List of orders of battle for the British 2nd Division

The 2nd Division was an infantry division of the British Army, which was formed numerous times over a 203-year period. An order of battle is defined as "the various units [and] formations of a military force, including [the] hierarchical command structure", as well as providing information on strength and equipment.[1] Numerous formations bearing the name 2nd Division were formed from 1809 through to the end of the 19th Century. Historian Everard Wyrall, the compiler of the division's First World War official history, only included the formations that fought in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, and the Second Boer War as being linked with the formation that fought in the First World War.[2] That modern formation, created in 1902, would go to serve in the Second World War as well.[3][4]

2nd Division
2nd Infantry Division
2nd Armoured Division
The divisional insignia used from ~1940 through 2012
ActiveRaised and disbanded numerous times between 1809 and 2012
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
EngagementsNapoleonic Wars
Crimean War
Second Boer War
First World War
Second World War

Orders of Battle

Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the British Army grew in size. On 18 June 1809, Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley, commanding British forces in Spain and Portugal ordered the creation of four divisions, which included the 2nd Division.[5] During the division's first battle of the Peninsular War (the name for the fighting in Spain and Portugal), the Battle of Talavera (1809), it was 3,905 men strong.[6] By the next year, it had grown to a strength of 10,677 men.[7] It roughly maintained this strength for the rest of the Peninsular War, and was disbanded when the fighting ended in 1814.[8][9] It was reformed on 11 April 1815, in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium), on the resumption of hostilities. It fought at the Battle of Waterloo, where it had a strength of 6,833 men. It then marched into France. Shortly after, the Napoleonic Wars came to an end. The division remained within the restored French kingdom, as part of the British Army of Occupation. In December 1818, the Army of Occupation and the division were disbanded and the troops returned to Britain.[10][11] The below orders of battle cover the composition of the division during this period.

Crimean War

In June 1854, a new 2nd Division was formed following the reorganization of a British expeditionary force that had been dispatched to Ottoman Bulgaria, to support the Ottoman Empire during the early stages of the Crimean War against the Russian Empire.[19] The division proceeded to the Crimea, landing on 14 September, and fought throughout the Siege of Sevastopol.[20] During this period, the division numbered around 3,500 men.[21] The division remained in the Crimea until 1856, and demobilised following the conclusion of the war.[22] The below order of battle covers the division's makeup during this war.

Second Boer War

A new 2nd Division was mobilised following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, with the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.[25][26][27] It fought in the majority of battles related to the Relief of Ladysmith, in the Colony of Natal.[28] It then advanced into South African Republic, guarded lines of communication, and was disbanded by the end of 1900 following the end of conventional warfare.[29][30] At the Battle of Colenso, the initial attempt to relieve Ladysmith, the division commanded the majority of British forces in Natal Colony. This force was 16,000 men strong, supported by 44 artillery pieces and 16 machine guns.[31][32] When it next took the field, on the march towards the Battle of Spion Kop, it was much reduced. The entire force numbered 20,000 men and included two divisions, an independent brigade, several batteries of artillery, and various regiments, squadrons, and companies of cavalry and mounted infantry.[33] The below orders of battle cover the changing composition of the division during this period.

First World War

On 28 July 1914, the First World War began. On 4 August, Germany invaded Belgium and the United Kingdom entered the war against the German Empire.[39] In 1914, the division deployed to France shortly after the war started as part of the British Expeditionary Force, and served on the Western Front between 1914-1918.[40][41] The war establishment, the on-paper strength, of an infantry division in 1914 was 18,179 men, 5,594 horses, 18 motor vehicles, 76 pieces of artillery, and 24 machine guns. While there was a small change to the number of men and horses in a division in 1915, the main change was the decrease in artillery pieces to 48 and an increase in motor vehicles to 54. The establishment in 1916 increased the on-paper division size to 19,372 men, 5,145 horses, 61 motor vehicles, 64 artillery pieces, 40 trench mortars, and 200 machine guns. 1917 saw an authorized decrease to 18,825 men, 4,342 horses, 57 motor vehicles, and 48 artillery pieces, although the number of trench mortars remained the same, and the number of machine guns increased to 264.[42] By 1918, the number of front line infantry within the British Army in France had decreased because of casualties and a lack of eligible replacements, leading to a manpower crisis. To consolidate manpower and to increase the ratio of machine guns and artillery support available to the infantry, the number of battalions in a division was reduced from twelve to nine.[43][44] This resulted in the 1918 establishment of 16,035 men, 3,838 horses, 79 motor vehicles, 48 artillery pieces, 36 trench mortars, and 400 machine guns.[42] The below table provides a complete listing of all units that served in the division and details when they joined and left.

