page_title: 1st Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Infantry Division (United Kingdom) / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in France 1940 The 1st Battalion Duke of Wellington's Regiment, 1st Division, working on their Bren gun carriers at Ston de Bachy, 2 May 1940. Some of the men are painting formation signs on the vehicles.
context_page_description: The 1st Infantry Division was a regular army infantry division of the British Army with a very long history. The division was present at the Peninsular War, the Crimean War, the First World War, and during the Second World War and was finally disbanded in 1960.
context_section_description: At the start of Second World War, the 1st Infantry Division was stationed at Aldershot and commanded by Major General the Hon. Harold Alexander (who had assumed command in 1938). The division was sent to France in mid-September 1939, arriving there on 20 September, where it formed part of Lieutenant General Sir John Dill's I Corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The division, unlike in the First World War, was not immediately engaged in fighting, and was to remain in France for the next few months until evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo in June 1940.
caption: Men of the 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, 1st Division, working on their Bren gun carriers at Ston de Banchy, France, 2 May 1940. Some of the men are painting formation signs on the vehicles.
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