Pre-war, the division was part of the Territorial Army TA and the two Ts in the divisional insignia represent the two main rivers of its recruitment area, namely the rivers Tyne , and Tees. Four men of the division were awarded the Victoria Cross during the war, more than any other division of the British Army during the Second World War. British military doctrine development during the inter-war period resulted in the three kinds of divisions by the end of the s: the infantry division, the mobile division later called the armoured division , and the motor division.
Historian David French wrote "The main role of the infantry Only three infantry divisions were converted into motor divisions prior to the war, this included the 50th alongside the 55th West Lancashire and the 1st London. But there the similarities ended. Whereas the motor division, while being fully motorized and capable of transporting all their infantry, contained no tanks and was "otherwise much weaker than normal infantry divisions" or their German counterparts.
Following this, some of the division's infantry battalions were converted to anti-aircraft regiments, [ c ] and the entire th Brigade was converted into divisional support units for other formations. Throughout the s, tensions built between Germany and the United Kingdom and its allies.
This was aided by an increase in pay for territorials, the removal of restrictions on promotion that had been a major hindrance to recruiting during the preceding years, the construction of better quality barracks and an increase in supper-time rations.
At that time 34, militiamen, all aged 20, were conscripted into the regular army, initially to be trained for six months before being deployed to the forming second line units.
