Talk:66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Peacemaker67 (talk · contribs) 01:53, 11 January 2015 (UTC)


 * A few notes-
 * I'm fairly sure we've got over 1914-18 a few time before and considered it generally acceptable, but can't immediately find past discussions - [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Reginald Pinney|notes at a previous A-class][. With a couple of exceptions, it's used primarily for organizational details; this is the sort of material that isn't found in the Official History and would normally use a divisional history for. However, there's no divisional history for 66th Division. It might be possible to reconstruct the organizational history from the Official History OOB supplement volumes, and it's what I'd recommend for an FA... but I've never seen those, and AIUI 1914-18 is mostly taken from them in any case.
 * I think I agree on Nafziger but, again, there's not much else out there for a short-lived Home Service division ;-)
 * I think multiple iterations of the OOB are needed; the alternative is a very messy list with lots of "(until 4 April)" type comments. 1914-18 (and our brigade) articles do this, and the result is that it's very hard to understand what happened. The first and second could possibly be merged (they're much the same but with some renumbering), but the third and fourth are significantly different to what went before. Would the size issue be helped by collapsing them?. Andrew Gray (talk) 19:13, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Done 6b. Andrew Gray (talk) 19:24, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Quite agree about several OOBs, they take up space but I think that the alternative is far worse. Apropos my recent edits, there isn't much interest among editors in the articles I mostly contribute to, so if you think any of my edits here are presumptuous or should be discussed first, apologies and please let me know.Keith-264 (talk) 19:46, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

I saw this the other day which might help with compression (assuming I'm not teaching anyone to suck eggs).Keith-264 (talk) 19:57, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Good idea Keith, I reviewed that one, I think the navbox would be a great idea. It can be collapsed and placed to one side and it is much smaller. Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 21:52, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * If Andrew can use his Wikimojo to merge the first two as he suggested and the others go in a version of that navbox, it could resolve the conflict between comprehensiveness and brevity and perhaps also be a model for other divisional pages?Keith-264 (talk) 22:02, 11 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure how well it would work with three separate instances, though (and I'm definitely convinced you need at least three - 1917, 1918, 1939 are all quite different). On the other hand, you could move it to the appropriate section rather than lumping them all at the end. I'll have a play around with the sidebar approach versus collapsing the end tables and see what they look like. Andrew Gray (talk) 18:18, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * It occurred that that format would need three several boxes, if you wanted to use it or it would be mile long when open ;O) I'm happy to defer to your wikimojo.Keith-264 (talk) 18:27, 12 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I would at least collapse the OOBs. It really overpowers the article and makes it a bit "listy". Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 00:26, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Curious about semi-colons in the second para of Formation and home service. Are they really necessary?Keith-264 (talk) 10:11, 16 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Semicolons: I tend to overuse them so possibly not, but I think it helps to distinguish between the brigades. Breaking them fully into sentences would feel too bitty.
 * I'd prefer commas because I'm an anglophone monoglot.;O)Keith-264 (talk) 13:00, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
 * OOBs: tried "individually" collapsing the OOBs but this doesn't work very well; there's some kind of messy table intersection going on. Either we can have four separately collapsible entries with headers, which might look a bit raggedy, or one collapsible entry with the columns all aligned for tidiness - happy to defer on which you think is prettier but have used the latter for now. Sidebar method didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Thoughts?
 * Looks OK to me.
 * Bethell: good catch! The Army List & Who's Who both confirm 35 (turned 36 in September '18). I hadn't seen the note about his youthfulness; I'd always remembered Ironside as being youngest, but that may be hinging on promotion to MG rather than divisional command. I'll look into this one a bit more and see if a biography exists, but there do seem to be some remarkable anecdotes out there... Andrew Gray (talk) 10:43, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Bethell is now in there. I've sadly left out the best quote, by his GSO.1 - "a wonderful fighting soldier, but a terror to the administration of an army". One for a later biography... Andrew Gray (talk) 11:32, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Gleaned some details from the 1918 OH volumes, Travers appears to have misconstrued the command changes in March, implying a collapse when the OH records the headquarters going forward. I have left the passage in since it's cited and rather than add a long explanation have added the OH version.Keith-264 (talk) 10:34, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Found a few details about Bethell in the OH and the 25th Div history.Keith-264 (talk) 13:00, 17 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Addressed suggestions above, don't think I missed any. Keith-264 (talk) 09:43, 19 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Gleanings from later books
 * Griffith, P. (1996). Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack 1916–1918. London: Yale. ISBN 0-30006-663-5.

"Major-General Bethell was another notorious pirate, who re-created 66th Division from scratch in the autumn of 1918, stealing guns, ammunition trains and even whole infantry brigades from their officially intended formations, to forge them all into a successful vanguard for Fourth Army's October advances." p. 28

"... (e.g. 66th Division effectively vanished after the March onslaught on Fifth Army but reappeared as a spearhead of Fourth Army, complete with a reconstituted South African brigade, for the last two months of the war)." pp. 218-219

Sheffield, G.; Bourne, J. (2005). Douglas Haig: War Diaries and Letters 1914–1918 (1st ed.). Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 0-297-84702-3. "I also saw the three brigadiers, Onslow, 7 Brigade, Bethell 74 Brigade and Pratt 75 Brigade...." "Bethell is a Brevet Major in 7th Hussars having gone from the Indian infantry (Gurkhas) to that corps." p. 247

"Brigadier-General (later Major-General Sir) (Hugh) Keppel Bethell ('Beetle') (1882-1947), GOC 74 Brigade, 1916-18. He took over the shattered 66th Division in March 1918 and led it for the rest of the war; he was - at thirty-five - the youngest British divisional commander of both world wars." p. 247, fn 4. Keith-264 (talk) 22:32, 19 January 2015 (UTC)



"... by 26 March, 66 division, commanded by Gough's Chief of Staff in 1917, Neill Malcolm, simply ceased to function as a unit." "By 27 March 66 Division HQ had disappeared and the enemy was through the gap between the division and its neighbour." p. 233.

