8th Infantry Division (India)

8th Indian Infantry Division 8th Infantry Division
Divisional badge during World War II.
Active	1940–1946 1962–present
Country	British India  India
Allegiance	British Empire  India
Branch	British Indian Army  Indian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Nickname(s)	The Clovers
Engagements	Iraq 1941 Syria 1941 Persia 1941 Italy 1943–1945 Kargil War
Battle honours	North Africa Italy
Commanders
Notable commanders	Dudley Russell

The 8th Indian Infantry Division is a division of the Indian Army which specialises in tactics and operations in mountainous territory.

The 8th was formed as an infantry division in Meerut on 25 October 1940 under Major-General Charles Harvey, a British Indian Army officer, as part of the Indian Army during World War II. It served in the Middle East in the garrisoning of Iraq and then the invasion of Persia to secure the oil fields of the area for the Allies. A brigade was detached to the Western Desert to reinforce the British Eighth Army as it withdrew before the Axis forces. Following training in the Near East, the division entered the Italian Campaign landing at Taranto on mainland Italy.

The division was disbanded at the end of World War II but re-formed again in 1962 as a specialist mountain division.

Despite its relatively late introduction into the mainstream of battle its members won nearly 600 awards and honours including 4 Victoria Crosses, 26 DSOs and 149 MCs. During the war the 8th Indian Division sustained casualties totalling 2,012 dead, 8,189 wounded and 749 missing.

When originally formed the division's main fighting formations were 17th, 18th and 19th Indian Infantry Brigades.