39th Division (United Kingdom)

The 39th Division of the British Army was a New Army division, which saw service on the Western Front and in Italy during the First World War.

The division was formed as part of the fifth wave (K5) of divisions in the New Army; it did not have a regional title, but was composed primarily of recruits from the Midlands, London, and the south of England. Several of its battalions had been raised by local communities, and were named for their towns or industries. After training and home service, it deployed to the Western Front in early 1916, and fought in the Battle of the Somme. The following year, it saw action at the Third Battle of Ypres, and in 1918 took heavy losses in the German Spring Offensive.

Following near-destruction at the Battle of the Lys, the division was reduced to a cadre, which spent the remainder of the war training newly arrived American units. The division demobilised after the Armistice, and had ceased to exist by July 1919. The division was not reformed after the war, and did not serve in the Second World War.