page_title: East Yorkshire Regiment
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: East Yorkshire Regiment / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: British Forces in the Middle East, 1945-1947 Men of the 2nd Battalion, The East Yorkshire Regiment with a Universal Carrier on field exercise in Palestine.
context_page_description: The East Yorkshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot and later renamed the 15th Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before eventually being amalgamated with the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1958, to form the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire. Subsequently, the regiment amalgamated with the Green Howards and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment to form the Yorkshire Regiment on 6 June 2006.
context_section_description: The 1st Battalion was serving in British India on the outbreak of war in 1939 and did not see active service until 1942. In 1944, the Battalion was based in Bethamangala as part of the 150th Indian Infantry Brigade, where it was reorganised and trained in jungle warfare at the Jungle Warfare Training Center, Gudalur, in the Mysore jungle and then played its part in the Burma Campaign. It moved into Burma, crossing the Chindwin River at Kalewa and the Irrawaddy River at Sameikkon in April 1945 and joined the 99th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the 17th Indian Division at Meiktila after the siege by the Japanese had been broken.
  The 2nd Battalion served with the 8th Infantry Brigade (which included the 1st Suffolks and 1st South Lancs), attached to the 3rd Infantry Division throughout the whole war. At the time, the 3rd Division was commanded by Major-General Bernard Montgomery, who would later command the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group. The battalion and division were sent to France in late 1939 as part of the British Expeditionary Force and remained there until May 1940 when they fought in the Battle of France and were evacuated at Dunkirk. After Dunkirk, the battalion and division spent many years on home defence anticipating a German invasion of England. After late 1942, when the threat of invasion had receded, they then started training for offensive operations and, in mid-1944, invaded Normandy, France.
  The 4th Battalion was a 1st Line Territorial Army unit serving in the 150th Infantry Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and, like the 2nd Battalion, served in France 1940, were evacuated at Dunkirk to England and remained in the United Kingdom with the division until mid-1941 when it was sent to the Middle East. It was captured at the Battle of Gazala.
  The 5th Battalion was formed in June 1939 as a 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate of the 4th Battalion. It served with the 69th Infantry Brigade in the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division and was evacuated from Dunkirk. It later served with 50th (Northumbrian) Division through the Western Desert, Tunisian and Sicily campaigns before landing in the first wave on Gold Beach on D Day and then fighting through Normandy and North West Europe.
  In the Second World War, three hostilities-only battalions were raised. The 6th (Home Defence) Battalion, which was formed in November 1939, was redesignated as the 30th Battalion in December 1941 and disbanded in September 1943.
  The 7th Battalion was formed in 1940 and assigned to 203 Infantry Brigade. The battalion was transferred to 73 Infantry Brigade in July 1941 and to 162 Infantry Brigade in September 1942. It was disbanded in October 1944, having never left the UK.
  The 50th (Holding) Battalion was formed in May 1940. In October, it was redesignated as the 8th battalion and assigned to 217 Infantry Brigade. In November 1941, the battalion was transferred to 224 Infantry Brigade, which was disbanded the following month. The battalion was then converted to 115 LAA Regiment, RA and assigned to the 46th (West Riding) Infantry Division, with which it served in North Africa, Italy and Palestine.
caption: Men of the 2nd Battalion, The East Yorkshire Regiment in a Universal Carrier on field exercise in Palestine
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