The British XVI Corps was a British infantry corps during World War I. During World War II the identity was recreated for deceptive purposes.
| XVI Corps | |
|---|---|
| Active | World War I |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Field corps |
| Part of | British Salonika Army |
| Engagements | World War I[1] |
History
editBritish XVI Corps was formed in Salonika in January 1916 under Lieutenant General George Milne.[1] Milne was starved of resources by Sir William Robertson who considered all operations outside the Western Front to be "side shows".[2] The Corps Headquarters were at Kirechkoi to the east of Thessaloniki from January 1916 until the advance to the Struma in September 1916.[3] From May 1916 it was one of two corps within the British Salonika Army. The campaign developed into a battle for position with trenches and emplacements from which the General Officer Commanding (Lieutenant-General Charles Briggs) undertook limited actions to capture Bulgarian and Turkish positions in a river valley that was infested with mosquitos.[4] British operations in the Balkans Campaign were costly: the allies lost over 7,000 troops at the Battle of Doiran in September 1918 alone.[5]
Component units
editComponent units included:[6]
British XVI Corps
Second World War
editIn World War II the British XVI Corps was notionally reformed as part of the British Twelfth Army, a fictitious formation created under Operation Cascade. The formation insignia was a phoenix arising from red flames and bearing a flaming torch in its mouth, on a white ground.[7]
Subordinate units
editAs initially created, the corps contained the following divisions in addition to the usual supporting troops:[7]
- British 8th Armored Division (fictional)
- British 15th Motorized Division (fictional)
- British 34th Infantry Division (fictional)
General Officers Commanding
editCommanders included:
- January 1916 - May 1916 Lieutenant-General George Milne[2]
- May 1916 - November 1918 Lieutenant-General Charles Briggs[8]
References
edit- ^ a b The British Corps of 1914-1918
- ^ a b Heathcote, T.A., p.210
- ^ Ashtead War Memorials Leatherhead Local History
- ^ Stramash on the Struma 1919 Archived 4 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wakefield and Moody, p.217
- ^ Alan Wakefield & Simon Moody, Under the Devil's Eye: Britain's Forgotten Army at Salonika 1915–1918, Stroud: Sutton Publishing (2004).
- ^ a b Thaddeus Holt. The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War. Phoenix. 2005. ISBN 0-7538-1917-1
- ^ Who's who in World War One By J. M. Bourne, p.38
- Heathcote, T.A. (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736-1997. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 0-85052-696-5
- Alan Wakefield, Simon Moody, Under the Devil's Eye; Britain's Forgotten Army in Salonika, 1915-1918. ISBN 0-7509-3537-5