- published: 13 Jan 2016
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The 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, which saw service in the trenches of the Western Front, during the later years of the Great War. Disbanded after the war, it was reformed in 1939 in the Territorial Army as the 66th Infantry Division but disbanded in 1940, without seeing active service in the Second World War.
The division was created shortly after the outbreak of the First World War at the end of August 1914, as the 2nd East Lancashire Division, a second-line formation of the East Lancashire Division, composed primarily of soldiers from eastern Lancashire and the industrial towns around Manchester. After training and home service, it deployed to the Western Front in early 1917; its first major combat came in October of that year, at the Battle of Poelcappelle. In March 1918, it suffered extremely heavy losses during the German Army's Spring Offensive and was withdrawn from the line and reduced to a cadre in order to rebuild. It returned to the front in time for the Battle of Cambrai, part of the Hundred Days Offensive and the Battle of the Selle. Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918, it was stationed in Belgium, where it was demobilised in March 1919.
Knowing
Is what people tell you
That you're thinking wrong
Embrace you,
But they really mean 'So long'
You talk to them
They laugh aloud
Yet they run to you
In any crowd
Please talk to me again
I need you
We're dancing
We will come and dance near you
We want to learn
Let us come and sitar with you
Distort my ears when
The music's loud
Yet you raise your hatchet
In the yellow crowd
Please talk to me again
I need you
Knowing
Is what people tell you
That you're thinking wrong
Embrace you,
But they really mean 'So long'
You talk to them
They laugh aloud
Yet they run to you
In any crowd
Please talk to me again
I need you