Formation and Home Service
The division was created as the "2nd East Lancashire Division", a second-line formation of the East Lancashire Division at the end of August 1914. At this time, Territorial Force soldiers could not be deployed overseas without their consent, and the existing Territorial units were accordingly split into a "first line", with men who had volunteered for overseas service, and a "second line", which was intended for home service only. The second line units also served to absorb the large number of new, untrained, recruits who had joined the Territorial Force following the outbreak of war. Its initial commander was Brigadier-General Charles Beckett, a 65-year old retired officer who had commanded a Yeomanry brigade some years earlier.
As with the original East Lancashire Division, the 2nd East Lancashire was organised into three four-battalion infantry brigades. These were later numbered as the 197th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th Lancashire Fusiliers; the 198th, composed of the 2/4th and 2/5th East Lancashire Regiment and the 2/9th and 2/10th Manchester Regiment; and the 199th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th Manchester Regiment. The 197th drew its men from Bury and Salford; the 198th from Blackburn, Burnley, Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham; and the 199th from Wigan, Manchester, and Ardwick. The division also raised second-line Territorial artillery, medical, signal and engineer units, all from the Lancashire-Manchester recruiting area, and was assigned an attached squadron of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry.
Through the next two years, the 2nd East Lancashire, numbered as the 66th Division in 1915, provided trained men for its parent unit as well as carrying out home defence duties in England. Elements of the division assembled near Southport in late 1914, then moved south to the Kent-Sussex area in May 1915, and to Essex in early 1916. In early 1915, one second-line battalion (the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers) was detached for overseas service, joining 51st (Highland) Division, and was replaced by its third-line counterpart, the 3/5th Lancashire Fusiliers; this would become one of the few third-line territorial battalions to see active service. One of the three companies of Royal Engineers was also sent to France in 1915 (to join 48th (South Midland) Division), and during 1916 three of the division's four heavy and howitzer artillery batteries were withdrawn or broken up.
Following the Military Service Act 1916, all Territorial soldiers were deemed to able to serve outside the UK, and so the division became eligible for overseas service; in February 1917, it was instructed to prepare for a move to the Continent, and received a new and experienced commanding officer, Herbert Lawrence.
Read more about this topic: 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division
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