63rd ( Royal Naval ) Division The 63rd ( Royal Naval ) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division which served during the First World War . It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war , from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers who were not needed for service at sea , and fought at Antwerp and at Gallipoli . In 1916 , following heavy losses among the original naval volunteers , it was transferred to the British Army as the 63rd ( Royal Naval ) Division , re - using the number from a disbanded Territorial Force division . As an Army unit , it fought on the Western Front for the remainder of the war . Origins . Following the outbreak of war , a Royal Marine Brigade of four infantry battalions was formed from men of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and Royal Marine Artillery who were not required for service aboard ship . These included both regular active - service Royal Marines as well as those mobilised from the Fleet Reserve . Each battalion was drawn from one of the major naval depot ports - Chatham , Portsmouth , Plymouth , and Deal - and was named accordingly . It was envisaged that this force could be used by the Admiralty to help secure and defend forward ports for naval forces . Shortly afterwards , it became apparent that there was still a large surplus of mobilised manpower in the Navy itself , and on 17 August a decision was taken by Winston Churchill ( then First Lord of the Admiralty ) to form eight battalions in two Naval Brigades , which would join with the Marine Brigade to produce a composite Royal Naval Division . While a few petty officers and ratings were transferred from the Navy to provide a cadre , and some officers were provided by the Army , the recruits were almost entirely reservists or men who had volunteered on the outbreak of war . The eight battalions were named for past naval commanders - Drake , Benbow , Hawke , Collingwood , Nelson , Howe , Hood , and Anson - and later numbered 1st to 8th . The division as a whole was not provided with support arms - there were no medical , artillery , or engineer units - and consisted solely of lightly - equipped infantry . The Royal Marine Brigade began training for overseas service in mid - August , and the naval battalions were assembled in Kent towards the end of the month . Training was slow ; most resources were needed for the rapid expansion of the Army , and the ratings had not been issued with field equipment or khaki uniforms before being embarked for overseas service . Rifles were drawn from Royal Navy stockpiles , and only arrived at the end of September ; these were older Charger - Loading Lee Enfield s rather than the more modern Short Magazine Lee - Enfield s issued to the Army . Early service in Belgium . Ostend . Following early defeats in the German invasion of Belgium , and cut off from the rest of the Allies by the German advance , the majority of the Belgian army fell back towards the fortified port of Antwerp during late August 1914 . In doing so , Belgian troops were withdrawn from a number of smaller ports along the Belgian coast ; the Admiralty was concerned that if these were occupied by Germany , they could provide a base for naval forces to harass ships bringing reinforcements and supplies from England . On 24 August , German cavalry patrols were reported near Ostend , and the decision was taken to land a small naval detachment from the fleet to secure the town . Further south , the main French and British force was retreating into France , with the German Army driving south - west after them and leaving very few units to guard the lines of communication . Admiralty planners realised that this offered the opportunity of using the Channel ports as a base to attack German supply routes on land , and decided to use the recently - formed Royal Marine Brigade as the basis for a landing force . Three battalions ( Chatham , Portsmouth & Plymouth ; the fourth had not yet formed ) were send to Flanders ; two landed on the early morning of 27 August and the other the following day . They were ordered to hold the town until Belgian troops who had retreated into France could be shipped in ; 4 , 000 men duly arrived on 30 August . However , the rapid retreat had caused the British Army to rethink its overall strategy , and it was decided that British supplies would have to be brought through ports in Western France ; the existing arrangements in the Pas de Calais were too close to the front line . This would place significant extra strain on the escort ships , which meant that the Navy was no longer able to support the troops landed at Ostend . The Marines were re - embarked on 31 September and returned to their ports . The division participated in the defence of the Belgian city of Antwerp in late 1914 . From Antwerp , 1 , 500 sailors of the division fled to the neutral Netherlands , where they were intern ed . Gallipoli . The division was shipped to Egypt prior to serving in the Battle of Gallipoli where it fought on both the Anzac and Helles battlefields . The RND was one of two British divisions ( the other being the Regular Army 29th Division ) at the Gallipoli landings . Originally the division was only required to make a diversion at Bulair in support of the main landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles . This diversion was carried out by one man , Bernard Freyberg . Shortly afterwards , on 28 April , four battalions were sent to Anzac to reinforce the hard - pressed Australian and New Zealand troops . Later the RND moved to Helles where it remained for the rest of the campaign on the peninsula . Western Front . Ancre . After the evacuation of Gallipoli , the RND moved to France where it participated in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme , advancing along the River Ancre to capture Beaucourt . The Division had four objectives during the Battle of Ancre . The first was to capture the " Dotted Green Line " , the name given to the front line of the German trench complex . The second objective , the so - called " Green Line " , was the road to Beaucourt station . The road ran along a ridge which had been fortified by the Germans . The third objective was a trench which lay beyond the road , around the remains of Beaucourt on its south - west edge , and was named the " Yellow Line " . The final objective , the " Red Line " , was beyond Beaucourt . Here the Division was to consolidate and solidify the gains made during the battle . The plan was for the battalions to leap - frog each other towards the final objective . Battalions Howe , Hawke and Hood from the 1st Royal Marines Light Infantry were assigned the " Dotted Green Line " and the " Yellow Line " , while battalions Anson , Nelson and Drake from the 2nd Royal Marines Light Infantry were assigned the " Green Line " and the " Red Line " . When the battle began in the early hours of the 13th of November , specific platoons from 1 RMLI crawled across no - man ' s land towards the German line . During this battle , the tactic of the rolling barrage was employed . However , despite the additional cover , significant casualties were sustained in no - man ' s land during the assault , with estimates of 50 % of casualties occurring there before the first German trench had been captured . German artillery fire , coupled with machine gun fire , was so effective that all company commanding officers within 1 RMLI were killed before reaching the first objective . Due to intense shelling prior to the assault , the German trenches had been significantly damaged . As a result the men became increasingly disorientated , meaning that the initial tactic of leap frogging could not be employed . Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Freyberg quickly realized this and did not wait for Drake battalion as planned . After leading Hood battalion to the " Green Line " , he pressed forward with the remaining men of Drake battalion . The station road served as a useful landmark and allowed the commander to orientate himself and re - organize the attack . The expected bombardment began at the pre - arranged time of 0730 hours , allowing Freyberg to advance towards the " Yellow Line " at Beaucourt Station . Meanwhile , Battalions Nelson , Hawke and Howe suffered heavy casualties . Two of the three commanding officers from these battalions were among the early casualties : Lieutenant Colonel Burge of Nelson Battalion was killed whilst attacking a well fortified section of the " Dotted Green Line " and Lieutenant Colonel Wilson was severely wounded leading an attack on the same target . Another commanding officer , Lieutenant Colonel Saunders , was also killed early in the battle but his battalion , Anson , was more successful , managing to capture the " Green Line " . Anson Battalion was then able to advance to the " Yellow Line " after making contact with the 51st Highland Division to its left . By 2230 hours , Beaucourt had officially been captured . Just prior to the fighting on the Ancre , the division received a new commanding officer after Major General Archibald Paris was wounded , Major General Cameron Shute , appointed on 17 October 1916 . General Shute had an intense dislike for the unconventional " nautical " traditions of the division and made numerous unpopular attempts to stamp them out . Following a particularly critical inspection of the trenches by General Shute , an officer of the division , Sub - Lieutenant A . P . Herbert , later to become a famous humorous writer , legal satirist and Member of Parliament , penned a popular poem that summed up the feelings of the men of the RND : Ypres . The Division arrived at Ypres just before the Second Battle of Passchendaele . Order of battle . The division initially comprised eight naval battalions named after famous British naval commanders ( Anson , Benbow , Collingwood , Drake , Hawke , Hood , Howe , Nelson ) , plus the Royal Marine Brigade of four battalions from the Royal Marine dépôts at the ports of Deal , Chatham , Portsmouth and Plymouth . Due to the changing nature of the unit , it was made up of a number of brigade s during the war . As the naval character of the division diminished , more regular infantry battalions were included . Other battalions that served with the division include :