| Unit Name: | 7th Division 7th Infantry Division |
| Dates: | 1811 - 1814 1900 - 1902 1914 - 1919 1938 - 1939 |
| Country: |  United Kingdom |
| Nickname: | The Mongrels (Peninsular War) The Immortal Seventh (First World War) |
| Battles: |
The 7th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army, first established by The Duke of Wellington as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army for service in the Peninsular War, and was active also during the First World War from 1914 to 1919, and briefly in the Second World War in 1939.
During the French Revolutionary Wars and early in the Napoleonic Wars, the largest permanent organised structure within the British Army was the brigade. The brigade, which consisted of two or more battalions grouped together under the command of a major-general, suited the small size of the army and the operations that it conducted. When needed, larger forces were organised on an ad hoc basis. This included multiple brigades grouped into 'lines' or 'columns'. As the army and its operations grew, it implemented divisions—a single formation of two or more brigades, usually commanded by a lieutenant-general. The division concept was not new and had been used by other European armies towards the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). On 18 June 1809, Lieutenant-General Arthur Wellesley, commander of British forces in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War, reorganised his force into four divisions. The following year, with the further expansion of his force, Wellington created the 7th Division. It consisted of British, German, Portuguese, and French troops. Due to the mixture of nationalities as well as line and light regiments, the division had a multitude of uniforms. This coined the nickname of The Mongrels.
The division was present at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro the Battle of Vitoria the Battle of the Pyrenees the Battle of Nivelle the Battle of the Nive and the Battle of Orthez.[1]
The 7th Division was re-activated during the Second Boer War. The division took part in the Battle of Poplar Grove (March 1900) and the following occupation of Bloemfontein, then took part in Lord Roberts′ march to Pretoria.[2]
The 7th Division was a Regular Army formation that was formed in September 1914 by combining units returning from garrison outposts in the British Empire at the outbreak of the First World War the previous month.[3] [4] During the war, the division fought in the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the Battle of Aubers Ridge, the Battle of Festubert, the Battle of Loos, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Passchendaele, and the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.[4]
The division landed at Zeebrugge in Belgium on 6 October 1914 in an attempt to support the Belgian Army's defence of Antwerp, but was soon forced to retreat south-west as that city fell a few days later. It then played a crucial part in the stabilisation of the front during the First Battle of Ypres, preventing a German breakthrough, although at a high cost in terms of casualties.[5] A floating division, the 7th was the first British Division to enter Ypres on 14 October. It was ordered to hold the line, while Field Marshal French brought up his remaining six divisions and redeployed them from the Aisne to the sea. The division held an 8 mile front for two weeks, opposite some 340,000 Germans. Some 18,000 soldiers strong on 15 October, the 7th left the line on 31 October, with just 2,000 troops remaining, mostly transport and supply.[6]
The 7th Division fought in most of the major battles on the Western Front through to 1917 before being sent to the Italian Front for the remainder of the war. At the battle of Loos in late 1915, the division's General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major-General Thompson Capper, was killed in action at the height of the fighting. Unlike the first six regular divisions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), a third of whose strength was made up of regular reservists, the 7th Division was originally composed entirely of serving regular soldiers, which gave rise to the division's nickname, 'The Immortal Seventh'.[4]
In 1936, the Arab Revolt broke out in the British Mandate of Palestine. British troops were dispatched, ending the first phase of the war by the close of the year. Fighting soon resumed and reached its zenith during the summer of 1938. With rising tensions in Europe, the British began to withdraw troops from Palestine for use elsewhere. The conclusion of the Munich Agreement—on 30 September 1938—calmed the rising tensions in Europe and averted war, allowing the British to resume their military build-up in Palestine.
The 7th Division was reformed the following month, and placed under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor.[7] The division was deployed to Palestine on internal security duties as part of a build-up of 18,500 men in the region. This force then began to suppress the revolt. Meanwhile, Palestinian guerrillas had overrun the Old City of Jerusalem. O'Connor's men proceeded to sweep the area, declaring the Old City free of militants on 19 October. The same day, the division seized Acre and by the end of the month were clearing Jaffa of rebels. Many Palestinians were detained and rebel activity significantly dropped off in the area. In the north, the 8th Infantry Division, under Major-General Bernard Montgomery, and Special Night Squads engaged in counter-terror operations, with O'Connor writing that one brigadier "always encouraged his men to be brutal". General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan Robert Haining wrote in late 1938 that "unnecessary violence, vindictiveness ..., [and] killing in cold blood" had to be curbed. O'Connor was likewise opposed to the measures in the north, and wrote "harshness and unnecessary violence on the part of our soldiers" had to be curbed. During the operation in Jerusalem, only four to nineteen guerrillas were killed. In early 1939, the revolt finally came to an end.
On 31 August, just prior to the war beginning, the headquarters of the 7th Infantry Division relinquished command of all its troops. O'Connor and the divisional staff then left Jerusalem bound for Cairo, Egypt. From Cairo, the men moved forward to Mersa Matruh arriving on 7 September. The headquarters was then assigned all troops based there, with the exception of the 7th Armoured Division. The British Official Historian, I. S. O. Playfair, comments that this decision was undertaken to relieve the burden on Lieutenant-General Henry Maitland Wilson, GOC British Troops in Egypt, of "direct control of operations which had been his in addition to the command of all troops in Egypt". Due to the logistical problems in maintaining substantial forces across the Western Desert and on the Libya–Egypt border, Mersa Matruh was the forward British base of operations and supplied by rail. Positioned 200miles west of Alexandria and 120miles from the border, the location had been chosen to shield forward Royal Air Force (RAF) landing strips behind it and to defend the Nile Delta. Mersa Matruh also offered the British the strategy of drawing Italian or other forces forward to them, to allow a counter-attack after they ran into supply difficulties. On 3 November, the division was renamed the 6th Infantry Division.
See also: General officer commanding.
| Rank | width=20% scope="col" | General officer commanding | width=40% scope="col" | Notes | class=unsortable width=10% scope="col" | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major-General | The division was formed in Portugal, for service in the Peninsular War. | |||||
| Major-General | Temporary commander; relinquished position due to ill health in October | |||||
| Lieutenant-General | ||||||
| Major-General | ||||||
| Major-General | ||||||
| Lieutenant-General | ||||||
| Major-General | ||||||
| Major-General | Temporary commander; relinquished position on 27 February 1814 | |||||
| February/March 1814 | Major-General | At the conclusion of the Peninsular War, in 1814, the division was disbanded in France. The final troops departed in June. | ||||
| 24 August 1815 | Major-General | The division was merged into the Army of Occupation in France on 30 November. | ||||
| December 1899 | Lieutenant-General | The division was mobilized in the United Kingdom for service in the Second Boer War. Tucker maintained command through to the end of 1900 when, while still in southern Africa, the division was broken-up. | ||||
| 23 June 1902 | Major-General | The division was reformed in Ireland. Morton died in office | [8] | |||
| 30 April 1906 | Major-General | In 1907, the division was renumbered as the 5th Division | [9] | |||
| 27 August 1914 | Major-General | The division was formed in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, for service in the First World War. Capper was wounded in action on 1 April 1915. | ||||
| 6 April 1915 | Brigadier-General | Acting commander | ||||
| 19 April 1915 | Major-General | |||||
| 14 July 1915 | Brigadier-General | Acting commander | ||||
| 19 July 1915 | Major-General | Capper died of his wounds on 27 September 1915 | ||||
| 26 September 1915 | Brigadier-General | Acting commander | ||||
| 27 September 1915 | Major-General | |||||
| 7 January 1917 | Major-General | |||||
| 1 April 1917 | Major-General | Left division on sick leave on 9 February 1918 | ||||
| 9 February 1918 | Brigadier-General | Acting commander | ||||
| 22 March 1918 | Major-General | The division demobilised in Italy, following the conclusion of hostilities in 1919. | ||||
| 29 September 1938 | Major-General | The division was reformed in Palestine, for service during the Arab revolt. The division was renumbered as the 6th Infantry Division on 3 November 1939. |
See also: Victoria Cross.
| width=10% scope="col" | Date of action | width=10% scope="col" | Rank | width=25% scope="col" | Name | width=25% scope="col" | Unit | width=10% scope="col" | Place of action | width=10% scope="col" | Country of action | class=unsortable width=10% scope="col" | Sources+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 October 1914 | Drummer | Gordon Highlanders | Ypres | Belgium | |||||||||
| 29 October 1914 | Lieutenant | Gordon Highlanders | Gheluvelt | Belgium | |||||||||
| 7 November 1914 | Captain | South Staffordshire Regiment | Zillebeke | Belgium | |||||||||
| 19 December 1914 | Private | Scots Guards | Rouges Bancs | France | |||||||||
| 21 December 1914 | Private | Border Regiment | Rouges Bancs | France | |||||||||
| 21 December 1914 | Private | Border Regiment | Rouges Bancs | France | |||||||||
| 12 March 1915 | Captain | Bedfordshire Regiment | Neuve Chapelle | France | |||||||||
| 12 March 1915 | Corporal | Green Howards | Neuve Chapelle | France | |||||||||
| 12 March 1915 | Private | Grenadier Guards | Neuve Chapelle | France | |||||||||
| 12 March 1915 | Lance-Corporal | Grenadier Guards | Neuve Chapelle | France | |||||||||
| 12 June 1915 | Lance-Corporal | Highland Light Infantry | Givenchy | France | |||||||||
| 16 May 1915 | Company Sergeant-Major | Royal Welsh Fusiliers | Festubert | France | |||||||||
| 25 September 1915 | Private | Royal Warwickshire Regiment | Hulloch | France | |||||||||
| 20 July 1916 | Private | Devonshire Regiment | High Wood | France |
During this period, brigades were referred to by their commander's names. Due to changes in command, the brigade names fluctuated frequently.
7th Division (1811–1814)
Division's first brigade:
Division's second brigade:
Portuguese brigade (attached):
Militia brigade (attached 1814, but arrived after the Peninsular War had drawn to a close)
7th Division (1899–1900)
14th Brigade
15th Brigade
Divisional artillery, Royal Field Artillery
Divisional Cavalry
7th Division (1914–1918)
20th Brigade
21st Brigade (until 19 December 1915)
22nd Brigade
91st Brigade (from 20 December 1915)
Divisional Mounted Troops
Divisional Artillery
Divisional Engineers, Royal Engineers
Pioneers
Divisional Machine Guns
Divisional Medical Services, Royal Army Medical Corps
Divisional Veterinary Services, Army Veterinary Corps
Divisional Services
7th Division (1938–1939)[10]
18th Infantry Brigade
19th Infantry Brigade
Divisional troops
FootnotesCitations