II Corps (United Kingdom)

Last updated

II Corps
II corps.svg
Formation sign of II Corps during the Second World War. [1] It shows a salmon leaping over a "brook", and was designed in 1939 by the corps' chief of staff, Vyvyan Pope, as a play on the name of Alan Brooke, GOC. [2]
Active Waterloo Campaign
First World War
Second World War
Post-1945
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
TypeField corps
Engagements Battle of Waterloo
First World War: [3]

Second World War

Commanders
Notable
commanders
Lord Hill
Horace Smith-Dorrien
Claud Jacob
Alan Brooke
Bernard Montgomery (acting)
Kenneth Anderson
Gerald Templer
Insignia
Corps formation sign during the First World War. [4] II Corps WW1.svg

The II Corps was an army corps of the British Army formed in both the First World War and the Second World War. There had also been a short-lived II Corps during the Waterloo Campaign.

Contents

Napoleonic precursor

Assembling an army in the Southern Netherlands to fight Napoleon's resurgent forces in the spring of 1815, the Duke of Wellington formed it into army corps, deliberately mixing units from the Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch and German contingents so that the weaker elements would be stiffened by more experienced or reliable troops. As he put it: "It was necessary to organize these troops in brigades, divisions, and corps d’armee with those better disciplined and more accustomed to war". [5] He placed II Corps under the command of Lord Hill. However, Wellington did not use the corps as tactical entities, and continued his accustomed practice of issuing orders directly to divisional and lower commanders. When he drew up his army on the ridge at Waterloo, elements of the various corps were mixed up, and although he gave Hill command of the left wing, this included elements of I Corps. Subsequent to the battle, the corps structure was re-established for the advance into France, and Wellington issued orders through Hill and the other corps commanders. [6]

Order of battle

GOC: Lieut-Gen Lord Hill

Before the First World War

After the Waterloo campaign the army corps structure disappeared from the British Army for a century, except for ad hoc corps assembled during annual manoeuvres (e.g. Army Manoeuvres of 1913). In 1876 a mobilization scheme for eight army corps was published, with 'Second Corps' based at Aldershot and composed of regular and militia troops. In 1880 its organization was:

This scheme had been dropped by 1881. [7] The Stanhope Memorandum of 1891 (drawn up by Edward Stanhope when secretary of state for war) laid down the policy that after providing for garrisons and India, the army should be able to mobilise three army corps for home defence, two of regular troops and one partly of militia, of three divisions each. Only after those commitments, it was hoped, two army corps might be organised for the unlikely eventuality of deployment abroad. The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on the six regional commands, of which only I Corps (Aldershot Command and II Corps (Southern Command on Salisbury Plain) would be entirely formed of regular troops. However, these arrangements remained theoretical. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 established a six-division British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for deployment overseas, which did not envisage any intermediate headquarters between GHQ and the infantry divisions. [8]

First World War

King George V with General Sir Herbert Plumer and other officers of the Second Army and the II Corps in a Nissen hut camp in the Second Army area, 6 August 1918. The Official Visits To the Western Front, 1914-1918 Q9212.jpg
King George V with General Sir Herbert Plumer and other officers of the Second Army and the II Corps in a Nissen hut camp in the Second Army area, 6 August 1918.

On mobilisation in August 1914 it was decided that the BEF would have two-division army corps like the French armies with which the BEF was to operate but only one corps HQ existed, two were improvised. [9] II Corps proceeded to France in August 1914 under the command of Sir James Grierson but Grierson died suddenly on the train to the front on 17 August. Sir John French (GOCinC BEF) wanted Sir Herbert Plumer to succeed Grierson, but the secretary of state for war, Earl Kitchener, instead chose Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, transferred from Southern Command. Smith-Dorrien caught up with his HQ at Bavai on 21 August. [10] II Corps was first engaged two days later at the Battle of Mons and forced into the Great Retreat with the rest of the BEF. It later fought a delaying action against Alexander von Kluck's German First Army in the Battle of Le Cateau which allowed most of its surviving forces to escape. [11] It remained on the Western Front throughout the war. It was forced into retreat, with the soldiers exhaust

Order of battle

The composition of army corps changed frequently. Some representative orders of battle for II Corps are given here.

