26. divize (26th Division)( září 1914 - 10.5. 1919)

• 1915 - 1919 pod. XII. sbor (XII Corps) (1915 - 1919)

http://www.1914-1918.net/26div.htm

The history of 26th Division

This Division was established in September 1914 as part of Army Order 388 authorising Kitchener´s Third New Army, K3. The units began to to assemble in the Salisbury Plain area from September 1914. Khaki uniform and equipment were not made available until February-April 1915 and in the meantime eveything was improvised.

Embarkation for France began in September 1915 and the concentration of units at Guignemicourt (west of Amiens) was completed before the end of the month. However, the Division was not destined to remain on the Western Front, because in November 1915 it moved to Salonika where it then remained.

On 2 November, the Division concentrated at Flesselles and moved to Salonika via embarkation at Marseilles. On 26 December 1915, units began to move from Lembet to Happy Valley Camp and all units were in place there by 8 February 1916. The 26th Division remained in the Salonika theatre for the rest of the war, taking part in the following operations:

1916

10-18 August 1916: the Battle of Horseshoe Hill

1917

24-25 April and 8-9 May 1917: the Battles of Doiran

1918

The Division lost a number of units in mid 1918; they were transferred to France

18-19 September 1918: the Battle of Doiran

22-30 September 1918: the Pursuit to the Strumica Valley.

Forward units crossed the Serbian-Bulgarian boundary on 25 September 1918. Hostilities with Bulgaria ceased two days later. The Division advanced towards Adrianople (as the war with Turkey was still underway) but this also soon ceased. 26th Division successively became part of the Army of the Danube and then of the Occupation of Bulgaria. Demobilisation began in February 1919, with Italian troops arriving to replace the dwindling British presence. By 10 May 1919, the Division ceased to exist..

The 26th Division had suffered casualties of 8,022 killed, wounded and missing during the war but vastly larger numbers sick with malaria, dysentery and other diseases rife in the Salonika theatre.