The British XVI Corps was a British infantry corps during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. During
World War II
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 opposing ...
the identity was recreated for deceptive purposes.
History
British XVI Corps was formed in
Salonika
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
in January 1916 under Lieutenant General
George Milne
Field Marshal George Francis Milne, 1st Baron Milne, (5 November 1866 – 23 March 1948) was a senior British Army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1926 to 1933. He served in the Second Boer War and during ...
.
[ Milne was starved of resources by Sir William Robertson who considered all operations outside the Western Front to be "side shows".][Heathcote, T.A., p.210] The Corps Headquarters were at Kirechkoi to the east of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
from January 1916 until the advance to the Struma in September 1916. From May 1916 it was one of two corps within the British Salonika Army
The British Salonika Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I. After the armistice in November 1918, it was disbanded, but component units became the newly formed Army of the Black Sea, and General Milne remained in command.
Fi ...
. 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 Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
n and Turkish positions in a river valley that was infested with mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
s. British operations in the Balkans Campaign were costly: the allies lost over 7,000 troops at the Battle of Doiran in September 1918 alone.
Component units
Component units included:
British XVI Corps
*10th (Irish) Division
The 10th (Irish) Division, was one of the first of Kitchener's New Army K1 Army Group divisions (formed from Kitchener's 'first hundred thousand' new volunteers), authorized on 21 August 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War. It included ...
* British 27th Division
* British 28th Division
*1/1st Surrey Yeomanry
Second World War
In 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.[Thaddeus Holt. ''The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War''. Phoenix. 2005. ]
Subordinate units
As initially created, the corps contained the following divisions in addition to the usual supporting troops:
General Officers Commanding
Commanders included:
*January 1916 - May 1916 Lieutenant-General George Milne
Field Marshal George Francis Milne, 1st Baron Milne, (5 November 1866 – 23 March 1948) was a senior British Army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1926 to 1933. He served in the Second Boer War and during ...
[
*May 1916 - November 1918 Lieutenant-General Charles Briggs''Who's who in World War One'' By J. M. Bourne, p.38]
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References
* Heathcote, T.A. (1999). ''The British Field Marshals 1736-1997''. Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
* Alan Wakefield, Simon Moody, Under the Devil's Eye; Britain's Forgotten Army in Salonika, 1915-1918.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:16 Corps
British field corps
Corps of the British Army in World War I
Fictional units of World War II