51st (Highland) Division

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The 51st (Highland) Division ( German  51st Division ) was a formation of the British Army that belonged to the first wave of mobilization of fifteen divisions (No. 42-66) of the Army Reserve ( Territorial Force ) during World War I. The 51st (Highland) Division, consisting largely of Scottish soldiers, fought in almost all major battles on the Western Front from May 1915 . After demobilization in 1919, the division was reactivated as the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in August 1939 at the beginning of World War II . She first fought in France(1940), moved to North Africa (1941/42) and took part in the landings in southern Italy in 1943. After participating in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, the division advanced across the Rhine to Germany in the spring of 1945 .

history

First World War

Division mark in the First World War

The formation of the Scottish 51st Highland Division was decided and implemented as early as 1908 after the reform of the Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane . When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the division had to leave its annual summer camp and return to the home garrison. All units were signed up for full-time military service on August 5, 1914. A week later military service training began in Bedford. On October 22, 1914, King George V inspected the division that sent the first activated battalions of the 4th Seaforths, 6th Gordons, and 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to France to reinforce the BEF between November 1914 and March 1915 . By the beginning of 1915, the Highland Division had already surrendered six of its pre-war battalions to the Western Front. The following brigades of the division were formed with the 2 / 4th Seaforths, 2 / 6th Gordons, and 2 / 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Shortly before being dispatched to France, the unit was replenished with two new Lowland battalions and an English brigade from the West Lancashire Division and reorganized as the 51st (Highland) Division.

152nd Infantry Brigade

  • 5th and 6th Seaforths
  • 6th and 8th Argyll and Sutherlands

153rd Infantry Brigade

  • 5th and 7th Gordons
  • 6th and 7th Black Watch

154th Infantry Brigade

  • 1 / 4th Royal Lancaster
  • 1 / 4th Loyal North Lancaster
  • 1 / 8th Liverpool (Irish) Regiment
  • 2 / 5th Lancashire Fusiliers

1915

The Highland Division under Major General Richard Bannatyne-Allason was transported to Southampton and Folkestone from April 13, 1915 , where they were embarked for France. The division crossed the Channel between April 30 and May 3 and was assembled in the Lillers and Robecq area by May 6 . On May 19, 1915, it was concentrated in the Estaires area and on the Lys . At the end of May the 2 / 5th Lancashire Fusiliers were brought to St. Omer for further training and were replaced by the 6th Scottish Rifles. Two months later, the Fusiliers were sent back to the front, with the 6th Scottish Rifles assigned as an additional battalion to the 154th Brigade.

During the Battle of La Bassée ( 15-25 May 1915) the 51st Division was deployed in the 1st Army section and in the IV Corps ( Rawlinson ) together with the 7th Division at Festubert and against the Heights Aubers set. From May 22nd, the division was transferred to the Indian Corps ( James Willcocks ), with the Canadian 1st Division at La Quinque to cover the right wing. With the loss of 1,500 soldiers, the division penetrated the German positions over a width of several kilometers and about 600 meters depth.

On July 26th, the transfer began via Amiens to Mericourt on the Somme , where on September 26th Lieutenant General George Montague Harper took command of the division. At the end of July 1915, the 51st Division took over the Authuille, Aveluy and La Boisselle section from the French until the end of December. Later, their positions extended to the south bank of the River Ancre , where the front of the Indian cavalry division joined. In December 1915, four Scottish battalions (4th Camerons, 4th and 5th Black Watch and 4th Seaforths) left the 154th Brigade to form the 55th (West Lancashire) Division . The newly formed 154th Brigade was assigned to the division with the 4th Gordons, 7th Argyll and Sutherlands and 9th Royal Scots.

Fighting on the Somme and Scarpe in 1916

By February 1916, the division recovered in Villers-Bocage , where they had the opportunity to get to know the city of Amiens while going outside. After a few weeks of training at Corbie , the division replaced French contingents on the line from Neuville-Saint-Vaast to Roclincourt in early March .

