1st Armoured Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

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"1st (Guards) Brigade" redirects here. For a similarly designated formation, see 1st Guards Brigade (United Kingdom).
1st (Guards) Brigade
1st Brigade
1st Infantry Brigade (Guards)
1st Infantry Brigade
1st Mechanized Brigade
1st Armoured Infantry Brigade
1st Mechanized.svg
Insignia of the 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade.
Active1899–present day
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeArmoured Infantry, Mechanized Infantry, Light Infantry
SizeBrigade
Part of3rd (United Kingdom) Division
Garrison/HQDelhi Barracks, Tidworth Camp
EngagementsFirst World War
Battle of Mons
First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Aisne
First Battle of Ypres
Battle of Aubers Ridge
Battle of Loos
Battle of the Somme (1916)
Battle of Pozières
Third Battle of Ypres
Battle of Épehy
Second World War
Battle of France
Fondouk

Tunis
Battle of Monte Cassino
Liri Valley
Commanders
Current
commander		Brigadier Samuel L. Humphris

The 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade is an infantry brigade of the British Army with a long history including service during both the First and the Second World Wars. It is based at Tidworth Camp. Previously, it has been designated 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Mechanised Brigade (from the 1990s), and under the initial Army 2020 reforms assumed the title of 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade.

Early history[]

Following the end of the Second Boer War in 1902, the army was restructured and the 1st Guards Brigade was established permanently as part of the 1st Division in the 1st Army Corps, stationed at Aldershot Garrison.[1]

First World War[]

Initially designated as the 1st (Guards) Brigade, the brigade was part of 1st Division during the First World War. Upon creation of the Guards Division in August 1915, the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards and 1st Battalion, Scots Guards moved to 2nd Guards Brigade, and the brigade was redesignated as the 1st Brigade. It was with the 1st Division on the Western Front throughout the war. It saw action at the Battle of Mons and subsequent Great Retreat, the First Battle of the Marne, the First Battle of the Aisne, the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Loos, the Battle of Aubers Ridge, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Passchendaele, the Battle of Pozières and the Battle of Épehy, part of the final Hundred Days Offensive, which broke the back of the German Army, leading to an Armistice.[2]

Order of battle[]

The brigade was composed as follows during the war:[3]

  • 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards (until August 1915)
  • 1st Battalion, Scots Guards (until August 1915)
  • 1st Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
  • 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers (until August 1914)
  • 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (from September 1914)
  • 1/14th Battalion, London Regiment (from November 1914, left February 1916)
  • 10th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (from August 1915, disbanded February 1918)
  • 8th (Service) Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment (from August 1915, left February 1918)
  • 1st Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps (formed 26 January 1916, moved to 1st Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 28 February 1918)
  • 1st Trench Mortar Battery (formed 27 November 1915)
  • 1st Battalion, Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (from February 1918)

Second World War[]

Remaining active during the interwar period as the 1st (Guards) Brigade, the brigade, still part of the 1st Infantry Division, was sent to France in September 1939 during the Second World War as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and it later took part in the Battle of France in May–June 1940 and the subsequent Battle of Dunkirk and were evacuated to England, spending the next few years on home defence anticipating a German invasion of England.

HM The King reviews the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards at Bachy, France, December 1939.

On 11 April 1942, the brigade was redesignated and reorganised as 1st Independent Brigade Group (Guards), with its own support units, until August when it was transferred to the 78th Infantry Division. In late 1942, it took part in the North African Campaign in Operation Torch: the Allied landings in French North Africa, arriving in Algiers in November 1942.[2]

The brigade participated in the Run for Tunis and was transferred to the 6th Armoured Division in early 1943 and saw action in the Tunisia Campaign at the Battle of Fondouk, Battle of El Kourzia and Battle of Tunis in April and May 1943. Subsequently, the 1st (Guards) Brigade served on the Italian Front for the rest of the war under command of various divisions, seeing action in the Battle of Monte Cassino (where the brigade played a holding "hinge" role during Operation Diadem) and the Battle of Liri Valley in May 1944.[2] The brigade then fought on the Gothic Line and in the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy.

