readers' Digest, The World At Arms, 1989
[edit] External links
- 5th Division official website
- British Army Order of Battle 1939 - 1945
- The British Army in the Great War: The 5th Division
- 5 Infantry Division (1943-45)
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