V Corps was an army corps of the British Army that saw service in both the First and the Second World Wars. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through the First World War on the Western front. It was recreated in June 1940, during the Second World War and was substantially reorganised in 1942 for participation in Operation Torch. It fought through the Tunisia Campaign and later the Italian Campaign.
Prior to the First World War In 1876, a Mobilisation Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland, including eight army corps of the 'Active Army', was published. The '5th Corps' was headquartered at Salisbury comprising the units of Southern Command. In 1880, its order of battle was as follows: 1st Division (Salisbury) 1st Brigade (Salisbury) 1st Bn. 8th Foot (Warley), 2nd Bn. 25th Foot (Plymouth) 2nd Brigade (Salisbury) Queen's Own Tower Hamlets Militia (London), King's Own Tower Hamlets Militia (Dalston), Wexford Militia (Wexford) Divisional Troops North Devon Yeomanry (Barnstaple) 2nd Division (Warminster) 1st Brigade (Warminster) Monaghan Militia (Monaghan), Louth Militia (Dundalk), Royal Longford Rifles (Longford) 2nd Brigade (Warminster) Royal Wiltshire Militia (Devizes), Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (High Wycombe), Royal Berkshire Militia (Reading) Divisional Troops 56th Foot (Portland), North Somerset Yeomanry (Bath) 3rd Division (Gloucester) 1st Brigade (Gloucester) Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry Militia (Bristol), Oxfordshire Militia (Oxford), Royal North Gloucestershire Militia (Cirencester) 2nd Brigade (Gloucester) Shropshire Militia (Shrewsbury), Worcestershire Militia (Worcester) Divisional Troops 37th Foot (Pembroke), Gloucester Yeomanry (Badminton), Shropshire Yeomanry (Shrewsbury) Cavalry Brigade (Yeovil) 1st Dragoons (Manchester), 5th Lancers (Woolwich), 7th Dragoon Guards (Aldershot) Wiltshire Yeomanry (Marlborough), Dorset Yeomanry (Dorchester), West Somerset Yeomanry (Taunton)
V Corps was mobilised in July 1876 under the command of General the Hon Sir Augustus Spencer for summer training around the Wylye Valley in Wiltshire.Holden, pp. 226–8. The corps scheme had been dropped by 1881.Army List 1876–1881. The 1901 Army Estimates (introduced by St John Brodrick when Secretary of State for War) allowed for six army corps based on the six regional commands: V Corps was to be formed by Northern Command with headquarters in York. It was to comprise 27 artillery batteries (18 Regular, 6 Militia and 3 Volunteer) and 25 infantry battalions (4 Regular, 13 Militia and 8 Volunteers).Dunlop. Under Army Order No 38 of 1907, the corps titles disappeared, but Northern Command continued to be a major administrative organisation.
First World War V Corps was organised within Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force on 18 February 1915 under the command of Sir Herbert Plumer, who had been commanding Northern Command in England. Initially, V Corps comprised the 27th Division and 28th Division, both composed of Regular Army battalions brought back from various Imperial postings.Official History 1915, Volume I, p.27.
Order of Battle February 1915 Source:Official History 1915, Volume I, Appendix I. General Officer Commanding (GOC): Lt-Gen Sir Herbert Plumer Brigadier-General, General Staff (BGGS): Brig-Gen Hugh Jeudwine Brigadier-General, Royal Artillery (BGRA): Brig-Gen S.D. Browne Colonel, Royal Engineers: Col R.D. Petrie 27th Division 28th Division
1915 fighting The two infantry divisions had taken over French trenches in front of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, south of the Ypres Salient. These trenches were wet and poorly protected, and the Indian-issue boots worn by many of the men were inadequate. They had to endure shelling and occasional trench raids as well as bad weather.Official History 1915, Volume I, pp 27–30. V Corps played a peripheral part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle to the south, and then 27th Division took part in the action at St Eloi (14–15 March 1915).
In April 1915, V Corps shifted northwards, taking over the sector from St Eloi to St Julien from the French Army. Now, with three divisions under command (first the 5th Division and then the newly arrived 1st Canadian Division were added), V Corps held the whole south-eastern and eastern part of the Ypres Salient.Official History 1915, Volume I, p 159. Between 17 and 22 April, 5 Division succeeded in capturing Hill 60 after underground mines had been fired.
On 22 April, the Germans launched the Second Battle of Ypres with the first cloud gas attack, which virtually destroyed the French divisions in the north of the salient and drove in the flank of 1st Canadian Division. Over the following days, V Corps struggled to plug the gap and hold the line.Official History 1915, Volume 1, p 171ff.McWilliams & Steel. On 28 April, the BEF was subjected to renewed Germans attacks and Plumer was given an enlarged command – 'Plumer's force', comprising the Cavalry Corps, 3rd (Lahore) Division, 50th (Northumbrian) Division and brigades from 4th and 5th Division in addition to V Corps – and was ordered to organise a withdrawal to the 'Frezenberg Line'. As a result, Second Army was reduced to a single corps and its commander, Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, resigned. Plumer was appointed to succeed Smith-Dorrien, and V Corps reverted to Second Army control, with Lt-Gen Edmund Allenby transferred from Cavalry Corps to take command.Official History 1915, Volume I, p 351.
During the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (8–13 May), the Germans shelled the 27th and 28th Divisions off the untenable ridge. V Corps lost 456 officers and 8935 other ranks during this battle.Official History 1915, Volume 1, pp 310, 335. The following Battle of Bellewarde Ridge (24–25 May) involved a renewed German gas attack on V Corps. V Corps lost a further 323 officers and 8936 other ranks during the period 21–30 May.Official History 1915, Volume I, p 340.
