British 3rd Infantry Division

This page has been constructed to give the reader some idea of the history of

the British 3rd Infantry Division, and its structure when it landed on Sword Beach

during the D Day landings on the 6th of June 1944.( The Ulsters were part of the Division) It Does not give a full account of all the support units which assisted the Infantry units when they landed.

A full account of the Ulsters invovement and landing on Sword Beach is written seperately.

The British 3rd Infantry Division, known as the " Iron Division " was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesey the 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsular War and was known as the fighting 3rd under

Sir Thomas Picton during the Napoleonic Wars. The Division fought at the Battle of Waterloo, the Crimean War

and the Second Boer War.

World War 1

During the First World War it was a permanently established Regular Army Division that was amongst the first

to be sent to France at the outbreak of the war. It served on the Western Front for four years.It was again referred to as the " Iron Division"

Its Composition During World War 1

7th Brigade ( to October 18th 1915 )

3rd Battalion The Worcester Regiment

2nd Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment

1/4th Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment

1st Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment

2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles

1/1st Battalion The Honourable Artillery Company

The Brigade moved to the 25th Division in October 1915 and was replaced by the 76th Brigade

8th Brigade

2nd Battalion The Royal Scots Regiment

8th ( Service ) Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment

7th ( Service ) Battalion The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry

1st Battalion The Royal Scots Fusiliers.

The following Battalions joined the Brigade for periods in 1914-15

2nd Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment

4th Battalion The Middlesex Regiment

The following Battalions joined the Brigade for periods 1915-16

13th ( Service ) Battalion The Kings ( Liverpool Regiment )

1/5th ( City of London ) Battalion The London Regiment

The following Battalions left the Brigade for the 76th Brigade when it joined the Division in October 1915

2nd Battalion The suffolk Regiment

1st Battalion the Gordon Highlanders

1/4th Battalion The Gordon Highlanders

9th Brigade

1st Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers

4th battalion The Royal Fusiliers

12th ( Service ) Battalion The West Yorkshire Regiment

13th ( Service ) Battalion The Kings ( Liverpool Regiment )

Other Battalions to serve with the Brigade were

1/10th ( Scottish ) Battalion The Kings ( Liverpool Regiment )

1st Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment

1st Battalion The Royal Scots Fusiliers.

The Brigade moved to the 28th Division fro a brief period in early 1915

76th Infantry Brigade ( From October 15th 1915 )

8th ( Service ) Battalion The Kings Own ( Royal Lancaster Regiment)

13th ( Service ) Battalion The Kings ( Liverpool Regiment )

10th ( Service ) Battalion The Royal Welsh Fusiliers

2nd Battalion The Suffolk regiment

1st Battalion The Gordon Highlanders

1/4th The Gordon Highlanders

The Brigade joined the division from the 25th Division in October 1915.

After the end of the First World War, the Division was stationed in Southern England. Where it formed part of

Southern Command. In 1937 one of its Brigades was commanded by Bernard Montgomery. He assumed

command of the Division shortly before Britain declared was on Germany. How many of the above fine regiments were destroyed and wiped out by the carnage of the Great war.

World War 2

The Division was part of the ill - fated British Expeditionary Force which went to France on the 29th of September 1939

eventually being evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. Its GOC was a certain Maj- Gen B. L Montgomery.

It was Monty who with the help of his AQ devised the divisional sign of three black triangles on a circular field of divisional red. The stated purpose was to indicate a combination of threes- 3rd division; three brigades, three battalions in each brigade. When the divisional sign was authorised for wear on Battledress in 1941 it was made up as a triangle of black cloth with a small red inverted triangle superimposed.In Flanders the 3rd Div were engaged in the battle of Ypres/Comines canal before the Dunkirk evacuation., after which they stayed in the Uk for four years, reorganised as a mixed Division in 1942/43 and reverting to the role of an Infantry Division for the D Day Landings.

They returned to fight in the battles of Normandy Landing, Caen, Bourguebus Ridge, Mont Picon, The Nederrijn, the Rhine and the Rhine Land. Standards of discipline in dress and the wearing of insignia were very high in the 3rd Div

where regulations were strictly enforced.

The Division was commanded by T.G Rennie until the 13th of June 1944 when Major general L.G Whistler took

command on the 23rd of June.

Composition 1939- 1945

8th Brigade

1st Battalion The Suffolk Regiment

2nd Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment

1st Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment

9th Brigade

2nd Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment

1st Battalion The Kings Own Scottish Borderers

2nd Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles