British 42nd (East Lancashire) Division Insignia

The 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

formation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

that saw active service during both the First and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was assigned to the

42nd (East Lancashire) Division The 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd (Ea ...

and served in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and later in the

trenches A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from erosi ...

of the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

in the First World War. In the Second World War the brigade, now redesignated 125th Infantry Brigade, fought in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

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before being evacuated at Dunkirk and was then converted into 10th Armoured Brigade. Throughout its existence the brigade was composed almost entirely of battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers, except for a few brief months in the early half of the Second World War.

Formation

Upon the creation of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

in April 1908, the four

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

battalions attached to the Lancashire Fusiliers were organised into a brigade within the East Lancashire Division. The battalions were drawn from the Lancashire towns of Bury (5th Battalion),

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Bor ...

(6th Battalion) and

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

(7th and 8th battalions), with Brigade HQ at

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

.Becke, Pt2a, pp. 36–41.

First World War

On the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the East Lancashire Division mobilised and was sent to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

to relieve

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

troops of the British Army. Those men who had not volunteered for overseas service were left behind, together with floods of recruits, to form 2nd Line battalions (2/5th–2/8th Lancashire Fusiliers) in a 2nd East Lancashire Division. The 1st Line battalions were then renumbered 1/5th–1/8th. On 26 May 1915 the East Lancashire Division was renamed

, and the Lancashire Fusilier Brigade was numbered 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade. (In August 1915 the 2nd Line brigade became 197th (2/1st Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade in

66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division The 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, which saw service in the trenches of the Western Front, during the later years of the Great War and was disbanded after the w ...

Order of battle

The 125th Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

C.H. Frith
Brigadier-General H. Fargus from 23 June 1917 * 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(from Bury)'' * 1/6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(from Rochdale)'' ''(left 19 February 1918)'' * 1/7th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(from

)'' * 1/8th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(from Salford)'' * 125th Machine Gun Company,

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

''(formed 4 March 1916, moved to 42nd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 25 February 1918)'' * 125th Trench Mortar Battery ''(joined 26 March 1917)'' When British infantry brigades on the Western Front were reduced to three battalions in February 1918, 1/6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers left and joined 197th (2/1st Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade of the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division, where it merged with the 2/6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers and became the 6th Battalion once again.

Gallipoli

In early May 1915, the 42nd Division embarked from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

for Cape Helles on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where Allied troops had landed a few days earlier. 125th Brigade was the first part of the division to go into action, at the

Second Battle of Krithia The Second Battle of Krithia ( tr, İkinci Kirte Muharebesi) continued the Allies' attempts to advance on the Helles battlefield during the Battle of Gallipoli of the First World War. The village of Krithia and neighbouring hill of Achi Bab ...

under the command of the Regular 29th Division. It then reverted to 42nd Division, and took part in the

Third Battle of Krithia The Third Battle of Krithia ( Turkish: ''Üçüncü Kirte Muharebesi''), fought on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I, was the last in a series of Allied attacks against the Ottoman defences aimed at achieving the original objectives of ...

and Battle of Krithia Vineyard. The fighting was "a singularly brainless and suicidal type of warfare",North, p. 144 and virtually nothing was achieved in any of these attacks, at the cost of heavy casualties. Two brigades (the other being 126th (1/1st East Lancashire) Brigade) of 42nd Division attacked on the second day of the Krithia Vineyard battle: 'By nightfall both brigades were back in their old lines, with the exception of some parties of the 6th and 7th Lancashire Fusiliers, who defended the Vineyard against repeated Turkish attacks until, after a bitter and pointless struggle during the following five days, a trench dug across the centre of this worthless tract of scrub became the British front line'. After this failure, the Helles front was shut down and no further attacks were made. Five months later, following repeated failures elsewhere, the whole Gallipoli Campaign ended in evacuation back to Egypt.

Recuperation

The 42nd Division returned to Egypt in January 1916 with less than half the strength with which it had set out. It was stationed in Egypt for the next year, defending the Suez Canal and taking part in the

Battle of Romani The Battle of Romani was the last ground attack of the Central Powers on the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the First World War. The battle was fought between 3 and 5 August 1916 near the Egyptian town ...

(4–5 August).

Western Front

In February and March 1917, the whole of 42nd Division moved from Egypt to France to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the

, where it remained for the rest of the war. After re-equipping and training for

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artille ...

in a "quiet sector" with Fourth Army, 42nd Division relieved

15th (Scottish) Division The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that served in the First World War. The 15th (Scottish) Division was formed from men volunteering for Kitchener's Army, and served from 1915 to 1918 on the West ...

in Fifth Army in the Ypres Sector at the end of August. On 6 September 125th Brigade carried out an unsuccessful attack on strongly-held German pillboxes around Iberian, Borry, and Beck House Farms. The small amount of ground they took was given up the next day. The 42nd Division was then returned to holding quiet sectors, at

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

and then Givenchy. It was now part of IV Corps in Third Army, in which it remained for the rest of the war. During the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

's Spring Offensive (

Operation Michael Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was t ...

or the First Battles of the Somme 1918), the troops of 42nd Division took part in the Battle of Bapaume (24–25 March), First Battle of Arras (28 March) and the Battle of Ancre (5 April). Then, during the Allied

Hundred Days Offensive The Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918) was a series of massive Allies of World War I, Allied offensives that ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens (1918), Battle of Amiens (8–12 August) on the Wester ...

