Units involved on D-Day

[angie999]

Originally posted by Dpalme01@Jun 8 2004, 04:02 PM
I'm going off on a tangent from the subject here, but in World War II, were the troops aranged in their divisions, brigades, platoons etc. in the same general way as they are now, or has anything changed?
Daniel

Basically the same then as now, if you allow for the fact that how these units are made up has changed. For instance, they tend to be lighter in front line troops and stronger in technology now.

Also, there has been experimentation. I know that 20 or 30 years ago the British experimented with a brigade structure, neither pure infantry nor pure armour, made up of two armoured regiments and two infantry battalions. Two of these "square brigades" make up a division. I don't know if they stuck to it or whether they are back to a more tradional structure.

[Paul Reed]

Originally posted by angie999@Jun 8 2004, 06:58 PM
Also, there has been experimentation. I know that 20 or 30 years ago the British experimented with a brigade structure, neither pure infantry nor pure armour, made up of two armoured regiments and two infantry battalions. Two of these "square brigades" make up a division. I don't know if they stuck to it or whether they are back to a more tradional structure.

This was largely based on the 'Brigade Battlegroup' concept used by units like Guards Armoured and 11th (Armoured) Divisions - which itself was based on the German Kampfgruppe. Our ones combined a mixture of armour and infantry (in TCVs), plus mobile fire support from Field Regiments.

[angie999]

Here goes with an OOB of down to battalion level, which I do not claim to be complete, or that all of these landed in full on D-day. I have included the Canadian landings for continuity:

Airborne (left flank)

6th Airborne Division (Maj Gen R N Gale)
3 Parachute Brigade
8th & 9th Battalions, the Parachute Regiment
1st Canadian Parachute Regiment
5 Parachute Brigade
7th, 12th & 13th Battalions the Parachute Regiment
6 Airlanding Brigade
12th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment
2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles
Divisional troops
6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaisance Regiment RAC
6th Airborne Divisional Engineers
53rd Airlanding Light Regiment RA
6th Airbourne Divisional Signals
plus members of the Glider Pilot Regiment (attached to the division for the landings)

Sword Beach

1 Special Service Brigade
3, 4 & 6 Commandos (Army)
45 Royal Marine Commando

3rd Division (Maj Gen T G Rennie)
8 Brigade
1st Battalion The Suffolk Regiment
2nd Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment
1st Battalion The South Lancashire Regiment
9 Brigade
2nd Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment
1st Battalion The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
2nd Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles
185 Brigade (was the main part of the brigade group tasked with taking Caen)
2nd battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment
1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment
2nd Battalion The King's Shropshire Light Infantry
Divisional troops
3rd Reconnaisance Regiment RAC
3rd Division Engineers
3rd Division Signals
7, 33 & 76 Field Regiments RA
20 Anti-Tank Regiment RA
92 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA
2nd Battalion The Middlesex Regiment (Machine Gun)

27 Armoured Brigade
13/18th Royal Hussars
1st East Riding Yeomanry
The Staffordshire Yeomanry

Juno Beach

3rd Canadian Division (Maj Gen R F L Keller)
Canadian 7 Brigade
The Royal Winnipeg Rifles
The Regina Rifle Regiment
1st Battalion The Canadian Scottish Regiment
Canadian 8 Brigade
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
Le Régiment de la Chaudière
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment
Canadian 9 Brigade
The Highland Light Infantry of Canada
The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders
The North Nova Scotia Highlanders
Divisional troops
7th Reconnaisance Regiment (17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars)
3rd Canadian Divisional Engineers
3rd Canadian Divisional Signals
12, 13 & 14 Field Regiments RCA
3 Anti-Tank Regiment RCA
4 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RCA
The Cameron Highlanders of Ottowa (Machine Gun)

2 Canadian Armoured Brigade
6th Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars)
10th Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse)
27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrook Fusiliers Regiment)

Gold Beach

50th (Northumbrian) Division (Maj Gen D A H Graham)
69 Brigade
5th Battalion The East Yorkshire Regiment
6 & 7th Battalions The Green Howards
151 Brigade
6, 8 & 9th Battalions The Durham Light Infantry
231 Brigade
2nd Battalion The Devonshire Regiment
1st Battalion The Hampshire Regiment
1st Battalion The Dorsetshire Regiment
Divisional troops
61st Reconnaisance Regiment RAC
50th Divisional Engineers
50th Divisional Signals
74, 60 & 124 Field Regiments RA
102 Anti-Tank Regiment RA
25 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA
2nd Battalion The Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun)
Attached independent brigade (became part of 49th Div, August 1944):
56 Infantry Brigade
2nd Battalion The South Wales Borderers
2nd Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment
2nd Battalion The Essex Regiment

8 Armoured Brigade
4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
24th Lancers
The Nottinghamshire Yeomanry
12th Battalion The Kings Royal Rifle Corps (Motor)

47 Special Service Brigade
41, 46 & 47 Royal Marine Commandos

Additional units

79th Armoured Division, a.k.a "Hobart's Funnies" (Maj Gen Sir P C S Hobart)
Elements of this division landed at all three beaches
30 Armoured Brigade
22nd Dragoons
1st Lothians and Border Horse
2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons)
141 Regiment RAC
1 Tank Brigade
11, 42 & 49th Battalions RTR
1 Assault Brigade RE
5, 6 & 42nd Assault Regiments RE
Divisional troops
79th Armoured Divisional Signals
1st Canadian Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment

I am indebted to a number of sources for this OOB, notably:
Hastings, Max, Overlord (1984) which gives a full OOB for 21st Army Group during Operation Overlord.

If I missed any or made any errors please let me know.

[Dieppe]

Angie999 - Many (many, many, many) thanks for the list, I'm very grateful to you.

[Dpalme01]

That was very helpful
thanks

[51highland]

Originally Posted by angie999

To Lee,

Can you define what you mean by a unit?

For instance, we could say that the British 50th Division landed at Gold Breach and list the three brigades and their nine battalions, which all landed. But this does not mean that the division landed in full on D-day.For instance, I couldn't say if 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA, or 2nd Battalion the Cheshire Regiment (Machine Gun), both part of the division, landed on the day itself, in whole or in part, without a lot of research. And I bet that not all the division's workshop sections, ordnance troops, RASC drivers, field bakeries, military police, etc. etc. landed on the first day.

So, if you want an absolutely complete list, it is difficult. If you want a list of divisions, brigades and front line battalions, it is relatively easy

Some parts of units also landed who were not supposed to. My Father serving with 5th Camerons, 51st HD landed D-Day afternoon approx 12 hrs early. Wading ashore chest deep in water after his landing craft hit an under water obstacle. 5th Camerons were split into 3 landing parties, D+1, D+7 & D+14. Just to prove that probably no complete battalion or "unit" landed together.