Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 50379-h.htm or 50379-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50379/50379-h/50379-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50379/50379-h.zip) Transcriber's note: This text includes characters that require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding. If the œ (oe ligature) or the apostrophes and quotation marks appear as garbage, make sure your text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding” is set to UTF-8 (Unicode). You may also need to change the default font. Page numbers are displayed in the right margin. Additional notes are at the end of the book. THE 56th DIVISION [Illustration: _Photo, Elliott & Fry._ MAJOR-GENERAL SIR AMYATT HULL, K.C.B. [_Frontispiece_] THE 56th DIVISION (1st London Territorial Division) by MAJOR C. H. DUDLEY WARD D.S.O., M.C. With a Foreword by General Lord Horne of Stirkoke, G.C.B., K.C.M.G. London John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1921 All Rights Reserved TO THE MEMORY OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES PATRICK AMYATT HULL, K.C.B. BORN JULY 3RD, 1865 DIED JULY 24TH, 1920 FOREWORD When day broke on the 28th March, 1918, the 56th London Territorial Division was in position on the southern portion of the Vimy Ridge. At nightfall the division still held its ground, having beaten back three separate assaults delivered in great strength by picked German troops specially trained in the attack and inspired with confidence resulting from the successes of the previous week. Truly a great achievement, and important as great, for the Vimy Ridge covered the city of Arras and the coalfields of Béthune. Important as this success was held to be at the time, a time of great strain upon the forces of the Empire, it was not till later on, when Ludendorff took us into his confidence, that we learned its full significance. Ludendorff gives us to understand that the failure of the German effort of 28th March constituted the turning-point of the 1918 campaign. That evening Ludendorff recognised the beginning of the end; the German nation lost heart; the _moral_ of the German Army deteriorated rapidly. I have selected the above--one of the many achievements of the 56th London Territorial Division--to illustrate the stage of efficiency to which the troops of our Territorial Army had attained in war.