11th (Northern) Division

11th (Northern) Division
Active	21 August 1914 – 28 June 1919
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Engagements	World War I Gallipoli Campaign Western Front

The British 11th (Northern) Division, was one of the Kitchener's Army divisions raised from volunteers by Lord Kitchener, it fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front during the First World War. The division's insignia was an ankh or ankhus.

History

The division came into existence on 21 August 1914 under Army Order No. 324, which authorised the formation of the first six new divisions of Kitchener's Army. The division was composed of early wartime volunteers and assembled at Belton Park near Grantham. By late spring 1915, the recruits were judged to be ready for active service, and the division was consequently ordered to reinforce the beleaguered garrison on Gallipoli. It sailed for the Mediterranean in June and July 1915 and formed part of the Suvla Bay landing force on 7 August. The 6th Yorkshire Battalion of the 32nd Brigade was the first Kitchener Army unit to be involved in a major offensive operation of the war. Their action at Lala Baba Hill, on 7 August 1915, during the Suvla Bay landings, was costly, the commanding officer – Lieutenant Colonel E H Chapman – was killed as were all but 3 of the officers but they enter the history books with the hill being renamed York hill for the duration of the Gallipoli Campaign.^[1] The Division continued to serve at Gallipoli, suffering high casualties, until the evacuation of Suvla in December 1915. After a period of time in Egypt guarding the Suez Canal, the division was transferred to the Western Front and served there from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 until the end of the war. On 28 June 1919, the division was officially disbanded, having sustained more than 32,100 casualties during the war.^[2]