51st (Highland) Infantry Division (World War II)

Highland Division 51st (Highland) Division 51st (Highland) Infantry Division
Insignia of the 51st (Highland) Division, First World War.
Active	August 1908 – March 1919
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Part of	XVII Corps and later XVIII Corps
Nickname(s)	"Harper's Duds" "Ladies from Hell"
Engagements	Battle of the Somme (1916) Battle of Arras (1917) Battle of Cambrai (1917)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Major-General George Montague Harper

51st (Highland) Infantry Division
Formation patch as worn after 1940.
Active	1939–1946
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Nickname(s)	"Highway Decorators"
Engagements	Battle of France Second Battle of El Alamein Sicily landings Normandy Campaign Battle of the Bulge Operation Veritable Operation Plunder
Commanders
Notable commanders	Victor Fortune Alan Cunningham Neil Ritchie Douglas Wimberley Tom Rennie

The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as the Highland Division and later 51st (Highland) Division from 1915. The division's insignia was a stylised 'HD' inside a red circle. Early doubts about the division's performance earned it the nickname of "Harper's Duds" after the name of its commander, Major-General George Harper. The division was renamed the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and fought during the Second World War as part of the Territorial Army after the Territorial Force was disbanded in 1920. The division was nicknamed the "Highway Decorators" in reference to the 'HD' insignia that adorned road signs along their axis of advance.

A related formation, the 51st (Scottish) Division, was reformed in the Territorial Army after the Second World War. Beckett 2008 says that Territorial Army units that were in suspended animation were formally reactivated on 1 January 1947, though no personnel were assigned until commanding officers and permanent staff had been appointed in March and April 1947. By December 1947, the formation amalgamated with 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division had become 51st/52nd Scottish Division, but, by March 1950, 52nd Division had been recreated as an independent formation. From December 1955, the division was placed on a lower establishment, for home defence purposes only. On 1 May 1961, the division was merged with Highland District to become 51st Highland Division/District.

The First World War doubts were the result of the way in which the division was initially plundered in late 1914 to early 1915, during a period of great strain on the Regular Army troops of the original British Expeditionary Force (BEF), serving on the Western Front. In August 1914, upon mobilization, the division's infantry element had comprised 12 battalions in 3 regimentally-named brigades: the Seaforth and Cameron Brigade, the Gordon Highlanders Brigade and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Brigade. A crisis on the Western Front in late 1914 saw increasing numbers of individual TF battalions being seconded to Regular Army formations on the Western Front. The first TF formation to be plundered in this way was the 1st London Division.