The Division Commander General George Montague Harper

152th Brigade

  • 5th Seaforth Highlanders (Sutherland and Caithness)
  • 6th Seaforth Highlanders (Morayshire)
  • 6th Gordon Highlanders (Banff and Donside)
  • 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Argyll)

153rd Brigade

  • 5th Gordon Highlanders (Buchan and Formartin)
  • 6th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch from Perthshire)
  • 7th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch from Fife)
  • 7th Gordon Highlanders (Deeside)

154th Brigade

  • 4th Gordon Highlanders (Aberdeen)
  • 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Stirling and Kinross)
  • 9th Royal Scots (Edinburgh)
  • 4th Seaforth Highlanders (Rossshire)
High Wood battlefield

On July 12, 1916, the division left the section at Neuville-Saint-Vaast and was briefly withdrawn between Saint-Pol and Aubigny to be available as a reserve for the Battle of the Somme . One week later the unit was brought up from the new camp at Méricourt and thrown into battle at Bazentin in the 4th Army sector. In the association of the XV. Corps took place on 22./23. July a new attack against the High Wood, the 154th Brigade, which had been assigned to the front, was repulsed by the German troops with heavy losses. By the time it was detached on August 7, the division had lost more than 3,500 men, including 150 officers.

The next attack north of the Ancre was originally planned for the 5th Army on October 24, but was not carried out until November 13, 1916 due to poor weather conditions. After two hours of artillery fire, five divisions led the attack within the framework of the V Corps : on the right side the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division , the 51st and 2nd Divisions in the middle, the 37th Division in reserve and the 3rd Division on the left wing. The 152nd and 153rd Brigades deployed in front succeeded in storming Beaumont-Hamel . On November 14th, another attack was carried out together with the 2nd Division, which led to the capture of the "Münchner Graben" and stuck in front of the "Frankfurter Graben". On November 15, the 154th Brigade was introduced into battle and replaced the 32nd Division on November 17. End of November 1916 took the 51st Division of the Canadians the positions at Courcelette , the trench warfare between Albert and Bapaume now demanded enormous hardships: some crews were almost to the waist in mud. The fighting and the climate on the Somme had demanded around 8,000 soldiers from the division in the last six months.

Arras and Cambrai 1917

After the winter frost, the Highlanders moved from Ancre to Roclincourt near Arras in March 1917 . After intensive training for the planned spring offensive , the division was to be assigned to the 3rd Army section in the Scarpe valley . It was already considered one of the best offensive divisions in the British Army.

The 3rd Army's attack between Lens and Arras began on the morning of April 9, 1917. The 51st Division was part of the XVII. Corps ( Charles Fergusson ) set up against Thélus . On the left it covered the main thrust of four Canadian divisions against the heights of Vimy , on the right the 34th Division accompanied its own attack. On the first day of the attack, the 51st Division lost 23 officers and 521 men, of which 12 officers and 175 were killed or wounded, and 13,000 prisoners were brought in by the entire corps. From April 12th, after the successful breakthrough, the newly introduced XIII. Corps with the 2nd Division continued the warfare in the direction of Arleux . The German counterattacks started late, the towns of Oppy and Gavrelle were in focus. On April 23, an attack was made south of the Scarpe between Fampoux and Plouvain and the place and cemetery of Roeux and the chemical factory there were fought against. On May 14th, the 51st division was finally replaced by the 4th division.

At the end of May the Highland Division was moved north to the Lys , and took part in the XVIII. Corps (General Ivor Maxse ) took part in the Third Battle of Flanders , which opened on July 31. Supported on the left by the Guard Division , the first attack on Poelcapelle was rejected by the Germans. In the Battle of Pilckem (July 31 to August 2, 1917) the division's attacks on the side of the 39th Division failed. In the battle of the Menin Road (September 20-25) the 51st Division was set up together with the 58th Division and was stuck again.