, it participated in the Battle of Albert (21–23 August) where

Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...

Edward Smith of the 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

. The brigade later fought in the Second Battle of Bapaume (31 August–3 September) during the fighting on the Somme. On the

Hindenburg Line The Hindenburg Line (German: , Siegfried Position) was a German defensive position built during the winter of 1916–1917 on the Western Front during the First World War. The line ran from Arras to Laffaux, near Soissons on the Aisne. In 1916 ...

it was in the

Battle of the Canal du Nord The Battle of Canal du Nord was part of the Hundred Days Offensive of the First World War by the Allies against German positions on the Western Front. The battle took place in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, along an incomplete portion ...

, where the ''Official History'' records that 125th Brigade's advance at 07.52 on 27 September 'was met by very heavy fire in front from machine guns which the barrage did not seem to have touched, and from Beaucamp on the right ... It reached an intermediate objective about five hundred yards from the front line and towards noon a little beyond this; but there it had to remain'. However IV Corps renewed the attack after dark: 'The night was very dark and rainy, but the attack was a complete success; the enemy was surprised; very little opposition was encountered and many prisoners were taken. Under barrages moving a hundred yards in 5 minutes, the front lines of the 125th and 127th Brigades of the 42nd Division ... went forward in succession'. 42nd Division resumed the attack the following afternoon (28 September), 'when the 125th and 126th brigades (the latter passing through the 127th), after some opposition, reached the top of Welsh Ridge, the objective of the division'. Third Army's advance in Picardy culminated in the

Battle of the Selle The Battle of the Selle (17–25 October 1918) was a battle between Allied forces and the German Army, fought during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Prelude After the Second Battle of Cambrai, the Allies advanced almost and liber ...

from 17 to 23 October. On 23 October 42nd Division was given the task of taking three successive objectives before the New Zealand Division passed through to continue the attack. 125th Brigade led the attack with two battalions in front, but in spite of a defensive smoke barrage they suffered considerably from enemy shelling during assembly. The defenders of Beaurain "made a stout resistance and there was hard fighting in the early stages of the attack, men on both sides being killed by the bayonet".Edmonds, p. 365. The left of 125th Brigade reached its objective by 04.45, but the rest of the line did not do so until 08.00. The New Zealanders passed through and successfully reached their objectives. The division was then withdrawn into reserve and halted around

Beauvois-en-Cambrésis Beauvois-en-Cambrésis is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. T ...

from 24 October until the advance was resumed on 3 November. On 7 November the 42nd Division was tasked to take the high ground west of

Hautmont Hautmont () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is southwest of the centre of Maubeuge, and has 14,500 residents. On August 3, 2008, a narrow but strong F4 tornado swept through the town, as well as Maubeuge, Neuf-Mesni ...

and if possible to capture the town. The division was held up by

enfilade Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...

fire from the right, and 126th Brigade did no more than occupy some of the high ground. 125th Brigade was therefore ordered to pass through it the next morning and advance to the objective. But the 126th, 'in an endeavour to atone for its slowness on the 7th', pushed on and reached Hautmont before 125th could catch up. The 125th was unable to cross the Sambre because the pontoons had not arrived, so it retraced its steps to its overnight billets near Pont sur Sambre and crossed there. The brigade then forced back the enemy rearguards, and after dark its patrols went forward and cleared them off the high ground near Fort d'Hautmont, one of the outer forts of the Fortress of Maubeuge. On 9 November the brigade encountered no resistance in reaching its assigned objective, and by 10 November the most forward troops were on the

Maubeuge Maubeuge (; historical nl, Mabuse or nl, Malbode; pcd, Maubeuche) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian bord ...

– Avesnes-sur-Helpe road. This was the end of the fighting, because the

Armistice with Germany The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

came into the effect the following day. In December the division moved into quarters in the

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

area and by mid-March 1919 most of its troops had gone home for demobilisation.

Interwar years

The

was disbanded after the Great War and so both the brigade and division were also disbanded. However, the division reformed in 1920 in the Territorial Army, which was formed on a similar basis as the Territorial Force. The brigade was also reformed, now as the 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Infantry Brigade, again with all four Territorial battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Unlike the other infantry brigades in the division, the 125th Brigade's organisation remained much the same. However, in the late 1930s the Territorial Army's infantry was reorganised and, with a reduced need for so many infantry units, many of them were converted into other roles, mainly anti-aircraft or searchlight units, of either the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

. As a result, the 7th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers was transferred to the Royal Engineers and converted into the 39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers, equipped with

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely luminosity, bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a part ...

s, and joined the 33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Group, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. It appears they were not replaced in the brigade. Shortly after, in 1939, the brigade was redesignated the 125th Infantry Brigade.

