User:Andrew Gray/20th

The 20th (Light) Division was a First World War formation of the British Army which saw service on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918. It was part of the Second New Army, raised from volunteers recruited during the first months of the War; the title "Light" was derived from the fact that it was composed of battalions from traditional light infantry and rifle regiments.

Formation and home service

Following the declaration of war with Germany, a flood of new recruits flocked to Army recruiting offices. Many of these joined the Territorial Force, while others were recruited into what came to be known as the New Army, a force raised specifically for overseas service by Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War. "Kitchener's Army" reached its first target of 100,000 men, in six infantry divisions (the 9th to 14th), within a month; on 11 September, six more divisions were authorised, including the 20th. It began mustering that month, with a small staff of regular officers.

As with the first-wave 14th (Light) Division, the 20th was originally composed entirely of battalions from light infantry and rifle regiments, from which it took its title; as a result, it did not have any specific regional affiliation, with battalions drawn from throughout England. The division was organised on the standard system of three four-battalion brigades, plus one attached battalion of infantry, three field artillery brigades and one of howitzers, and engineer and support units.

The brigades were the 59th, with the 10th and 11th battalions of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) and the 10th and 11th battalions of the Rifle Brigade; the 60th, with the 6th Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 6th King's (Shropshire Light Infantry), 12th KRRC and 12th Rifle Brigade; and the 61st, with the 11th Durham Light Infantry (DLI), 7th Prince Albert's (Somerset Light Infantry), 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and 7th King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry). The final attached battalion, the only line infantry unit, was the 12th King's (Liverpool Regiment). In late 1914, a pioneer battalion was included in the divisional structure; as the 11th Durhams was composed primarily of miners, it was given this role, and the 12th King's was transferred to replace it in 61st Brigade.

The first commanding officer of the division was Major-General Richard Hutton Davies, an army officer of the New Zealand Staff Corps who had commanded the 6th Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Division during the Retreat from Mons and been invalided home on 23 September, due to exhaustion. While the division he arrived at was well-manned, with a surplus of enthusiastic volunteers, they were untrained, badly equipped, and very much lacking in experienced leadership. It was not until November 1914 that the first uniforms of any kind were issued, and "real" khaki service dress did not reach the men until early 1915. The artillery was short of guns, with those it did receive being obsolete and missing horse harnesses, and the infantry had to share a small number of rifles to train with. Most battalions had only a few experienced non-commissioned officers, who had mostly returned from the reserves or retirement, and a couple of officers with any experience at all, to train their recruits.

The division concentrated at Witley in early 1915, where it received new guns and uniforms, and by the time it moved to Salisbury Plain in April it was equipped and organised well enough to do so by a four-day road march. It trained on the Plain through the spring and early summer, with an intensive program of field exercises, and the support units were brought up to full strength in preparation for overseas service. After a final inspection by King George V at the end of June, the division was ordered to move to France on 20 July.

Western Front

The division was attached to III Corps shortly after its arrival in France, where it would support the regular 8th and 27th Divisions. It was considered, however, that it was not well-prepared for service on the Western Front; the training in England had focused on mobile and open warfare, rather than static trench warfare. Accordingly, the division was held in reserve while the men were retrained, with a focus on the use of grenades, machine-guns, and chemical warfare.

During the first half of August, individual battalions were rotated through the front lines for short periods to gain experience of the trenches. The 59th Brigade then became the first formation to take control of a sector of the line, when it was attached to 8th Division in order to replace the 19th Brigade. Later in the month, the division moved forward to take over a sector of the front line near Laventie.

Loos and Winter 1915

At the Battle of Loos, both the 8th Division, on the 20th Division's left, and the Indian Meerut Division, on its right, were assigned subsidiary operations alongside the main attack on 25 September. The 20th Division was ordered to support the attacks, and hold itself in reserve to exploit any breakthrough. In the event, two battalions were sent forward to support the Indian attack on the right; after taking heavy casualties, they fell back to their starting line in the evening. Total casualties to the division were 19 officers and 542 men. One of the brigade medical officers, Lieutenant George Allan Maling, was awarded the Victoria Cross for working continually under heavy fire for 26 hours during the attack. The attack was not resumed, though a number of small operations were carried out over the following weeks to give the impression of imminent activity, including a faked attack on 13 October involving a heavy barrage and several hundred straw dummies.

Overall, however, the Laventie sector was "one of the quietest on the British front" through late 1915 and early 1916. On 15/16 December two battalions of the 59th Brigade successfully raided the German lines, killing 39 men in exchange for 5 deaths and eleven wounded. Following this, preparations were made for a gas attack in late December; however, it was continually delayed, and when finally launched in early January an unfavourable wind caused the attack to be abandoned before the men had left their trenches. After five months in the Laventie sector, the division was relieved by the 8th Division on 9 January 1916 and moved back into III Corps reserve; after two weeks, they were ordered to move north to the Ypres Salient to join the newly formed XIV Corps in Second Army. During their time at Laventie, they had taken around a thousand casualties.

