62nd (2nd West Riding) Division

2nd West Riding Division
62nd (2nd West Riding) Division
2nd West Riding Division; 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division
	Division insignia
Active	1914–1919
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	World War I; * Battle of Arras (1917); * Battle of Cambrai (1917); * Operation Michael (Somme, 1918); * Second Battle of the Marne; * Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Walter Braithwaite

The 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw active service on the Western Front during the First World War.

History[]

During the First World War the division fought on the Western Front at Bullecourt^[1] in the Battle of Arras and Havrincourt in the Battle of Cambrai. During Operation Michael, in 1918, they were in the line near Arras and in the Second Battle of the Marne, in the Ardre Valley. At the opening of Second Battle of the Somme (1918), they fought the Battle of Havrincourt and continued across the Saint Quentin Canal at Marcoing, before beginning the fighting advance to Maubeuge on the Sambre.^[2]

The order of battle was as follows:^[3]

2/4th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (joined March 1915)
2/5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (joined March 1915, left January 1918)
2/6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (joined March 1915, disbanded January 1918)
2/7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (joined March 1915, left as a cadre June 1918)
5th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (joined January 1918)
2/4th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (joined June 1918)

2/4th Battalion, King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry) (joined March 1915)
2/5th Battalion, King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry) (joined March 1915, absorbed 1/5th Bn and became simply 5th Bn February 1918)
2/4th Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment (joined March 1915)
2/5th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment (joined March 1915, disbanded February 1918)

Anderson, Austin Thomas (1920). War services of the 62nd West Riding Divisional Artillery. Cambridge: Heffer and Sons. OCLC 558510602.
Wyrall, E. (1924). The Story of the 62nd (West Riding) Division, 1914–1919. I. London: The Bodley Head. OCLC 6256569. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
Wyrall, E. (2003) [1928]. The Story of the 62nd (West Riding) Division, 1914–1919. II (Naval & Military Press ed.). London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 1-84342-582-3.