The North Midland Division was sent to France in February 1915 and served on the
Western Front for the duration of the
First World War. On 12 May 1915 the division was numbered 46th (North Midland) Division and the brigades were also numbered. During the
Battle of Loos the 46th Division was decimated in an attack on the
Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13 October 1915.[6]
The event dogged the division afterwards with a poor reputation until 29 September 1918, during the
Hundred Days Offensive, when it re-established its name at the
Battle of St. Quentin Canal where, utilising life-belts and collapsible boats, it crossed the formidable obstacle of the canal and used scaling ladders to surmount the steep gradient of the opposite bank and captured multiple fortified machine-gun posts.[8]
The total losses for the Division between February 1915 and 11 November 1918 were: Officers, 275 killed, 1,104 wounded and 123 missing; Other Ranks, 3,475 killed, 21,285 wounded and 3,307 missing.[9]
During the war, it served in the First, Second, Third and Fifth Armies, and in the I, II, III, V, VII, XI, XIII, XIV, XVII and XVIII Corps.[10]
Order of battle
During the war, the composition of the division was as follows:[1][11][12][13]
1/3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) (joined and left November 1915)
139th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps (formed 16 February 1916, moved to 46th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 26 February 1918)
139th Trench Mortar Battery (formed 9 March 1916)
Mounted Troops
B Squadron, 1/1st
Yorkshire Hussars(joined at Luton, left 5 May 1916)
North Midland Cyclist Company,
Army Cyclist Corps(formed 11 November 1914, left 9 May 1916)
Artillery
I North Midland Brigade,
RFA (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Lincolnshire Batteries, and I North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column) (numbered CCXXX Bde on 13 May 1916)
II North Midland Brigade, RFA (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Staffordshire Batteries, and II North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column) (numbered CCXXXI Bde on 13 May 1916)
III North Midland Brigade, RFA (4th, 5th, and 6th Staffordshire Batteries, and III North Midland Brigade Ammunition Column) (numbered CCXXXII Bde on 13 May 1916; left 3 January 1917)
IV North Midland (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA (1st and 2nd Derbyshire Batteries, and IV North Midland (H) Brigade Ammunition Column) (numbered CCXXXIII Bde on 13 May 1916; broken up 29 August 1916)
1/1st North Midland Field Company,
Royal Engineers(served with
28th Division from 26 December 1914 to 6 April 1915; later numbered 465th Field Company)
1/2nd North Midland Field Company, RE (later numbered 466th Field Company)
57th Field Company, RE (joined from
3rd Division 7 April, left 10 July 1915)
2/1st North Midland Field Company, RE (joined 10 July 1915, later numbered 468th Field Company)
North Midland Signal Company, RE (later numbered 46th Signal Company)
North Midland Divisional Train, ASC (later numbered 46th)
451st Horse Transport Company, ASC
452nd HT Company, ASC
453rd HT Company, ASC
454th HT Company, ASC
Labour
240th Divisional Employment Company,
Labour Corps(formed 25 June 1917)
Memorials
The 46th (North Midland) Division memorial on the road between
Vermelles and
Hulluch
The memorial honouring the casualties of the 46th Division at the Hohenzollern Redoubt
46th Division Memorial near
Bellenglise (Hindenburg Line)
Postwar
The
Territorial Force was disbanded after the war. It was reformed as the
Territorial Army in 1920 as was the 46th Division. However, the 46th Division was disbanded in 1936, the headquarters was converted into
2nd Anti-Aircraft Division and several of its infantry battalions into AA units.[14] Most of the remainder of 46th Division's units were sent to other divisions, mainly the
49th (West Riding).[15]
Commanders
The following officers commanded the division at various times:[16][17]
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007,
ISBN1-847347-39-8.
Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press.
ISBN978-1-84342-474-1.
Alan MacDonald, A Lack of Offensive Spirit? The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916, West Wickham: Iona Books, 2008,
ISBN978-0-9558119-0-6.