France 1940 Major-General
Victor Fortune took command of the division in 1937. In common with the rest of the British Army at the time, training and equipment had been insufficient in the years after World War 1. In 1938, after Chamberlain's visit to Munich, the decision had been taken to double the size of the Territorial Army, and the Highland Division had made good progress with this recruitment by the spring of 1939. The issue of equipment and the associated training remained a problem. For example: two years of regular army infantry training was compressed into 3 months; some mortar units had no experience with live ammunition until they got to the firing ranges in France;
Bren gun carrier crews only received their equipment in the summer of 1939, leaving little time for training in operating and tactics. On 28 January it came under command of
I Corps of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under
Lieutenant-General Michael Barker. His command also included the
1st and
2nd Infantry Divisions, both
Regular Army formations. In February and March the 51st Division underwent a major reorganisation as per policies of the BEF. Some of the division's units were replaced by Regular Army formations. This was done with the intention of strengthening inexperienced Territorial divisions. The 23rd Field Regiment of the
Royal Artillery, a Regular Army unit, replaced the
76th (Highland) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, as one example of the changes made. The 76th (Highland) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery was transferred to the
3rd Infantry Division. In early 1940 British formations facing neutral Belgium were posted to the French Army to gain experience on the frontier with Germany. At first single brigades were sent, but it was decided that whole divisions would be sent, and on 22 April 1940 the 51st Division was detached from the rest of the BEF to come under command of the
French Third Army. The division was stationed in front of the
Ouvrage Hackenberg fortress of the
Maginot Line. , marching in
Millebosc,
France, 8 June 1940. With the
German invasion of France and the low countries on 10 May 1940 the BEF advanced into Belgium to meet the advancing German forces. Stationed to the south in front of the Maginot Line, the 51st Division was not a part of the force involved
in Belgium, and was thus not involved in the
Dunkirk evacuation. In response to the German advance it was pulled back to form a defensive line along the
Somme, where it was attached to the
French Tenth Army. With the withdrawal of Allied forces at Dunkirk, the Germans turned their attention to the south. On 5 June they began their second offensive. The 51st was tasked with holding a line four times longer than that which would normally be expected of a division. Sustained attacks over 5–6 June caused heavy losses, particularly among the 7th Battalion,
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, where the main weight of the German attack fell. The Argylls' losses were the worst they had suffered in their history. The other battalions of the
154th Brigade were enveloped. The remnant of the 154th Brigade was forced to retire to the west. Meanwhile, the
152nd and
153rd Brigades, along with the
French 9th Corps, under Lieutenant General Marcel Ihler, were cut off from the main Allied forces, and had to withdraw toward
Le Havre for a possible evacuation by sea. The 154th Brigade was detached to form "
Arkforce" and tasked with maintaining an open line of communication with Le Havre. As the force moved back toward the coast German forces reached the coast area near
Saint-Valery-en-Caux first, cutting off the line of retreat to Le Havre. 11,000 men of Arkforce were successfully evacuated from Le Havre in
Operation Cycle on 13 June. The remaining French and British force pulled back into Saint Valery-en-Caux. With steep cliffs overlooking the small harbour, the Germans had a ready line of fire to use against any attempts to withdraw. General Fortune could not hold out much longer, and realized their last chance was to be pulled off in the dark on the night of 11/12 June, but no ships came: the
Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, Admiral
William James, had assembled ships for the evacuation but daytime evacuation was impossible and on the final night fog meant that the ships could not communicate and co-ordination would be impossible. On the morning of 12 June the French forces surrendered, followed 30 minutes later by the British. Major-General Fortune was one of the most senior British officers to be taken
prisoner in the war. From the British point of view, the defeat of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was the end of the Allied resistance during the Battle of France. They were marched to Germany, via Belgium, following the route over which the Germans had advanced against them. The officers were separated from the men, for most of whom the initial destination was
Stalag XX-A at
Toruń, about northwest of
Warsaw. Some were loaded into canal barges for part of their journey, but all eventually travelled by train in cattle wagons. There were some notable escapes, mostly in the early stages of the march. Of the 290 British Army POW escapers who had returned to Britain by the end of June 1941, 134 were members of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division. Early in 1945, the
Russian Army had advanced close to these camps, so the POWs were involved in the
March of 1945. Some groups from
Stalag XX-A marched around in the depths of winter to Stalag XIB/357 at
Bad Fallingbostel on the
Lüneburg Heath, north of
Hanover. Others had similar journeys in severe winter conditions, affected by shortages of food and shelter, with many suffering from dysentery and frostbite. In 1942 French General
Charles de Gaulle, in a speech, claimed "I can tell you that the comradeship in arms experienced on the battlefield of
Abbeville in May and June 1940 between the French armoured division which I had the honour to command and the valiant 51st Highland Division under General Fortune played its part in the decision which I took to continue fighting on the side of the
Allies unto the end, no matter what the course of events." On 12 June 2010, veterans of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division attended a commemorative ceremony for the 70th Anniversary of the battle at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux.