Order of battle[]

The 1st (Guards) Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:[4]

  • 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards
  • 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards
  • 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (until 1 June 1941, rejoined 10 September 1941 until 25 November 1942, rejoined 18 February 1943, left finally 22 February 1943)
  • 1st Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (disbanded 31 December 1940)
  • 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (from 25 December 1942 until 16 February 1943)
  • 3rd Battalion, Welsh Guards (from 1 March 1943)
  • 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment (from 9 March 1945 until 29 June 1945)

Between 11 April 1942 and 7 August 1942 the following units formed the 1st Independent Brigade Group (Guards):[4]

  • 8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
  • 1st Independent Brigade Group Machine Gun Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
  • 1st Independent Brigade Group Reconnaissance Company, Reconnaissance Corps
  • 17th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
  • 204th (Oban) Anti-tank Battery, Royal Artillery (from 11 April to 7 August 1942)
  • 136th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery
  • 214th Field Company, Royal Engineers
  • 1st Independent Brigade Group Company, Royal Army Service Corps
  • 152nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
  • 1st Independent Brigade Group Ordnance Company, Royal Army Service Corps

Postwar[]

After the War, the brigade, having lost its 'Guards' title, was transferred to Palestine for internal security duties and then to Egypt for a few months before going back to Palestine in April 1946. Two years later, as the British mandate over Palestine ended, the brigade and division returned to Egypt. In October 1951, British forces pulled out of Egypt outside of the Suez Canal Zone, and later the brigade returned to the United Kingdom, though it was in Cyprus during the EOKA insurgency for a period in 1957–8.[2] In 1968 the dispatch of the entire 3rd Infantry Division began to be planned, as part of the United Kingdom Mobile Force, to reinforce Allied Land Forces Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland (LANDJUT).[5] By the mid-1980s the British Army force earmarked as part of the UKMF to reinforce LANDJUT had shrunk to the 1st Infantry Brigade, as it had become.

In 1991 just before the end of the Cold War, the brigade's structure was as follows.

1st (United Kingdom Mobile Force) Infantry Brigade, at Jellalabad Barracks, Tidworth Camp[6]


After the end of the Cold War, the brigade was reassigned to the new 3rd (UK) Division and subsequently became a Mechanised Brigade. In 1996, it was deployed to the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, with Multi-National Division (South-West); in 2000, it was deployed to Sierra Leone and, in 2002, to Kosovo.[2]

The brigade was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick XVIII.[7] It was deployed again in 2014, commanded by Brigadier Rupert Jones.[8]

Current formation[]

Under Army 2020, it was renamed as 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade and remained at Tidworth Camp, forming part of the Reaction Force.[9][10] The 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade will form up as a Strike Brigade by 2021.[11][12][13] The Defence in a Competitive Age Command Paper however mentions the formations of Brigade Combat Teams.[14]

The Brigade consists of the following units:[15]

Brigade commanders[]

The following officers commanded the brigade during the Second World War and since:[4][46]

  • Brigadier Merton Beckwith-Smith (until 31 May 1940, again from 3 June 1940 until 14 July 1940)
  • Lieutenant Colonel L. Bootle-Wilbraham (acting, from 31 May 1940 until 3 June 1940)
  • Brigadier F.A.V. Copland-Griffiths (from 14 July 1940 until 14 April 1943)
  • Brigadier S.A. Forster (from 14 April 1943 until 24 July 1943)
  • Brigadier Philip Gregson-Ellis (from 24 July 1943 until 18 January 1944)
  • Lieutenant Colonel A.G.W. Heber-Percy (acting, from 18 January 1944 until 3 February 1944)
  • Brigadier J.C. Haydon (from 3 February 1944 until 29 July 1944)
  • Brigadier C.A.M.D. Scott (from 29 July 1944 until 21 January 1945, again from 13 February 1945 until 11 March 1945)
  • Lieutenant Colonel E.J.B. Nelson (acting, from 21 January 1945 until 13 February 1945)
  • Brigadier Gerald Lloyd-Verney (from 11 March 1945)
  • Brigadier Rodney Moore 1946–1947
  • Brigadier George Johnson 1947–1949
  • Brigadier George Gordon-Lennox 1952–1954
  • Brigadier John McColl 1997–1999
  • Brigadier Jonathon Riley 1999–2000
  • Brigadier Simon Mayall 2001–2002
  • Brigadier Rupert Jones 2012–2014
  • Brigadier William Wright 2014–2016
  • Brigadier Zac Stenning 2016 – 2018
  • Brigadier James Martin 2018 - 2020
  • Brigadier Samuel L. Humphris -2020 -

Notes[]

  1. ^ Moved from Catterick in November 2020

References[]

