II Corps (United Kingdom)

II Corps was an army corps of the British Army formed in both the First World War and the Second World War. There had also been a short-lived II Corps during the Waterloo Campaign.

Napoleonic precursor
Assembling an army in Belgium to fight Napoleon’s resurgent  forces in the spring of 1815, the Duke of Wellington formed it into army corps, deliberately mixing units from the Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch-Belgian and German contingents so that the weaker elements would be stiffened by more experienced or reliable troops. A he put it: ‘It was necessary to organize these troops in brigades, divisions, and corps d’armee with those better disciplined and more accustomed to war’. He placed II Corps under the command of Lord Hill. However, Wellington did not use the corps as tactical entities, and continued his accustomed practice of issuing orders directly to divisional and lower commanders. When he drew up his army on the ridge at Waterloo, elements of the various corps were mixed up, and although he gave Hill command of the left wing, this included elements of I Corps. Subsequent to the battle, the corps structure was re-established for the advance into France, and Wellington issued orders through Hill and the other corps commanders.

Composition of II Corps in the Waterloo Campaign
GOC: Lieut-Gen Lord Hill


 * 2nd (British) Division (Anglo-Hanoverian)
 * 4th (British) Division (Anglo-Hanoverian)
 * 1st (Netherlands) Division (Dutch-Belgian)
 * Netherlands Indian Contingent

Prior to the First World War
After the Waterloo campaign the army corps structure disappeared from the British Army for a century, except for ad hoc corps assembled during annual manoeuvres (e.g. Army Manoeuvres of 1913). In 1876 a mobilization scheme for eight army corps was published, with 'Second Corps' based at Aldershot and composed of regular and militia troops. In 1880 its organization was:


 * 1st Division (Aldershot)
 * 1st Brigade (Aldershot)
 * 2nd Bn. 19th Foot (Aldershot), 41st Foot (Aldershot), 45th Foot (Aldershot)
 * 2nd Brigade (Aldershot)
 * 75th Foot (Aldershot), 96th Foot (Aldershot), 109th Foot (Aldershot)
 * Divisional Troops
 * 2nd Bn. 18th Foot (Aldershot), Berkshire Yeomanry (Hungerford), 17th Comp. Royal Engineers (Aldershot)
 * Artillery
 * K/3rd Brigade RA (Woolwich), H/4th Brigade RA (Aldershot), M/2nd Brigade RA (Aldershot)
 * 2nd Division (Guildford)
 * 1st Brigade (Guildford)
 * 26th Foot (Aldershot), 53rd Foot (Aldershot), 1st Bn. Rifle Brigade (Aldershot)
 * 2nd Brigade (Guildford)
 * 32nd Foot (Jersey), 108th Foot (Portsmouth)
 * Divisional Troops
 * 52nd Foot (Aldershot), Oxfordshire Yeomanry (Woodstock)
 * Artillery
 * L/2nd Brigade RA (Aldershot), E/1st Brigade RA (Aldershot), K/4th Brigade RA (Aldershot)
 * 3rd Division (Dorking)
 * 1st Brigade (Dorking)
 * Ayr and Wigtown Militia (Ayr), Renfrew Militia (Paisley), Perth Militia (Perth)
 * 2nd Brigade (Dorking)
 * Galway Militia (Longbrea), North Cork Militia (Mallow), South Cork Militia (Bandon)
 * Divisional Troops
 * Armagh Militia (Armagh), Middlesex Militia (Uxbridge)
 * Artillery
 * E/5th Brigade RA (Bristol), P/5th Brigade RA (Trowbridge), L/3rd Brigade RA (Woolwich)
 * Cavalry Brigade (Lewes)
 * 11th Hussars (Aldershot), 5th Dragoon Guards (Aldershot), 16th Lancers (Brighton), Hampshire Yeomanry (Winchester), A Battery A Brigade RHA (Aldershot)
 * Corps Artillery (Artillery)
 * C Battery A Brigade RHA (Aldershot), G Battery C Brigade RHA (Christchurch), D Battery C Brigade RHA (Dorchester)
 * A/1st Brigade RA (Devonport), A/6th Brigade RA (Woolwich)
 * Corps Engineers (Aldershot)
 * 15th Company Royal Engineers and Field Park (Kensington)

This scheme had been dropped by 1881. The Stanhope Memorandum of 1891 (drawn up by Edward Stanhope when secretary of state for war) laid down the policy that after providing for garrisons and India, the army should be able to mobilise three army corps for home defence, two of regular troops and one partly of militia, of three divisions each. Only after those commitments, it was hoped, two army corps might be organised for the unlikely eventuality of deployment abroad. The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on the six regional commands, of which only I Corps (Aldershot Command and II Corps (Southern Command on Salisbury Plain) would be entirely formed of regular troops. However, these arrangements remained theoretical. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 established a six-division British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for deployment overseas, which did not envisage any intermediate headquarters between GHQ and the infantry divisions.

First World War
On mobilisation in August 1914 it was decided that the BEF would have two-division army corps like the French armies with which the BEF was to operate but only one corps HQ existed, two were improvised. II Corps proceeded to France in August 1914 under the command of Sir James Grierson but Grierson died suddenly on the train to the front on 17 August. Sir John French (GOCinC BEF) wanted Sir Herbert Plumer to succeed Grierson, but the secretary of state for war, Earl Kitchener, instead chose Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, transferred from Southern Command. Smith-Dorrien caught up with his HQ at Bavai on 21 August. II Corps was first engaged two days later at the Battle of Mons and remained on the Western Front throughout the war.

Composition of II Corps in the First World War
The composition of army corps changed frequently. Some representative orders of battle for II Corps are given here.