Reformation In August 1940, the
9th (Highland) Infantry Division (the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division's 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate, which it had helped form) was re-designated as the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division. As part of this, the
26th and
27th Infantry Brigades were re-designated the
152nd and
153rd Infantry Brigade. The
28th Infantry Brigade was merged with the severely understrength
154th Infantry Brigade. , cuts through
barbed wire during training at
Sumburgh in the
Shetland Islands,
Scotland, 20 April 1941. The first
general officer commanding (GOC) of the new incarnation of the division was Major-General
Alan Cunningham, who, in October 1940, was sent to the
Middle East. He was replaced by Major-General
Neil Ritchie. Almost two years of home defence and training duties followed on the south coast of England and northeast coast of Scotland against a potential
German invasion, which never arrived. In June 1941, Major-General Ritchie was sent to the Middle East and Major-General
Douglas Wimberley, who had served with the original 51st (Highland) Division during the First World War and more recently commanded the 152nd Brigade, assumed command. With the arrival of Wimberley as GOC, strenuous training for future operations overseas began. By June 1942, the division was ordered to prepare for service overseas.
The Mediterranean and Middle-East Arriving in
North Africa in August 1942, the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division experienced its first fighting at the
Second Battle of El Alamein (October–November), sustaining some 2,000 casualties. It then played a major part in
Operation Lightfoot, where it was in the centre of the Northern Push, between the
9th Australian Division and the
2nd New Zealand Division. It faced the
German 21st Panzer Division and some Italian units. Initially unsuccessful during Lightfoot, the
minefields it cleared were key in achieving a breakout during
Operation Supercharge. , on patrol in
Wadi Zessar,
Tunisia, 10 March 1943. Subsequently, the division was involved in many battles of the
Tunisian Campaign, including the
battle of Wadi Akarit, in early April 1943, and took part in the frontal assault on strongpoints guarded by deep minefields, where it was on the far right of the line. The
Commanding Officer (CO) of the 7th Battalion,
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders,
Lieutenant Colonel Lorne MacLaine Campbell, was awarded the
Victoria Cross for his leadership during the battle. The war in North Africa ended on 13 May 1943 with the surrender of almost 250,000
Axis soldiers as
prisoners of war (POWs). Throughout the fighting in North Africa the division served under the command of the
British Eighth Army, under
General Bernard Montgomery. Later the 51st Division had a rest to absorb replacements for the heavy losses, in both manpower and
materiel, suffered in North Africa and began training in
amphibious warfare. In July, the division took part in the
Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed
Operation Husky, suffering comparatively light casualties in the short campaign, which lasted for 38 days. On the evening of 18 July 1943, members of the Division advanced towards Paterno in the foothills of
Mount Etna. Their objective was the village and train station at Sferro and the bridge over the
Simeto river. They met fierce resistance which continued throughout 19 July 1943. That night, the
Gordon Highlanders, under heavy bombardment, crossed the railway and occupied Sferro village. During daylight hours of 20 July, the enemy maintained a steady bombardment. Action continued sporadically until August 3. The total casualties of the Division in the campaign had been 124 Officers and 1312 other ranks. In November 1943, representatives of the 51st Highland Division erected a Memorial in the form of a stone Celtic Cross. The memorial still stands, overlooking Sferro and Mount Etna in the distance. Towards the end of the campaign in early August, the division was withdrawn from combat and held in reserve for the
Allied invasion of Italy. Although the 51st Division as a whole did not take part in the invasion, some of the division's artillery helped support
Operation Baytown, the Eighth Army's crossing of the
Strait of Messina in Sicily to the Italian "toe" at
Reggio Calabria. advance along a road near
Noto,
Sicily, 11 July 1943. The division was then recalled from the Eighth Army and returned to the United Kingdom, on the wishes of the Army's old commander, General Montgomery, together with the veteran
7th Armoured and
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Divisions, to prepare for the opening of the
Second Front in June 1944. Montgomery commented on the 51st "
