I Corps (United Kingdom)

I Corps
Active	Waterloo Campaign First World War Second World War Cold War 1951–1994
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Field corps
Engagements	Waterloo Campaign Battle of Quatre Bras Battle of Waterloo First World War Battle of Mons Battle of the Marne Battle of the Aisne First Battle of Ypres Battle of Aubers Ridge Battle of Festubert Battle of Loos The Bluff and St Eloi Battle of the Somme 1916 Battle of the Ancre German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line 1917 Battle of Arras Battle of the Lys The Final Advance in Artois Second World War Retreat to Dunkirk 1940 Invasion of Normandy Battle for Caen Battle of the Scheldt
Commanders
Notable commanders	The Prince of Orange Sir Douglas Haig Sir Charles Monro Sir Hubert Gough Sir Arthur Holland Sir John Dill Sir Harold Alexander John Crocker

Waterloo Campaign

First World War

Second World War

I Corps ("First Corps") was an army corps in existence as an active formation in the British Army for most of the 80 years from its creation in the First World War until the end of the Cold War, longer than any other corps. It had a short-lived precursor during the Waterloo Campaign.

Assembling an army in Belgium to fight Napoleon’s resurgent forces in the spring of 1815, the Duke of Wellington formed it into army corps, deliberately mixing units from the Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch-Belgian and German contingents so that the weaker elements would be stiffened by more experienced or reliable troops. As he put it: ‘It was necessary to organize these troops in brigades, divisions, and corps d’armee with those better disciplined and more accustomed to war’. He placed I Corps under the command of the Prince of Orange and it was this corps that was first contacted by the advancing French at Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815. However, Wellington did not employ the corps as tactical entities, and continued his accustomed practice of issuing orders directly to divisional and lower commanders. When he drew up his army on the ridge at Waterloo, elements of the various corps were mixed up, and although he gave the Prince of Orange nominal command of the centre, that officer had different forces under him. Subsequent to the battle, the corps structure was re-established for the advance into France, I Corps being commanded by Maj-Gen Sir John Byng, the Prince of Orange having been wounded at Waterloo.

GOC: General HRH The Prince of Orange

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Wikipedia