As the division moved to take position alongside engaged Spanish forces, Stewart ordered his lead brigade to strike the flank of the attacking French.

[19] On 11 April 1815, after the outbreak of the War of the Seventh Coalition upon Napoleon's return to power, elements of this force became the 2nd Division under Clinton's command.

[21][22] During the afternoon, when French skirmishers attacked British cannons, the division's light infantry brigade – under the command of Major-General Frederick Adam – moved forward to drive them back and protect the guns.

[28] Adam's brigade, with one Hanoverian battalion in support, advanced towards the La Belle Alliance inn, the centre of the French position.

[37] Major-General George Jackson Carey took command of a 2nd Division, which was around 10,000 men strong and had been formed in September 1871 solely for training manoeuvres in England.

In the afternoon, it attacked across the river, fended off a counter-attack, and pushed the Russians from their positions, suffering 498 casualties during the day including Evans who was wounded.

[54] On 5 November, under heavy fog, the 2nd Division was assailed by an overwhelming Russian force and played an important role during the Battle of Inkerman.

[55][56] After the city had been subjected to several major cannonades, the division launched several failed attacks on Russian defensive positions, leading up to, and including the Battle of the Great Redan in 1855.

[61][62][d] The Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, after tensions rose between the British Empire and the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.

Before the division arrived in southern Africa, the Boers invaded the British Cape and Natal colonies, and besieged Kimberley and Ladysmith respectively.

[66][70] Clery intended to use this force to push across the Tugela River, punch through the entrenched Boer positions on the opposite bank and relieve Ladysmith.

Buller denied Clery's request for approval to further advance, and the Boers seized the high ground and penned the division against the river.

[89] During this period, the main British force had employed looting and burning farms as a tactic; Buller forbade his troops from doing similar.

By the end of 1900 the field divisions had been broken up to disperse the troops to garrison towns and create more mobile forces to counter the new Boer tactics.

[103][104] While II Corps saw the brunt of the fighting during the Battle of Mons, the division entrenched around 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the city and contended with shellfire and false reports of German movements.

[132] By 1918 the number of front-line infantry within the British Army in France had decreased because of casualties and a lack of eligible reinforcements, leading to a manpower crisis.

David Fraser, a historian and former British general, wrote that the regular formations of the BEF were well-trained in small arms, but lacked tactical skill.

Though mobile, the formations lacked specialist weapons, ammunition, spare parts, and communication equipment because of the budget cuts of the inter-war period.

The La Bassée Canal and the river Aa, in France, were the only defensible positions that covered the BEF's southern and western flank.

[157][158] On 26 May, with the majority of the BEF bound within a closing perimeter on the French coast and lacking the ability to hold the position, the decision was made to evacuate from Dunkirk, the only remaining port in British hands.

[160] Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, a historian, wrote this was "the most difficult assignment handed to any unit in the BEF" and that the difficulty of this task "can be gauged by the small number of soldiers who returned home".

[164] Lionel Ellis, who wrote the volume focused on the BEF in France for the History of the Second World War, stated the division "had indeed sacrificed itself to keep open the line of retirement", delayed the Germans, and ensured French formations were not trapped.

[174][175][176] In November 1942 the division's 6th Infantry Brigade was detached and assigned to several British Indian Army formations, and fought in the Arakan Campaign in Burma.

The 2nd and the 36th Infantry Divisions were selected to be relieved because of the increasing shortage of British manpower in Asia, which impeded the ability to maintain them at full strength.

This was, in part, the result of the "python" scheme that aimed to repatriate soldiers who had served in Asia for at least three years and eight months back to the UK.

The Soviet forces would then be lured into a killing zone where they would suffer disproportionate losses at the hands of British anti-tank guided missile-equipped infantry and tanks in hull-down defensive positions.

[202] The doctrine envisioned that this attritional battle would allow the BAOR to resist a Soviet advance and buy enough time for one of several contingencies to be implemented.

[211] With the removal of the brigade level, it was intended that the division could form up to five battlegroups with each based around the headquarters of either an armoured regiment or infantry battalion.

[212] David John Anthony Stone, a historian, commented the system was "designed to allow the commander maximum flexibility and [to] take precise account of the operational or tactical task to be achieved".

[235][236][237][238] A memorial tablet was placed in the Royal Garrison Church, listing the units that fought with the division during World War I, and also incorporating the three stars.