See also: Guards Division.
| Unit Name: | Guards Division |
| Dates: | August 1915 – 29 April 1919 12 June 1945 – January 1947 |
| Country: |  United Kingdom |
| Type: | Infantry |
| Role: | Heavy infantry |
| Size: | Division |
| Patron: | King George V |
| Battles: | |
| Notable Commanders: | Earl of Cavan |
The Guards Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed in the Great War in France in 1915 from battalions of the Guards regiments from the Regular Army. The division served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War. The division's insignia was the "All Seeing Eye".
There was also a Guards Division in the Second World War which was formed on 12 June 1945 from the Guards Armoured Division which had undergone reorganisation.
In July 1915, during the First World War (1914 - 1918), George V approved the formation of a Guards Division and in August 1915 the division was formed at Lumbres, near St Omer, France.
The 4th (Guards) Brigade was transferred complete from the 2nd Division and redesignated as the 1st Guards Brigade; the 2nd Guards Brigade was formed with two battalions from England and two more transferred from 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Division; and the 3rd Guards Brigade likewise with two more battalions from England and two transferred from 20th Brigade, of the 7th Division. Soon after formation, each brigade formed a machine gun (M.G.) company of 16 machine guns, and between March and May 1916 each brigade was also provided with a Trench Mortar (T.M.) Battery of eight 3" Stokes Mortars.
The division was provided with three artillery brigadesLXXIV, LXXV and LXXVI Brigades, RFA each of four batteries of four 18 pounder gunsfrom the 16th (Irish) Division and a howitzer brigadeLXI (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA of four batteries of four 4.5" howitzersfrom the 11th (Northern) Division which remained in England when the division was posted to Gallipoli. 16th (Irish) Division also provided the Divisional Ammunition Column, two field companies of Royal Engineers and the signal company (Royal Engineer Signals Service). The third field company joined from 7th Division. The pioneers were the 4th Battalion, Coldstream Guards which joined from England on 18 August.
In 1915, the Guards Division took part in the Battle of Loos (26 September8 October) and Hohenzollern Redoubt (1819 October). In 1916, it fought in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme, in particular the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (1516 and 2022 September), the Battle of Morval (2528 September), and the Capture of Lesboeufs (25 September). In 1917, it saw action in the Battle of Passchendaele (or the Third Battle of Ypres) including the Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 August2 July), the Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October), and the First Battle of Passchendaele (12 October). It then took part in the Battle of Cambrai (24 November3 December).
In February 1918, British divisions on the Western Front were reduced from a 12-battalion to a 9-battalion basis (brigades from four to three battalions). As a result, the 4th Guards Brigade was formed on 8 February 1918 by taking a battalion from each of the brigades:
The 4th Guards Brigade was transferred to the 31st Division at noon on the same day. On 25 February, the pioneer battalion4th Battalion, Coldstream Guards was reorganized from a four-company to a three-company basis.
1918 saw the return of the war of movement. It had to withstand the German Army's Spring Offensive in the First Battles of the Somme (125 March) then switched over to counter-attack in the Second Battles of the Somme (2123 August), the Second Battle of Arras (26 August3 September), the Battles of the Hindenburg Line (12 September12 October), and in the Final Advance in Picardy including the battles of the Selle and of the Sambre. Its final action was the Capture of Maubeuge on 9 November. It ended the war with VI Corps in the British Third Army.
At the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the division was in and around Maubeuge, and on 17 November it regained 4th Guards Brigade which was broken up and the battalions returned to their original brigades. The next day it began the march on Germany and crossed the frontier on 11 December. By 19 December it had reached the Cologne area. Units started returning to England on 20 February 1919 and the last had completed the move by 29 April.
The Guards Division was reformed during the Second World War on 12 June 1945 by the reorganization and redesignation of the Guards Armoured Division. The division retained all of its original units, but with some changes:
Major-General Sir Allan Adair remained in command of the reorganized division. In January 1947, the division was disbanded.[1]
| Orders of Battle – August 1915, November 1918, June 1945 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
1st Guards Brigade
| Royal Artillery
| Mounted Troops
Pioneers
Medical Guards Divisional Train, ASC
|
2nd Guards Brigade
| ||
3rd Guards Brigade
| ||
----
| ||
1st Guards Brigade
| Royal Artillery
| Royal Engineers
Pioneers
Machine Gunners Medical
Divisional Employment Company
Guards Divisional Train, ASC
|
2nd Guards Brigade
| ||
3rd Guards Brigade
| ||
Order of battle when reformed from the Guards Armoured Division, June 19455th Guards Brigade
Royal Artillery
Royal Engineers
Signals
Reconnaissance
Infantry
2nd Lieutenant Jack Kipling, son of the famous author Rudyard Kipling, served with the Guards Division in France as a platoon commander in the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards. He was aged just 18, his birthday being only a month before, and was killed in the 1915 Battle of Loos, yet exactly how he died still remains a mystery even nearly 100 years later.
The division had the following General Officers Commanding (GOCs):[2]
| From | Name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 August 1915 | Brigadier-General F. J. Heyworth | temporary | |
| 18 August 1915 | |||
| 3 January 1916 | |||
| 11 September 1918 | disestablished 1919 | ||
| 12 September 1942 | on re-establishment | ||
| December 1945 |