Shoulder patch 49th "West Riding" Infantry Division (canvas)

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, 

On 13 June 1944, most of the 49th Division, after just over two years of training, landed in Normandy as part of Operation Overlord. The division arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Villers-Bocage, where the veteran 7th Armoured Divisionsuffered a serious setback, but were involved in the numerous attempts to capture the city of Caen. The division, after landing, was only involved in relatively small-scale skirmishes, most notably on 16 June around Tilly-sur-Seulles, where the 6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, of the 147th Brigade, suffered some 230 casualties − 30% of its war establishment strength − in a two-day battle whilst attempting to capture Le Parc de Boislande.The position was eventually taken by the 7th Battalion, Dukes. The 49th's first major action as a division came during Operation Martlet, the first phase of Operation Epsom, the British attempt to capture Caen. Although Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor's VIII Corps made the main effort, XXX Corps, with the 49th Division under control, was to protect VIII Corps right flank by seizing the Rauray ridge.

The operation commenced on 25 June, and the division, supported by elements of the 8th Armoured Brigade and a massive artillery barrage from over 250 guns, initially went well, with the first phase objective, the town of Fontenay, being captured by the end of the first day against units of two German panzer divisions (the 2nd and 9th).However, capturing Rauray itself proved more difficult although, after hard fighting, much of it in close quarters, it eventually fell to the 70th Brigade on 27 June which, for the next few days, had to ensure a series of very fierce counterattacks, with the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottishbearing the brunt of the German attacks, which were repulsed with heavy losses on both sides, although the Germans suffering by far the greater. It was during this period of the fierce fighting in Normandy that the Nazi propaganda broadcaster, Lord Haw-Haw, referred to the division as "the Polar Bear Butchers", apparently due to British soldiers wearing a Polar Bear flash who had massacred SS tank crew who were surrendering but were instead mowed down. The 49th's GOC, Major General "Bubbles" Barker, explained it in his diary on 2 July, "Yesterday the old 49 Div made a great name for itself and we are all feeling very pleased with ourselves. After being attacked on my left half, all day by infantry and tanks, we were in our original positions after a small scale counter attack by the evening. We gave him a real bloody nose and we calculate having knocked out some 35 tanks mostly Panthers. One of my Scots Battns distinguished themselves particularly. We gave him a proper knockout with our artillery with very strong concentration on any point where movement was expected".

The division, by now known widely as, "Barker's Bears", then held the line for the next few weeks, absorbing reinforcements and carrying out patrols until its participation in the Second Battle of the Odon, before, on 25 July, transferring from Bucknall's XXX Corps, in which the division had served nearly six months, to Lieutenant General John Crocker's I Corps. The corps was now part of the First Canadian Army and the 49th Division, on the corps' left flank, in August, took part in the advance towards the Falaise Pocket, where the Germans were attempting to retreat to, capturing thousands of Germans in the process. It was during this time that the division lost the 70th Brigade, which was broken up to provide reinforcements to other units.However, substituting the 70th Brigade was the 56th Brigade, formerly an independent formation comprising entirely Regular Army units which had landed in Normandy on D-Day.