The 50th (Northumbrian) Division was a pre-war Territorial (TF) division which recruited from Northumberland, Durham and the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. The infantry battalions came from the Northumberland Fusiliers, East Yorks, Green Howards and Durham Light Infantry. The division crossed to France on 16 April 1915 and by 23 April it had completed its concentration in the area of Steenvoorde, about 14 miles west of Ypres; the next day it was in action at St Julien during the German gas attacks and by the end of 4 May, the day after the battle of St Julien ended, it had suffered 3746 casualties. The division had been given no period of acclimatisation which was given to all other divisions on arrival on the Western Front.'The division remained in the Ypres area till August 1916 when it moved down to the Somme, to III Corps, where it took part in the battles of Flers-Courcelette, Morval and the Transloy Ridges with losses of just over 4,000. The Somme offensive ended on 18 November 1916, but the division remained in that area till March 1917 when it moved up to the Arras sector where preparations were underway for a new offensive by Allenby’s Third Army, which 50 Division now joined. It took part in First and Second Scarpe and the capture of Wancourt Ridge at a cost of 2750 casualties during the two weeks 11to 24 April. The division did not enter the Third Ypres campaign till late in October 1917, in time to fight the Second Battle of Passchendaele from 26 October to the end of the offensive on 10 November.When the Germans launched their final offensive on 21 March 1918, 50th Division was back on the Somme, this time in Fifth Army and in that first week its casualties numbered nearly 3,500. In April it was with First Army at the Lys where it incurred further losses of 4,265. It was then one of the divisions sent down to the Aisne, in the French sector, with IX Corps, ‘for a rest;’ it arrived in time for another major German attack on 27 May, and by 6 June the division had lost almost 7,600 men. It was pulled right back, to the coast in the Dieppe area, and completely reorganized.This history was the last of the Great War divisional histories to be published, written by the most prolific of all the Great War historians - eight regimental and four divisional histories. Wyrrall died just as he completed his task. In this book he relies considerably on the war diaries and histories of various units, on personal diaries, letters, experiences and anecdotes which together provide a history of the division’s activities seen very much at unit level and in detail. No overall casualty figure is given but from the many figures quoted in the text it is clear that the division’s total casualties numbered at least 34,000. Appendices list all divisional and brigade commanders and the order of battle of units with changes. '

Fiftieth Division 1914 - 1919

History

Wyrall, Everard

Europe

Naval & Military Press

HISTORY OF THE SECOND DIVISION 1914 - 1918

Military

Naval and Military Press

The Nineteenth Division 1914-1918: Nineteenth Division 1914-1918

<p>On the outbreak of war the Somerset Light Infantry (Som LI) consisted of two Regular, one Special Reserve (3rd) and two Territorial battalions (4th and 5th). During the course of the war the two Territorial battalions each formed a second and third line battalion (2/4th, 3/4th, 2/5th and 3/5th), and in addition four Service battalions (Kitchener) were raised, 6th to 9th, two Home Service battalions, 10th and 13th, and two more Territorial battalions, 11th and 12th. Finally a Garrison battalion was formed and sent to India in February 1917. Other Som LI battalions served on the Western Front, in Mesopotamia, India and Palestine; deaths totalled 4,760, of whom 269 were officers, and one VC was won (Pte T.H Sage, 8th Battalion). The 2nd Som LI was stationed in India throughout the war. In a footnote on page 1 of this history is a comment to the effect that the 2nd Battalion was unfortunately (my italics) one of these; in hindsight there are those who might think they were very lucky, their deaths totalled 43 compared with 1,315 of the 1st Battalion. The 1st Battalion was in Colchester, part of 11th Brigade, 4th Division which arrived in France on 22 August 1914, in time to fight in the battle of Le Cateau during the retreat from Mons. It remained on the Western Front in that brigade and division throughout the war. 1/4th saw action in Mesopotamia, 2/4th joined 34th Division in France in July 1918, becoming divisional pioneer battalion. 1/5th went first to India but in May1917 it went to Palestine where it became part of the newly formed 75th Division. 2/5th went to India and stayed there, 6th, 7th and 8th Service Battalions all served on the Western front, the 9th became a Reserve battalion and remained in the UK along with the two Home Service battalions. The 11th also went to France, in May 1918, to the 59th Division while the 12th Battalion was converted from a yeomanry regiment (W Somerset) to infantry in Egypt in January 1917, part of 74th Division, with which it went to France in May 1918. Wyrall arranges his record of the regiment in chronological order, following the course of the war from the arrival of the1st Battalion in France. As he describes the operations and events he indicates in the margin the date of the action he is writing about with the identity of the battalion involved; operations in other theatres have their own chapters. Appendices list, by name, Honours and Awards including Mention in Despatches, promotions for service in the field, summary of other rank casualties (deaths) in each battalion (officers are totalled together), brief records of service.</p>

HISTORY OF THE SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY (PRINCE ALBERT’S) 1914-1919: History Of The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert?S) 1914-1919

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