The County Divisions of World War II were raised by the British Army in 1941 as a defence against a planned German invasion of Britain. They were static formations which were supposed to command the Independent Infantry Brigades (Home) which were on anti-invasion duties. Each coast in danger had its own County Division.
- Devon and Cornwall County Division
- Dorset County Division
- Durham and North Riding County Division
- Essex County Division
- Hampshire County Division
- Lincolnshire County Division
- Norfolk County Division
- Northumberland County Division
- West Sussex County Division
- Yorkshire County Division
These formations had none of the usual divisional units that other permanent divisions had. Any they commanded were temporarily on loan from other formations.
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—Edmund H. North, British screenwriter, and Lewis Gilbert. First Sea Lord (Laurence Naismith)
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
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—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)