27th Division (United Kingdom)
The 27th Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised during the Great War.
History
The 27th Division was formed in late 1914 by combining various Regular Army units that had been acting as garrisons about the British Empire.The division, under Edward Bulfin, spent most of 1915 on the Western Front in France before moving to the Macedonian front, where it remained with the British Salonika Army for the duration of the war. In 1916 its commander, Major General Hurdis Ravenshaw, was captured by an Austrian submarine whilst sailing to England. In 1918 in Salonika the division took part in the Battle of Doiran.
It carried out occupation duties in the Caucasus in the post-war before being withdrawn from the region in 1919.
Order of battle
The division was composed of the following units:; 80th Infantry Brigade:
- 2nd Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry
- 3rd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
- 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
- 4th Battalion, Rifle Brigade
- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
- 80th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps
- 80th Trench Mortar Battery
- 80th SAA Section Ammunition Column
- 1st Battalion, Royal Scots
- 2nd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
- 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
- 13th Battalion, Black Watch
- 81st Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps
- 81st Trench Mortar Battery
- 1/9th Battalion, Royal Scots
- 1/9th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
- 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers
- 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
- 10th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment
- 82nd Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps
- 82nd Trench Mortar Battery
- 1/1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment
- 10th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
The brigade joined the division in May 1915 from the 6th Division leaving for the 2nd Division in August.
- 2nd Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers
- 1st Battalion, Cameronians
- 1/5th Battalion, Cameronians
- 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
- 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- 26th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, pioneers
- 27th Divisional Train A.S.C.
- *95th, 96th, 97th and 98th Companies A.S.C.
- *483rd, 484th, 485th and 486th Companies
- 16th Mobile Veterinary Section A.V.C.
- 818th Divisional Employment Company
- Divisional Mounted Troops
- *A Squadron Surrey Yeomanry
- *D Squadron Derbyshire Yeomanry
- *27th Divisional Cyclist Company Army Cyclist Corps
- I Brigade, R.F.A
- XIX Brigade, R.F.A.
- XX Brigade, R.F.A.
- CXXIX Brigade, R.F.A.
- IV Home Counties Brigade
- Attached units
- *130th Howitzer Battery, R.F.A.
- *61st Howitzer Battery, R.F.A.
- *2nd Mountain Battery R.G.A.
- *Bute Mountain Battery from IV Highland Brigade R.G.A.
- 1/1st Wessex Field Company,, Royal Engineers –
- 1/2nd Wessex Field Company, R.E. –
- 1/1st South Midland Field Company, R.E. –
- 17th Field Company, R.E. –
- 1st Wessex Divisional Signal Company, R.E. –
- 81st Field Ambulance R.A.M.C.
- 82nd Field Ambulance R.A.M.C.
- 83rd Field Ambulance R.A.M.C.
- 7th Sanitary Section R.A.M.C.
Commanders
- 19 November 1914 Major-General T.D'O. Snow
- 16 July 1915 Major-General G.F. Milne
- 13 January 1916 Brig.-General S.W. Hare
- 7 February 1916 Major-General W.R. Marshall
- 14 September 1916 Brig.-General H.D. White-Thomson
- 15 September 1916 Major-General H.S.L. Ravenshaw
- 30 November 1916 Brig.-General G.A. Weir
- 22 December 1916 Major-General G.T. Forestier-Walker
- 10 March 1919 Major-General W.M. Thomson
- 10 May 1919 Major-General G.N. Cory