The British XVI Corps was a British infantry corps during World War I. During World War II the identity was recreated for deceptive purposes.
XVI Corps | |
---|---|
Active | World War I |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Field corps |
Part of | British Salonika Army |
Engagements | World War I[1] |
British XVI Corps was formed in Salonika in January 1916 under Lieutenant General George Milne.[1] Milne was starved of resources by Sir William Robertson who considered all operations outside the Western Front to be "side shows".[2] The Corps Headquarters were at Kirechkoi to the east of Thessaloniki from January 1916 until the advance to the Struma in September 1916.[3] From May 1916 it was one of two corps within the British Salonika Army. The campaign developed into a battle for position with trenches and emplacements from which the General Officer Commanding (Lieutenant-General Charles Briggs) undertook limited actions to capture Bulgarian and Turkish positions in a river valley that was infested with mosquitos.[4] British operations in the Balkans Campaign were costly: the allies lost over 7,000 troops at the Battle of Doiran in September 1918 alone.[5]
Component units included:[6]
British XVI Corps
In World War II the British XVI Corps was notionally reformed as part of the British Twelfth Army, a fictitious formation created under Operation Cascade. The formation insignia was a phoenix arising from red flames and bearing a flaming torch in its mouth, on a white ground.[7]
As initially created, the corps contained the following divisions in addition to the usual supporting troops:[7]
Commanders included: