61st Infantry Division (United Kingdom)

61st Infantry Division[1] 61st (Light) Division[2]
The shoulder insignia of the division. Historian Michael Chappell states that the insignia was chosen as a variation of the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division insignia.[3]
Active	September 1939 – November 1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Territorial Army
Type	Infantry Light infantry
Role	Infantry, home defence, training, and deception
Size	Division
Commanders
Notable commanders	Adrian Carton de Wiart Edmond Schreiber

The 61st Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised in 1939 as part of the expansion of the Territorial Army in response to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. The division was created as a duplicate of the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division, and was assigned to home defence duties.

While the division was never deployed overseas, its headquarters staff was deployed to Norway and briefly fought in the Norwegian campaign. Afterwards, the division was deployed to Northern Ireland for almost three years as a result of rumours of a German intention to invade. In Northern Ireland, the division manned static defences, conducted internal security, and trained for future operations. Returning to England, the division participated in military exercises and was scheduled to join the 21st Army Group for the Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France. It lost this role in late 1943, and was assigned to train replacements for combat units. Throughout 1944, the division aided Overlord in various deception formats, while most of the men were posted to combat formations within 21st Army Group. In late 1945, the division was reorganised as a light division and was going to be deployed to the Far East to fight Imperial Japan. The move was cancelled following the Japanese surrender, and the division was disbanded in November 1945.