Western apron of Cambrai on November 20, 1917

The division left Flanders at the end of September and found new positions in the south-west of Cambrai in mid-November . During the first phase of the Battle of Cambrai , she was used from November 20, 1917 with the IV Corps . The breakthrough through the front of the German 2nd Army was to be forced through the use of tanks for the first time. On the north wing, on the first day of the attack, IV Corps (56th, 36th , 62nd and 51st Divisions) under General Charles Woollcombe was to advance between Moeuvres and Havrincourt in the direction of Flesquières. General Harper had his division advance in the center of the line of attack against the village of Flesquières without infantry cover, because he feared the tanks might direct enemy artillery fire on his men. The Highland Division took Havrincourt, but could not yet reach Flesquières. The failure of the Highlanders exposed the flanks of the divisions set up on the left and right. The village of Fontaine-Notre-Dame was stormed with the help of tanks and some squadrons of the 1st Cavalry Division. During the German counterattack on November 30, the Highland Division defended within the V Corps and had to go back again.

1918

At the beginning of 1918 the 51st Division found itself transferred to a quiet section of the front. In March 1918 General Harper had received command of the IV Corps in the area east of Bapaume, the subordinate 51st Division was now commanded by Major General George TC Carter-Campbell . The company Michael was at the German 17th Army launched on 21 March with strong artillery fire. Standing to the west of Moeuvres, the 51st Division on the left flank was broken through after two days of fighting and pushed back to Bapaume via Louveral . The division again lost 132 officers and 2,896 men in the retreat towards Hébuterne . The worn out unit was withdrawn from March 25th and transferred to a quieter section of the front to Béthune to act as a reserve of the 1st Army at Robecq .

On April 9, 1918, the Fourth Battle of Flanders began with the German offensive on the Lys . The Portuguese front collapsed at Estaires , the 51st Division defended at Givenchy, but had to immediately throw parts at the break-in point in order to hold the Richebourg - St. Vaast line. Used in the Battle of Hazebrouck (April 12-15), the division repulsed the German attacks against the heights at Hinges Ridge and in the Nieppe forest. At the beginning of May the division was relocated to Arras again, at Oppy it recovered until July 11 without major fighting. After the last German successes on the Marne , British units strengthened the French 5th Army ( Berthelot ) in the area southwest of Reims and in the area of Epernay . Sir Douglas Haig sent the 15th, 34th, 51st and 62nd Divisions for this purpose. In mid-July the 51st Division was transferred from the area east of St. Pol to the Marne . Between July 20 and 31, the 51st and 62nd divisions fought for several days near Tardenois under French command in the Ardre valley near Marfaux and Mont de Bligny. In July, the division suffered another 175 officers and 3,390 men in casualties.

After the start of the Hundred Days Offensive back to the Scarpe in the section of the 1st Army routed the 51th Division attacked between 26 and 30 August between Roeux and Plouvain and reached the recapture of Monchy-le-Preux . The successful attacks on the Grenland Hills in September 1918 resulted in the crossing of the Canal du Nord . In October the 51st Division at the XXII. Corps deployed and fought in the area between Cambrai and Valenciennes . Between October 9th and 12th the front to the Selle pushed forward, participation in the Battle of the Selle (October 17-25, 1918) was the last fight of the Highlanders. To the north-east of Iwuy , the unit was detached after further losses of 2,872 men, on November 11 the Compiègne armistice ended the war.

On the last day of the war, the 51st Division was on the Belgian border around La Louvière , between Mons and Charleroi . The demobilization of the Highland Division began in December 1918. The battalions of the 6th Black Watch, 4th Seaforth Highlanders and 4th Gordon Highlanders had the honor of remaining on the right bank of the Rhine as part of the Rhine Army until February 1919 . By the end of March 1919, the management staff had also left France. The Highland Division was reorganized at home as part of the Territorial Forces in April 1920.

