75th Division (United Kingdom)
| 75th Division | |
|---|---|
| Active | 25 June 1917 – 1 April 1920 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Infantry |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Maj-Gen Sir Philip Palin |
75th Division was an infantry division of the British Army in World War I. It was raised in the field by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) in 1917 and it included British, Indian and South African troops. It served in the Middle East during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign being involved in the Battles of Megiddo.
On 16 March 1917 the War Office gave the EEF permission to raise a new British division from infantry battalions of the Territorial Force arriving in Egypt as reinforcements from India. These were primarily from the 43rd (Wessex) and 45th (2nd Wessex) divisions, which had sailed to India in 1914 to relieve Regular troops. The division was assigned the number 75, and its three infantry brigades the numbers 232, 233 and 234. Brigadier-General Philip Palin of 29th Indian Brigade was promoted to command the new division.
232nd Brigade began to form at Moascar on 14 April 1917, but on 24 May the War Office ordered that some Indian Army battalions should also be included in order to speed up the formation of the Division. The first of these came from Palin's 29th Indian Brigade. The War Office then decided on 11 June that the division should be 'Indianised', with an establishment of one British and three Indian battalions to each brigade. However, this conversion was not completed until the summer of 1918. The process of assembling the division was drawn out: 233rd Brigade began to assemble at Zeitun on 25 May 1917, but then took over the Rafa defences in Sinai and only joined 75th Division on 18 August. The division officially came into existence on 25 June when 234th Brigade started to assemble at el'Arish.
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