Home > British 63rd (Royal Naval) Division

The British 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a First World War division of the New Army. At the direction of Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, it was formed at the outbreak of war as the Royal Naval Division composed largely of surplus reserves of the Royal Navy who were not required at sea.

The division participated in the defence of the Belgian city of Antwerp in late 1914. The division was shipped to Egypt prior to serving in the Battle of Gallipoli where it fought on both the Anzac and Helles battlefields. By the end of the Dardanelles campaign, the division's casualties were such that it no longer contained a significant number of naval servicemen and so in July 19161916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) Events January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. Impressionist Monet paints Water Lilies'. January 8 Allied forces withdraw from it was redesignated as the 63rd Division when the original Territorial Force 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division was disbanded. The division moved to the Western FrontSee Western Front (disambiguation) for other meanings. Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Wars to describe the "contested armed frontier" between lands controlled by Germany to the East and the Allies to the West. A "contested in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. for the remainder of the war.

1 Unit history

Defence of AntwerpGuildhouses in the Grote Markt Antwerp ( Dutch: Antwerpen French: Anvers is a city and a municipality in the province of Antwerp (and its capital), in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. On January 1st, 2004 Antwerp had a total population of 45.

The RND was one of two British divisions (along with the 29th Division) at the Gallipoli landings. Originally the division was only required to make a diversion at Bulair in support of the main landings at Anzac CoveAri Burnu, July 2004. Anzac Cove is a small, unremarkable cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey made famous as the site of the World War I landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere 600 m long, b and Helles. This diversion was carried out by one man, Bernard Freyberg. Shortly afterwards, on April 28, four battalions were sent to Anzac to reinforce the hard-pressed Australian and New Zealand troops. Later the RND moved to Helles where it remained for the rest of the campaigin on the peninsula.

After the evacuation of Gallipoli, the RND moved to France where it participated in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme, advancing along the River Ancre to capture Beaumont Hamel.

Just prior to the fighting on the Ancre, the division received a new commanding officer, Major General Shute, appointed on October 17, 1916. General Shute had an intense dislike for the unconventional "nautical" traditions of the division and made numerous unpopular attempts to stamp them out. Following a particularly critical inspection of the trenches by General Shute, one officer of the division, Alan Herbert, who was a capable writer, produced a popular poem that summed up the feelings of the men of the RND:

The General inspecting the trenches
Exclaimed with a horrified shout
'I refuse to command a division
Which leaves its excreta about.'

But nobody took any notice
No one was prepared to refute,
That the presence of shit was congenial
Compared to the presence of Shute.

And certain responsible critics
Made haste to reply to his words
Observing that his staff advisors
Consisted entirely of turds.

For shit may be shot at odd corners
And paper supplied there to suit,
But a shit would be shot without mourners
If someone shot that shit Shute.