Second World War

In 1939, following the German invasion of Poland, the United Kingdom declared war in support of the latter and entered the Second World War.[51] The division, now styled as an infantry division, saw combat in France in 1940. After the British Army's defeat in France, the division returned to and defended the United Kingdom. It then transferred to India following the Empire of Japan's entry into the war. The division fought in India and Burma.[52] The war establishment, the on-paper strength, of an infantry division in 1939 was 13,863 men, 2,993 vehicles, 72 artillery pieces, 48 anti-tank guns, 361 anti-tank rifles, 126 mortars, and 700 machine guns. In 1941, the war establishment was changed to 17,298 men, 4,166 vehicles, 72 artillery pieces, 48 anti-tanks guns, 444 anti-tank rifles, 48 anti-aircraft guns, 218 mortars, and 867 machine guns. From 1944, the establishment was updated to 18,347 men, 4,330 vehicles, 72 artillery pieces, 110 anti-tank guns, 436 other anti-tank weapons, 359 mortars, and 1,302 machine guns.[53] The below table provides a complete listing of all units that served in the division and details when they joined and left.

See also

Notes
  1. McDonald 2020, p. x.
  2. Wyrall 1921a, pp. xi-xii.
  3. Dunlop 1938, pp. 218-219, 245.
  4. Joslen 2003, p. 40.
  5. Haythornthwaite 2016, The Divisional System.
  6. Oman 1903, pp. 645, 650-651.
  7. Oman 1908, p. 362.
  8. Oman 1922, p. 751.
  9. Oman 1930, pp. 496 and 513.
  10. Glover 2015, pp. 35-46, 165, 199-200.
  11. Siborne 1900, p. 785.
  12. Oman 1908, pp. 362, 545, 554.
  13. Oman 1911, p. 631.
  14. Oman 1922, pp. 751, 752, 768 770, 772.
  15. Glover 2015, pp. 35, 40-47.
  16. Glover 2015, p. 35.
  17. Cannon 1839, p. 91.
  18. Connolly 1855, p. 225.
  19. Barthorp 1980, p. 155; Bowden 1991, p. 16; Ponting 2006, p. 72.
  20. Warner 2001, pp. 75-79; Ffrench Blake 2006, pp. 86-94, 98-101; Ponting 2006, pp. 89, 94; Raugh 2004, p. 187.
  21. Ponting 2006, p. 145.
  22. Ffrench Blake 2006, pp. 143-144, 150-151; Demchak 2011, p. 127.
  23. Warner 2001, p. 19; Ffrench Blake 2006, pp. 169-170.
  24. "The War", The Examiner, London, p. 106, 26 February 1856
  25. Raugh 2004, p. 51.
  26. Dunlop 1938, p. 72.
  27. Creswicke 1900c, Chart of Staff Appointments Made at the Commencement of the War.
  28. Conan Doyle 1901, pp. 190-192, 254-255, 267-276, 284-285, 289, 291.
  29. Conan Doyle 1901, pp. 389, 431-433, 495-501.
  30. Creswicke 1901, pp. 98, 138.
  31. Creswicke 1900a, pp. 52, 66, 136, 160.
  32. Maxwell 1911, p. 310.
  33. Conan Doyle 1901, pp. 248-251.
  34. Wisser 1901, p. 235.
  35. Creswicke 1900a, pp. 11, 160, 190.
  36. Conan Doyle 1901, p. 248.
  37. Creswicke 1900b, p. 93; Creswicke 1900c, p. 123; Creswicke 1900d, p. 171; Creswicke 1901, p. 27.
  38. "No. 27282". The London Gazette. 8 February 1901. p. 974.
  39. Cook & Stevenson 2005, p. 121.
  40. Wyrall 1921a, Contents.
  41. Wyrall 1921b, Contents.
  42. Becke 2007, pp. 126-127.
  43. Perry 1988, pp. 26–28.
  44. Morrow 2005, p. 239.
  45. Becke 2007, pp. 44-45.
  46. Fuller, Steven. "The Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War: 1914 and 1915 War Diary". The Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  47. Wyrall 1921a, pp. 176, 216.
  48. Wyrall 1921a, pp. 186.
  49. Wyrall 1921a, pp. 196.
  50. Wyrall 1921a, pp. 245-246.
  51. Ellis 1954, p. 1.
  52. Joslen 2003, pp. 39-40.
  53. Joslen 2003, p. 131.
  54. Joslen 2003, pp. 40, 234.
  55. Joslen 2003, pp. 40, 237.
  56. Joslen 2003, pp. 40, 240.
  57. Joslen 2003, p. 39.
  58. Joslen 2003, p. 495.

References
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Further reading
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