The 131st Infantry Brigade, originally the Surrey Brigade was an infantry formation of Britain's Territorial Army that saw service during both the First and the Second World Wars. In the First World War the brigade was in British India for most of the war and did not see service as a complete unit but many of its battalions would see service in the Middle East.
The Volunteer Force of part-time soldiers was created following an invasion scare in 1859, and its constituent units were progressively aligned with the Regular British Army during the later 19th Century. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training.[1][2]
In the reorganisation after the end of the 2nd Boer War in 1902, separate East and West Surrey Brigades were formed, under command of the respective regimental districts.[3]
Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the battalions in North Surrey, whose recruiting areas had fallen in the County of London since its formation 1889, became part of the all-Territorial London Regiment. These became the 21st to 24th Battalions and constituted the 6th London Brigade in the 2nd London Division. The four remaining battalions became battalions of their parent regiments and formed a single Surrey Brigade once more, as part of the Home Counties Division.[3][4][5][6]
First World War
Order of Battle
On the outbreak of war the Surrey Brigade was composed as follows:[7][8][9]
On the outbreak of the First World War, most of the men of the division accepted liability for overseas service to go to British India to relieve Regular Army troops for the fighting fronts. However, the brigade staffs and Regular adjutants of the battalions remained behind. The division embarked at Southampton and sailed on 30 October 1914, disembarking at Bombay on 1–3 December.[7]
Service in India
On arrival, the division's units were distributed to various peacetime stations across India, Aden and Burma to continue their training for war. For a time the two East Surrey battalions were attached to the Allahabad Brigade in 8th (Lucknow) Division, where they were joined by the 4th Queens.[9][10][12] In May 1915, the division was numbered 44th (Home Counties) Division and the brigade formally became 131st (1/1st Surrey) Brigade (though without a commander or staff).[lower-alpha 1] The TF battalions had all taken the prefix '1' (1/4th Queen's etc) to distinguish them from their 2nd Line battalions forming in the United Kingdom.[7]
During 1915 there was a regular drain on the battalions as they lost their best Non-Commissioned Officers for officer training, sent detachments to various places in India, and provided drafts to replace casualties among units fighting in Mesopotamia. 1/5th Queens was transferred to Mesopotamia at the end of the year, landing at Basra on 10 December and transferring to 15th Indian Division.[7]
By early 1916 it had become obvious that the Territorial Divisions in India (there were two others in addition to the 44th, the 43rd (Wessex) Division[15] and 45th (2nd Wessex) Division[16] were never going to be able to reform and return to Europe to reinforce the Western Front as had been originally intended. They continued training in India for the rest of the war, providing drafts and detachments as required. 1/6th East Surreys served in garrison at Aden from February 1917 to January 1918, and 1/5th East Surreys was transferred to Mesopotamia at the end of 1917, landing at Basra on 27 December and joining 55th Indian Brigade, 18th Indian Division.[7]
The only battalion of the 131st Brigade that had not deployed outside India at any time during the war, 1/4th Queen's, finally saw active service in 1919 during the Third Anglo-Afghan War.[7][17]
Between the wars
During 1919 the remaining units were gradually reduced and was finally disbanded, along with the rest of the Territorial Force, which was reformed as the Territorial Army in 1920.[7] The division was also reconstituted as the 44th (Home Counties) Division. The brigade re-formed as the 131st (Surrey) Infantry Brigade with the same composition it had before the First World War, with two battalions of the Queen's and two of the East Surreys.
The brigade was mobilised in late August 1939, as was most of the rest of the Territorial Army, due to the worsening situation in Europe. The German Armyinvaded Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Second World War began two days later, on 3 September 1939.
