29th Division (United Kingdom)

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29th Division

The 29th Division ( German  29th Division ) was a British division in the First World War . She bore the brunt of the attack on Gallipoli .

Lineup

In contrast to the armies in France and Germany, the British army was not a mass army at the beginning of the First World War and there was also no conscription . On the day after he was appointed Minister of War (August 5, 1914), Lord Kitchener issued the order to enlarge the army. In total, more than 40 divisions had been established by 1915. In January 1915, the 29th Division was formed. However, it was not a so-called Kitchener division , but the last regular division formed during the First World War. It was formed from units whose garrisons were located throughout the British Empire .

Outline 1915

86th Infantry Brigade

  • 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Guernsey Light Infantry
  • 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
  • 2 / 3rd (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment
  • 16th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment

87th Infantry Brigade

  • 1st Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
  • 1st Battalion, The Border Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers

88th Infantry Brigade

  • 1st Battalion, The Essex Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
  • 1 / 5th Battalion, The Royal Scots Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, The Leinster Regiment
  • 2 / 1st (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment
  • 4th Battalion, The Worcestershire Regiment

Battle of Gallipoli

Aylmer Hunter-Weston on Gallipoli 1915

The newly formed 29th Division left Avonmouth on March 16, 1915 and reached Egypt two weeks later. On March 10, 1915, Major General Aylmer Hunter-Weston received command of the division, which was transferred to Mudros on April 10 and assigned to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force . The planned amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula by British and French troops was intended to force the march through the Dardanelles to establish a connection with Russia.

Landing at Cape Helles

On April 25, 1915, the landing took place at the five beach sections S, V, W, X and Y assigned to her on Cape Helles , the extreme western tip of the Gallipoli peninsula. The 29th Division, with its twelve battalions, was to carry the brunt of the attack on Gallipoli. With the support of the British naval artillery, the division tried to advance six miles inland on the first day and occupy the height of Achi Baba. From there she was to take the forts that guarded the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait. The landing at Cape Helles ended in a bloodbath for the British soldiers, for which Hunter-Weston was responsible, who failed to take advantage of successes already achieved. The division reached its destination, the town of Krithia not. Henry de Beauvoir de Lisle became the division's new commander.

Battle for Scimitar Hill

For the Battle of Scimitar Hill , the 29th Division was moved from Cape Helles to Suvla. The attack on Scimitar Hill on August 21, 1915 was the last attempt by the British to advance the deadlocked front line at Suvla. After the failed attack, the front ran between Green Hill and Scimitar Hill and was not supposed to shift until the evacuation. The division was evacuated to Egypt on January 2, 1916 and later sent to France.

France

Henry de Beauvoir de Lisle

1916

In early March 1916, the division was shipped to France and, after landing in Marseille between March 15 and 29, concentrated in the area east of Remy near Auchonvillers. The 29th Division was deployed in the first phase of the Battle of the Somme on the left wing of the 4th Army and attacked north of the Ancre as part of the VIII. Corps under (General Hunter-Weston) . On the first day of the attack (July 1, 1916) the division suffered heavy losses in the attacks on Hawthorn Ridge and Beaumont-Hamel . In October 1916 operations followed in the Battle of Transloy. The winter of 1916-17 spent the Division in trench warfare in Sailly-Saillisel and Rancourt.

1917

In the spring of 1917 after the beginning of the Battle of Arras , the 29th Division fought from April 14th at Monchy le Preux and in all three attacks on the Scarpe . Relocated to Flanders in the summer of 1917 , the division was used in the Third Battle of Flanders as part of the XIV Corps in the 5th Army . First, the subordinate units fought on August 16 at Langemark and in September in the Battle of Menin Road. From October 9, 1917, the 29th Division reached attacking via Broodseinde, during the Battle of Poelkapelle together with the Guard Division, taking the area south of the forest of Houthulst . Pulled out of the Flemish battle, the division was transferred to the 3rd Army section in mid-November . During the Battle of Cambrai (from November 20, 1917) as part of the III. Corps deployed, the troops accompanied the advance of the tanks near Masnières .

1918

During the German spring offensive in 1918, the 29th Division was initially used in the battle of the Lys (April 1918) to defend Estaire . In the second phase, the troops fought in the Messines area at the Battle of Hazebrouck and Bailleul . After the loss of the Kemmelberg , the German offensive was stopped here and the trench warfare started again. After the initiation of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive , the division was still involved in the Battle of Courtrai ( Kortrijk , October 14-19, 1918) as part of the II Corps (General Claud Jacob ) .

After the armistice , the division was chosen to be part of the Rhine Army . The German-Belgian border was crossed at Malmedy on December 4, 1918 and reached Cologne five days later . The division crossed the Rhine on December 13th and acted as the first crew on the right bridgehead. Demobilization began in March 1919 after the peace agreement.

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