20th (Light) Division

20th (Light) Division
Active	September 1914 - May 1919
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Engagements	World War I Battle of Loos Battle of Mont Sorrel Battle of the Somme (1916) Battle of Guillemont Battle of Flers-Courcelette Battle of Morval Battle of Le Transloy Battle of Messines (1917) Third Battle of Ypres Battle of Cambrai (1917)

The 20th (Light) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of Kitchener's Army, raised in the First World War. The division was formed in September 1914 as part of the K2 Army Group. The division landed in France July 1915 and spent the duration of the First World War in action on the Western Front.

Unit history

Men of the 11th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry being taken forward by light railway near Elverdinghe, during the Third Battle of Ypres, 31 July 1917.

Formation

59th Brigade

• 10th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (disbanded February 1918)
• 11th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
• 10th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade (disbanded February 1918)
• 11th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade
• 2nd Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) (from February 1918)

60th Brigade

• 6th (Service) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry ( disbanded February 1918)
• 6th (Service) Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry
• 12th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
• 12th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade

61st Brigade

• 7th (Service) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry
• 7th (Service) Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
• 7th (Service) Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry ( disbanded February 1918)
• 11th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (to pioneers January 1915)
• 12th (Service) Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment) (from January 1915)

Pioneers

• 11th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (from 61 Bde January 1915)

Battles

Memorial to the division close to Delville Wood in the Somme

• Battle of Loos
• Battle of the Somme (1916)
  • Battle of Guillemont
  • Battle of Flers-Courcelette
  • Battle of Morval
  • Battle of Le Transloy
• Battle of Messines (1917)
• Third Battle of Ypres
• Battle of Cambrai (1917)

General Officer Commanding

• Major General William Douglas Smith 1914–1915
• Major General Richard Hutton Davies 1915–1916

See also

• List of British divisions in World War I

External links

• The British Army in the Great War: The 20th (Light) Division

Further reading

• Inglefield, V.E. (1921). The History of the Twentieth (Light) Division. London: Nisbet and Co.