Second World War

France 1940

Division sign in World War II

The 51st Division was mobilized on August 24, 1939, before the start of the Second World War . The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division under Major General Victor Fortune was assigned to the French 3rd Army in the Maginot Line in April 1940 by the British Expeditionary Force under Lord Gort in France . She was assigned to the French 10th Army on the Somme after the evacuation of Dunkirk . At Saint-Valéry-en-Caux , most of the division, together with French troops under General Ihler, had to surrender to the Germans on June 12th. General Fortune was captured with 10,000 men. The 154th Brigade had previously been separated from the rest of the division and thus escaped capture. She was evacuated via Le Havre as part of Operation Cycle .

152nd Infantry Brigade

  • 4th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
  • 6th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
  • 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
  • 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders
  • 152nd Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company

153rd Infantry Brigade

  • 4th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
  • 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
  • 6th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
  • 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
  • 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
  • 153nd Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company

154th Infantry Brigade

  • 6th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
  • 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
  • 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
  • 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
  • 154th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company

In August 1940, the previous sister unit, the 9th (Highland) Division, continued the tradition and was reorganized as the new 51st Division. The 26th and 27th Brigade were renamed the 152nd, the new 153rd was created from the 28th Brigade, and merged with the rescued 154th Brigade. Alan Cunningham was appointed first in command of the new division, followed by Neil Ritchie in October 1940 and Douglas Wimberley in May 1941 .

North Africa and South Italy

After their arrival with the 8th Army in North Africa in June 1942, the division took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein (October – November 1942). It faced the German 21st Panzer Division . In the Tunisia campaign it was used on the Mareth Line in March 1943 and broke through to the north at Wadi Akarit.

In July 1943, the 51st Division under Major General Wimberley took part in the invasion of Sicily and the landing in Calabria . In the fall of 1943, General Montgomery obtained that the 51st Highland Division, along with the 50th (Northumbrian) Division and the 7th Armored Division , were relocated to northern France for the invasion.

Invasion of Normandy in 1944

General Tom Rennie
Operation Totalize

Most of the 51st Division landed in Normandy on June 7, 1944 as part of Operation Overlord . The Orne was approached in support of the Canadian 3rd Division and the 6th Airborne Division . During this time, the division fought in places such as Breville (June 11-12) and Colom (July 11).

152nd Brigade (Brigadier DH Haugh, AJH Cassel as of June 24)

  • 2nd Seaforth Highlanders
  • 5th Seaforth Highlanders
  • 5th Cameron Highlanders

153rd Brigade (Brigadier H. Murray, from Aug. 19, JR Sinclair)

  • 5th Black Watch
  • 1st Gordon Highlanders
  • 5 / 7th Gordon Highlanders

154th Brigade (Brigadier JA Oliver)

  • 1st Black Watch
  • 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
  • 7th Black Watch

The performance of the 51st Division in Normandy was disappointing for Montgomery, which led to Major-General DC Bullen-Smith being replaced by Major-General Thomas Rennie, who had previously headed the British 3rd Division . During Operation Goodwood (July 18), the Highland Division supported the armored units of the 1st Corps , which were striving to break through in the east of Caen . The 51st Division also fought in Operation Totalize from August 7th and broke through to Lisieux with the 152nd Brigade until August 14th , the 5th Seaforths still encountered resistance at Favieres.

After missions in front of Le Havre and Saint-Valéry-en-Caux , missions in the Battle of the Bulge followed . On January 14, 1945, the division as part of the XXX. Corps the Nisramont area. The further advance led through the Siegfried Line , during the battle in the Reichswald there was heavy fighting for Goch between February 17th and 22nd . In March, the Highland Division and the 43rd (Wessex) Division completed the Rhine crossing at Rees during Operation Veritable . The war ended in May 1945 for the division in the Wesermünde area .

guide

literature

  • J. Stirling: The Territorial Divisions 1914-1918 , By London & Toronto JM Dent & Sons LTD. 1922, p. 75 f.
  • Major FW Bewsher: The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914–1918 , William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London 1921.
  • Peter Young: The Great Atlas for the Second World War, Südwest Verlag Munich 1974.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bewsher: The History of the 51st (Highland) Division , pp. 73 f.
  2. ^ Bewsher: The History of the 51st (Highland) Division, p. 100 f.

Web links

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