Formed in
England in December 1914 – January 1915 from regular army battalions returning from
India,
Singapore and
Egypt. In January 1915 the division moved to
France and on to the
Western Front.
The division took part in the
Second Battle of Ypres, where they suffered massive casualties, and in the
Battle of Loos. In October 1915 the 28th Division embarked from
Marseilles for Egypt and in November 1915 travelled on to
Salonika where the division would remain for the rest of the war.
After the
Armistice with Bulgaria came into effect on 30 September 1918, 28th Division advanced across the country towards Turkey. The Ottoman Empire also signed an
Armistice on 30 October, after which 28th Division was sent to occupy the Dardanelles Forts. It remained in Turkey on peacekeeping duties until October 1923.[2][3]
Order of battle
The division was composed of the following units during World War I:[4][5]
This brigade was temporarily under the command of
5th Division between 3 March and 7 April 1915, when it was replaced by
15th Brigade from that Division.
1/3rd
Territorial Force, (T.F.) Battalion,
Monmouthshire Regiment (joined March 1915, left September 1915. Amalgamated with the 1/1st and 1/2nd Battalions following serious casualties at Ypres between May and August 1915)
83rd Machine Gun Company (formed 21 May 1916)
83rd Trench Mortar Battery (formed 12 September 1916, as No 4 Trench Mortar Battery)
This brigade was temporarily under the command of 5th Division between 23 February and 7 April 1915, when it was replaced by
13th Brigade from that Division.
This brigade was formed on 26 February 1917, as Army Troops, although it was always associated with this division. It came under the command of the Greek "Crete Division" from 30 September 1918, and was broken up on 4 October 1918.
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 1: The Regular British Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1934/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007,
ISBN1-847347-38-X.