The history of 26th Division
This Division was established in September 1914 as part of Army Order 388 authorising Kitchener’s Third New Army, K3. The units began to to assemble in the Salisbury Plain area from September 1914. Khaki uniform and equipment were not made available until February-April 1915 and in the meantime eveything was improvised.
Embarkation for France began in September 1915 and the concentration of units at Guignemicourt (west of Amiens) was completed before the end of the month. However, the Division was not destined to remain on the Western Front, because in November 1915 it moved to Salonika where it then remained.
On 2 November, the Division concentrated at Flesselles and moved to Salonika via embarkation at Marseilles. On 26 December 1915, units began to move from Lembet to Happy Valley Camp and all units were in place there by 8 February 1916. The 26th Division remained in the Salonika theatre for the rest of the war, taking part in the following operations:
1916
10-18 August 1916: the Battle of Horseshoe Hill
1917
24-25 April and 8-9 May 1917: the Battles of Doiran
1918
The Division lost a number of units in mid 1918; they were transferred to France
18-19 September 1918: the Battle of Doiran
22-30 September 1918: the Pursuit to the Strumica Valley.
Forward units crossed the Serbian-Bulgarian boundary on 25 September 1918. Hostilities with Bulgaria ceased two days later. The Division advanced towards Adrianople (as the war with Turkey was still underway) but this also soon ceased. 26th Division successively became part of the Army of the Danube and then of the Occupation of Bulgaria. Demobilisation began in February 1919, with Italian troops arriving to replace the dwindling British presence. By 10 May 1919, the Division ceased to exist..
The 26th Division had suffered casualties of 8,022 killed, wounded and missing during the war but vastly larger numbers sick with malaria, dysentery and other diseases rife in the Salonika theatre.
The order of battle of the 26th Division
| 77th Brigade | |
| 8th Bn, the Royal Scots Fusiliers | |
| 11th Bn, the Cameronians | |
| 10th Bn, the Black Watch | left 30 June 1918 |
| 12th Bn, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders | |
| 77th Machine Gun Company | joined 24 July 1916 |
| 77th SAA Section Ammunition Column | joined 27 July 1916 |
| 77th Trench Mortar Battery | joined 3 November 1916 |
| 78th Brigade | |
| 9th Bn, the Gloucestershire Regiment | left 4 July 1918 |
| 11th Bn, the Worcestershire Regiment | |
| 7th Bn, the Ox & Bucks. Light Infantry | |
| 7th Bn, the Royal Berkshire Regiment | |
| 78th Machine Gun Company | joined 22 July 1916 |
| 78th SAA Section Ammunition Column | joined 27 July 1916 |
| 78th Trench Mortar Battery | joined 12 November 1916 |
| 79th Brigade | |
| 10th Bn, the Devonshire Regiment | |
| 8th Bn, the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry | |
| 12th Bn, the Hampshire Regiment | |
| 7th Bn, the Wiltshire Regiment | left 16 June 1918 |
| 79th Machine Gun Company | joined 15 July 1916 |
| 79th SAA Section Ammunition Column | joined 27 July 1916 |
| 79th Trench Mortar Battery | joined 3 November 1916 |
| Divisional Troops | |
| 10th Bn, the Gloucestershire Regiment | left August 1915 |
| 8th Bn, the Ox & Bucks. Light Infantry | became Divisional Pioneer Battalion in February 1915 |
| 8th Bn, the Royal Berkshire Regiment | left August 1915 |
| Divisional Mounted Troops | |
| A Sqn, the Lothians & Border Horse Yeomanry | joined 30 July 1915, left 29 November 1916 |
| 26th Divisional Cyclist Company, Army Cyclist Corps | formed 4 January 1915, left 16 December 1916 |
| Divisional Artillery | |
| CXIV Brigade, RFA | |
| CXV Brigade, RFA | |
| CXVI Brigade, RFA | |
| CXVII Brigade, RFA | left 9 August 1917 for 74th (Yeomanry) Division |
| 26th Divisional Ammunition Column RFA | transferred to XII Corps Ammunition Column, 22 January 1917. 22nd Division retained the Brigade Ammunition Columns |
| 131st Heavy Battery, RGA | raised with the Division in January 1915 but moved to France joining XXIII Heavy Artillery Brigade on 12 March 1916 |
| LVII Brigade, RFA | joined September 1917 |
| XXXI Brigade, RFA | briefly attached 17 June to 24 August 1917 |
| IV Highland Mountain Brigade, RGA | briefly attached in August 1918 |
| Royal Engineers | |
| 95th Field Company | left 29 January 1915 for 16th (Irish) Division |
| 96th Field Company | left 1 February 1915 for 20th (Light) Division |
| 107th Field Company | joined 30 January 1915 from 35th Division |
| 108th Field Company | joined 30 January 1915 from 35th Division |
| 131st Field Company | joined 25 April 1915 |
| 26th Divisional Signals Company | |
| Royal Army Medical Corps | |
| 78th Field Ambulance | joined 25 August 1915 |
| 79th Field Ambulance | joined 25 August 1915 |
| 80th Field Ambulance | joined 25 August 1915 |
| 43rd Sanitary Section | |
| Other Divisional Troops | |
| 26th Divisional Train ASC | 202, 203, 204 and 205 Companies ASC joined in November and December 1914 but remained when the Division moved to Salonika, becoming the 32nd Divisional Train. 112, 113, 114 and 115 Coys ASC then transferred from 11th (Northern) Division. On 22 January 1916, the Train was on board the “Norseman” when it was torpedoed in the Gulk of Salonika but all personnel were saved, although 600 mules lost their lives. In October 1916 the Train was reorganised into “Pack and Wheel Echelons”; in July 1917 it was further reorganised, to suit local conditions |
| 38th Mobile Veterinary Section AVC | |
| 817th Divisional Employment Company | formed October 1917 |
| 26th Divisional Motor Ambulance Workshop | joined June 1915 but remained in France |
Divisional histories
There appears to be no published history of the 26th Division.
Divisional memorials
There appears to be no memorial to the 26th Division.