4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)


The 4th Infantry Division was a regular infantry division of the British Army with a very long history, seeing active service in the Peninsular War, the Crimean War, the First World War, and during the Second World War. It was disbanded after the war and reformed in the 1950s as an armoured formation before being disbanded and reformed again and finally disbanded on 1 January 2012.

Napoleonic Wars

The 4th Division was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War. It fought in the Battle of Talavera and the Battle of Salamanca, Battle of Badajoz and the Battle of Roncesvalles, Battle of Vitoria, Battle of the Pyrenees, Battle of Orthez, Battle of Toulouse.

Peninsular War order of battle

The order of battle from January 1812 was as follows:
Major General Sir Charles Colville
Major General Lowry Cole
At the Battle of Waterloo it was tasked with holding Wellington's right flank and, with the exception of its 4th brigade, took no active part in the fighting, but did capture the town of Cambrai afterwards. The commanding general at this time was Charles Colville. In his novel Les Misérables Victor Hugo credits Colville with asking for the surrender of the Imperial Guard at Waterloo and receiving General Cambronne's reply of "Merde".

Waterloo order of battle

The Division was also called for service during the Crimean War fought between the allied forces of the United Kingdom, French Empire and the Ottoman Empire on one side and Russia on the other. It saw action in the Battle of Alma the Battle of Inkerman and the Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854.

Crimean War order of battle

Commanding General: Major General Sir George Cathcart
As a permanently established Regular Army division it was amongst the first to be sent to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of the First World War. It served on the Western Front for the duration of the war and was present during all the major offensives including the Battle of the Marne, Battle of Ypres, Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele.

Order of battle

The order of battle of 4th Division during the First World War was as follows:
; 10th Brigade :
; 11th Brigade :
; 12th Brigade :
From early November 1915 until February 1916 the 12th Brigade was swapped with the 107th Brigade of the 36th Division.
Artillery
Engineers
Pioneers'''

France and Belgium

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 the 4th Division, under Major General Dudley Johnson, who had won the Victoria Cross in the Great War, was sent to the border between France and Belgium as part of Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke's II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force. All three of the division's brigades were commanded by distinguished soldiers, the 10th by Brigadier Evelyn Barker, the 11th by Brigadier Kenneth Anderson and the 12th by Brigadier John Hawkesworth. After the disastrous Battle of France in May–June 1940, where the division sustained heavy losses, and the evacuation at Dunkirk, it spent the next two years in the United Kingdom on anti-invasion duties and training for its next deployment.
In June 1942 the division, now under Major General John Hawkesworth, was selected to be converted into a 'mixed' division, consisting of two infantry brigades and one tank brigade. As a result of this change, the divisions' 11th Infantry Brigade left the division and was replaced by the 21st Army Tank Brigade.

North Africa

The division departed for North Africa in early 1943, arriving in Tunisia in March, coming under Lieutenant-General John Crocker's IX Corps, part of the British First Army. During the Tunisian Campaign it was involved in Operation Vulcan, the final ground attack against Axis forces in North Africa which ended the North African Campaign, with the surrender of nearly 250,000 German and Italian soldiers. During the assault the division suffered heavy losses, with four battalions sustaining over 300 casualties. After the Axis defeat in North Africa, in May 1943, the division was to remain there for the next 9 months, during which time it was converted back into a standard infantry division, with the 28th Infantry Brigade, consisting mainly of Regular Army battalions who had served on garrison duties in Gibraltar, arriving to replace the 21st Tank Brigade.

Italy

The division arrived on the Italian Front in late February 1944, relieving the British 46th Infantry Division, initially coming under command of Lieutenant-General Richard McCreery's British X Corps, then serving under the U.S. Fifth Army. In March the division transferred to Lieutenant-General Sidney Kirkman's British XIII Corps, part of the British Eighth Army. The division, now under the command of Major-General Alfred Dudley Ward, fought with distinction at the fourth and final Battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944, and later in severe fighting in the battles for the Gothic Line. During the battle of Cassino Captain Richard Wakeford of the 2/4th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Greece

However, in November 1944 it was dispatched, with the rest of III Corps, to Greece to provide assistance during the Greek Civil War, and was to remain there until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.

Order of battle

The 4th Infantry Division was constituted as follows during the war:
10th Infantry Brigade
11th Infantry Brigade
12th Infantry Brigade
21st Army Tank Brigade
28th Infantry Brigade
Divisional Troops
The Division was reformed from 11th Armoured Division on 1 April 1956, and took on 20th Armoured Brigade Group from the disbanding 6th Armoured Division in May 1958. At the time the Division also incorporated the 4th Infantry Brigade and the 4th Guards Brigade.
During the 1970s, the division consisted of two "square" brigades, the 11th Armoured Brigade and the 20th Armoured Brigade. It was renamed 4th Armoured Division and served with I Corps being based at Hammersmith Barracks in Herford from 1978. After being briefly reorganised into two "task forces" in the late 1970s, the division consisted of the 11th Armoured Brigade, the 20th Brigade Division and the 33rd Armoured Brigade in the 1980s.
The division ceased its role as a frontline Armoured Division on 1 July 1993.

1995–2012

The 4th Division was reformed as an administrative division – effectively a military district – from South East District and Eastern District on 1 April 1995. It had its permanent headquarters at the Military Headquarters Building in Steeles Road, Aldershot.
The Division was responsible for the administration of Aldershot Garrison, British Gurkhas Nepal and British Garrison Brunei and by 2000 comprised the following Regional Brigades:
Following further reshuffling, 49th Brigade came under the command of the 5th Division based in Shrewsbury from 1 April 2007, 43 Brigade was transferred to 4th Division on 1 April 2007 and 16 Air Assault Brigade became subordinated to Joint Helicopter Command.
The Division reported to Army Headquarters at Andover from 2010. The new HQ Support Command in Aldershot began operation in January 2012 when HQ 4th Division in Aldershot disbanded. HQ 2nd division in Edinburgh and HQ 5th division in Shrewsbury were both disbanded in April 2012.

General officers commanding

Recent Commanders have been:
;GOC 4th Division
;GOC 4th Armoured Division
;GOC 4th Division