Formation patch 1st Infantry Division (Artillery)

At the start of Second World War, the 1st Infantry Division was stationed at Aldershot and commanded by Major General the Hon. Harold Alexander (who had assumed command in 1938). The division was sent to France in mid-September 1939, arriving there on 20 September, where it formed part of Lieutenant General Sir John Dill's I Corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).The division, unlike in the First World War, was not immediately engaged in fighting, and was to remain in France for the next few months until evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo in June 1940