The 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd (East Lancashire) 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 (TA), in the Second World War it served as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) 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 Infantry 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.regiments.org (archive), Lancashire District and North West District, 1905–1995.
Formation The Territorial Force (TF) was formed on 1 April 1908 following the enactment of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (7 Edw.7, c.9) 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, commanded since the year before by Major General William Douglas, 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 (near Bolton), Chesham (near Bury) and Holingworth Lake, Littleborough (near Rochdale). 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 (2nd East Lancashire) 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 (with some elements stationed in Cyprus and the Sudan) 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 (Bolton Artillery) 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 (Bolton Artillery) 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 (East Lancashire) Division, and the brigades were also numbered, becoming 125th (1/1st Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade, 126th (1/1st East Lancashire) Brigade and 127th (1/1st Manchester) Brigade.
The 4th (Blackburn) battery, 1 section of the 6th (Burnley) battery, and 19th and 20th (Bolton) batteries did not join the division on Gallipoli until 23/24 September, and the 1st/2nd East Lancs Brigade RFA (Manchester Artillery) arrived in Egypt in May from Britain and remained in Egypt.
The 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) 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.
Second Lieutenant Alfred Victor Smith of the 1/5th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment was posthumously awarded the VC 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. The 42nd Division's casualties at Gallipoli were 395 officers and 8,152 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 (East Lancashire) 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 (Lowland) 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.{sfn|Keogh|1955|p=55}}
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.Anzac Mounted Division War Diary AWM4-1-60-10 pages 13, 18 & 23
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 (Welsh) Division commanded by Dallas. The two other Territorial infantry divisions, the 52nd at Rafa and the 54th (East Anglian) 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 and received a new commander in the same month, Major General Douglas, who had commanded since before the war, being replaced by Major General Bertram Mitford. It relieved the 48th (South Midland) Division on 8 May 1917 and held the line at Épehy before relieving the 20th (Light) Division and holding the line at Havrincourt, north of Epéhy, from 23 May 1917. Its infantry was relieved by the 58th (2/1st London) Division on 8 July 1917 but its divisional artillery remained in the line in support of 58th and then the 9th (Scottish) Division at Havrincourt Wood. It moved to the Ytres sector on 9 July 1917.
On 23 August 1917, it joined V Corps in the Fifth Army, although the infantry in Poperinghe area behind Ypres for training. Its divisional artillery entered line immediately in support of the 15th (Scottish) Division near Potijze Chateau. Its infantry relieved the 15th (Scottish) Division in the line to the right of Potijze Road near Frezenberg Ridge at Ypres on 1 September 1917 and on 6 September the 125th 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 (Scottish) Division and retired to Poperinghe area on 18 September 1917. Its divisional artillery remained in the line until 29 September, participated in the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20–26 September 1917) and advanced to exposed positions on Frezenberg Ridge on 25 September. On 26 September it relieved the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division. The divisional artillery rejoined and it held the line at Nieuport.
On 29 November 1917 it relieved the 25th Division and held the line at Givenchy on the 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 was relieved by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 15 February 1918. It was held in reserve and undertook training at Busnes–Burbure–Fouquieres area, forming part of the I Corps reserve and then the GHQ reserve from 1 March 1918.