Second World War

The brigade and division, and the rest of the Territorial Army, were mobilised on 1 September 1939, the day the

launched its

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

officially began two days later, on 3 September 1939, and the men of the brigade and division were called up for full-time war service. Once again the 125th Infantry Brigade was composed of three battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Both the brigade and division immediately began training in preparation for eventual overseas service.

France and Dunkirk

The 125th Brigade, commanded at the time by Brigadier George Sutton a Territorial officer, landed in France on 15 April 1940 with the rest of the 42nd Division and became part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The division came under command of

III Corps 3rd Corps, Third Corps, III Corps, or 3rd Army Corps may refer to: France * 3rd Army Corps (France) * III Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * III Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of t ...

, under

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Ronald Adam, which also included the Regular 5th Infantry Division and Territorial

44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. ...

. Both the 42nd and 44th Divisions had, before deployment to France, been held back from reinforcing the BEF in order to participate in potential operations in Northern Europe, although this had never came to fruition. In early May the 1/8th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers was exchanged with the 1st Battalion,

Border Regiment The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. After service i ...

from 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, another Regular formation. This was part of the BEF's official policy of mixing the Regular and Territorial Armies and was intended to, in theory, strengthen the TA divisions. After the defeat at the hands of the

during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

, the brigade, after sustaining very heavy casualties, was evacuated from Dunkirk on 30 May 1940. With the 42nd Division, the brigade would spend most of its time in the United Kingdom reforming and absorbing large numbers of men who had been conscripted into military service as replacements, on home defence and training to repel an expected German invasion. In December, the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment was transferred to

31st Independent Infantry Brigade The 31st Infantry Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army, which participated in both the First and the Second World Wars. The brigade was later reformed after the end of the war serving in the British Army of the Rhine until the en ...

and was replaced by 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, a newly raised hostilities-only unit created only a few months before in June.

Conversion

On 1 November 1941, 42nd Division was converted to 42nd Armoured Division, and 125th Brigade was renamed 10th Armoured Brigade. 1/5th, 1/6th and 9th Lancashire Fusiliers (a war service battalion raised in June 1940) became respectively the 108th, 109th and 143rd regiments of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the ...

. Like all infantry units transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, they still maintained their infantry cap badges on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps. When the 10th Armoured Brigade was scheduled for disbandment in late 1943,

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the Lancashire towns complained about the loss of their Territorial battalions. Nevertheless, the disbandment went ahead in November 1943. Of the battalions, only the 5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers was reconstituted after the war.

Order of battle

The 125th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:Joslen, p. 310. * 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers * 1/6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers * 1/8th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(left 4 May 1940, to 4th Brigade)''Joslen, p. 234. * 125th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company ''(formed 31 December 1939, disbanded 25 January 1941)'' * 1st Battalion,

''(from 4th Brigade 4 May 1940, moved to 31st Brigade 1 December 1940)''Joslen, p.279. * 9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers ''(newly raised; joined 1 December 1940)''

Commanders

The following officers commanded 125th Infantry Brigade during the war: *

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...

G.W. Sutton ''(until 10 October 1940)'' * Brigadier The O'Donovan ''(from 10 October 1940 until 16 August 1941)'' *

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

J.K. Smith ''(

Acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

, from 17 August until 6 September 1941)'' * Brigadier P.E. Bowden-Smith ''(from 6 September 1941)''

Recipients of the Victoria Cross

Lance Sergeant Lance sergeant (LSgt or L/Sgt) is an appointment in the armies of the Commonwealth and formerly also a rank in the United States Army. Commonwealth Lance-sergeant in the armies of the Commonwealth was an appointment given to a corporal so they ...

Edward Smith - 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, First World War

Notes

References

* A.F. Becke,''History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: the Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territoral Force Divisions (42–56)'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, . * A.F. Becke,''History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2b: the 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th), with the Home Service Divisions (71st–73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1937/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, . * James Edmonds, ''History of the Great War: Military Operations, France and Belgium 1918'', Vol V, ''26th September–11th November, The Advance to Victory'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1947/Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1993, . * * John North, ''Gallipoli: The Fading Vision'', London: Faber & Faber, 1936. * David Fraser (1999) 983 And We Shall Shock Them: The British Army in the Second World War. Cassell military.

External sources

The Long, Long Trail

The Regimental Warpath 1914–1918

{{British infantry brigades of the Second World War Lancashire Fusiliers Military units and formations established in 1908 B125 Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War I Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1941 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom