British 52nd Infantry Brigade

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52nd Infantry Brigade

Active	World War I 1914 - 1918 World War II 1939 - 1945 1982 -
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Mountain and Cold Weather Warfare
Commanders
Current commander	Brig.A.D.MacKay O.B.E.

The British 52nd Infantry Brigade is a British Army formation that has been formed and disbanded several times during the 20th Century.

1 History
2 52nd (Lowland) Division
3 Reformed
4 Component Units today
5 Future Reorganisation
6 External Links and Sources

[edit] History

It began its existence in September 1914 as a formation of the British 17th (Northern) Division during the First World War. It spent the whole war with the Division on the Western Front, until May 1919 when it was disbanded.

The Brigade was reformed in September 1943 as a training formation for British jungle warfare reinforcements. It was redesignated as Headquarters Training Group on 1 August 1945, and then disbanded later, possibly in 1946.

[edit] 52nd (Lowland) Division

However the dominant historical threads behind the current 52nd Infantry Brigade comes from the famed 52nd Lowland Division. It was initially deployed to Gallipoli during World War I, sent to the Middle East, and moved to France in March 1918. It was later reformed in the Territorial Army in the interwar period.

During World War II it was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, the Division was evacuated along with rest of the Army from Dunkirk, and then trained before D-Day as both an airlanding and a mountain division. However, it was deployed to Europe finally in November 1944 as an conventional infantry formation and fought in North Western Europe for the remainder of the war.

[edit] Reformed

The Territorial Army in Scotland re-raised the 51st/52nd Scottish Division in the late 1940s, which was in existence until the TA was disbanded and reorganised as the TAVR in 1967. In 1968 the Divisional Headquarters was reduced to a brigade level district based in Hamilton , Glasgow . The Brigade was reformed in 1982 from that district, Headquarters, Lowlands, as 52nd (Lowland) Brigade. As 52 Lowland Brigade it consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers, a regular infantry battalion or battalions, plus other smaller units.

The Brigade was retitled 52 Infantry Brigade on 1 April 2002, taking command of Regular Army units in Scotland and the North West of England and giving up its regional and TA responsibilities to 51 Scottish Brigade. This freed 52 Brigade to parent regular light role battalions for operational deployments. The Brigade is currently commanded by Brigadier A D Mackay OBE. He is the commander of the Edinburgh Castle Garrison and is also responsible for the security of the Key to the Castle. The Brigade is now listed as the 'proponent' for mountain and cold weather warfare, being involved in associated exercises.

[edit] Component Units today

The Brigade consists today of the Brigade HQ and the following units:

2nd Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles, which is based at Sir John Moore Barracks in Shorncliffe
1st Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, based at Dale Barracks, Chester.
2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry, based at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh
The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, based at the newly refurbished Glencorse Barracks near Penicuick.

The Brigade is currently part of the 2nd Division commanded by Major General W E B Loudon CBE. However, it will become part of the 3rd Division in April 2007.

[edit] Future Reorganisation

Under the reorganisation of the infantry, 52 Brigade will receive a number of battalions that are stationed on a semi-permanent basis.

The UK based Gurkha battalion will be trained in the air assault role, and will rotate with the two other line infantry battalions in 16 Air Assault Brigade. These are The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, stationed in Canterbury, and 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, stationed in Inverness. However, the UK based battalion will also continue its rotation with the Brunei based Gurkha battalion.

The Royal Highland Fusiliers will rotate with The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland in 19 Light Brigade. The battalion in 52 Brigade will be responsible for all public duties in Edinburgh, along with 2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry.

In 2007, the Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry will be amalgamated with the 1st Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry. Its place in Chester will be taken by the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh (Royal Welch Fusiliers).
52 Brigade will assume responsibility for the infantry battalion based at Weeton, near Preston. This will be the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards).

Under this structure, all infantry battalions not attached to a ready brigade, or permanently deployed elsewhere (London, Cyprus, Brunei) will be attached to 52 Brigade and will be trained to provide the Spearhead Land Element - this is a battalion sized group held at Extremely High Readiness for deployment overseas as part of the land element of the Joint Rapid Reaction Force.