Of the many fine divisions that served under me in the Second World War, none were finer than the Highland Division" and later
"It was the only infantry division in the armies of the British Empire that accompanied me during the whole of the long march from Alamein to Berlin." When a group of recuperating wounded soldiers of the 51st returned from their North African hospital to rejoin the division in Sicily, they were instead split up and ordered to various units and formations, mainly the
British 46th Infantry Division which had suffered heavy casualties during the
Salerno landings, totally unrelated to the 51st Division or its component regiments. Some soldiers of the division regarded this as administrative high-handedness and refused to follow these orders, and the result was the
Salerno Mutiny. The mutineers were distributed to various units regardless, while ringleaders were sentenced to death (the sentences were later commuted and finally quashed).
Battle of Normandy , inspects officers and men of the 5/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders at
Beaconsfield,
Buckinghamshire, February 1944. Most of the 51st
landed in Normandy as part of
Operation Overlord on 7 June 1944, a day after
D-Day, as part of
British I Corps, under
Lieutenant-General John Crocker. After spending a brief period supporting the
3rd Canadian Infantry Division, it was sent across the
River Orne, and spent two months supporting the
6th Airborne Division in its
bridgehead. During this period it fought many difficult actions at places such as
Bréville (11–12 June) and
Colombelles (11 July). The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division's performance in Normandy was, overall, considered disappointing, particularly by General Montgomery, now the
Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied land forces in Normandy, who stated in a telegram to
Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, the
Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS, the professional head of the British Army), that the division "
had failed every mission it was given". This led to the replacement of its GOC, Major-General
Charles Bullen-Smith; his dismissal is not mentioned in the Divisional Official History nor formation accounts. on the Caen canal soon after arrival in
Normandy,
France, 7 June 1944. On 1 August 1944 the division, along with the rest of British I Corps, became part of the newly activated
Canadian First Army. The division fought alongside this army in
Operation Totalize, before advancing to
Lisieux. It then continued east over the
River Seine and headed, on General Montgomery's orders for
Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, the scene of the division's surrender in June 1940. The division's massed pipes and drums played in the streets of the town, and a parade included veterans of the 1940 campaign in France who were with the 51st Division in 1944. A similar event occurred at
Dieppe when it was liberated by the
2nd Canadian Infantry Division. Leaving Saint Valéry, the 51st Division was engaged in
Operation Astonia, the battle for the French port of
Le Havre, in September 1944.
After Normandy honouring the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division for liberating it After the capture of the town of Le Havre, the division went on to take part in
Operation Pheasant in October 1944, finally passing into reserve and garrisoning the
Meuse River during the
Battle of the Bulge, now as part of
XXX Corps, under
Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks. It was not involved in heavy fighting during the early stages of the battle and was deployed as a stopgap in case the Germans broke through. and
Churchill tanks in the
Reichswald forest, Germany, 10 February 1945. In January 1945, the division, along with the rest of XXX Corps, helped to cut off the northern tip of the German salient, linking up with the
U.S. 84th Infantry Division at Nisramont on 14 January. Following this, the division was involved in
Operation Veritable, the clearing of the
Rhineland. In late March the 51st took part in Operation Turnscrew within the framework of
Operation Plunder, the crossing of the
River Rhine, near the town of Rees, where the GOC, Major General Tom Rennie, was killed by enemy mortar fire. He was replaced by Major General
Gordon MacMillan, a very highly experienced and competent commander who had previously been the GOC of the
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The division
advanced through Germany and ended the war in the
Bremerhaven area of
Northern Germany. During the North-West Europe campaign the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division had suffered a total of 19,524 battle casualties. ==Post War==