I fear that this exhausts my sources less than a century old. Did anyone ever find the HQ? Keith-264 (talk) 09:08, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Well, they would be good additions, no doubt. Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 22:07, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
 * FWIW, Who's Who in World War I by Bourne has more bio info on Bethell. You'll need to get a hold of someone with Questia access. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 22:33, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914-1918 by Davies and Maddocks mentions the CRA 66th Division (Brigadier-General Arthur Lowe) being killed in November 1917. IMO, death of a one-star (even in WWI) is worth mentioning. Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 22:53, 20 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Now added - believe it or not, he wasn't the first; commander of 198 Brigade was killed by shellfire shortly after they arrived. Unfortunately I got BRT from a Google ebook so no pagenumbers. Andrew Gray (talk) 21:50, 27 January 2015 (UTC)


 * the PhD original of British Generalship on the Western Front 1914-1918: Defeat into Victory (Military History and Policy) 2006 by Simon Robbins has

Bethell, Major-General Sir (Hugh) Keppel "Beetle" (1882- 1947) Charterhouse and R.M.A. Entered Royal Artillery, 1901; p.s.c.; transferred to 9th Gurkha Rifles, 1905, and 7th Hussars, 1914; Staff Captain, Meerut Cavalry Brigade, 1914- 15; Brigade-Major, 8th Cavalry Brigade, 1915; 0_C. 1/ Northamptonshire Regiment, 1915-16; G.0.C. 74th Brigade, 1916-18; D.S.0., 1917; G.0.C. 66th Division, 1918-19; C.M.G., 1918; C.B., 1919; G.0.C. Presidency and Assam District, 1930-34; retired, 1935. A headstrong character and at 36 the youngest British Divisional Commander on the Western Front. His father also served during the war! (p. 383) Keith-264 (talk) 13:13, 23 January 2015 (UTC)


 * 22 Mar

Watts' XIX Corps, strengthened by 1st Cavalry Division, faced the renewed attacks of Marwitz's left wing, starting with a three-hour bombardment. The British 66th Division was driven fighting from its Battle Zone; seven of its detachments broke out of encirclement. Six tanks and dismounted hussars counter-attacked at noon, temporarily easing the pressure, but at 12.45 p.m. Watts ordered his two original divisions to retreat behind 50th Division, now frantically digging in along eight miles of the Rear Zone Green Line. p. 45

30 Mar North of the Luce 66th Division was helped by three 39th Division counter-attacks but Demuin eventually fell. Watts sent in 12th Lancers who retook a wood that became Lancer Wood. p. 76

This is the extract from Bourne's Who's Who in WWI: pp. 24–25 Bethell, (Hugh) Keppel (1882-1947) British military commander, who assumed command of the shattered 66th (2/East Lancashire) Division in March 1918 at the age of 35, making him the youngest British divisional commander of both world wars. Bethell, universally known as 'The Beetle', began the war as a captain in the 7th Hussars, but he had also served in the Royal Artillery and Indian army, an indication of his restless character that abhorred inaction. Neither superiors nor subordinates were exempt from his towering rages and impossible, often contradictory, demands. His career on the Western Front as staff captain, brigade major, infantry battalion, brigade and divisional commander was marked by complete contempt for all rules, regulations and procedures. One of his staff officers, Walter Guinness, described him as 'the most insubordinate person that I have ever come across'. He was notorious for poaching officers and stealing equipment from other units. In March 1918 he sought to reinforce the firepower of his new command by commandeering all the weapons from the British army's Machine-Gun School at Camiers, reassuring his (totally unauthorised) staff that he would soon square things with his friend 'Duggie'. (In fact, Field-Marshal HAIG was not amused; 66th Division was pulled out of the line and sent to train American drafts.) In the 'Hundred Days', however, Bethell got his chance. His division, supported by two squadrons of the Royal Air Force, a brigade of cavalry and other units, operated as the all-arms spearhead of the Fourth Army in the advance to the Rhine. Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 01:28, 24 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Quick update (as of 27/1) - I've now updated most of the article except the Spring Offensive, and I'm working through that - I think I've more or less got my head around what happened but I'm still assembling it all. I'll go through after that's done and check all the smaller points have been followed up. Apologies for taking a bit longer than hoped! Andrew Gray (talk) 23:13, 27 January 2015 (UTC)
 * No worries, I like the way you're approaching it. Happy to give you some more time. Regards, Peacemaker67 (crack... thump) 23:17, 27 January 2015 (UTC)
 * 1300 words was more than I intended for the Spring Offensive, but at least it's detailed! Unfortunately they seem to vanish from the sources around 28 March, but it's clear they hung around Amiens until basically falling apart. Content now all in place, I think, and will give it a close copyedit tomorrow.
 * The 66th remnants were withdrawn 30/31 March, added a couple of items of local colour; Little was a Lieut-Colonel so I assume a battalion commander.Keith-264 (talk) 10:50, 2 February 2015 (UTC)