Allied Forces Index

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

56th (London) Division    56th (London) Division was formed in 1940 by the reorganisation of the Territorial 1st (London) Motor Division. They saw action in Home Defence, in Iraq, Palestine, North Africa, Sicily and Italy. The Division consisted of: 167th (1st London) Infantry Brigade 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (disbanded 23 September 1944) 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles (from 3 September 1939 to 4 November 1940, and 23 September 1944 onwards) 1st London Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (formed 11 May 1940) 167th (London) Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (disbanded 8 January 1941) 15th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (from 9 November 1940, left 13 February 1941) 7th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (from 14 February 1941, left 23 September 1944) 1st Battalion, London Scottish(from 23 September 1944) 168th (2nd London) Infantry Brigade (detached from 56th Division between 8 April 1943 and 17 October 1943, left 26 September 1944) 11th (1st Queen's Westminster Rifles) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (left 4 November 1940) 1st Battalion, London Scottish (left 23 September 1944) 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade (left 30 November 1940) 2nd London Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (formed 7 February 1940) 168th (London) Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (disbanded 7 April 1941) 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles (from 4 November 1940 - 23 September 1944) 18th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (from 5 November 1940 - 15 February 1941) 10th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment (from 15 February 1941, disbanded 15 May 1944) 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment (from 17 May - 26 September 1944) 169th (London) Infantry Brigade 2/5th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 2/6th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 2/7th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 35th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Regiment (formed 2 October 1940) 169th (London) Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (disbanded 7 April 1941) 201st Guards Motor Brigade (from 23 July to 17 September 1943) 6th Battalion, Grenadier Guards 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards 24th Guards Brigade (from 10 March 1945) 5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards (disbanded 28 March 1945) 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards 1st Battalion, Scots Guards 1st Battalion, Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) 56th (London) Divisional Artillery 64th (7th London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 90th (City of London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (to 18 March 1943) 113th (Home Counties) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (from 9 July 1940) 65th (8th London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (from 23 April 1943) 67th (East Surrey) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery (from 1 July 1940) 115th (North Midland) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (from 15th July 1940 - 31 December 1940) 100th (18th Royal Fusiliers) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (from 3 February 1942 - 9 November 1944) 56th (London) Divisional Royal Engineers 220th (2nd London) Field Company 501st Field Company (from 8 September 1939 - 18 March 1943, and from 13 October 1943) 221st (2nd London) Field Company (from 3 July 1940) 42nd Field Company (from 9 July 1943 - 3 January 1944) 223rd (London) Field Park Company (to 30 September 1939) 563rd Field Park Company (from 15 January 1940) 56th (1st London) Divisional Signals (City of London) Reconnaissance 1st Battalion, Queen Victoria's Rifles (to 21 May 1940) 56th Battalion/Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps (from 1 January 1941 - 15 August 1942) 44th Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps (from 8 March 1943 - 1 January 1944) Machine Guns 1st Battalion, Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment (11 November 1941 - 20 May 1942) 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment (from 12 January 1943) 10th May 1940 Coastal Defence 28th August 1940 HQ Moves Sep 1940 Defence 5th Sep 1940 Alert 8th Sep 1940 Orders 4th Nov 1940 Reliefs 14th February 1941 Operation Murphy 11th August 1943 Lecture 13th August 1943 Preparations 1st Sep 1943 Planning 1st Sep 1943 Orders 2nd Sep 1943 Briefing 2nd Sep 1943 On the Move 3rd Sep 1943 Preparations 4th Sep 1943 Move 4th Sep 1943 On the Move 5th Sep 1943 On the Move 5th Sep 1943 On the Move 6th Sep 1943 Training 7th Sep 1943 Training 8th Sep 1943 News 9th Sep 1943 Advance 9th Sep 1943 Stiff Opposition 10th Sep 1943 In Action 11th Sep 1943 Shelling 12th Sep 1943 Line Reinforced 13th Sep 1943 Stand to 14th September 1943 Orders Reconsidered 14th Sep 1943 Stand to 15th September 1943 Attacks Made 15th Sep 1943 Mortars 15th Sep 1943 Patrols 16th September 1943 Patrols 16th Sep 1943 Enemy Attack 16th Sep 1943 Enemy Active 17th Sep 1943 Reliefs 18th Sep 1943 At Rest 19th Sep 1943 Reorganisation 20th Sep 1943 Reliefs 21st of September 1943 Conference 21st Sep 1943 Shelling 21st Sep 1943 Shelling 22nd of September 1943 Reorganisation 22nd Sep 1943 Patrol 23rd Sep 1943 Enemy Artillery 24th Sep 1943 Preparations 25th Sep 1943 Quiet 26th Sep 1943 Quiet 27th Sep 1943 On the Move 28th of September 1943 Town Captured 28th Sep 1943 Hospitality 29th Sep 1943 On the Move 30th Sep 1943 Standing by 1st Oct 1943 Ready to Move 2nd Oct 1943 Ready to Move 3rd Oct 1943 Ready to Move 4th Oct 1943 On the Move 5th Oct 1943 Training 6th Oct 1943 Orders 7th Oct 1943 On the Move 8th Oct 1943 Training 9th Oct 1943 Training 9th Oct 1943 Crossing Points 10th Oct 1943 Shelling 11th Oct 1943 On the March 12th Oct 1943 Crossing Attempted 13th Oct 1943 Quiet 14th Oct 1943 Recce Patrol 15th Oct 1943 Patrol 16th Oct 1943 River Crossing 17th Oct 1943 Advance 19th Oct 1943 Advance 21st Oct 1943 Preparations 22nd Oct 1943 Advance 22nd Oct 1943 Assault Made 23rd Oct 1943 On the Move 23rd Oct 1943 Recce 24th Oct 1943 Attack Made 26th Oct 1943 Reliefs 28th Oct 1943 Supplies 29th Oct 1943 On the Move 30th Oct 1943 Advance 31st Oct 1943 Advance 2nd Dec 1943 In Action 6th Dec 1943 Reliefs 7th Dec 1943 At Rest 9th Dec 1943 On the Move 12th December 1943 Reliefs Planned 13th Dec 1943 Recce 14th Dec 1943 Reliefs 15th Dec 1943 Recce 16th Dec 1943 Reliefs Complete 17th Dec 1943 Patrols 18th Dec 1943 Patrols 19th Dec 1943 Aircraft shot down 20th Dec 1943 Shelling 21st Dec 1943 Reliefs 22nd Dec 1943 Preparations 23rd December 1943 Message from Headquarters 56th Division 23rd Dec 1943 Preparations 24th Dec 1943 Preparations 25th Dec 1943 Festivities 26th Dec 1943 Recce 27th Dec 1943 Preparations 28th Dec 1943 Preparations 29th Dec 1943 Preparations 30th Dec 1943 Fighting Patrols 31st Dec 1943 No Contact 1st Jan 1944 Move 5th Jan 1944 On the Move 6th Jan 1944 Training 7th Jan 1944 Training 8th Jan 1944 Training 9th Jan 1944 Training 10th Jan 1944 Conference 17th Jan 1944 Preparations 18th Feb 1944 In Action 30th March 1944 Posting 25th Apr 1945 Advance If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here. Those known to have served with 56th (London) Division during the Second World War 1939-1945. Cockrill Willliam. CSM. Pink Bert. Taylor Arthur. White Leonard Leslie. L/Sgt. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 25 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 19th Nov 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264989 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQs The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about 56th (London) Division? There are:121 items tagged 56th (London) Division available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.