59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division

59th (Staffordshire) Motor Division 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division
Divisional insignia of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division.
Active	1939–1944
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Motorised infantry Infantry
Size	Division, approximately 18,000 men
Nickname(s)	"The Pithead Division"
Disbanded	August 1944
Commanders
General Officer Commanding	Lewis Lyne
Notable commanders	James Steele

The 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, also nicknamed the "Pithead Division" due to its divisional insignia, was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Army, that saw active during World War II. The division served as part of the 21st Army Group during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy a few weeks after the D-Day landings, which took place on 6 June 1944. It was one of two divisions, with the other being the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division later in the year, of this army group that was disbanded due to an acute shortage of British infantry replacements.

The 59th (Staffordshire) Motor Division was created on 21 August 1939 as a 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate of the 1st Line 55th (West Lancashire) Motor Division as, by this time, another European conflict against Germany was deemed inevitable. The 55th Division was split in two and sent the 166th Infantry Brigade and the 177th Infantry Brigades to help form the new 59th Division. Also transferred were the 61st and 116th (North Midland) Field Regiment, RA, together with the 509th and 510th Field Company, RE. On 4 September, the day after World War II began, the 166th Infantry Brigade was redesignated as the 176th Infantry Brigade. Like its parent formation, the 59th Division was originally raised as a motorised infantry division of only two motorised infantry brigades. Unlike most 2nd Line Territorial divisions, which formed an exact 'mirror' duplicate of their parent units, some, including the 59th, were instead separated on a geographical basis, with all the infantry units from Staffordshire being sent to the 59th, while the 55th retained the units from Liverpool and Lancashire.