71st Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

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.

71st Brigade
71st Infantry Brigade
71st Independent Infantry Brigade
71st Infantry Brigade
Insignia of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, Second World War
Active1915-1919
1940-1946
Disbanded1946
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeInfantry
SizeBrigade
71st Brigade (First World War)
Operations
71st Infantry Brigade (Second World War)
Operations

First World War

The 71st Brigade was raised following the outbreak of war, from men volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies. It was initially part of the 24th Division, but on 11 October 1915 it transferred to the 6th Division, swapping with the 17th Brigade. It fought on the Western Front.

Order of Battle

Second World War
Infantry of the 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in forward positions outside Heike on the road to 's-Hertogenbosch, Holland, 23 October 1944.

The 71st Infantry Brigade was reformed in the Second World War on 28 November 1940, by the redesignation of the Headquarters of 3rd London Infantry Brigade. On 12 December it was again redesignated 71st Independent Infantry Brigade. The new 71st Brigade consisted of three infantry battalions raised earlier in the year specifically for war service, the 7th King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and 8th and 9th York and Lancaster Regiment The battalions were all transferred to British India on 14 June 1942 and the brigade ceased to be independent and was again redesignated 71st Infantry Brigade.[3] On the same date, the battalions in the brigade were replaced by the 1st Battalion (a Regular unit) of the East Lancashire Regiment and 1st (also Regular) and 13th (a war service battalion) Highland Light Infantry (the 13th were later replaced by 1st Ox and Bucks). Again on 14 June brigade became part of the 42nd Armoured Division, previously the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division.

Men of the 1st Battalion, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, 53rd (Welsh) Division, guarding German prisoners in the village of Marche in Belgium, 7 January 1945.

In late 1943 42nd Armoured was disbanded and the 71st Brigade replaced the 31st Tank Brigade and became part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. It fought with the division throughout the Campaign in North West Europe, before finally being disbanded in March 1946. It was commanded by Brigadier D.H. Haugh.

Order of battle

Recipients of the Victoria Cross

References
  1. "24th Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  2. "6th Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  3. "Independent Infantry Brigades and Brigade Groups". Retrieved 30 May 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.