On 30 June 1944, the 77th Holding and the other three training divisions had a combined total of 22,355 men. Of these, only 1,100 were immediately available as replacements for the 21st Army Group, then fighting in Normandy. The remaining 21,255 men were considered ineligible for service abroad due to a variety of reasons, ranging from medical, not being considered fully fit, or not yet fully trained. Over the following six months, up to 75 per cent of these men would be deployed to reinforce the 21st Army Group, following the completion of their training and/or having come up to the required fitness levels. Historian Stephen Hart comments that, by September, the 21st Army Group "had bled Home Forces dry of draftable riflemen" due to the losses suffered during the Battle of Normandy, leaving the army in Britain (with the exception of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division) with just "young lads, old men, and the unfit". On 1 September 1944, the division was disbanded. The 45th (Holding) Division was then formed (the 45th Infantry Division having been disbanded on 15 August) by Michelmore and his headquarter staff. Michelmore assumed command, and the 45th (Holding) Division took over the role of the 77th Division. Roger Hesketh states the reason behind this renumbering was due to the 45th Division being a "well-known territorial [formation from] before the war whose [number was] familiar to the public and [was] therefore of recruiting value".