Order of Battle at Mons 23 August 1914: [12]

GOC: Lieut-Gen Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien (Took command 21 August 1914)

Order of Battle on the Somme (Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14–17 July 1916) [14]

GOC: Maj-Gen Claud Jacob

From 12 May 1916 to October 1917, 1/1st Yorkshire Dragoons constituted II Corps Cavalry Regiment. The regiment returned in March 1918 as II Corps Cyclist Battalion. [15] [16]

Order of Battle at the start of the final advance in Flanders (27 September 1918) [17]

GOC: Lieut-Gen Sir Claud Jacob

Second World War

On the outbreak of the Second World War, II Corps was mobilised at Salisbury with two unprepared infantry divisions, under the command of Lieut-General Sir Alan Brooke from Southern Command. II Corps' insignia, designed by its Chief of Staff, Vyvyan Pope, was a visual pun on the name of its commander, who was also a keen fisherman: it depicted a red leaping salmon upon three wavy blue bands against a white background, all in an oblong red border. The corps crossed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the end of September 1939 and at once moved up to the Belgium–France border. [18] It took part in the advance into Belgium to resist the German invasion, and was then pushed back with the rest of the BEF to Dunkirk during the Battle of France. During the retreat, II Corps covered the vulnerable left flank of the BEF. On 29 May 1940, Brooke was ordered back to Britain to form a new force, and he handed over temporary command of II Corps to Maj-Gen Bernard Montgomery of 3rd Division. [19] Under Montgomery, II Corps was evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940.

Order of battle

Order of Battle at Dunkirk [20]
GOC: Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke (until 30 May 1940)
Maj-General Bernard Montgomery (acting from 30 May 1940)

Deception plans

After commanding forces in the United Kingdom, from Lower Hare Park near Newmarket within Eastern Command, [29] II Corps was being disbanded in early 1944 when selected to be one of the two corps comprising the notional British Fourth Army, which under the deception plan Fortitude North was supposed to attack Norway.

For this operation II Corps was supposedly headquartered at Stirling in Scotland, and notionally consisted of the genuine 3rd Infantry Division (shortly replaced by the notional 58th Infantry Division), the genuine 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division in Northern Ireland, and the genuine 113th Independent Infantry Brigade in Orkney. Under Fortitude North II Corps was supposedly to attack Stavanger, with the 3rd Division (later the 58th) and supporting commandos and paratroops seizing the airfields, the 55th (West Lancashire) Division joining as followup; the genuine U.S. XV Corps from Northern Ireland would augment the force, which would advance on Oslo.

The corps was transferred to First United States Army Group (FUSAG) in early June 1944 and moved to Lincolnshire; restored to Fourth Army when that formation joined FUSAG for Fortitude South II, headquarters now at Tunbridge Wells in Kent, with under command the British 55th and 58th divisions and the British 35th Armoured Brigade. It was notionally transferred to France in late September, consisting of the essentially notional 55th Division, the genuine 79th Armoured Division, and the notional 76th Infantry Division; also apparently at times the genuine 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division, disbanded but notionally kept alive. It was notionally part of First Canadian Army in the deception Operation Trolleycar II (threatening an attack on the Germans in the Netherlands) in November 1944.

Post Second World War

After the Second World War, as a genuine corps it was based in the Middle East, controlling British forces around the Suez Canal. Following the British withdrawal from Egypt, II Corps was also the controlling force for the invasion of the country during the Suez Crisis, seemingly controlling 3rd Infantry Division, under Major-General J.B. (Jack) Churcher, and 16th Parachute Brigade [30] as well as 10th Armoured Division and 3 Commando Brigade.

