The 41st Division of the British Army was a New Army division, which saw service on the Western Front and in Italy during the First World War. The division was formed as part of the fifth wave (K5) of divisions in the New Army; it did not have a regional title, but was composed primarily of recruits from the south of England. Several of its battalions had been raised by local communities, and were named for their towns or industries. After training and home service, it deployed to the Western Front in mid-1916; its first major combat came in September of that year, at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. After fighting in 1917 at the Battle of Messines and Third Battle of Ypres it was transferred to the Italian Front. It remained here for three months through the winter of 1917-18 before retur