15th (Scottish) Infantry Division

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 15th (Scottish) Division


caption=
dates= World War I
1914 - 1919
World War II
1939 - 1945
country= United Kingdom
allegiance=
branch=
type= Infantry
role=
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command_structure=
current_commander=
garrison=
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
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march=
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battles=Battle of Loos
Battle of the Somme (1916)
Battle of Pozieres
Third Battle of Ypres
World War II, Battle of Normandy
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was a British Army division in both the First and Second World Wars.

World War I History

The division was a New Army unit formed in September 1914 as part of the K2 Army Group. The division moved to France in July 1915 and spent the duration of the First World War in action on the Western Front. The division fought in the Battle of Loos, the Battle of the Somme (1916) which included the Battle of Pozieres, and the Third Battle of Ypres.

; 44th Brigade :

*8th (Service) Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders
*9th (Service) Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders ("until January 1915")
*10th (Service) Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders ("merged with 8th Gordon Highlanders May 1916")
*8/10th (Service) Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders ("from May 1916 until June 1918")
*9th (Service) Battalion, the Black Watch ("until February 1918")
*4/5th Battalion, the Black Watch ("from June 1918")
*1/5th (Buchan and Formartin) Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders ("from June 1918")
*7th (Service) Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders ("from January 1915 until June 1918")

In May 1916 the 8th and 10th Battalions of the Gordon Highlanders merged to formed the 8/10th Battalion.

; 45th Brigade :

*13th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment)
*6th (Service) Battalion, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
*6/7th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Scots Fusiliers ("until February 1918")
*1/8th (The Argyllshire) Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders ("from June 1918")
*11th (Service) Battalion, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders ("until June 1918")

The 7th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers was an original member ofthe brigade. It merged with the 6th Battalion in May 1916 to form the6/7th Battalion.

; 46th Brigade :

*10th (Service) Battalion, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
*12th (Service) Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry ("until February 1918")
*7th (Service) Battalion, the King's Own Scottish Borderers ("merged with the 8th Battalion, May 1916")
*8th (Service) Battalion, the King's Own Scottish Borderers ("merged with the 7th Battalion, May 1916")
*1/4th (Ross Highland) Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders ("from November 1915 until January 1916")
*1/4th Battalion, the Suffolk Regiment ("from November 1915 until February 1916")
*9th (Service) Battalion, the Black Watch ("from February 1918 until May 1918")
*1/9th (Highlanders) Battalion, the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) ("from June 1918")
*10/11th (Service) Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry ("from May 1916 until February 1918")

In May 1916 the 7th and 8th Battalions of the King's Own Scottish Borders merged to form the 7/8th Battalion.

World War II

The division was a second line Territorial Army Division, the duplicate of the British 52nd (Lowland) Division and served in the Second World War, where, among other actions, it was part of VIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O'Connor in Normandy and it ended the war on the Elbe River.

WWII formation

44th Infantry Brigade:
*8th Royal Scots
*6th Royal Scots Fusiliers
*6th King's Own Scottish Borderers

46th Infantry Brigade:
*9th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
*2nd Glasgow Highlanders
*7th Seaforth Highlanders

227th Infantry Brigade:
*10th Highland Light Infantry
*2nd Gordon Highlanders
*2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

Supporting Units:
*102nd (Northumberland Hussars) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery - 1944-45
*1st Middlesex (Machine Gun).
*15th Scottish Reconnaissance Regiment 1943-1946

Operation Epsom

Operation Epsom was a British attack intended to outflank and seize Caen in France during the Battle of Normandy during World War II. It failed but forced the Germans to abandon their offensive plans and tied most of their armoured units to a defensive role.

A preliminary attack, Operation Martlet, was launched on June 25 by the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division of XXX Corps, to secure ground on the flank of the intended advance. The attack gained some ground but the weather was still foul and the attackers were hampered by muddy ground and lack of air support. Some dominating terrain on the right flank of the intended attack by VIII Corps was still in German hands.

