48th (South Midland) Division

South Midland Division
48th (South Midland) Division
48th (South Midland) Infantry Division
48th Infantry (Reserve) Division
The divisional insignia. Historian Michael Chappell comments that starting in 1918 the white diamond "was painted on helmets ... with regimental badges superimposed" upon it.[1]
Active1908–1919
1920–1945
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeInfantry
RoleInfantry, home defence, and training
SizeDivision
Peacetime HQWarwick
EngagementsFirst World War
Second World War
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Robert Fanshawe
Sir Harold Walker
Frank Roberts
Sir Andrew Thorne
Insignia
Identification
symbol

Divisional insignia adopted following the Battle of France in 1940.[2]

The 48th (South Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army. Part of the Territorial Force (TF) and raised in 1908, the division was originally called the South Midland Division, and was redesignated as the 48th (South Midland) Division in 1915. During the First World War, the division saw service on the Western Front before being transferred to the Italian Front in November 1917 and remaining there for the rest of the war.

Reformed in 1920 in the Territorial Army (TA) as the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division, it saw active service in the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in Belgium and France before being evacuated from Dunkirk to the United Kingdom. It was converted into a training reserve division in December 1942, remaining in the United Kingdom in that status for the rest of the war. Disbanded after the war, the division was not reformed again. In both world wars, the division raised a second line reserve formation; the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division in the First World War, and 61st Division in the Second World War.

  1. ^ Chappell 1986, p. 24.
  2. ^ "Badge, formation, 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 14 November 2015.