Upon mobilisation in September 1939, 131st Brigade HQ became HQ Eastern Sub-Area in the United Kingdom and the units of the brigade were temporarily under the command of other formations until the brigade reassembled in 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division on 7 October 1939. Initially, it comprised the three 1st Line Territorial Army battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey).[20]
Brigadier J.E. Utterson-Kelso(from 17 November 1939 until 31 March 1941, again from 8 to 15 April 1941)
Lieutenant-Colonel G.V. Palmer(Acting, from 31 March until 8 April 1941, again from 15 April to 5 May 1941)
Brigadier I.T.P. Hughes (from 5 May 1941 until 20 March 1942)
Lieutenant-Colonel R.M. Burton (Acting, from 20 to 23 March 1942)
Brigadier E.H.C. Frith (from 23 March until 8 October 1942)
Brigadier W.D. Stamer(from 8 October until 17 November 1942)
Lieutenant-Colonel L.C. East (Acting, from 17 to 29 November 1942)
Brigadier L.G. Whistler(from 29 November 1942 until 14 July 1943, again from 26 July 1943 until 28 January 1944)
Lieutenant-Colonel R.N. Thicknesse (Acting, from 14 to 26 July 1943)
Brigadier M.S. Ekins (from 28 January until 2 July 1944)
Brigadier E.C. Pepper (from 2 July until 2 October 1944)
Lieutenant-Colonel J. Freeland (Acting, from 2 to 8 October 1944, again from 27 January to 6 February 1945 and 16 May to 7 June 1945)
Brigadier W.R. Cox(from 8 October until 2 December 1944)
Brigadier J.M.K. Spurling (from 2 December 1944 until 26 January 1945, again from 6 February until 16 May 1945, and from 7 June 1945)
Lieutenant-Colonel P. Brind (Acting, from 26 to 27 January 1945)
Service
The 131st Infantry Brigade, commanded at the time by BrigadierJohn Utterson-Kelso, landed in France with the rest of 44th Division on 3 April 1940 to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. The division came under command of III Corps, serving alongside the 5th and 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Divisions. Both the 42nd and 44th Divisions had been kept back from strengthening the BEF sooner for potential operations in Northern Europe which, as it turned out, did not come to anything.[21] In early May the brigade was bolstered by the 2nd Battalion, Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), a Regular Army unit, replacing the 1/7th Queen's which transferred to 25th Infantry Brigade, under 5th Division at the time. This was one of the BEF's official policies and was intended to strengthen the inexperienced Territorial divisions, giving them much-needed experience.[22]
The brigade (now with 1/7th Queen's reunited), along with the rest of the 44th Division, now under Major-General Ivor Hughes (who had commanded the 1/6th Queen's at Dunkirk), was sent to North Africa in May 1942 where, shortly after arrival in August, they became part of the British Eighth Army, under Lieutenant-GeneralBernard Montgomery, and fought at the Battle of Alam el Halfa in late August. In late September the brigade fought in Operation Braganza with fairly light casualties, except the 1/5th Queen's which suffered heavy casualties of 12 officers and 260 other ranks killed, wounded or missing.[25] The brigade later played a large part in the Second Battle of El Alamein and, again, suffered heavy casualties: 1/5th Queen's had 118 casualties, 1/6th had 197 and the 1/7th had had similar losses.[26]
When the 44th Division was broken up to provide infantry for other units (and Headquarters disbanded on 31 January 1943) 131st Brigade was redesignated as, on 1 November 1942, 131st Lorried Infantry Brigade[20] and transferred to the 7th Armoured Division, nicknamed "The Desert Rats", and would remain with them for the rest of the war. The 7th Armoured was under command of XXX Corps, under Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese. The brigade, now under command of Brigadier Lashmer Whistler (nicknamed "Private Bolo" by men of the brigade), fought throughout the rest of the Tunisian Campaign until it ended in mid-May 1943, when the Germans and Italians fighting in North Africa finally surrendered, with the Allies capturing over 230,000 POWs.
An infantry section from 'B' Company of the 1/6th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment try out their collapsible boats in a farmyard in preparation for crossing the Volturno river, Italy, 8 October 1943.
Infantrymen of the 1/5th Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment occupy a captured German trench at Laar during the drive on Hertogenbosch, Holland, 24 October 1944.
The brigade later helped breach the Volturno Line and saw little major action thereafter and, with the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, returned to the United Kingdom in early January 1944 and Brigadier Whistler was soon transferred to take command of the inexperienced 160th Infantry Brigade, part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, and was replaced by Brigadier Maurice Ekins. With the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, the brigade was brought back up to strength again and began training for operations to open the Second Front. On 4 March 1944 the brigade was redesignated again as 131st Infantry Brigade.[20]
Snow-suited troops of 131st Brigade, 7th Armoured Division, in Universal Carriers drive past German POWs in Echt, 18 January 1945.
The brigade was disbanded after the war in 1946 and reformed in 1947, as the 131st (Surrey) Infantry Brigade, in the post-war reorganisation of the Territorial Army, consisting of the 5th, 6th (Bermondsey)[31] and 7th (Southwark) battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), after amalgamating with the 2nd Line units. However, the 7th Queen's, after absorbing the duplicate 2/7th Battalion, was converted into 622nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (7th Battalion, The Queen's Royal Regiment).[31] The 6th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment[32] replaced it but was disbanded in 1961 when the divisions amalgamated with the districts, and the 44th Division became 44th (Home Counties) Division/District.
Notes
↑ 131st Brigade was originally authorised as part of 44th Division in March 1915 and consisted of 'Kitchener's Army' battalions. They were renumbered 110th Brigade and 37th Division on 12 April 1915 and the original numbers were later reassigned to the Surrey Brigade and Home Counties Division.[14]
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Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-84734-739-8.
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 3b: New Army Divisions (30–41) and 63rd (R.N.) Division, London: HM Stationery Office, 1939/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-84734-741-X.
Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN0 85936 271 X.
John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
Fraser, David (1999) [1983]. And We Shall Shock Them: The British Army in the Second World War. Cassell military. ISBN978-0-304-35233-3.
Lt-Gen Sir Brian Horrocks, A Full Life, London: Collins, 1960.
Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, * H.R. Martin, Historical Record of the London Regiment, 2nd Edn (nd)
R. Money Barnes, The Soldiers of London, London: Seeley Service, 1963.
Brian Robson, Crisis on the Frontier: The Third Afghan War and the Campaign in Waziristan 1919–20, Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2004, ISBN978-1-86227-211-8.
Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN978-1-84884-211-3.
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Territorial Army 
