59th (Staffordshire) Divisional Engineers
| 59th (Staffordshire) Divisional Engineers 59th GHQ Troops, Royal Engineers |
|
|---|---|
| Active | September 1939 – present |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Territorial Army
|
| Type | Field Engineer |
| Role | Divisional Engineers GHQ Troops |
| Part of |
59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division 21st Army Group |
| Garrison/HQ | Aigburth, Liverpool |
| Engagements |
Battle for Caen Mont Pincon Battle of the Scheldt Operation Plunder Elbe Crossing |
59th (Staffordshire) Divisional Engineers was the Royal Engineer (RE) component of 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, a formation of the British Army during World War II. The division saw action in the Normandy Campaign, and after it was broken up in August 1944 the Divisional Engineers were attached directly to the General Headquarters of 21st Army Group and continued in action until the end of the War in Europe as 59th GHQ Troops, Royal Engineers (59 GHQTRE).
The lineage of this unit is preserved in the form of 107 (Lancashire and Cheshire) Field Sqn at Birkenhead.
Following the Munich Crisis of 1938, the British War Office decided to double the size of the part-time Territorial Army. The existing 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division began forming a new 2nd Line duplicate, designated the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division (although about a third of the units came from Lancashire rather than Staffordshire). This process was still under way on the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. (A previous 59th (2nd North Midland) Division had existed during World War I as the 2nd Line of the 46th (North Midland) Division, but both had been subsequently disbanded.)
The new division became operational on 15 September 1939, but the Divisional Engineers, based in Aigburth, Liverpool, were assembled more slowly under the control of 55th Division and only joined later:
The division served in various parts of the United Kingdom for the first part of the war, including a spell in Northern Ireland (June 1942 to March 1943). Latterly it was training for Operation Overlord. It embarked on 21 June 1944 and landed in Normandy on 27 June (D + 21).
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