Military unit
The 27th Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised during the Great War, formed in late 1914 by combining various Regular Army units that had been acting as garrisons about the British Empire. The division spent most of 1915 on the Western Front in France before moving to Salonika where it remained with the British Salonika Army for the duration of the war. In 1916 its commander Hurdis Ravenshaw was captured by an Austrian submarine whilst sailing to England. In 1918 in Salonika the division took part in the Battle of Doiran. It carried out occupation duties in the Caucasus in the post-war before being withdrawn from the region in 1919.[2]
Order of battle
The division was composed of the following units:[3][4]
- 80th Brigade
- 81st Brigade
The following battalions also served with the brigade a time in 1915:
- 82nd Brigade
The following battalions also served with the brigade a time in 1915:
- 19th Brigade
The brigade joined the division in May 1915 from the 6th Division leaving for the 2nd Division in August.
Division Troops
- 26th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, pioneers (joined August 1916)
- 27th Divisional Train A.S.C.
- 95th, 96th, 97th and 98th Companies A.S.C. (left November 1915 for 55th Division)
- 483rd, 484th, 485th and 486th Companies (joined 16 January 1916)
- 16th Mobile Veterinary Section A.V.C.
- 818th Divisional Employment Company (formed 14 September 1917)
- Divisional Mounted Troops
- Royal Artillery
- I Brigade, R.F.A
- XIX Brigade, R.F.A.
- XX Brigade, R.F.A.
- CXXIX Brigade (Howitzer), R.F.A.
- IV Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade (T.F.) ( formed into the 27th Divisional Ammunition Column in December 1914)
- Attached units
- 130th Howitzer Battery, R.F.A. (from 8 January to 21 February 1915)
- 61st Howitzer Battery, R.F.A. (from 21 February to June 1915)
- 2nd Mountain Battery R.G.A. (from 17 to 24 July 1916)
- Bute Mountain Battery from IV Highland (Mountain) Brigade R.G.A. ( from 22 July to 8 September and 23 to 25 September 1918)
- Royal Engineers
Royal Army Medical Corps
- 81st (1st Home Counties) Field Ambulance (T.F.) R.A.M.C.
- 82nd (2nd Home Counties) Field Ambulance (T.F.) R.A.M.C.
- 83rd (3rd Home Counties) Field Ambulance (T.F.) R.A.M.C.
- 7th Sanitary Section R.A.M.C. (joined 9 January 1915 left 16 April 1917)
Commanders
During its existence, 27th Division had the following commanders:[5]
See also
References
- ^ Chappell p. 16
- ^ On the withdrawal, see Richard G. Hovannisian, The Republic of Armenia, Vol. II: From Versailles to London, 1919-1920. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982, pp. 109-39.
- ^ Becke, pp. 97–103.
- ^ "27th Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
- ^ Becke 1935, p. 97
Bibliography
- Becke, Major A.F. (1935). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 1. The Regular British Divisions. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 1-871167-09-4.
- Chappell, Mike (1986). British Battle Insignia (1). 1914-18. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9780850457278.
External links
- The British Army in the Great War, The 27th Division
