48th (South Midland) Division

South Midland Division 48th (South Midland) Division 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division 48th Infantry (Reserve) Division
The divisional insignia. Historian Michael Chappell comments that starting in 1918 the white diamond "was painted on helmets ... with regimental badges superimposed" upon it.[1]
Active	1908–1919 1920–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Infantry, home defence, and training
Size	Division
Peacetime HQ	Warwick
Engagements	First World War Second World War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Robert Fanshawe Sir Harold Walker Frank Roberts Sir Andrew Thorne
Insignia
Identification symbol	Divisional insignia adopted following the Battle of France in 1940.[2]

The 48th (South Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army. Part of the Territorial Force (TF) and raised in 1908, the division was originally called the South Midland Division, and was redesignated as the 48th (South Midland) Division in 1915. During the First World War, the division saw service on the Western Front before being transferred to the Italian Front in November 1917 and remaining there for the rest of the war.

Reformed in 1920 in the Territorial Army (TA) as the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division, it saw active service in the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in Belgium and France before being evacuated from Dunkirk to the United Kingdom. It was converted into a training reserve division in December 1942, remaining in the United Kingdom in that status for the rest of the war. Disbanded after the war, the division was not reformed again. In both world wars, the division raised a second line reserve formation; the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division in the First World War, and 61st Division in the Second World War.