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The 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, which saw service in the trenches of the Western Front, during the later years of the Great War. Disbanded after the war, it was reformed in 1939 in the Territorial Army as the 66th Infantry Division but disbanded in 1940, without seeing active service in the Second World War. The division was created shortly after the outbreak of the First World War at the end of August 1914, as the 2nd East Lancashire Division, a second-line formation of the East Lancashire Division, composed primarily of soldiers from eastern Lancashire and the industrial towns around Manchester. After training and home service, it deployed to the Western Front in early 1917; its first major combat came in October of that year, at the Battle of Poelcappelle. In March 1918, it suffered extremely heavy losses during the German Army's Spring Offensive and was withdrawn from the line and reduced to a cadre in order to rebuild. It returned to the front in time for the Battle of Cambrai, part of the Hundred Days Offensive and the Battle of the Selle. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, it was stationed in Belgium, where it was demobilised in March 1919. The division was not reformed after the war but was reconstituted as the 66th Infantry Division (with no regional title), again as a duplicate of the 42nd Division, during the hurried expansion of the Territorial Army in early 1939. It was active for slightly over a year, before finally being disbanded in June 1940, having only seen home service with most of its component units being transferred to other divisions. ==Formation and home service== The division was created at the end of August 1914, as the 2nd East Lancashire Division, a second-line formation of the East Lancashire Division. Territorial Force soldiers could not be deployed overseas without their consent and the Territorial units were accordingly split into a "first line", with men who had volunteered for overseas service and a "second line", which was intended for home service, by the ten percent who refused to volunteer on 12 August.〔Gibbon, 1920, p. 5〕 The second line units also served to absorb the large number of recruits who had joined the Territorial Force following the outbreak of war. Its initial commander was Brigadier-General Charles Beckett, a 65-year-old retired officer, who had commanded a Yeomanry brigade some years earlier.〔(BECKETT, Brig.-Gen. Charles Edward ), in ''Who Was Who'' (2008)〕 As with the original East Lancashire Division, the 2nd East Lancashire was organised into three infantry brigades of four battalions each. These were later numbered as the 197th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th Lancashire Fusiliers; the 198th, composed of the 2/4th and 2/5th East Lancashire Regiment and the 2/9th and 2/10th Manchester Regiment; and the 199th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th Manchester Regiment.〔 The 197th drew its men from Bury and Salford; the 198th from Blackburn, Burnley, Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham; and the 199th from Wigan, Manchester, and Ardwick.〔 The division also raised second-line Territorial artillery, Royal Army Medical Corps, and Royal Engineer units, all from the Lancashire–Manchester recruiting area, and had an attached squadron of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry.〔 For two years, the 2nd East Lancashire Division (numbered the 66th Division in August 1915), provided trained replacements for its parent unit and carried out home defence duties in England.〔 Elements of the division assembled near Southport in late 1914, then moved south to the Kent–Sussex area in May 1915 and to Essex in early 1916. In early 1915, the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, a second-line battalion, was detached for overseas service and joined the 51st (Highland) Division. The battalion was replaced by another duplicate battalion, the 3/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, which became one of the few third-line territorial battalions to see active service. One of the three companies of Royal Engineers, was sent to France in 1915 to join the 48th (South Midland) Division and during 1916, three of the division's four heavy and howitzer artillery batteries were withdrawn or broken up.〔 Following the Military Service Act of January 1916, all Territorial soldiers were deemed to liable for overseas service. In February 1917, the 66th Division was instructed to prepare for a move to continental Europe and received a new and experienced commander, Major-General Herbert Lawrence. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「66th Division (United Kingdom)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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