IX Corps (United Kingdom)

This article is about the United Kingdom Army unit. For other units of the same name, see IX Corps.

IX Corps
Active	1915–1919 1940–1943
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Corps
Engagements	World War I Gallipoli Campaign Battle of Messines (1917) Third Battle of Ypres Battles of the Lys Battle of the Aisne 1918 Battles of the Hindenburg Line Final Advance in Picardy World War II Tunisia Campaign
Commanders
Notable commanders	Frederick Stopford Julian Byng Alexander Hamilton-Gordon Walter Braithwaite John T. Crocker Brian Horrocks

IX Corps was a corps-sized formation of the British Army that existed during World War I and World War II.

World War I

The IX Corps was originally formed in England in 1915 in readiness to make a new landing at Suvla during the Battle of Gallipoli. Headquarters was formed at the Tower of London^[1]^[2] Command of the corps was given to Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stopford.^[1] His handling of the corps during the August Offensive warranted his replacement after only 9 days with Lieutenant-General Julian Byng.

During the Gallipoli campaign the corps comprised the following divisions:^[3]

10th (Irish) Division
11th (Northern) Division
13th (Western) Division
53rd (Welsh) Division
54th (East Anglian) Division
2nd Mounted Division
IX Corps Signals was provided by London District Signals, Royal Engineers^[2]^[4]

Following the British evacuation of Gallipoli, the corps was moved to France in 1916,^[1] where it was commanded by Alexander Hamilton-Gordon until he was relieved in 1918.

After severe losses during the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 the corps was moved south to a quiet sector to reform. This sector was the unlucky target of the next German offensive, the Third Battle of the Aisne in May–June 1918, causing further losses to IX Corps. General Duchene, commander of the French Sixth Army, had deployed IX corps (five divisions) too far forward, on the Chemin des Dames ridge which had been gained at such cost in the Second Battle of the Aisne the previous year. (The French Commander-in-Chief Petain and the Army Group Commander Franchet d’Esperey would have preferred the ridge to be lightly held and the main defence to be a battle zone between it and the Rive Aisne).^[5]

At the time of the Armistice the IX Corps was part of the Fourth Army.

World War II

IX Corps saw active service in Algeria and Tunisia during World War II as part of First Army. It was disbanded after the end of the Tunisia Campaign.^[6]

General Officers Commanding

Commanders included:^[2]^[7]

Lieutenant General Frederick Stopford^[8] (17 June–16 August 1915)
Major-General H. de B. De Lisle (acting) (16–24 August 1915)
Lieutenant General Julian Byng^[9] (24 August 1915 – 8 February 1916)
Lieutenant General Alexander Hamilton-Gordon^[10] (20 June 1916 – 10 September 1918)
Lieutenant General Walter Braithwaite^[11] (from 13 September 1918)
Lieutenant General Ridley Pakenham-Walsh (7 June 1941 - 17 November 1941)
Lieutenant General Edwin Morris (18 November 1941 - 31 January 1942)
Lieutenant General Francis Nosworthy (1 February 1942 - 11 September 1942)
Lieutenant General John Crocker (12 September 1942 - 29 May 1943)
Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks (29 May 1943 - 3 June 1943)

Notes

References

Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 4: The Army Council, GHQs, Armies, and Corps 1914–1918, London: HM Stationery Office, 1944/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-43-6.
Cliff Lord & Graham Watson, Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920–2001) and its Antecedents, Solihull: Helion, 2003, ISBN 1-874622-92-2.
Harris, J.P. Douglas Haig and the First World War. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-89802-7

Online sources

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