18th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)

The 18th Infantry Division was a Division of the British Army in the Second World War. It was a duplicate of the 54th (East Anglian) Division using mostly units with connections to East Anglia.

History
Among its brigades, the 53rd Brigade was converted (seemingly redesignated) from the British 163rd Infantry Brigade on September 18, 1939. The Brigade arrived at Singapore on January 13, 1942, before the rest of the division, and was attached to the Indian 11th Infantry Division and Westforce on mainland Malaya where it was involved in the retreat back to Singapore, fighting the Battle of Muar in company with Indian units.

The main part of the 18th Infantry Division landed at Singapore a few weeks before the fall of the island. After the violent week long Battle of Singapore, General Arthur Percival, commander of the Singapore garrison, surrendered to the Japanese on February 15, 1942. The division's soldiers went into Japanese POW camps.

The division was not reformed.

General Officer Commanding

 * 30.09.1939  Maj-Gen.T.G. McArthur
 * 30.11.1939  Maj-Gen. Bernard Charles Tolver Paget
 * 20.04.1940 (Acting) Maj-Gen. E. H .W. Backhouse
 * 14.05.1940  Maj-Gen. Bernard Charles Tolver Paget
 * 27.05.1940 (Acting) Brig. G. E. W. Franklyn
 * 01.06.1940  Maj-Gen.T.R.Eastwood
 * 09.06.1940  Maj-Gen. L.H.K. Finch
 * 14-07-1940  Maj-Gen. Merton Beckwith-Smith (P.O.W 15.02.1942)

Order of battle
In January 1942 before the surrender in Singapore

18th Division H.Q.

 * 118th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
 * 135th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery
 * 148th (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
 * 125th Anti Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery


 * 287th Field Company, Royal Engineers
 * 288th Field Coy, Royal Engineers
 * 560th Field Coy, Royal Engineers


 * 18th Battalion, The Recce Regt (5th Battalion, The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) )
 * 9th Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, M.G. - Lieut.Col.Lechmere Thomas/Henry (Flossie) Flower


 * 198th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps

53rd Infantry Brigade

 * Brigadier C.L.B. Duke
 * 2nd Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment - Lieut.Col.Thorne
 * 5th Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * 6th Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment - Lieut.Col.Ian Lywood (Hospitalised with malaria but killed during the massacre at Alexandra Hospital)

Commander previous to Duke were Brig. M.D. Jephson and Brig. S. Collingwood.

54th Infantry Brigade

 * Brigadier E.K.W.Backhouse
 * 4th Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * 4th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment
 * 5th Battalion, The Suffolk Regiment

55th Infantry Brigade

 * Brigadier J.B.Coates
 * 1st Battalion, The Cambridgeshire Regiment - Lieut.Col.Gerald Carpenter
 * 5th Battalion, The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
 * 1st/5th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters - Lieut.Col.Harold Lilly