19th Infantry Division (India)

19th Infantry Division (India)

The Indian 19th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II, and played a prominent part in the final part of the Burma Campaign.

It was raised in Secunderabad in India in 1941. It originally consisted of the 62nd, 63rd and 64th Indian Infantry Brigades. Its first commander was Major-General Jackie Smyth VC, who was subsequently transferred to command the Indian 17th Infantry Division, then fighting in Burma. (63rd Indian Infantry Brigade was also transferred from the division to Burma in March 1942, to be replaced by 98th Indian Infantry Brigade).

The division remained under temporary commanders until late 1942 when Major General Thomas Wynford Rees was appointed to command. It spent an extended period on internal security duties and in training before being committed to the Burma front in November 1944. As part of Indian XXXIII Corps, it played the major role in the capture of Mandalay. Transferred to IV Corps, it guarded the British Fourteenth Army's line of communication and mounted an offensive towards Mawchi, in the Shan States.

Its successes were due to its fitness and high morale. Not having been stationed in the unhealthy mountains on the Indian / Burmese border in 1943, nor fought during the battles in 1944, it had a high proportion of pre-war regulars among its officers and senior NCO's.

The division was occasionally referred to as the "Dagger Division", from its divisional sign, which was a hand thrusting a dagger overhand, in yellow on a red background.

During World War II, a large number of brigades were assigned or attached to the division. The included at various points the 9th Indian Infantry Brigade, 47th Indian Infantry Brigade, 48th Indian Infantry Brigade, 49th Indian Infantry Brigade, 62nd Indian Infantry Brigade, 64th Indian Infantry Brigade, 98th Indian Infantry Brigade, 99th Indian Infantry Brigade as well as the 22nd (East Africa) Infantry Brigade.