42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division

42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division

British Army Infantry Divisions (1914–present)
Previous Next
41st Division 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division

The 42nd (East Lancashire) Division was a Territorial Force division of the British Army. Originally called the East Lancashire Division, it was redesignated as the 42nd Division on 25 May 1915. It was the first Territorial 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. In World War II it served as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force in France, was then reformed in Britain in November 1941 as the 42nd Armoured Division which was disbanded in October 1943 without serving overseas.

The division was reformed in the Territorial Army after the Second World War. Beckett 2008 says that TA units that were in suspended animation were formally reactivated on 1 January 1947, though 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.

Read more about 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division:  First World War, First World War Composition, Second World War, Post 1945, Memorials and Monuments

Famous quotes containing the word division:

    Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capitalism is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.
    Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)