  1. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence – The 1st Army Corps". The Times (36892). London. 7 October 1902. p. 8.
  2. ^ a b c d e "History of 1st Mechanized Brigade" (PDF). British Army. 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  3. ^ Baker, Chris. "The British 1st Division in 1914–1918". 1914-1918.net. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Joslen, p. 225
  5. ^ CHIEFS OF STAFF COMMITTEE, UNITED KINGDOM MOBILE FORCE DEPLOYMENT TO NORTHERN EUROPEAN COMMAND (JUTLAND/SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN) PART 1 OF JOINT THEATRE PLAN (JTP) NATO 70 - OPERATION GRACIE, 27 December 1972.
  6. ^ British Army Master Order of Battle, 1991.
  7. ^ "1 Armoured Infantry Brigade". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 27 March 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  8. ^ "Commander praises UK troops as final major Afghan deployment begins". BBC. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Regular Army Basing Plan" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 5 March 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Army 2020 report" (PDF). British Army. July 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Strike Experimentation Group:Written question - 117878". British Army. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  12. ^ King, Hannah (28 July 2020). "Plans For Catterick Garrison Redevelopment Ahead Of Arrival Of 3,500 Extra Troops". Forces Network. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Information on the Army 2020 refine exercise" (PDF). Parliament Publishing Services. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  14. ^ "Defence in a competitive age CP 411" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. UK Ministry of Defence. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021. The new structure will reorganise the Army into more self sufficient Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) able to meet demand by drawing on their own dedicated logistics and combat support units.
  15. ^ "Information on the Army 2020 refine exercise" (PDF). Parliament Publishing Services. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. ^ "1 Armoured Infantry Brigade". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  17. ^ at 12:03pm, Hannah King 28th July 2020. "Plans For Catterick Garrison Redevelopment Ahead Of Arrival Of 3,500 Extra Troops". Forces Network. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  18. ^ "Presentation by the Master of Signals" (PDF). royalsignals.org. 21 September 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  19. ^ at 11:57am, Charlotte Cross 25th November 2015. "How Will The Army's New 'Strike Brigades' Work?". Forces Network. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  20. ^ at 1:12pm, Charlotte Cross 23rd November 2015. "#SDSR2015: 5,000-Strong 'Strike Brigades' To Be Created By 2025". Forces Network. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  21. ^ "Strike Experimentation Group" (PDF). whatdotheyknow.com. whatdotheyknow. 14 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020. I can advise that no units have been or will be assigned to the Strike Experimentation Group
  22. ^ "Strike Experimentation Group". questions-statements.parliament.uk. UK Hansard. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2020. The Strike Experimentation Group (SEG) was established in Warminster in April 2017 and is part of the headquarters of 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade
  23. ^ "Household Cavalry parade marks departure for Bulford. • the Military Times". 18 May 2019.
  24. ^ "Household Cavalry". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Army/Sec/21/04/FOI2017/02130/78471" (PDF). www.gov.uk. UK Army Secretariat. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  26. ^ a b "Order of Battle is and basing arrangements are for 12th Mechanized Brigade". questions-statements.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  27. ^ "9th/12th Charitable Association Website". Delhispearman.org.uk. 5 July 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  28. ^ "Information on the Army 2020 refine exercise" (PDF). Parliament Publishing Services. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  29. ^ "The Royal Lancers have shown their ability to adapt to any task and operate at reach #strikeethos". Twitter. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  30. ^ a b "Welcome back to Wiltshire to our very own Royal Dragoon Guards in preparation for conversion to Ajax". Twitter. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  31. ^ Exercise Badger's Hole | Armoured Cavalryman's Course | British Army, retrieved 11 March 2021 – via Youtube
  32. ^ "Information on the Army 2020 refine exercise" (PDF). Parliament Publishing Services. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  33. ^ at 8:08pm, 12th October 2020. "Prince Charles Visits Royal Dragoon Guards And US Spy Base During Yorkshire Visit". Forces Network. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  34. ^ "The last Dragoon has left @CatterickG and the flag now flies over Battlesbury Barracks. Bring on #AJAX and roll on '21!". Twitter. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  35. ^ "Written Question for the Ministry of Defence regarding Army basing and personnel". UK Parliament. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  36. ^ "The Garrison: Aldershot Garrison, Home of the British Army". Winter 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  37. ^ a b Fallon, Michael (15 December 2016). "Strategic Defence and Security Review – Army: Written statement – HCWS367". Hansard. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  38. ^ Regular Army basing matrix by formation and unit (PDF), Army Families Federation, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016
  39. ^ "pages 21 22". Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  40. ^ Army 2020 Update, page 7[permanent dead link]
  41. ^ The Red Hackle November 2012 Archived 7 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Hannah King, 4 SCOTS Return to Work in Catterick after Afghanistan Deployment 3 December 2020. Forces News. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  43. ^ @3_rifles (18 February 2021). "We've been developing the mounted mindset in B Company this week, training with the MASTIFF vehicle in the rural and urban terrain" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 February 2021 – via Twitter.
  44. ^ The Rifles and The Royal Gloucestershire,Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment Newsletter 2013 Archived July 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine[dead link]
  45. ^ "3 RIFLES". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  46. ^ Mackie, Colin (June 2015). "III: Senior Army Appointments: 1860–" (PDF). gulabin.com. p. 223. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2015.

Sources[]

  • Joslen, Lt-Col H.F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield: Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.

External links[]

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