The 66th Infantry Division was a formation of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

  during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The 66th was originally a 2nd Line division of the Territorial Army based in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

It continued the heritage of the First World War 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division

66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division

The British 66th Division was raised as a second-line Territorial Force division in August 1914 shortly after the commencement of the First World War. It went on to serve as a full-fledged frontline division on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918...

.

Between September 3, 1939 and September 27, 1939 the units of this division were embodied into the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division. The Division was disbanded on June 23, 1940.

Commanding officers

• Major-General A.W.Purser
• Major-General Sir Alan Cunningham

Units

British 197th Infantry Brigade

• Brig.S.T.Lucey
  • 2/5th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers
  • 2/6th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers
  • 5th Battalion, The East Lancashire Regiment

British 198th Infantry Brigade

• Brig.J.M.Rawcliffe
  • 8th Battalion, The King's Regiment (Liverpool)
    The King's Regiment (Liverpool)
    The King's Regiment was one of the oldest infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th Regiment of Foot in 1751...
    
    
  • 6th Battalion, The Border Regiment
  • 7th Battalion, The Border Regiment

British 199th Infantry Brigade

• Brig.L.C.Mandleberg
  • 2/8th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers
  • 6th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment
    The Manchester Regiment
    The Manchester Regiment was a regiment of the British army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 63rd Regiment of Foot and the 96th Regiment of Foot...
    
    
  • 7th Battalion, The Manchester Regiment

See also

• British Divisions in WWII
• British 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division
• British Army Order of Battle - September 1939