53rd Brigade 53rd Infantry Brigade | |
---|---|
Active | 1914-1919 1939-1942 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | Territorial Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Brigade |
Part of | 18th (Eastern) Division 18th Infantry Division |
Engagements | Battle of Muar (Malayan Campaign) Battle of Singapore |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Sir William Hickue Harold Higginson |
The 53rd Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars. In the First World War, the brigade served with 18th (Eastern) Division and during the Second with the 18th Infantry Division.
The 53rd Brigade was raised in 1914 during the Great War and was part of the 18th (Eastern) Division. Both the brigade and division were part of Lord Kitchener's New Armies and fought on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918.
After the war, the brigade and the division were disbanded in 1919. However, the brigade was reformed, as the 53rd Infantry Brigade, on 18 September 1939, after the outbreak of the Second World War, in the Territorial Army from the redesignation of the 163rd Infantry Brigade, originally part of the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division. The brigade was assigned to the 18th Infantry Division, a duplicate of the 54th Division. During the early years of the war, the brigade remained with the 18th Division in the United Kingdom, mainly on training duties and on home defence and anticipating a German invasion. However, the invasion never arrived. In late 1941, the brigade was sent, with the rest of the 18th Division, overseas, initially to the Middle East but later to Singapore after Japan entered the war in December. The brigade landed first and fought in the short but bitter and violent Battle of Singapore where they were forced to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army and became prisoners for the next three years, and received extremely harsh and degrading treatment. [2]
The 12th (Eastern) Division was an infantry division raised by the British Army during the First World War from men volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies. The division saw service in the trenches of the Western Front from June 1915 to the end of the war.
The 54th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 following the creation of the Territorial Force (TF) as the East Anglian Division. During the First World War the division fought at Gallipoli and in the Middle East. The division was disbanded after the war but reformed in the Territorial Army in 1920. During the Second World War it was a home service division and did not see any combat service abroad and was disbanded in late 1943 but many of its component units went to see service in the Normandy Campaign and North-western Europe from June 1944 to May 1945.
The 18th (Eastern) Division was an infantry division of the British Army formed in September 1914 during the First World War as part of the K2 Army Group, part of Lord Kitchener's New Armies. From its creation the division trained in England until 25 May 1915 when it landed in France and spent the duration of the First World War in action on the Western Front, becoming one of the elite divisions of the British Army. During the Battle of the Somme in the latter half of 1916, the 18th Division was commanded by Major General Ivor Maxse.
The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named the 9th Regiment of Foot.
The 54th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars.
The 55th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and the Second World Wars.
The 163rd Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service during the First World War in Gallipoli and the Middle Eastern Theatre as part of the 54th Division. In the Second World War the brigade remained in the United Kingdom until it was disbanded in late 1943.
The 36th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of British Army that fought in the First World War, as part of 12th (Eastern) Division, on the Western Front. The brigade also fought in the Second World War, with the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, in France, and later with 78th Infantry Division in Tunisia and Italy.
The 25th Infantry Brigade was a war-formed infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service during both the First and the Second World Wars.
The 29th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade unit of the British Army. It was originally raised in 1914 and saw service during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.
The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before being amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment in 1959 which, in 1964, was further amalgamated with the 2nd East Anglian Regiment, the 3rd East Anglian Regiment and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to create the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), by the amalgamation of the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1921, it was renamed the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's).
The 168th Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army that saw service during both the First and the Second World Wars. Throughout its existence, serving under many different titles and designations, the brigade was an integral part of the 56th (London) Infantry Division. It served on the Western Front during First World War and in the Italian Campaign during the Second World War. It was finally disbanded in the 1960s.
The 71st Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army that saw active service during both the First and Second World Wars.
The East Midland Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, it commanded infantry battalions recruited in the East Midlands of England: Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The brigade was an integral part of the East Anglian Division.
The 35th Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and the Second World Wars.
The 198th Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw service during the First World War with the 66th Division. It was reformed in the Second World War as the 198th Infantry Brigade and served with 54th Infantry Division, where it remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war and was disbanded in late 1943.
220th Brigade was a Home Service formation of the British Army during the First and Second World Wars.
The Essex Brigade, later 161st Brigade and 161st Infantry Brigade, was a volunteer infantry formation of the British Army in existence from 1888 until 1941, and again from 1947. It served at Gallipoli and in Palestine during the First World War and returned to Egypt in the early part of the Second World War before transferring to the British Indian Army and redesignated 161st Indian Infantry Brigade. In peacetime and during the wars the brigade was an integral part of the 54th Infantry Division and contained mostly battalions of the Essex Regiment.
The 148th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army that served in both the First and briefly in the Second World War as part of the 49th Infantry Division and disbanded after the war.
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