According to the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, men of the TF were not obligated to serve overseas without their permission and so, on 31 August, the division was ordered to form a second-line reserve unit, the 2nd West Riding Division, formed mainly from those men who, for various reasons, choose not to volunteer for overseas service.

By mid-April, the division was in France, and was to remain on the Western Front as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for the rest of the war.

[3] In early 1918, the division, now commanded by Major General Neville Cameron, was again holding a quiet sector of the Western Front.

[3] Throughout January and February, due to a severe shortage of manpower in the BEF, many of the division's infantry battalions were either disbanded, merged with other understrength units or posted elsewhere.

In the event, this was not to happen as, in February 1940, the division received orders to form part of "Avonforce" and be sent to Finland, via Norway, and aid the Finnish Army during its Winter War with the Soviet Union.

The brigades returned to the United Kingdom, where, on 10 June, the division was reconstituted in Scottish Command[8] under Major General Henry Curtis.

Subsequently the 49th Division was issued with a new "aggressive" insignia, now featuring a Polar Bear with its head facing upwards, roaring.

The division, after landing, was only involved in relatively small-scale skirmishes, most notably on 16 June around Tilly-sur-Seulles, where the 6th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, of the 147th Brigade, suffered some 230 casualties − 30% of its war establishment strength − in a two-day battle whilst attempting to capture Le Parc de Boislonde.

[27] However, capturing Rauray itself proved more difficult although, after hard fighting, much of it in close quarters, it eventually fell to the 70th Brigade on 27 June which, for the next few days, had to ensure a series of very fierce counterattacks, with the 1st Battalion, Tyneside Scottish and 11th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry bearing the brunt of the German attacks, which were repulsed with heavy losses on both sides, although the Germans suffering by far the greater.

The 49th's GOC, Major General "Bubbles" Barker, explained it in his diary on 2 July, "Yesterday the old 49 Div made a great name for itself and we are all feeling very pleased with ourselves.

[29] The division, by now known widely as, "Barker's Bears", then held the line for the next few weeks, absorbing reinforcements and carrying out patrols[30] until its participation in the Second Battle of the Odon, before, on 25 July, transferring from Bucknall's XXX Corps, in which the division had served nearly six months, to Lieutenant General John Crocker's I Corps.

[31] It was during this time that the division lost the 70th Brigade, which as a junior, 2nd line territorial formation, was broken up to provide reinforcements to other units.

[37] It was during this period that the division was awarded its first and only Victoria Cross (VC) of the Second World War, belonging to Corporal John Harper of the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment.

Operation Pheasant commenced in the third week of October, with the objective, after Tilburg and Breda had fallen to the 49th, being the capture of the town of Roosendaal, which fell after ten days of vicious fighting.

[39] Major General Barker described the town as "not much of a place, bombed by USAF early in the year... We have crossed 20 miles in 10 days and had to fight every inch of it".

Barker's handling of the 49th "Polar Bears" Division, most notably during Operation Epsom in Normandy, had clearly impressed his superiors.

[42] He later wrote that "My fortune was to command the Polar Bears whose achievements were made possible by its great efficiency at all levels, its high morale and the marvellous team work.....

[6] After the new GOC's assumption of command, the next few months for the division, now serving as part of II Canadian Corps,[8] commanded by Lieutenant General Guy Simonds, were spent mainly in small-scale skirmishing, including numerous patrols in attempts to dominate no man's land, and garrisoning the area between the River Waal and the Lower Rhine, also known as "The Island", created in the aftermath of the failed Operation Market Garden.

[44] However, in late March 1945, the division, commanded now by Major General Stuart Rawlins after MacMillan was ordered to become GOC of the 51st (Highland) Division, received orders to clear "The Island", which, after much hard fighting but relatively light casualties, was cleared in early April, before advancing north-eastwards towards Arnhem.

[46] Just after the German surrender on 7 May 1945, the 49th Division played a part in the liberation of Utrecht, with the 49th Reconnaissance Regiment entering first, followed by Canadian troops.

During the course of the Second World War, from Normandy to Arnhem, the 49th Division had suffered 11,000 officers and men wounded or missing, with 1,642 of these being killed in action.

Finally, it underwent its last major change in 1961, when it was renamed to the 49th (West Riding and North Midland) Division/District, and the 147th Infantry Brigade was removed from its composition.

It is located is immediately behind Essex Farm Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, on top of the canal bank.