Lieutenant-General Hugh Stockwell commanded the corps during 'Musketeer.' On 31 July 1956 Stockwell, then commanding I Corps in Germany, received a message from the War Office telling him to meet General Sir William Oliver, Vice-Chief of the Imperial General Staff, who flew to Germany to collect Stockwell so that he could be briefed by General Sir Gerald Templer, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, back in London. [31] Briefing Stockwell personally, Templer told him to hand over command of I Corps, but to take sufficient men from the corps staff as he would need to create another headquarters, II Corps, which was to "establish a planning cell in London as quickly as possible." Led by Kenneth Darling as Brigader, General Staff, this group was dispatched to London from West Germany on 4 August to begin setting up the corps headquarters and begin the initial planning. They were installed the next day, Bank Holiday Monday, in the old underground wartime HQ under the Thames, the Montagu House Annex of the War Office. But as the planning continued Stockwell and his new headquarters were not controlling the formations which were to be involved: those in the Middle East and Cyprus were under GHQ Middle East Land Forces, while those in the UK and Germany were directed for these purposes by the War Office through either Home commands or the British Army of the Rhine.

After the invasion had ended and the United Nations Emergency Force was arriving under the Canadian Army general E. L. M. Burns, Stockwell returned to the UK, where II Corps was disbanded by being reintegrated back into I Corps.

General Officers Commanding

Commanders have included: [32]

Notes

  1. Cole p. 27
  2. Lewin, Ronald (1976). Man of armour: a study of Lieut-General Vyvyan Pope and the development of armoured warfare. London: Leo Cooper. p. 101n. ISBN   0-85052-050-9.
  3. The British Corps of 1914-1918
  4. JPS card no. 29
  5. Hofschroer, "Ligny and Quatre Bras", p.109.
  6. Hofschroer, "The German Victory", p. 61.
  7. Army List 1876–1881.
  8. Dunlop.
  9. Official History 1914, Volume I, p. 7.
  10. Official History 1914, Volume I, pp. 50–2.
  11. Robson, Stuart (2007). The First World War. Internet Archive (1 ed.). Harrow, England: Pearson Longman. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-4058-2471-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  12. Official History 1914, Volume I, Appendix 1.
  13. Sir John French, Operation Order No 5, Official History 1914, Volume 1, Appendix 10.
  14. The Battles of the Somme 1916
  15. Frederick, pp. 22, 58.
  16. James, p. 31.
  17. Official History 1918, Volume V, Appendix 1.
  18. Bryant pp. 18 & 50.
  19. Bryant pp. 146–151; Montgomery pp. 62–3.
  20. Official History 1939-40, Appendix I.
  21. 2 Corps Archived 8 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "60 (North Midland) Field Regiment RA (TA)". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  23. 88 (2nd West Lancashire) Field Regiment RA (TA)
  24. 53 (London) Medium Regiment RA (TA)
  25. "59 (4th W Lancs) Medium Regiment RA (TA)". Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  26. 53 (Kings Own Yorks L.I.) Light AA Rgt RA (TA) Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  27. Regiments.org
  28. 2nd Survey Regiment Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  29. Newbold, p. 202
  30. Van Der Bijl, Sharing the Secret, 231.
  31. Riley, Jonathon (19 October 2006). The Life & Campaigns of General Hughie Stockwell: From Norway Through Burma to Suez. Casemate Publishers.
  32. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  33. "No. 27360". The London Gazette . 1 October 1901. p. 6400.
  34. "Wood, Sir (Henry) Evelyn (1838–1919), army officer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37000.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  35. James Grierson at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  36. Horace Smith-Dorrien at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  37. Charles Fergusson at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  38. Claud Jacob at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Related Research Articles

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the six-divisions the British Army sent to the Western Front during the First World War. Planning for a British Expeditionary Force began with the 1906–1912 Haldane Reforms of the British Army carried out by the Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Inactive British Army formation

I Corps was an army corps in existence as an active formation in the British Army for most of the 80 years from its creation in the First World War until the end of the Cold War, longer than any other corps. It had a short-lived precursor during the Waterloo Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horace Smith-Dorrien</span> British Army General (1858–1930)

General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, was a British Army General. One of the few British survivors of the Battle of Isandlwana as a young officer, he also distinguished himself in the Second Boer War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VIII Corps (United Kingdom)</span> World War-era British Army formation

VIII Corps was a British Army corps formation that existed during the First and Second World Wars. In the latter, it took part in the Normandy Campaign in 1944, where it was involved in Operation Epsom and Operation Goodwood. It would later play a supporting role in Operation Market Garden and finish the war by advancing from the Rhine to the Baltic Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IV Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

