of CinC Ireland and GOCinC III Corps. Under Army Order No 38 of 1907, the title III Corps disappeared, but the Irish Command was constituted as a corps comprising 3rd Cavalry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division and 6th Infantry Division. First World War Pre-war planning for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) did not envisage any intermediate headquarters between GHQ and the six infantry divisions. However, on mobilisation the decision was made to conform to the two-division army corps organisation employed by the French armies alongside which the BEF was to operate and corps HQs therefore had to be improvised. III Corps HQ was formed in France on 31 August 1914 under Sir William Pulteney, taking over 4th Division, part of which had already fought at Le Cateau, and 6th Division, which arrived in early September. It was first engaged in the First Battle of the Marne, and remained on the Western Front throughout the Great War. First World War composition The composition of army corps changed frequently. Some representative orders of battle for III Corps are given here. As initially constituted: General Officer Commanding: Major-General William Pulteney Brigadier-General, General Staff: J. P. Du Cane Brigadier-General, Royal Artillery: E. J. Phipps-Hornby, VC Colonel, Royal Engineers: Brigadier-General F. M. Glubb 4th Division 6th Division 19th Independent Brigade (attached to III Corps 6 October 1914; became part of 6th Division 12 October 1914) Order of Battle at start of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916: General Officer Commanding: Lieutenant-General Sir William Pulteney 8th Division 19th (Western) Division 34th Division Order of Battle during the final advance in Artois, 8 October 1918: General Officer Commanding: Lieutenant-General Richard Butler 55th (West Lancashire) Division 74th (Yeomanry) Division Second World War During the Second World War, III Corps was formed in France under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam to control forces of the British Expeditionary Force, after the expansion of that force had rendered control by just two corps headquarters cumbersome. The Corps was withdrawn from Dunkirk after the defeat of British forces by the Germans in May 1940. Second World War composition Order of Battle at Dunkirk: GOC: Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam (Lieutenant-General Sydney Rigby Wason after 26 May 1940) 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division Royal Artillery 5th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery 97th (Kent Yeomanry) Army Field Regiment 51st (Midland) Medium Regiment 56th (Highland) Medium Regiment