Egypt

The East Lancashire Division was the first TF Division to move overseas.

On outbreak of war, the units of the Division were recalled from summer camp and billeted near to its headquarters. The men were invited to volunteer for foreign service in early August and the Division then moved to camps for training.

The Division was warned on 5 September 1914 that it would be sent to Egypt, and four days later it began to embark at Southampton, the first transports sailing on 10 September. Disembarkation began at Alexandria on 25 September, and with the exception of the Manchester Brigade concentrated around Cairo, where acclimatisation and further training commenced. (The Manchester Brigade remained at Alexandria, sending one Battalion to Khartoum and half a Battalion to Cyprus, to garrison key military installations).

Initially, Britain set out only to defend the Suez Canal from the Turkish troops that were massed in Palestine, and it was for this purpose that the East Lancashire Division was moved to the theatre. Detachments from the Division began to move to the Canal Zone in October 1914.

The first clash occurred on 20 November 1914, when a patrol of the Bikanir Camel Corps met 200 Turk-controlled mounted Bedouin east of Kantara. By mid January, the Turks were ready to advance, having assembled a force of 2 Divisions with another in reserve, plus assorted camel and horse units. This was not big, considering the scale of their ambition to wrest Egypt from British control and score a strategic success by seizing the canal. 

The force took the central route, taking ten days to cross the Sinai, intending to capture Ismailia and therefore the critical drinking water supplies. British aircraft tracked their progress; on 28 January 1915 observers identified a large column of troops on the centre route. British and French ships entered the canal, and opened fire while infantry manned defensive positions. Patrols clashed on 2 February, but a sandstorm halted any further action until next day.

Various units of the East Lancashire Division were engaged in defending against the Turk attack on 3 February 1915. Once this first threat had subsided, they remained in the Canal Zone, until ordered to reinforce the beleagured garrison on Gallipoli.

Gallipoli

British and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, and French on the other side of the Dardanelles Straits, on 25 April 1915.

The East Lancashire Division began to embark at Alexandria on 1 May 1915. The first transports left next day, and the last on 6 May. 14,224 men of the Division landed at Cape Helles.

The Division was involved in three notable attempts to break out of the Helles bridgehead to capture the dominating heights around the village of Krithia. These attacks took place on 6-8 May (in which only the Lancashire Fusiliers Brigade of the Division took part), 4 June and 6-13 August. The last of these is known officially as the battle of Krithia Vineyard, which gives some impression of the relatively small areas being contested so violently. 

It was undertaken not only to try to capture ground but to divert Turk attention from a large British landing further up the coast at Suvla Bay – an enterprise which failed, and ultimately led to the decision to evacuate the hopeless position on Gallipoli.

By mid August the East Lancashire Division, through battle casualties and sickness, was down to little more than one third of its normal establishment. It received reinforcement in the shape of men of the Yeomanry, dismounted.

The Division, along with all other units in the Helles bridgehead, made a successful withdrawal from Gallipoli by 8 January 1916.

Egypt again

After a short stay on Mudros, while sufficient shipping was made available and the army administration got on top of the flood of units coming to Egypt from Gallipoli, the Division returned to Alexandria.

Further work was undertaken on the Suez Canal defences throughout the spring and summer of 1916. In early August 1916, the Lancashire Fusiliers and Manchester Brigades made a very long march under blazing sun, towards Romani where a short engagement took place in which the Turkish units were pushed back with heavy loss. The Brigades (of the by now retitled 42nd (East Lancashire) Division) had to wade and struggle through loose sand, and the physical effort was extreme. Many men collapsed.

Romani was an important victory, because from there the British force pushed a railway and water line across the Sinai desert that would enable an assault with the intention of clearing Palestine. The East Lancs were involved as advance guards as the building moved forward as far as El Arish.

However, a decision had been taken to restructure the force in Palestine, and in consequence the Division was ordered for the first time to the Western Front. All units embarked at Alexandria by the end of February 1917