19th Infantry Division

The Indian 19th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II, and played a prominent part in the final part of the Burma Campaign.

It was raised in Secunderabad in India in 1941. It originally consisted of the 62nd, 63rd and 64th Indian Infantry Brigades. Its first commander was Major-General Jackie Smyth VC , who was subsequently transferred to command the Indian 17th Infantry Division, then fighting in Burma. (63rd Indian Infantry Brigade was also transferred from the division to Burma in March 1942, to be replaced by 98th Indian Infantry Brigade).

The division remained under temporary commanders until late 1942 when Major General Thomas Wynford Rees was appointed to command. It spent an extended period on internal security duties and in training before being committed to the Burma front in November 1944. As part of Indian XXXIII Corps, it played the major role in the capture of Mandalay. Transferred to IV Corps, it guarded the British Fourteenth Army's line of communication and mounted an offensive towards Mawchi, in the Shan States.

Its successes were due to its fitness and high morale. Not having been stationed in the unhealthy mountains on the Indian / Burmese border in 1943, nor fought during the battles in 1944, it had a high proportion of pre-war regulars among its officers and senior NCO's.

The division was occasionally referred to as the "Dagger Division", from its divisional sign, which was a hand thrusting a dagger overhand, in yellow on a red background.

Order of Battle March 1 1945

General Officer commanding: Major General Thomas Wynford Rees
Commander, Royal Artillery: Brigadier John Alexander MacDonald
Chief of Staff (GSO1): Lieutenant Colonel John Masters

62nd Indian Infantry Brigade (Brigadier James Ronald Morris)

2nd Bn Welch Regiment

3rd Bn 6th Rajputana Rifles

4th Bn 9th Gurkha Rifles

64th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brigadier John Godfrey Flewett)

2nd Bn Worcestershire Regiment

5th Bn 10th Baluch Regiment

1st Bn 6th Gurkha Rifles

98th Indian Infantry Brigade (Brigadier Charles Ian Jerrard)

2nd Bn Royal Berkshire Regiment

8th Bn 12th Frontier Force Regiment

4th Bn 4th Gurkha Rifles

Divisional Units

7th Light Cavalry (attached) Stuart Tanks

1st Bn Assam Regiment (attached)

1st Bn 15th Punjab Regiment (Divisional reconnaissance regiment)

MG Bn 11th Sikh Regiment (Divisional Machine gun unit)

134 Medium Regiment RA

4 Field Regiment IA

5 Field Regiment IA

115 Field Regiment RA

29 Mountain Regiment IA

33 Anti-tank Regiment RA (mixed anti-tank and light anti-aircraft batteries)

Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers & Miners, Indian Engineers

• 64 Field Company IE
• 65 Field Company IE
• 327 Field Park Company IE

Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners, Indian Engineers

• 29 Field Company IE

Assigned brigades

All theses brigades were assigned or attached to the division at some time during World War II

• 47th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 48th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 49th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 62nd Indian Infantry Brigade
• 64th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 98th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 9th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 99th Indian Infantry Brigade
• 22nd (East Africa) Infantry Brigade ^[1]

References

External links

• 19 Indian Infantry Division at Orders of Battle.com^?

Further reading

• Latimer, Jon Burma: The Forgotten War, London: John Murray, 2004 ISBN 0-7195-6576-6
• Masters, John The Road Past Mandalay London:Cassell Military, Reprinted 2002 ISBN 0304361577

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