General Officer Commanding (GOC):
 

03.09.1939	Maj.Gen. B.T. Wilson
29.07.1941	Maj.Gen. G.C. Bucknall
12.09.1942	Maj.Gen. R.K. Ross
16.02.1945 (acting)	Brig. M. Elrington
10.03.1945	Maj.Gen. R.K. Ross
27.05.1945 (acting)	Brig. C.F.C. Coleman
03.06.1945	Maj.Gen. R.K. Ross
26.08.1945 (acting)	Brig. C.F.C. Coleman

Divisional troops

Royal Armoured Corps (RAC)
 

53rd Reconnaissance Regiment

01.01.1944-31.08.1945

Royal Engineers (RE)
 

244th Field Company	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
245th Field Company	03.09.1939-08.10.1939
282nd Field Company	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
555th Field Company	30.12.1939-31.08.1945
285th Field Park Company	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
22nd Bridging Platoon	01.10.1943-31.08.1945

Royal Signals (Sigs)
 

53rd Divisional Signals

03.09.1939-31.08.1945

Royal Artillery (RA)
 

81st Field Regiment	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
83rd Field Regiment	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
133rd Field Regiment	03.09.1939-31.08.1945
71st Anti-Tank Regiment	31.10.1940-11.04.1941 & 20.06.1941-31.08.1945
63rd Anti-Tank Regiment	12.04.1941-20.06.1941
116th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment	03.04.1942-02.12.1944
25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment	01.12.1944-31.08.1945

Infantry

Machine Gun Battalion
 

5th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment	11.11.1941-01.10.1942
1st Battalion The Manchester Regiment	28.02.1944-31.08.1945

Reconnaissance
 

53rd Reconnaissance Battalion	01.01.1941-05.06.1942
53rd Reconnaissance Regiment	06.06.1942-31.12.1943

Support Battalion
 

1st Battalion The Manchester Regiment

01.10.1943-27.02.1944

 

Brigades
 

158th Infantry Brigade

03.09.1939-22.10.1939 & 03.04.1940-31.08.1945

 

159th Infantry Brigade	03.09.1939-17.05.1942
31st Tank Brigade	17.05.1942-10.09.1943
71st Infantry Brigade	18.10.1943-31.08.1945

 

160th Infantry Brigade

03.09.1939-17.12.1939 & 03.04.1940-31.08.1945

 

Literature

• A.D. Bolland. Team spirit : the administration of an infantry division during "Operation Overlord" : France-Holland-Belgium-Germany, June 1944-May 1945 (Aldershot : Gale & Polden, 1948) 63 p.
• C.N. Barclay. The history of the 53rd (Welsh) Division in the Second World War (London : William Clowes, 1956) xvii, 233 p.
• Patrick Delaforce. Red crown and dragon : 53rd Welsh Division in North-West Europe, 1944-1945 (London : Tom Donovan Publishing, 1996) 224 p.

• John H. Roberts. Welsh bridges to the Elbe : the story of the Royal Engineers - 53rd (Welsh) Division, bridge builders of the Northern France and North-West Europe campaign (Oxford : Boldacre, 2000) 277 p.