37th Division ( United Kingdom ) The 37th Division was a unit of the British Army during World War I . The divisional symbol was a gold horseshoe , open end up . Formed as part of the New Army , the division was established at Andover as the 44th Infantry Division in March 1915 . The division was created as a potential replacement for the 16th ( Irish ) Division as there were doubts , misplaced as it turned out , as to whether sufficient volunteers would be forthcoming in Ireland to complete the 16th Division . As a result of its early origins , using unallocated battalions from the first three waves of New Army battalions , although the division , renumbered 37th in May 1915 , formed part of the sixth and final group of New Army divisions , it was well provided with trained officers and NCOs by New Army standards . The divisional commander was the experienced Lord Edward Gleichen who had commanded a brigade in the regular 5th Infantry Division in 1914 . The division ' s three infantry brigades were the 110th , composed of four battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment , the 111th , two battalions of the Royal Fusiliers and one each from the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and the Rifle Brigade , and the 112th , one battalion each from the Warwick , Bedford , East Lancashire and North Lancashire Regiment s . The North Staffordshire Regiment provided the divisional pioneer battalion . The divisional artillery had been raised for the original 31st and 32nd divisions , which were broken up before being completed . The division ' s unusual composition — the majority of higher - numbered New Army divisions were created from weakly officered Pals battalion s and lacked any cadre of experienced soldiers — meant that its training at Cholderton in Hampshire proceeded rapidly , and the 37th Division moved to Saint - Omer in France in July 1915 , months earlier than other divisions of the fourth and fifth New Armies . The 37th Division , forming part of VII Corps of Third Army , played no part in the diversionary attack on Gommecourt staged by VII Corps on 1 July 1916 during the first day on the Somme . The perceived poor performance of some New Army divisions in the fighting , and the heavy losses suffered by the 34th Division , led to changes in the organisation of the 37th Division in the first half of July . The 110th Brigade was posted to the 21st Division and the 63rd Brigade received in return . The 111th Brigade and the 112th Brigade were loaned to the 34th Division from 6 July to 22 August to replace the 102nd and 103rd Brigade s . While under command of 34th Division the brigades took part in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and the Battle of Pozières . The division took part in the Battle of the Ancre , the final stage of the Battle of the Somme , under the command of V Corps and Fifth Army in November 1916 . By this time Lord Gleichen had left the division and his replacement , Major - General Scrase - Dickens , had fallen sick . Now under the command of Major - General Bruce - Williams , who would command the division for the rest of the war , 37th Division ' s brigades once again saw action under the command of other divisions rather than as a division . The division participated in the first three phases of the 1917 Battle of Arras , capturing the village of Monchy - le - Preux during the First Battle of the Scarpe . A monument to the division stands at Monchy . 37th Division fought in the Third Battle of Ypres , under the command of IX Corps of Second Army , taking part in the battles of the Menin Road , Polygon Wood , Broodseinde , Poelcappelle , first and second Passchendaele in September , October and November 1917 . The division took little part in the fighting begun by the German Spring Offensive in 1918 , but did take part in the first counter - offensive , the April 1918 Battle of the Ancre , which included the world ' s first tank versus tank combat at Villers - Bretonneux . At this time the division was under the command of Third Army ' s IV Corps , and remained part of this formation for the rest of the war . The division took part in the Hundred Days Offensive , fighting in the Battle of Amiens , the 1918 Second Battle of the Somme , the Battle of the Hindenburg Line , the Battle of the Selle and the Battle of the Sambre . Demobilization began on Boxing Day 1918 , and the division had ceased to exist by March 1919 . During its active service on the Western Front the division had suffered some 29969 casualties , killed , wounded and missing .