32nd Division (United Kingdom)


The 32nd Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was raised in 1914, during the First World War.

Formation history

The 32nd Division was one of those created for Kitchener's Fifth New Army on 10 December 1914 and was originally numbered 38th until the six K4 divisions were converted into reserve units.
It landed in France in November 1915, under the command of Major General William Henry Rycroft. Major-General Reginald Barnes, replacing the sacked Rycroft, took command of the division for a short while in November 1916 before being replaced by the controversial Major-General Cameron Shute.
The division was raised from volunteers for Lord Kitchener's New Armies, made up of infantry 'Pals battalions' and artillery brigades raised by public subscription or private patronage. The division was taken over by the War Office in September 1915. It served in France and Belgium in the trenches of the Western Front for the duration of the war. It saw action at the Battle of the Somme, the Pursuit to the Hindenburg Line, the Defence of Nieuport, the German spring offensive, and the Allied Hundred Days Offensive beginning at the Battle of Amiens.

Order of Battle

The following units and formations served with the division during the war:
File:VCFrederickWilliamLumsden.jpg|thumb|right|Brigadier-General Frederick Lumsden, VC, killed in action 4 June 1918 while in command of 14th Brigade; posthumous portrait by H. Donald Smith.
; 14th Brigade :
The brigade joined from the 5th Division in December 1915, swapping with the 95th Brigade.
; 95th Brigade :
The brigade transferred to the 5th Division on 26 December 1915, swapping with the 14th Brigade.
; 96th Brigade :
; 97th Brigade :
;Mounted Troops
;Pioneers
;Machine Gun Corps
  • 219th Machine Gun Company
  • 32nd Battalion M.G.C.
;Royal Artillery
2nd County Palatine Artillery
Originally raised in Lancashire for 32nd Division by the Earl of Derby but did not accompany the division to France in November 1915. Later joined 31st Division.
53rd Divisional Artillery
Attached to 32nd Division in France between 22 November and 27 December 1915, later rejoining 53rd Division in Egypt
32nd Divisional Artillery
Transferred from 31st Division, joining in France between 30 December 1915 and 3 January 1916
;Royal Engineers
  • 206th Field Company
  • 218th Field Company
  • 219th Field Company
  • 32nd Divisional Signals Company
;Royal Army Medical Corps
  • 96th Field Ambulance
  • 97th Field Ambulance
  • 98th Field Ambulance
  • 90th Field Ambulance
  • 91st Field Ambulance
  • 92nd Field Ambulance
  • 72nd Sanitary Section
;Army Service Corps
  • 32nd Divisional Train Army Service Corps
  • *221st, 222nd, 223rd and 224th Companies A.S.C.
  • *202nd, 203rd, 204th and 205th Companies A.S.C.
  • 42nd Mobile Veterinary Section Army Veterinary Corps
  • 229th Divisional Employment Company

    Service

The division was engaged in the following major actions:

1916

32nd Division was occupying Avesnes when the Armistice with Germany came into effect on 11 November. Two days later it was informed that it would take part in the advance to the Rhine, which began on 19 November. However, the division was halted on the Meuse between Dinant and Namur, to act as reserve for the British Army of the Rhine. On 28 January 1919 the division began entraining for Bonn and on 3 February it took over the southern sector of the Cologne bridgehead while demobilisation of individuals continued. On 15 March the division was renamed the Lancashire Division in BAOR, and war-raised units were progressively replaced by Regulars during 1919. During the war the division lost 34,226 killed, wounded and missing.

General Officers commanding

The following served as General Officer Commanding of the division during the war: