29th Division (United Kingdom)
The 29th Division, known as the Incomparable Division, was an infantry division of the British Army, formed in early 1915 by combining various Regular Army units that had been acting as garrisons around the British Empire. Under the command of Major-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, the division fought throughout the Gallipoli Campaign, including the original landing at Cape Helles. From 1916 to the end of the war the division fought on the Western Front in Belgium and France.
According to the published divisional history (see reference below), ’The total casualties of the 29th Division amounted to something like 94,000. Gallipoli alone accounted for 34,000. This must be, if not a record, among the highest totals in any division ... The number of Victoria Crosses won by members of this division was 27 (12 at Gallipoli). This constitutes a record’. A large commemorative Portland stone obelisk, built in 1921 to remember the Division’s review by King George V before they were sent to Gallipoli, is located on a roundabout on the A45 just north of Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. A memorial to the 29th Division is located in Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. Lieutenant-General Beauvoir De Lisle, wartime commander of the 29th British Division, unveiled the monument the morning of the official opening of the site on 7 June 1925.
Somme
Passing through the Mediterranean port of Marseilles the 29th Division arrived in the rear of the Somme battle front from 15 to 29 March 1916.[10] From this time the division was put into the British Front in the area north of the Ancre River, near to the German-held village of Beaumont Hamel. For the following three months the battalions in the division spent their time doing tours of trenches and training behind the lines to prepare for the large British offensive against the German position planned for the end of June.[10] Following a 7-day artillery bombardment of the German front and rear areas, the battalions of the 29th Division were in position in their Assembly Trenches in the early hours of Saturday 1 July.
At 07:20 hours the huge Hawthorn mine was blown on the left of the division’s position. The leading battalions in the attack left the British front line trench at 07:30 hours.[10] The British casualties were severe, with many men never reaching the German front line. The men of the Newfoundland Regiment moved forward at about 09:00 hours to follow on behind the leading battalion in the advance of 88th Brigade.[10] Many of them were shot down trying to clamber overground to cover the few yards from where they were in the rear of the British front line to start their advance down the hill.
Order of battle
The following units served with the division :
86th Brigade
2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
1st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (left April 1916)
1st Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (left October 1917, rejoined April 1918)
2/3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (joined August 1915, left January 1916)
16th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Public Schools) (joined April 1916, disbanded February 1918)
1st Battalion, Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (joined October 1917, left April 1918)
86th Machine Gun Company (formed 26 February 1916, moved to 29th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (M.G.C.) on 15 Feb 1918)
86th Trench Mortar Battery (formed 21 April 1916)
87th Brigade
2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers
1st Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers
1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (left February 1918)
1st Battalion, Border Regiment
87th Machine Gun Company (formed 16 February 1916, moved to 29th Battalion M.G.C. on 15 Feb 1918)
87th Trench Mortar Battery (formed 28 April 1916)
88th Brigade
4th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment
1st Battalion, Essex Regiment (left February 1918)
1/5th (Queen’s Edinburgh Rifles) Battalion, Royal Scots Territorial Force (T.F.) (joined March left July 1915)
2/1st (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (T.F.) (joined August 1915, left January 1916)
1st Battalion, Royal Newfoundland Regiment (joined 20 September 1915, left May 1918)[11]
2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) (joined April 1918)
88th Machine Gun Company (formed 21 February 1916, moved to 29th Battalion M.G.C. on 15 Feb 1918)
88th Trench Mortar Battery (formed 16 April 1916)
Divisional Troops
1/2nd (T.F.) Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment (Pioneers) (joined May 1916)
29th Divisional Train Army Service Corps (A.S.C.)
246th, 247th, 248th and 249th (T.F.) Companies, A.S.C. (joined from the 43rd (Wessex) Division, transferred to 53rd (Welsh) Division in March 1916)
225th, 226th, 227th and 228th Companies, A.S.C. (joined 24 March 1916)
18th Mobile Veterinary Section Army Veterinary Corps
226th Divisional Employment Company (joined on 25 May 1917)
Divisional Mounted Troops
C Sqn, the Surrey Yeomanry (left 11 May 1916)
No. 1 Section, 10th Squadron, Royal Naval Armoured Car Detachment (attached between 5 May 20 June 1915)
Royal Artillery
XV Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery
B Battery, RHA
L Battery, RHA
Y Battery, RHA (left for 1st Cavalry Division on 27 November 1916)
369th Battery, RFA (joined 31 March, left 20 May 1916
460th (Howitzer) Battery, R.F.A (joined 12 September 1916)
1/1st Warwickshire Battery, RHA (T.F.) (joined 27 November 1916)
XV RHA Brigade Ammunition Column
XVIII Brigade Royal Field Artillery (R.F.A.)
CXLVII Brigade R.F.A. (left January 1917)
IV Highland (Mountain) Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery (left July 1915)
CXXXII Brigade R.F.A. (joined 2 March 1916 broken up 4 February 1918)
29th Divisional Ammunition Column R.F.A. (remained in Salonika, replaced by 53rd (Welsh) Division’s column in France)
Royal Engineers
2nd Lowland Field Company (left February 1916)
510th Field Company (renamed from 2nd London Field Company)
455th Field Company (renamed from 1st West Riding Field Company)
497th Field Company (joined February 1916, renamed from 3rd Kent Field Company)
1st London Divisional Signal Company
Royal Army Medical Corps
87th (1st West Lancashire) Field Ambulance
88th (1st East Anglian) Field Ambulance
89th (1st Highland) Field Ambulance
16th Sanitary Section (left April 1917)
