WWII, GREAT BRITAIN,49th (WEST RIDING) INFANTRY DIVISION, PATCH, WOOL, ICELAND

Description

WWII, GREAT BRITAIN,49
th
(WEST RIDING) INFANTRY DIVISION, PATCH, ON WOOL
The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division fought in the First World War in the trenches of the Western Front, in the fields of France and Flanders. During the Second World War, the division fought in the Norwegian Campaign and in North-western Europe. After the Second World War, it was disbanded in 1946, then reformed in 1947. It remained with Northern Command until finally disbanded in 1967.
The division, now with only the 146th and 147th Infantry Brigades left, departed for Iceland, the 146th arriving there on 8 May, the 147th on 17 May, and the divisional HQ arriving on 23 June, when it was redesignated HQ Alabaster Force and, in January 1941, Iceland Force before finally being redesignated HQ British Troops Iceland. Both brigades were thereafter stationed in Iceland until 1942. As a result, a new divisional insignia, featuring a polar bear standing on an ice floe, was adopted. Also stationed there from late October 1940 was the 70th Independent Infantry Brigade. In 1941, at the request of British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, the division was trained in mountain warfare and also in arctic warfare. By April 1942, responsibility for Iceland had been handed over to the United States, with the arrival in July the previous year of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and the three brigades began to be relieved, and Major General Curtis suggested the Marines wear the polar bear insignia and provided them with the Polar Bear patch. A junior officer of the 1st Tyneside Scottish wrote of the experience in Iceland: "Iceland had given us so much. More than anything it had forged a firm and abiding link between all who wore the Polar Bear"