The Twelfth Army was a British Army formation during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. The Twelfth Army denotation was actually used twice; firstly, in 1943, for a fictional formation and secondly, in 1945, in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
.
The Twelfth Army moniker was originally used by
Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force
Advanced Headquarters 'A' Force, generally referred to as 'A' Force, was the name of a deception department during the Second World War. It was set up in March 1941 and based in Cairo under Brigadier Dudley Clarke. General Archibald Wavell, the c ...
, a Cairo-based deception department created by
Dudley Clarke, for a formation used in
Operation Barclay
Operation Barclay was a World War II deception by the Allies in support of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
The goal was to deceive the Axis powers as to the location of the Allies' assault across the Mediterranea ...
and
Operation Zeppelin. It was later used for a real formation in Burma, which took over operations from the Fourteenth Army and would later become Burma Command.
1943: Middle East
A British Twelfth Army was initially invented by
'A' Force as part as the deception plan for
Operation Husky
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
, the Allied invasion of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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in July 1943. The Western Allies attempted to convince the Germans that their main effort during 1943 would be to land the Twelfth Army in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and then advance into the eastern
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
during the early part of the summer of 1943 with the aim of bringing
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
into the war and then linking up with the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
.
The deception plan attempted to convince the Germans that this army had twelve divisions under its control and was located in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
.
The army's formation insignia was a trained
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...
balancing on its nose a terrestrial globe showing the Eastern Hemisphere, black on a white background. The insignia was supposed to symbolize an amphibious creature treating the whole world as its own.
Subordinate units
Between 1943 and 1945, when it was disbanded to allow the formation of the second British Twelfth Army, its nominal existence was used to create the impression of a standing threat to the Balkans. During this period the units shown under its control varied, depending on the target chosen. The following list includes all units mentioned as forming part of the Twelfth Army or its component corps.
Corps
*
British III Corps (fictional)
*
British XIV Corps (fictional)
*
British XVI Corps (fictional)
*
Polish III Corps (fictional)
Divisions
*
Polish 2nd Armored Division
*
British 4th Airborne Division (fictional)
*
British 5th Airborne Division (fictional)
*
British 5th Infantry Division
* Polish 7th Infantry Division
*
British 8th Armored Division (fictional)
* Polish 8th Infantry Division (fictional)
*
![15th deception armoured](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/15th_deception_armoured.svg)
British 15th Motorized Division (fictional)
*
British 33rd Infantry Division (fictional)
*
British 34th Infantry Division (fictional)
*
British 40th Infantry Division (fictional)
*
British 42nd Infantry Division (fictional)
*
British 56th Infantry Division
*
British 57th Infantry Division (fictional)
1945: Burma
![12th army](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/12th_army.svg)
The second British Twelfth Army was formed on 28 May 1945, to take control of operations in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
from the
Fourteenth Army, which was being withdrawn to plan for
Operation Zipper, the planned invasion of
Malaya by amphibious assault, which was due to take place in August 1945.
![The British Reoccupation of Burma, 1945 SE5415](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/The_British_Reoccupation_of_Burma%2C_1945_SE5415.jpg)
The army HQ was created by re-designating the HQ of the
Indian XXXIII Corps, under Lieutenant-General
Sir Montagu Stopford. It took over one of the Fourteenth Army's main combat formations,
IV Corps which was temporarily commanded by Lieutenant-General
Francis Tuker, with
5th
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...
,
17th and
19th
19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number.
Mathematics
19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...
Indian Divisions and
255th Indian Tank Brigade
The 255th Indian Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade of the Indian Army during World War II. It was part of the Fourteenth Army and saw action in the Burma Campaign. The 255th Tank Brigade's tactical sign was a black bull, with yellow horns and ...
under its command. Twelfth Army assumed direct command of
7th
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...
and
20th Indian Divisions, together with 22nd East African Brigade. Static formations under its control included 505 District and South Burma District.
There were still Japanese formations in Burma at this time, with IV Corps having the responsibility for driving them out of the remainder of the country. The Japanese
tried to break out from the Allied armies closing in on them, and although suffering heavy casualties, did succeed in rescuing some of their formations.
After the war, Twelfth Army continued in existence until 1 November, when it was re designated
Burma Command.
The formation insignia was a
Chinthe
''Chinthe'' ( my, ခြင်္သေ့ (); mnw, ဇာဒိသိုၚ် (); shn, သၢင်ႇသီႈ ()) is the Burmese word for 'lion'. The leograph of ''Chinthe'' is a highly stylized lion commonly depicted in Burmese iconogra ...
on a red background, with a superimposed horizontal black stripe on which was written "XII" in white letters.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
{{Allied Military Deception in World War II
Military units and formations established in 1943
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
12
12
Fictional units of World War II
Military units and formations of the British Empire in World War II