TO DO THE WORK OF MEN: An Operational History of the 21st Division in the Great War

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The 21st (New Army) Division was formed in September 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third Army, comprising units mostly from Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, and Lincolnshire. It spent its entire active service on the Western Front, taking part in almost all the major engagements. Only two weeks after having arrived in France, and with no battlefield experience, they were thrown into action on the second day of the costly Battle of Loos. Badly misused by the high command, it was no surprise the division underperformed.

The 21st Division, from May 1916 under the command of Major-General David 'Soarer' Campbell, recovered from this disastrous baptism of fire to achieve creditable success during the Battle of the Somme. The division then re-entered the fray with the newly-introduced tanks in September as British Fourth Army captured the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt. The division experienced mixed fortunes in 1917 at Arras, on coming up against the formidable Hindenburg Line defenses, and during the latter stages of the Third Ypres campaign when defending Polygon Wood against fierce counter attacks before struggling forward through the October mud to assault the hamlet of Reutel. Between March and June of 1918, the 21st Division faced all three major German spring offensives and recovered to play its part in the Hundred Days victories.