IV Corps was a corps-sized formation of the British Army, formed in both the First World War and the Second World War. During the First World War the corps served on the Western Front throughout its existence. During the Second World War it served in Norway and Britain until it was transferred to India, which was threatened with attack after Japan entered the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)</span> British Army formation

The 4th Infantry Division was a regular infantry division of the British Army with a very long history, seeing active service in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign, the Crimean and Boer Wars and both World Wars. It was disbanded after the Second World War and reformed in the 1950s as an armoured formation before being disbanded and reformed again and finally disbanded on 1 January 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)</span> British Army formation

The 5th Infantry Division was a regular army infantry division of the British Army. It was established by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsular War, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, and was active for most of the period since, including the First World War and the Second World War and was disbanded soon after. The division was reformed in 1995 as an administrative division covering Wales and the English regions of West Midlands, East Midlands and East. Its headquarters were in Shrewsbury. It was disbanded on 1 April 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">III Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Corps of the British Army in the First and Second World Wars

III Corps was an army corps of the British Army formed in both the First World War and the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancashire Fusiliers</span> Line infantry regiment of the British Army 1688–1968

The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 280 years of existence. In 1968 the regiment was amalgamated with the other regiments of the Fusilier Brigade – the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers and the Royal Fusiliers – to form the current Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VII Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Corps of the British Army

VII Corps was an army corps of the British Army active in the First and Second World Wars. In the early part of the Second World War it was part of the defence forces of the United Kingdom, and later acted as a shadow formation for deception purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Northumberland Fusiliers</span> Military unit

The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution and became part of the English establishment in 1689.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)</span> British Army reserve formation

The 2nd Infantry Brigade was a regional brigade of the British Army, active since before the First World War. It was the regional formation of the Army in the South East of England–the Brigade commanded and administered soldiers throughout Kent, Surrey and Sussex–but also Brunei. In December 2014 the Brigade merged with 145 (South) Brigade to form Headquarters 11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">29th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

The 29th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade unit of the British Army. It was originally raised in 1914 and saw service during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Foresters</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army

The Sherwood Foresters was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to form the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, which in 2007 was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment to form the present Mercian Regiment. The lineage of the Sherwood Foresters is now continued by The Mercian Regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V Corps (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

V Corps was an army corps of the British Army that saw service in both the First and the Second World Wars. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through the First World War on the Western front. It was recreated in June 1940, during the Second World War and was substantially reorganised in 1942 for participation in Operation Torch. It fought through the Tunisia Campaign and later the Italian Campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Expeditionary Force order of battle (1914)</span>

The British Expeditionary Force order of battle 1914, as originally despatched to France in August and September 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The British Army prior to World War I traced its origins to the increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Crimean War, which led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created an Expeditionary force and the Territorial Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldershot Command</span> Former British Army command

Aldershot Command was a Home Command of the British Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VI Corps (United Kingdom)</span> WW1 British Army formation

VI Corps was an army corps of the British Army in the First World War. It was first organised in June 1915 and fought throughout on the Western Front. It was briefly reformed during the Second World War to command forces based in Northern Ireland, but was reorganized as British Forces in Ireland one month later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick McCracken</span> British Army general (1859–1949)

Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick William Nicholas McCracken, was a British Army officer who saw regimental service in Africa during the late nineteenth century, and later held senior command during the First World War. He commanded an infantry brigade in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of 1914, was appointed to command 15th (Scottish) Division in the New Armies from 1915 to 1917, and then briefly commanded XIII Corps on the Western Front before being posted to a home command in the United Kingdom.

The Hampshire Brigade, previously the Portsmouth Brigade and later 128th (Hampshire) Brigade, was an infantry formation of the British Army of the Volunteer Force, Territorial Force (TF) and Territorial Army (TA) in existence from 1889 until after the Second World War. It served in British India during the First World War, but not as a complete formation. During the Second World War, the 128th Infantry Brigade fought in the Tunisia Campaign, in the Italian Campaign, and later in the Greek Civil War. The brigade was composed entirely of battalions from the Hampshire Regiment.

References

External sources