45th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)

45th Infantry Division 45th (Holding) Division 45th Division
The divisional insignia, Drake's Drum, denoting the association of the division with the West Country region.
Active	7 September 1939 – 15 August 1944 1 September 1944 – c. December 1945
Branch	Territorial Army (1939–1944)  British Army (1944–1945)
Type	Infantry
Role	Infantry, home defence, and training

The 45th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army, formed just prior to the start of the Second World War. In March 1939, after the re-emergence of Germany as a significant military power and its occupation of Czechoslovakia, the British Army increased the number of divisions in the Territorial Army (TA) by duplicating existing units. The 45th started forming in August 1939 and became active the following month, as a second-line duplicate of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. The division's battalions were all raised in the West Country.

It was intended that the division would remain in the United Kingdom to complete training and preparation, before being deployed to France within twelve months of the war breaking out. Instead, the division was largely dispersed in order to protect strategically important points. As a result of the rapid German victory on mainland Europe during the Battle of France in 1940, the division was not deployed overseas and was instead dispatched to Sussex to defend the coast from a potential German invasion. This mission was extended to cover sections of the Kent coastline, and was followed by stints defending Essex and being held back from the coast as a counter-attack formation. In December 1941, the division was earmarked to remain within the UK and not be deployed overseas as a combat formation. This was followed by further periods of coastal defence, and training in Northern Ireland. In 1944, the division's manpower was slowly transferred away as it was used to reinforce combat formations within the 21st Army Group, and the division was disbanded in August 1944.

The division was reformed in September as the 45th (Holding) Division, composed of personnel from the disbanded 77th (Holding) Division. In this capacity the division was responsible for retraining soldiers on medical leave or who had spent a large amount of time overseas or as prisoners of war and assigning soldiers to new units. In December 1945, the division was renamed the 45th Division. Shortly after, it had three new brigades attached, all with the function of helping with the influx of returning soldiers from overseas deployment. As part of the demobilisation of the British armed forces after the Second World War, the division ceased to exist by the end of 1945 and has not been reformed.