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The 76th Infantry Division of the British Army was raised during the Second World War to defend the Norfolk coastline against a possible German invasion, before being transformed into a training division in late 1942. New recruits to the Army were assigned to the division to complete their training. Once fully trained, the recruits were allocated to formations fighting overseas. The formation was used as a source of reinforcements for the 21st Army Group, which was fighting in Normandy. After all available British army troops left the United Kingdom for France, the division was disbanded in September 1944. In addition to the actual formation, a phantom 76th Infantry Division was formed for deception purposes. This phantom division was part of the notional British Fourth Army, and was intended to be used for the imaginary Operation Trolleycar. This operation aimed to deceive the Germans into believing that an Allied landing would occur along the northern German coastline. While the deception effort was not completely successful, it managed to divert German attention to their northern flank for the remainder of the war. ==Background== In the early stages of the Second World War following the Battle of France in 1940, the United Kingdom was under threat of invasion from Nazi Germany. During the summer, the Battle of Britain dampened this threat. As the year progressed, the size of the British Army increased dramatically as 140 new infantry battalions were raised. In late 1940, with the possibility of a German invasion during 1941, these new battalions were formed into independent infantry brigades that were then loaned to newly created County Divisions. The County Divisions, including the Norfolk County Division, were around 10,000 men strong and assigned to defend the coastlines of threatened sections of the country, undertaking defensive tasks including the manning of coastal artillery. These divisions were largely static, lacking mobility and also divisional assets such as artillery, engineers, and reconnaissance forces. Using the new formations in this manner allowed the pre-war regular infantry divisions to be freed up from such duties to undertake training and form an all-important reserve that could be used to counterattack any possible German landing. On 22 June, Germany launched a massive attack upon the Soviet Union; this attack all but removed the German threat to the United Kingdom. However, the British still had to consider the threat of an invasion due the possibility that the Soviet Union could collapse under the German onslaught, after which Germany could easily transfer troops back to the west. With the arrival of winter weather in late 1941, the threat of invasion subsided. This, coupled with the production of new equipment for the British army, allowed the War Office to begin steps to better balance the army due to the large number of infantry units formed during the preceding year and a half. As part of this reform, the County Divisions were disbanded. 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「76th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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