54th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

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 brigade was originally raised in 1914, as the 54th Brigade, in the First World War as part of Kitchener's New Armies and joined the 18th (Eastern) Division, serving with it throughout the war mainly on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918.

The brigade was disbanded in 1919 after the war. Reformed in 1939 in the Territorial Army as the 54th Infantry Brigade, it was part of the 18th (East Anglian) Infantry Division. The brigade spent the early years of the Second World War in the United Kingdom on home defence and training duties, anticipating a German invasion. With the rest of the division, the brigade was sent to Singapore, under the command of Brigadier E.H.W. Backhouse, in 1942 and after the Battle of Singapore against the Imperial Japanese Army surrendered along with the rest of the Singapore garrison. They became prisoners of the Japanese for the next three years in harsh and degrading treatment.

In the 1980s, the 54th Brigade was again active as 54th (East Anglia) Brigade, a Territorial Army regional brigade in the United Kingdom.[1] It was amalgamated with 49th Brigade and thus disbanded in 1995.

World War I Order of Battle

World War II Order of Battle

References

  1. ↑ David Isby and Charles Kamps Jr., Armies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's Publishing Company, 1985

External links