Commands

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is divided into the following Commands/Districts. All British forces appearing in a Command/District appear in any major city, dot city or reference city hex in that area.

Scottish Command (includes the Shetland and Orkney Islands): Glasgow, Edinburgh (HQ), Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock, Invergordon, Lerwick, Kirkwall

Northern Command. Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Newcastleupon-Tyne, Sunderland, Kingston-upon-Hull, Nottingham, Leicester, Middlesbrough (HO: Hex 11 A:2830, York)

Western Command. Liverpool, Manchester, Birkenhead, Bolton, Stoke-on-Trent, Carlisle, Cardiff, Swansea, Milford Haven (HQ: Hex 12A:2805, Chester)

Eastern Command. Cambridge, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Harwich, Ramsgate, Dover, Eastbourne, Brighton (HQ at London)

Southern Command. Birmingham, Bristol, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Northampton, Oxford, Gloucester, Reading, Exeter (HQ: Hex 12A:3908, Salisbury)

Aldershot Command. Hex 12A:4105

London District. Hexesl2A:4003,12A:4103,12A:4104

Northern Ireland District. Belfast, Londonderry

Antiaircraft Command: Static AA points as per TFH OB

The Channel Islands: Guernsey/Alderney and Jersey were separate districts.

Gibraltar

Malta

General Headquarters Middle East Forces
includes Egypt, Palestine, Transjordan, The Sudan, British Somaliland, Aden, Iraq

East Africa Force (Kenya)

General Headquarters West Africa (off-map box)

General Notes

Indian Army reinforcements may appear at any port hex in Egypt or The Sudan (for empire forces "east of Suez" see ETO No. 47; and David Hughes's forthcoming article in TEM).

GHQ-Home Forces represent the training and replacement units of the Army; they include active units that are forming or lack equipment. They are activated under the Second Front garrisons and emergency forces rule; some units are released as per the OB/OA; these units are not placed on the board until released or activated.

The overseas garrison units (Gibraltar, Malta and GHQ-MEF garrisons) are placed on the board, but are not released unless called for in the OB/OA or under the garrison and emergency forces rule.

INITIAL FORCES, Sep I 1939

London District
1x 3-8* Inf X 1 Gds
Hex 12*4105 (Aldershot):
1x 3-8* Inf X 4
4x 2-8* Inf X 2, 3, 5, 6
1x0-1-4Tank II 4RT
2x 4-3-8 Art X 1, 2
2x transport counters
Hex 12A:41 10 (Bovington Camp):
3x 2-1-8 Lt Arm X 1, 2, 3
Hex 12A:4207 (Portsmouth):
1 x 3-8* Inf X 7 Gds
Hex 12A:4302 (Chatham):
1x1-2-8 Eng X 1
Hex 12A:3715 (Plymouth):
1x 2-8* Inf X 8
Hex 12A:3608 (Bristol):
1x 2-8* Inf X 9
Hex 12A:4202 (Shomcliffe).
1x3-8* Inf X 10
Hex 11A:4132 (Colchester):
1x 2-8* Inf X 11
Hex 11A.4533 (Dover):
1x 2-8* Inf X 12
Hex 11A: 1630 (Edinburgh):
1x 3-8* Inf X 13
Hex 11A.2329 (Newcastle-upon-Tyne):
1x 2-8 Inf X 15

Gibraltar (garrison):
1 x 2-3-4* Fortress X 1 G
1 pt position AA

Malta (garrison):
1x 2-3-6* Inf X 1 M
1 pt position AA

GHQ-MEF Anywhere in Egypt.
2x 2-1-8 Lt Arm X 4, 7
1x10 Arm XX HQ 7

Alexandria or any city along the Suez Canal.
1x 2-8* Inf X 11 (Ind)
1x 1-8 MG II 1 NF
1x 0-4 Con X 45 (Ind)
Hex 19.3226 (Cairo) (garrison):
1x 2-3-6 Inf X Cairo
Hex 19:3725 (Suez) (garrison):
1x2-3-6 Inf X Canal
Hex 19:2423 (Alexandria) (garrison):
1 pt position AA

Comment
To defend the Suez Canal, the vital link to India, the British kept substantial forces in Egypt. Under the recent Anglo-Egyptian treaty, most of them were kept in cities along the canal and in Alexandria (the site of the major British naval base).

Only the embryonic 7th Armored Division (the "Mobile Division-Egypt") was free to deploy forward to the Libyan border.

Any city in Cyprus (garrison):
1x 0-1-4 Inf II Cyp

Hex 19.4515 (Jerusalem) (garrison):
1x2-6 Inf X JA

Any other cities in Palestine (one per city) (garrison):
2x 2-3-6 Inf X 14,16
1x 1-8 Cav X Pal

Comment
Due to prewar "anti- Jewish policies" of the Government (Churchill, Their Finest Hour, pp.172-173) and the resulting Arab-Jewish conflict, the British had substantial forces tied up in Palestine, including 14 infantry battalions and 2 reinforced horsed cavalry regiments. Despite the outbreak of the war and the resulting arrival of the 1st Cavalry Division and Australian forces for training, most of these units remained in Palestine until the infantry was at last freed for duties in Crete and the Western Desert as components of the 70th Infantry Division (the 2 cavalry regiments were mechanized).

A small British force, composed of detachments of units in Palestine, was deployed on Cyprus in 1939.

Hex AO. 1317 (Khartoum) (garrison):
1x 2-3-6 Inf X 21
1x 0-1-8 InfX SDF (Col)

Any other cities in The Sudan (one per city) (garrison):
3x 0-1-6 Inf II SWAC,SEC,SEAC
Hex A0.4205 (Berbera) (garrison):
1x 0-1-8 Cav II SCC(Col)
Hex A0.3701 (Aden) (garrison):
1x 0-2-4* Fortress II 5 (AA=l)
Note: AO coordinates are for Africa Orientalis map.
Hex 22.3028 (Habbaniya) (garrison):
1x 0-1-4* Inf II IL (Col)
Hex 22.4515 (Shaibah) (garrison):
1x 0-1-4* Inf II IL (Col)
East Africa Force (any city in Kenya):
1 x 2-6 Inf X 21 EA (Col)
GHQ West Africa deployment box.
2x 2-6 Inf X 1WA,2WA(Col)

The British Army Order of Battle September 1939 to December 1940

Overview
Commands and Initial Forces
Reinforcements and Reaction Forces
Replacements and Glossary