British 4th Division

4th Division Army Regular Army Formed Permanent Demobilised Permanent Previous Next 3rd 5th

The British 4th Division was was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War. As a permanently established Regular Army division it was amongst the first to be sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of World War I. It served on the Western Front for the duration of the war.

During World War II the division served in France in 1940, North Africa and Italy.

Currently the 4th Division is an infantry division based in south-east England. For a period prior to 1992 it was an armoured division based in Germany.

The division's current insignia is a tiger.

Unit History

Formation

World War I

; 10th Brigade :

• 1st Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment
• 2nd Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders
• 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Fusiliers (until August 1917)
• 1/7th Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (from January 1915 until March 1916)
• The Household Battalion (from November 1916 until February 1918)
• 3/10th Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment (from August 1917 until February 1918)
• 2nd Battalion, the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (from 12th Bde. February 1918)

; 11th Brigade :

• 1st Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry
• 1st Battalion, the Hampshire Regiment
• 1st Battalion, the Rifle Brigade
• 1/5th (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (until May 1915)
• 1st Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment (until February 1918)
• 2nd Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment (from 12 Bde. July 1915 until May 1916)

; 12th Brigade :

• 1st Battalion, the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
• 2nd Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers
• 2nd Battalion, the Essex Regiment
• 2nd Battalion, the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (from January 1916 to 10th Bde. February 1918)
• 2nd Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment (from March 1915, to 11th Bde. July 1915)
• 1/5th Battalion, the South Lancashire Regiment (from February 1915 until January 1916)
• 1/2nd Battalion, the Monmouthshire Regiment (until January 1916)

From early November 1915 until February 1916 the 12th Brigade was swapped with the 107th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.

World War II

; 10th Infantry Brigade :

• 2nd Battalion, the Bedfordshire & Herfordshire Regiment
• 2nd Battalion, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
• 1st Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (until May 1940)
• 1/6th Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment

; 11th Infantry Brigade (until June 1942) :

• 2nd Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers
• 1st Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment
• 1st Battalion, the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
• 5th Battalion, the Northamptonshire Regiment (from January 1940)

; 12th Infantry Brigade :

• 2nd Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers
• 1st Battalion, the South Lancashire Regiment (until June 1940)
• 1st Battalion, the Black Watch (until March 1940)
• 6th Battalion, the Black Watch (from March 1940)
• 1st Battalion, the RWK (from September 1940)

; 21st Tank Brigade (June 1942 - December 1943) :

• 48th Royal Tank Regiment
• 12th Royal Tank Regiment
• 145th Royal Armoured Corps

; 28th Infantry Brigade (from December 1943) :

• 2nd Battalion, the Somerset Light Infantry
• 2nd Battalion, the Kings Regiment
• 1st Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
• 2/4nd Battalion, the Hampshire Regiment

Current

• 2nd Infantry Brigade
• 145th Home Counties Brigade
• 49th Eastern Brigade

Battles

Peninsula War

• Battle of Salamanca

World War I

World War II

• Battle of Monte Cassino

External Links

• The British Army in the Great War: The 4th Division

Referenced By