page_title: 51st (Highland) Division
section_title: Reformation
hierarchical_section_title: 51st (Highland) Division / Second World War / Reformation
caption_attribution_description: English: A soldier of the 7th Battalion, The Black Watch, cuts through barbed wire during training at Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands, 20 April 1941. A soldier of the 7th Battalion, The Black Watch, cuts through barbed wire during training at Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands, 20 April 1941.
context_page_description: The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as the Highland Division and later 51st (Highland) Division from 1915. The division's insignia was a stylised 'HD' inside a red circle. Early doubts about the division's performance earned it the nickname of "Harper's Duds" after the name of its commander, Major-General George Harper.
  The division was renamed the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and fought during the Second World War as part of the Territorial Army after the Territorial Force was disbanded in 1920. In June 1940, the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was attached to French 10th Army and after a fighting retreat from the Somme the greater part of the division was forced to surrender, having being cut off at St Valery-en-Caux on the Channel coast. In North Africa, the reconstituted Highland Division was nicknamed the "Highway Decorators" in reference to the 'HD' insignia that adorned road signs along their axis of advance.
context_section_description: In August 1940, the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division (the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division's 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate, which it had helped form) was re-designated as the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division. As part of this, the 26th and 27th Infantry Brigades were re-designated the 152nd and 153rd Infantry Brigade. The 28th Infantry Brigade was merged with the severely understrength 154th Infantry Brigade.
  The first general officer commanding (GOC) of the new incarnation of the division was Major-General Alan Cunningham, who, in October 1940, was sent to the Middle East. He was replaced by Major-General Neil Ritchie. Almost two years of home defence and training duties followed on the south coast of England and northeast coast of Scotland against a potential German invasion, which never arrived.
  In June 1941, Major-General Ritchie was sent to the Middle East and Major-General Douglas Wimberley, who had served with the original 51st (Highland) Division during the First World War and more recently commanded the 152nd Brigade, assumed command. With the arrival of Wimberley as GOC, strenuous training for future operations overseas began. By June 1942, the division was ordered to prepare for service overseas.
caption: A soldier of the 7th Battalion, Black Watch cuts through barbed wire during training at Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, 20 April 1941.
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