The 8th Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was active during the First World War. It was formed in October 1914, consisting mainly of soldiers of the Regular Army drawn from overseas garrisons of the British Empire. The formation served on the Western Front throughout the war, sustaining a high number of casualties, before being disbanded in 1919. During the conflict, 12 men from the division earned the Victoria Cross.
The 8th Division had previously seen service in the Second Boer War. It was reformed in the inter-war period for service in Palestine and had a short history during the Second World War.
History
1914
Formation
The 8th Division, as with the 7th Division, was a regular army formation composed mostly of regular troops drawn from the garrisons of the Empire after the declaration of War. The division headquarters was set up on 19 September 1914 in the Polygon Hotel in Southampton under Major-General F.J. Davies. Within a week, troops arriving from Malta and Egypt had been formed up on Baddesley Common as the 23rd Brigade under Brigadier-general F.J. Davis C.B.. On 2 October the division HQ moved to Hursley Park, near Winchester, and by the end of the month the remaining troops had assembled, the 24th Brigade with troops from Egypt, India and South Africa under Brigadier-general F.C. Carter C.B. and the 25th Brigade, under Brigadier-general H.W. Cobham D.S.O., with troops from India, Bermuda and Aden.
The artillery was composed of the regulars from the V Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery and the XXXIII and XLV Brigades of the Royal Field Artillery. The engineers, also regulars from the 2nd Field Company from Egypt, and 15th Field Company from Gibraltar, where it was the 15th Fortress Company. The mounted troops came from the Territorial Force, the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, as did the Field Ambulance from the Wessex Division, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Wessex Field Ambulances forming the 23rd, 24th and 25th Field Ambulances. The division Signal Company was also from the Territorial Force.
The division was formed rapidly during the Race to the sea, initially in fine weather, which broke at the end of October, giving the men a mild taste of the muddy conditions at the front. It did not, however, allow the men from hot climates sufficient time to acclimatise, and as a result the sick list during the first winter overseas was "grievously high". The first troops embarked for France from Southampton on 4 November, followed by the rest of the division on the night of 5/6 November.
France
The division landed at Le Havre and by the evening of 7 November was in temporary rest camps outside of the town. By 9 November the division HQ was installed at Merville, and with the last of the large German assaults in the First Battle of Ypres on 12 November, the 23rd Brigade was placed under orders of the Cavalry Corps, with the 2nd Devons first to go into the front line north of Ploegsteert Wood. On 14 November the 24th and 25th Brigades relieved the 8th and 14th brigades (3rd Division and 5th Division respectively), and like them came under command of the 3rd (Lahore) Division of the Indian Corps, the brigades had been reinforced with territorials from the 5th Black Watch (to the 24th Brigade) and the 13th London Regiment (to the 25th). The 24th and 25th Brigades were positioned opposite the Aubers Ridge, about south west of the 23rd Brigade; on 15 November these southerly brigades came under heavy bombardment and the division incurred its first casualties. The same day the divisional artillery reached the same area and began supporting its troops, as did the remainder of the division train.
On 16 November the 24th and 25th Brigades came under command of its own division HQ and took over the adjacent lines from the Ferozepore and Jullunder Brigades, and the 23rd Brigade re-joined the division, now on a front of . The division was now part of IV Corps. In the cold and wet of November, the troops of the division, and of all armies on the front, learned to live in the trenches, which were initially of primitive construction, drainage and defensive organisation compared to those that would develop. The men of the division suffered particularly with frost-bitten feet. The first trench raid was carried out on 24 November by the eight men of the 2nd Lincs., who used snow camouflage made from white sheets and ladies night dresses, advanced on a part of the German line, surprised and shot up the garrison that was enfilading part of their own line. Three days later another raid by nine man of the 2nd West Yorks. and a party of Royal Engineers blew up a farmhouse being used by snipers in no-mans land close to the British trenches.