Nevertheless, to be certain of anticipating any German attack the main attack was launched on June 26. Although held up on parts of the front by infantry of 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division and the 31st Armoured Brigade gained four miles on their left flank. Further to their left the 43rd (Wessex Infantry Division also gained ground. John Keegan described their advance:

"…The division was attacking two brigades up, which meant that six of its infantry battalions were in the first wave, with the other three waiting in the rear to support the leaders. As each brigade also attacked two up, however, this meant there were in fact only four battalions on the start line, each strung out along a front of about 1000 yards. And since each battalion, about 750 men strong, likewise kept two of their four companies in reserve, the true number of men who started forward into the cornfields that morning was probably no more than 700. They are best pictured, as they would have looked from the cockpit of any passing spotter aircraft, as 24 groups of 30 riflemen, called platoons, separated by intervals of about 150 yards…Each platoon consisted of three smaller groups, called sections, which were led by a corporal, and were based on the Bren machine gun which gave them their firepower…"." [cite web
url = http://www.strategos.demon.co.uk/D-Day/Hill%20112.htm
title = Operation Epsom, Baron-sur-Odon and the Battle for Hill 112
work = WR2000: The Battle for Normandy 1944
first = Toby
last = McLeod
accessdate = 2008-10-08]

On June 27, after repulsing small armoured counter-attacks, the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division gained more ground and captured a bridge over the River Odon. The 11th Armoured Division passed through to capture Hill 112, a mile to the southeast. This deep penetration alarmed the German command and Hausser was ordered to commit his units to contain and eliminate the Allied salient. The German command was in some disarray, as General Dollmann, commanding the German Seventh Army died of a heart attack immediately after ordering Hausser to mount the counter-attack and Field Marshals Rommel and von Rundstedt were en route to a conference with Adolf Hitler and out of touch with their headquarters.

Hill 112 , Operation Jupiter

The British forces included the men of the 15th Scottish Division, 11th Armoured Division, 43rd Wessex Division and 53rd Welsh Division. Principal among the units fighting on Hill 112 ,and the tanks of 7th and 9th Royal Tank Regiments, plus numerous other units. Approximately 63,000 men over a period of seven weeks fought on and around Hill 112.

The first battle for Hill 112 was fought at the end of Operation Epsom, when the tanks of 11th Armoured Division broke out from a bridgehead established by the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Tourmauville. Hill 112 was only an intermediate objective on the way to the River Orne crossings but such was the German reaction that the 23rd Hussars were only able to capture and hold the hill with difficulty.

The main attack on Hill 112 was strategically designed to FIX the German panzers and tactically to gain 'elbow room' in what was still a tight beachhead. The German defenders survived naval bombardment, air attack and artillery fire but held their ground, crucially supported by Tiger tanks from the 101st Schwere Panzer Battalion. These mighty tanks armed with the 88 mm gun had both greater protection and firepower and outclassed the opposing British Churchill tank and Sherman tank.

Even though the hill was not captured and was left as a no-man's-land between the two armies, important surrounding villages had been taken. Above all, however, the 9th Hohenstaufen SS Panzer Division, which had been in the process of moving out of the line to form an operational reserve, was brought back to contain the British. Therefore, on the strategic level Operation JUPITER was a significant success.

It was not until American troops eventually started to break out from the Normandy lodgement, as Operation Cobra developed momentum, in August 1944, that the Germans withdrew from Hill 112 and the 53rd Welsh Division occupied the feature, with barely a fight.

Casualties during that period amounted to approximately 25,000 British troops and 500 British tanks. The 43rd Wessex sustained 7,000 casualties

Operation Bluecoat

Operation Bluecoat was an attack by the British Second Army in the Battle of Normandy ,from 30 July, 1944 to 7 August 1944. The objectives of the attack were to secure the key road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon. Strategically, the attack was made to support the American exploitation of their breakout on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead.
Miles Dempsey was switched westward towards Villers-Bocage adjacent to the American army. Originally, Dempsey planned to attack on August 2, but the speed of events on the American front forced him to advance the date.

Initially, only two weak German infantry divisions held the intended attack frontage, south and east of Caumont, although they had laid extensive minefields and constructed substantial defences. They also occupied ideal terrain for defence, the bocage.

They fought virtually continuously from then on through Caumont, the Seine Crossing, the Gheel Bridgehead, Best, Tilburg, Meijel, Blerwick, the Maas and across the Rhine.

Their particular distinction was to be selected to lead the last set piece river crossing of the war, the assault across the Elbe on 29th April 1945, after which they fought on to the Baltic occupying both Lubeck and Kiel. They were the only division of the British Army of the Second World War to be involved in all of the major European river assault crossings; the Seine, the Rhine and the Elbe.

On 10th April 1946 the 15th (Scottish) Division was finally disbanded. Its battle casualties in killed, wounded and missing in twelve months of fighting amounted to 11,772.

ee also

*List of British divisions in WWI

References

External links

* [http://www.1914-1918.net/15div.htm The British Army in the Great War: The 15th (Scottish) Division]