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British 51st (Highland) Division (World War I)

Highland Division
51st (Highland) Division
51st (Highland) Infantry Division
British 51st (Highland) Division Insignia.png
Insignia of the 51st (Highland) Division, World War I.
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
51 inf div -vector.svg
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 World War I 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.


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