In October 1915, Allenby was promoted to command Third Army and Lt-Gen Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe was transferred from Cavalry Corps (23 October) to replace him at the head of V Corps.Army Lists.
Order of Battle February 1916 Source:Official History 1916 Volume I, p 162. GOC: Lt-Gen H.D. Fanshawe BGRA: Brig-Gen H.C.C. Uniacke 17th (Northern) Division 24th Division 50th (Northumbrian) Division 3rd Division (into reserve between 5 and 8 February).
Early 1916 fighting In February 1916, V Corps was still holding a sector of Second Army's line from St Eloi to Hooge. On 14 February, the Germans blew mines and attacked and captured The Bluff, held by 17th Division, which suffered casualties of 67 officers and 1227 men, including 311 missing, of whom around a hundred were captured and many others buried in mine craters. The ground was recaptured on 1 March using innovative artillery preparation techniques pioneered by V Corps' artillery commander Brig-Gen H.C.C. Uniacke.Official History 1916 Volume I, pp 162–74.
Meanwhile, on 28 February, Fanshawe ordered 3rd Division to begin preparations for a surprise attack at St Eloi, preceded by mines but without the normal long preparatory bombardment. The attack was made on 27 March and was initially successful, but the weather and ground conditions were awful and 3rd Division was exhausted and unable to consolidate the position in the craters. After it was relieved by 2nd Canadian Division, there were still weeks of bitter trench fighting.Official History 1916 Volume I, pp 177–93. On 4 April, Canadian Corps HQ, which had been responsible for the sector south of St Eloi, changed places with V Corps, the first time that a whole corps of the BEF relieved another.Official History 1916 Volume I, p 185.
On 30 April, V Corps was the victim of a gas attack by the Germans on the line in front of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge at the Gas attacks at Wulverghem, followed by an attack on the trenches, but the raiders were driven out.Official History 1916 Volume I, pp 199–203. On 4 July, H.D. Fanshawe was relieved from command of V Corps (he reverted to the rank of major-general and later took command of a second-line Territorial division in Home Forces). He was replaced by his elder brother, Lt-Gen Edward Arthur Fanshawe, promoted from command of 11th (Northern) Division.Burke's Landed Gentry 18th Edn, 1965.H.D. Fanshawe obituary, Times 26 March 1957.
Later fighting in 1916 On 16 August 1916, V Corps HQ was transferred from Second Army to Reserve Army (later renamed Fifth Army) to take over the sector on the River Ancre, where fighting had bogged down during the Somme Offensive. When V Corps took over, the line was held by the Guards, 6th and 20th (Light) Divisions. These were replaced by the fresh 2nd, 39th and 48th (South Midland) Division for the renewed attacks on the Ancre Heights, which continued from September to November 1916 with regular rotation of divisions as they became exhausted. V Corps finally took some of the 1 July objectives, such as Beaumont Hamel (by the 51st (Highland) Division), but ended with a failure at Redan Ridge during the action known as the Battle of the Ancre.Official history 1916 Volume II.
Order of Battle 26 February 1917 Source:Official History 1917 Volume I. GOC: Lt-Gen Edward Fanshawe 7th Division 19th (Western) Division 31st Division 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division
1917 Fighting Winter Operations on the Ancre included the capture of Ten Tree Alley by 32nd Division of V Corps on 10–13 February 1917. When the Germans began their retreat to the Hindenburg Line (14 March – 5 April 1917) V Corps followed up slowly against rearguards. On 11 April, Fifth Army attacked the new line at Bullecourt, with the 62nd Division of V Corps in action alongside I Anzac Corps. The same forces met the German attack on Lagnicourt on 15 April 1917. V Corps took part in the second attack on Bullecourt with the 7th Division, the 58th (2/1st London) Division and the 62nd (West Riding) Division. The Corps lost approximately 300 officers and 6500 other ranks between 3 and 17 May.
After Bullecourt, Fifth Army HQ and many of its divisions moved north to prepare for the Ypres Offensive and V Corps HQ was made available to command reserves.
V Corps' staff for the Ypres Offensive comprised:Official History 1917 Volume II, p 238. GOC: Lt-Gen Sir Edward Fanshawe BGGS Brig-Gen G.F. Boyd DA&QMG: Brig-Gen H.M. de F. Montgomery BGRA: Brig-Gen R.P. Benson BGHA: Brig-Gen A.M. Tyler CE: Brig-Gen A.J. Craven
On 7 September, V Corps relieved XIX Corps, taking command of 9th (Scottish) Division and 55th (West Lancashire) Division in the line.Official History 1917 Volume II, p 243. On 20 September, V Corps was assigned stiff objectives for the Battle of the Menin Road, and the 55th Division took heavy casualties.Official History 1917 Volume II, pp 263–8. For the succeeding Battle of Polygon Wood, the frontline divisions were relieved, and V Corps attacked with the 3rd and 59th (2nd North Midland) Divisions.Official History 1917 Volume II, p 288-9.
On 1 December, V Corps HQ was transferred to Third Army and relieved IV Corps along part of the line that had been captured during the Battle of Cambrai. The very next day, the Germans made a heavy counter-attack, and V Corps was forced to withdraw to the Flesquières Line.Official History 1917 Volume III, p 246.
Order of Battle March 1918 Source:Official History 1918 Volume I, p 546. GOC: Lt-Gen Sir Edward Fanshawe 12th (Eastern) Division (joined 25 March) 17th (Northern) Division 19th (Western) Division (to IV Corps 21 March) 47th (1/2nd London) Division 63rd (Royal Naval) Division
The German March 1918 Offensive