Order of Battle at Mons 23 August 1914:

GOC: Lieut-Gen Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien (Took command 21 August 1914)
 * Brigadier-General, General Staff: G.T. Forestier-Walker
 * Brigadier-General, Royal Artillery: A.H. Short
 * Colonel, Royal Engineers: Brig-Gen E.A. Sandbach


 * 3rd Division
 * 5th Division


 * Army Troops attached (20 August 1914)
 * 2nd Army HQ Signal Company, Royal Engineers
 * E (Air Line) Section
 * M, O & P (Cable) Sections
 * No 2 Bridging Train, Royal Engineers
 * C Squadron, North Irish Horse
 * Company, 1st Bn Cameron Highlanders
 * A Section, No 19 Field Ambulance, RAMC

Order of Battle on the Somme (Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14–17 July 1916)

GOC: Maj-Gen Claud Jacob
 * 1st Division
 * 23rd Division
 * 34th Division

Order of Battle at the start of the final advance in Flanders (27 September 1918)

GOC: Lieut-Gen Sir Claud Jacob
 * 9th (Scottish) Division
 * 29th Division
 * 36th (Ulster) Division.

Second World War
On the outbreak of the Second World War, II Corps was mobilised at Salisbury with two unprepared infantry divisions, under the command of Lieut-Gen Sir Alan Brooke from Southern Command. II Corps' insignia, designed by its Chief of Staff, Vyvyan Pope, was a visual pun on the name of its commander, who was also a keen fisherman: it depicted a red leaping salmon upon three wavy blue bands against a white background, all in an oblong red border. The corps crossed to France to join the British Expeditionary Force at the end of September 1939 and at once moved up to the French frontier. It took part in the advance into Belgium, and was then pushed back with the rest of the BEF to Dunkirk. During the retreat, II Corps covered the vulnerable left flank of the BEF. On 29 May 1940, Brooke was ordered back to Britain to form a new force, and he handed over temporary command of II Corps to Maj-Gen Bernard Montgomery of 3rd Division. Under Montgomery, II Corps was evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940.

Composition of II Corps in the Second World War
Order of Battle at Dunkirk GOC: Lieut-Gen Alan Brooke (until 30 May 1940) Maj-Gen Bernard Montgomery (acting from 30 May 1940)
 * 3rd Division
 * 4th Division
 * 5th Division (in GHQ Reserve on 10 May)
 * 50th (Northumbrian) Division
 * Royal Artillery
 * 60th (North Midland) Army Field Regiment
 * 88th (2nd West Lancashire) Army Field Regiment (attached to 1st Division 28 May)
 * 53rd (London), 59th (4th West Lancashire) Medium Regiments
 * 53rd (King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
 * 2nd Survey Regiment
 * Royal Engineers
 * 222nd, 234th, 240th Army Field Companies
 * 108th Corps Field Park Company;
 * 14th Corps Field Survey Company
 * Infantry—Machine Guns
 * 2nd Battalion The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
 * 2nd and 1st/7th Battalions The Middlesex Regiment

Deception plans
After commanding forces in the United Kingdom,the corps was being disbanded in early 1944 when selected to be one of the two corps comprising the notional British Fourth Army, which under the deception plan Fortitude North was supposed to attack Norway.

For this operation II Corps was supposedly headquartered at Stirling in Scotland, and notionally consisted of the genuine British 3rd Infantry Division (shortly replaced by the notional British 58th Infantry Division), the genuine British 55th Division in Northern Ireland, and the genuine 113th Independent Infantry Brigade in Orkney. Under Fortitude North II Corps was supposedly to attack Stavanger, with the 3rd (later the 58th) Division and supporting commandos and paratroops seizing the airfields, the 55th (West Lancashire) Division joining as followup; the genuine U.S. XV Corps from Northern Ireland would augment the force, which would advance on Oslo.

The corps was transferred to First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG) in early June 1944 and moved to Lincolnshire; restored to Fourth Army when that formation joined FUSAG for Fortitude South II, headquarters now at Tunbridge Wells in Kent, with under command the British 55th and 58th Divisions and the British 35th Armoured Brigade. It was notionally transferred to France in late September, consisting of the essentially notional 55th Division, the genuine 79th Armoured Division, and the essentially notional 76th Division; also apparently at times the genuine 59th Division, disbanded but notionally kept alive. It was notionally part of Canadian First Army in the deception Operation Trolleycar II (threatening an attack on the Germans in Holland) in November 1944.

Post Second World War
After the Second World War, as a genuine corps it was based in the Middle East, controlling British forces around the Suez Canal. Following the British withdrawal from Egypt, II Corps was also the controlling force for the invasion of the country during the Suez Crisis. Lt Gen Hugh Stockwell commanded the corps during 'Musketeer.'

General Officers Commanding
Commanders have included:
 * 1 October 1901 - ? General Sir Evelyn Wood
 * Aug 1914 Lieutenant-General James Grierson
 * Aug 1914-Dec 1914 Lieutenant-General Horace Smith-Dorrien
 * Jan 1915-May 1916 Lieutenant-General Charles Fergusson
 * Sep 1916-Nov 1918 Lieutenant-General Claud Jacob
 * 1939-1940 Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Brooke
 * May-Jun 1940 Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery
 * 1940-1941 Lieutenant-General Edmund Osborne
 * 1941-1942 Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson
 * Apr-Sep 1942 Lieutenant-General James Steele
 * 1942-1943 Lieutenant-General Gerald Templer
 * Jul-Oct 1943 Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden
 * 1943-1944 Lieutenant-General Sir Desmond Anderson

External sources

 * The Long Long Trail
 * Official History 1939-40
 * Royal Artillery 1939-45
 * Regiments.org