Ypres, Spring-Summer 1916

The XIV Corps contained two regular divisions, the Guards and 6th Division, and was assigned to a sector north of the town of Ypres. The 20th Division held the far left position of the British lines, with the 6th Division on its right and the French XXXVI Corps on its left. Conditions at Ypres were terrible by comparison to those at Laventie; the ground was marshy and muddy, meaning that trenches were hard to build at all, and where they existed could not be drained effectively, or built deep enough to provide good protection. A shortage of communications trenches to the rear areas meant that all supplies had to be brought to the front lines exposed to enemy fire by German posts above them on Pilckem Ridge. Heavy shellfire also continually destroyed telephone wires, meaning that signals between the front-line units and the headquarters were frequently interrupted.

The first units moved into the line to take over from 14th (Light) Division on the night of 11 February, during which the Germans attacked heavily; the forward battalion, the 12th Rifle Brigade, lost around 100 men in the fighting and the subsequent counterattacks. A second attack the following day saw more heavy fighting, but the defensive line held, and a second brigade was successfully moved into the trenches. The attacks were resumed on 19 February, when a dozen men from 12th KRRC were taken prisoner and two trenches were captured, with another abandoned as indefensible. The weather worsened towards the end of the month, with harsh frosts and sudden thaws leaving the front line cold and waterlogged, and occasional bursts of snow continued through March. In early March, the division acquired three brigade machine-gun companies, and formed three medium trench mortar batteries (X/20, Y/20, Z/20) in the divisional artillery. It also saw a change of command; Major-General Davies was relieved by Major-General William Douglas Smith.

A German attack was launched on the evening of 11 April, when the 7th DCLI lost about 60 men but held the line. Three Military Crosses and four Military Medals were awarded for this action. Shortly afterwards, the 20th was relieved by the 6th Division and withdrawn to reserve around Poperinghe, where it began training and refitting, with brigades occasionally detached to Calais. During April and May, the division was able to rest and work on less military activities - horse shows, sports, and a newly created Divisional Band all appeared. While refitting, the artillery was reorganised into four mixed brigades of field guns and howitzers, and the divisional cyclist and cavalry squadrons were transferred to serve as corps troops.

On 18 May, the 20th returned to the front lines, relieving the Guards Division. It now occupied the sector just south of where it had spent February through April, in front of Hooge, with the 6th Division on its left and the 2nd Canadian Division on the right. On 2 June, the German forces opposite Hooge launched a heavy attack on the Canadian Corps, the opening stage of the Battle of Mont Sorrel, which also extended to involve the 6th KSLI, the right-most battalion of the 20th. The troops opposite the 6th KSLI were successfully held off, with reinforcement from the 61st Brigade's machine-gun company and two companies of the 12th KRRC. However, the main attack shattered the Canadian forces, who had to withdraw from their first and second line trenches. In the confusion, two guns of one of the division's field artillery batteries were lost when their position in the Canadian sector was abandoned; almost all of their crews were killed or wounded, with the sergeant in command later receiving the Military Medal. A Canadian counterattack later that night, and continuing into the 4th and 5th, recaptured some of the lost ground in their sector, and during this time the 6th KSLI were relieved by the 6th Ox & Bucks as the flank battalion.

Around noon on the 6th, the German forces opposite began an intense three-hour barrage, pinning the British forces down while another heavy attack was launched against the main Canadian force. A small attack was made on the 59th Brigade lines, to the left, and followed by two mines under the 60th Brigade's positions, but neither was followed through, and the front-line battalions were reinforced to hold off any further attacks. During the night of 6/7 June, the division re-established contact with the Canadians, repaired its trenches, and aggressively patrolled the area between the lines. The 60th Brigade was rotated into reserve two days later, with all units working to strengthen the line, repair communications cabling, and prepare for another counterattack. This finally came in the early morning of 13 June, when the Canadian forces attacked to recapture their lost ground; the 20th supported it with an artillery barrage and a gas attack, followed up by aggressive patrolling and raiding.

Company-strength night raids were made by elements of 60th Brigade on 25/26 June and 29/30 June, both successful, but a third raid on the night of 10/11 July was beaten back despite the British forces using gas. Heavy shellfire on the front line on 12 July caused heavy losses, and the town of Poperinghe, behind the British lines, was so heavily bombarded that all troops were evacuated, including the divisional headquarters. On 13 July, the 60th Brigade was ordered to Steenwerck, where it was to be attached to II Anzac Corps, where it supported an attack on 19 July by 5th Australian Division and 61st Division. It returned to the division on 22 July. Meanwhile, the remainder of the division had been relieved by 6th Division, and moved into reserve. On 20 July it moved into the line opposite Messines, in the V Corps area, but was immediately ordered to move south to the Somme. The division began to move on 25 July, less its artillery brigades.

The divisional artillery remained in the Ypres sector for two weeks, providing fire support for other units. During this time, it was reorganised, with one field artillery brigade (the 90th) disbanded and the others reorganised to have batteries with six rather than four guns. It began to move south on 8 September, arriving in the Somme on 13 September, but did not rejoin the rest of the division until 29 September.

