42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division

East Lancashire Division 42nd (East Lancashire) Division 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division 42nd Armoured Division 42nd (Lancashire) Division
42nd (East Lancashire) Division insignia, First World War
Active	1908–1919 1920–1941 1947–1961
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Peacetime HQ	Manchester
Motto(s)	Go One Better[note 1]
Engagements	First World War Second World War
Commanders
Notable commanders	William Douglas Bertram Mitford Arthur Solly-Flood William Beach Sir Hugh Elles Sir Miles Dempsey Sir Geoffrey Evans Vyvyan Evelegh
Insignia
Identification symbol	42nd Division insignia, Second World War (infantry and armoured).
Identification symbol	42nd Division insignia, post Second World War, amalgamated with the 55th (West 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 (East Lancashire) Division on 25 May 1915.^[1] It was the first TF division to be sent overseas during the First World War. The division fought at Gallipoli, in the Sinai desert and on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Disbanded after the war, it was reformed in the Territorial Army (TA), in the Second World War it served as the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and fought in Belgium and France before being evacuated at Dunkirk. The division was later reformed in the United Kingdom and, in November 1941, was converted into the 42nd Armoured Division, which was disbanded in October 1943 without serving overseas. A 2nd Line duplicate formation, the 66th Infantry Division, was created when the Territorials were doubled in both world wars.

The division was disbanded during the war but was reformed in the TA in 1947 after the Second World War. Beckett 2008 says that TA units that were in suspended animation were formally reactivated on 1 January 1947, although no personnel were assigned until commanding officers and permanent staff had been appointed in March and April 1947.^[2] From December 1955, the division was placed on a lower establishment, for home defence purposes only.^[3] On 1 May 1961, the division was merged with North West District to become 42nd Lancashire Division/North West District.^[4]

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