Somme, 1916

Main article: Battle of Delville Wood

The division arrived in the Somme area on 26 July, during the fourth week of the Battle of the Somme. It moved into the line on 29 July, relieving 38th (Welsh) Division just north of Beaumont Hamel, with the 38th Division's artillery brigades remaining in place to support the 20th. The rest of XIV Corps (Guards, 6th, 20th & 25th Divisions) had also moved south to the Somme; the 25th Division and the remainder of XIV Corps was on the 20th's right flank, with the 56th Division on the left flank. On the first day on the Somme on 1 July, this sector had been heavily fought over, and the trench lines were in very bad condition, many still filled with unburied corpses. During the next two weeks, the division worked to rebuild the line, digging new front-line and communication trenches, and preparing the ground for a new attack. XIV Corps relieved XIII Corps at midnight 16/17 August.

Capture of Guillemont, August-September 1916

Main article: Battle of Guillemont

The division was withdrawn from the line on 16 August, and after a few days' rest was redeployed onto the main battle front, relieving the 24th Division outside Guillemont early on 22 August. The divisional sector was very short, with 61st Brigade having a battalion and a half on the left side and 59th Brigade a battalion on the right. The remaining battalions, and all of 60th Brigade, were held in reserve. The division was under orders to prepare an attack on Guillemont, which had been heavily contested over the previous month; an attack on 23 July had failed to reach the village, while attacks on 30 July and 8 August had penetrated into the village before falling back. On 16 and 18 August a larger-scale offensive pushed the front line forward to the Guillemont railway station, just outside the village proper, and it was hoped that a final push by 20th Division on 24 August would capture it.

In the event, German counterattacks and harassing artillery fire on the night of 23/24 August meant that the attack was postponed. Continued shelling and occasional raids over the following days, coupled with very bad weather, had a severe effect on the division's readiness; by the night of 28/29 August, all the division's infantry had been sent into the forward areas on working parties in an attempt to repair trenches and bring up supplies, with little rest available. The brigades took heavy casualties - by the end of August, the 59th Brigade had lost 600 casualties over nine days, not counting men who had fallen ill, and 60th Brigade was reduced to around 1500 available riflemen among its four battalions. The attack was finally scheduled for 3 September, after repeated postponements, with the worn-out 60th Brigade sent to reserve and replaced by the 47th Brigade from 16th (Irish) Division.

The main attack, launched on the morning of 3 September, was made by 59th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier C. D. Shute, with a supporting attack by 47th Brigade on the left of the village. As the divisional artillery was still at Ypres, supporting fire came from the artillery of 6th and 24th Divisions. A heavy bombardment all morning was followed by a creeping barrage at noon, covering the first infantry attack. The attack cleared the village with heavy losses, and the attack halted on the Ginchy–Wedge Wood road east of the village, its third objective line, shortly after 2.00 pm. 7th Division on their left had captured the town of Ginchy, but 5th Division on the right had not reached its objectives.

Once contact was made with 5th Division, a second advance towards the fourth objective, a line some distance from Guillemont, began at 3.50 pm. Shortly afterwards, a German counterattack pushed back both 5th and 7th Divisions, leaving the 20th Division unsupported. The advance was quickly cancelled, with the division consolidating around Guillemont in the evening. The following day, 5th Division successfully took their objectives on the right, and 20th Division moved its line forward to the fourth objective. That night 4/5 September, it was relieved by 16th (Irish) Division, and withdrawn to rest; a few battalions remained in the line and were relieved on 7 September. In total, the battle had cost the division 1973 casualties.

• Flers–Courcelette James p. 12
• Morval p. 13
• Le Transloy p. 13
• German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line p. 16
• Actions on the Hindenburg Line (IV Corps) p. 19
• Langemarck (XIV Corps) p. 22
• Menin Road p. 22
• Polygon Wood p. 23
• Cambrai 1917 III Corps The Tank Attack 20-21 November p. 25
• Capture of Bourlon Wood 23-28 November p. 25
• The German counter-attacks 30 Nov - 3 Dec p. 25
• Somme 1918 XVIII Corps Actions at the Somme Crossings 24-25 March 1918 p. 26
• Battle of Rosieres 26-27 March

References

• Edmonds, J. E. (1926). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914: Mons, the Retreat to the Seine, the Marne and the Aisne August–October 1914. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. I (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. OCLC 58962523.
• Edmonds, J. E. (1928). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915: Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents By Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (1st ed.). London: Macmillan. OCLC 58962526.
• Miles, W. (1938). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916, 2nd July 1916 to the End of the Battles of the Somme. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (IWM & Battery Press 1992 ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-901627-76-3.
• Inglefield, V.E. (1921). The History of the Twentieth (Light) Division. London: Nisbet and Co.
• James, E. A. (1924). A Record of the Battles and Engagements of the British Armies in France and Flanders 1914–1918 (London Stamp Exchange 1990 ed.). Aldershot: Gale & Polden. ISBN 0-948130-18-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Wyrall, E. (1921). The History of the Second Division, 1914–1918. Vol. I. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons. OCLC 827208685. Retrieved 31 July 2014.