The 146th Infantry Brigade was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. B ...

formation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, part of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

( Territorial Army from 1920) with the

49th (West Riding) Infantry Division The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division fought in the First World War in the trenches of the Western Front, in the fields of France and Flanders. During the Second World War, the divis ...

. The brigade saw active service during both the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and the

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and during the early part of the Cold War. The brigade was active from 1908 until 1967 when it was finally disbanded. The brigade was reformed in 1983, though with a much smaller and insignificant role before finally disbanding again in 1993.

History

Formation

The brigade was raised in 1908 upon the creation of the

, formed by the amalgamation of the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

and the

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, f ...

, as the 1st West Riding Brigade, composed of four Volunteer battalions of the

Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) ) , march = ''Ça Ira'' , battles = Namur FontenoyFalkirk Culloden Brandywine , anniversaries = Imphal (22 June) The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) was ...

, including two of the

Leeds Rifles The Leeds Rifles was a unit of the 19th century Volunteer Force of the British Army that went on to serve under several different guises in the World Wars of the 20th century. In World War I both battalions served as infantry on the Western Fron ...

. The brigade was assigned to the West Riding Division.

First World War

On the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in early August 1914, the division was immediately mobilised and most men volunteered for overseas service. In mid-May 1915 the brigade and division would become the 146th (1/1st West Riding) Brigade and

49th (West Riding) Division The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division fought in the First World War in the trenches of the Western Front, in the fields of France and Flanders. During the Second World War, the divis ...

respectively. The battalions adopted the '1/' prefix (1/5th West Yorks) to differentiate them from their 2nd Line duplicates, which were forming up as

185th (2/1st West Riding) Brigade The 185th (2/1st West Riding) Brigade was a formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army. It was assigned to the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division and served on the Western Front during the First World War. Formation The infantry battali ...

, of the

62nd (2nd West Riding) Division The 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw active service on the Western Front during the First World War. History During the First World War the division fought on the Western Front at Bulle ...

. The 2nd Line units were raised from those men who did not originally volunteer for overseas service, although many of them did end up seeing active service. The brigade served on the Western Front from July 1915 to the end of the war in November 1918. Two men from the brigade were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

Samuel Meekosha Samuel Meekosha VC (16 September 1893 – 8 December 1950), who changed his name by deed poll to Samuel Ingham in 1942, was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the e ...

of the 1/6th Battalion and Corporal (later Captain)

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

of the 1/7th (

) Battalion.

First World War order of battle

* 1/5th Battalion,

* 1/6th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) * 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) * 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) ''(until January 1918)'' * 146th Machine Gun Company,

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...

''(formed 27 January 1916, moved to 49th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 1 March 1918)'' * 146th Trench Mortar Battery ''(formed 12 June 1916)''

Interwar

Both the brigade and division were disbanded shortly the war when the Territorial Force was itself disbanded. However it was reformed in the 1920s as the Territorial Army and the brigade was reformed with all four battalions of the

West Yorkshire Regiment ) , march = ''Ça Ira'' , battles = Namur FontenoyFalkirk Culloden Brandywine , anniversaries = Imphal (22 June) The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) wa ...

and continued to serve with the 49th Division, now as the 147th (1st West Riding) Infantry Brigade. In the late 1930s, however, many infantry battalions of the Territorial Army were converted to anti-aircraft and searchlight units and so, in 1936, the 8th (

) Battalion, West Yorks was transferred to the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and converted into the 66th (Leeds Rifles, The West Yorkshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery and was transferred to 31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group,

2nd Anti-Aircraft Division The 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division (2nd AA Division) was an Air Defence formation of the British Army from 1935 to 1942. It controlled anti-aircraft gun and searchlight units of the Territorial Army (TA) defending the East Midlands and East Anglia ...

(2nd AA Division was itself formed by redesignation of the HQ of

46th (North Midland) Division The 46th (North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, that saw service in the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, the 46th Division was commanded by Major-General Hon. E.J. Mont ...

). In 1937 the 6th Battalion was also converted to a different role. Transferring to the Royal Engineers, they became 49th (The West Yorkshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers and became part of the 31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, alongside the former 8th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, West Yorks. In April 1938 the 7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment and converted into 45th (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment. In late 1936 the 4th Battalion,

Lincolnshire Regiment The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...

joined the brigade from the

which had been converted into the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. Later, the brigade also received the 4th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the

Hallamshire Battalion The Hallamshire Battalion was an infantry battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, part of the British Army in existence from 1859. History Formation and early history Formed in 1859 as The Hallamshire Volunteer Rifle Corps with its headquart ...

York and Lancaster Regiment The York and Lancaster Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was created in the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment ...

which transferred in from the 148th (3rd West Riding) Infantry Brigade of the 49th Division. The 5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, the only original battalion in the brigade, was transferred to 147th (2nd West Riding) Infantry Brigade in 1938 when all brigades were reduced from four to three battalions. In 1939 the brigade was redesignated as the 146th Infantry Brigade

Second World War

The brigade was mobilised between late August and early September 1939. Shortly after the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the brigade, with most of the 49th Division and

24th Guards Brigade The 24th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army from the First World War. It was reraised during the Second World War, as the 24th Infantry Brigade (Guards). During various designations, the brigade was active throughout the C ...

(temporarily attached to the division), saw active service in the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940, which ended in disaster and evacuation. After briefly returning to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the brigade and division was later stationed in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, and adopted as its insignia the Polar Bear on an ice floe. In April 1942 they were transferred back to the United Kingdom. The brigade remained there, training in many different roles, until early June 1944 when they were sent to Normandy under command of XXX Corps, shortly after the initial landings on 6 June where they fought throughout Operation Overlord in the

Battle for Caen The Battle for Caen (June to August 1944) is the name given to fighting between the British Second Army and the German in the Second World War for control of the city of Caen and its vicinity during the larger Battle of Normandy. The battle ...

during

Operation Martlet Operation Martlet (also known as Operation Dauntless) was part of a series of British attacks to capture the French town of Caen and its environs from German forces during the Battle of Normandy of World War II begun by the Allies. It was a preli ...

Second Battle of the Odon The Second Battle of the Odon comprised operations fought by the British Second Army during the Second World War. Attacks took place in mid-July 1944 against Panzergruppe West, as part of the Battle of Normandy. Operations Greenline and Pomegran ...

and later, after the breakout and now attached to First Canadian Army, in

Operation Astonia Operation Astonia was the codename for an Allied attack on the German-held Channel port of Le Havre in France, during the Second World War. The city had been declared a ''Festung'' (fortress) by Hitler, to be held to the last man. Fought from ...

, the capture of Le Havre, and the

Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Alli ...

. The brigade, with the rest of the 49th Division, saw their final battle in the

Liberation of Arnhem Operation Anger (sometimes known as Operation Quick Anger), was a military operation to seize the city of Arnhem in April 1945, during the closing stages of the Second World War. It is also known as the Second Battle of Arnhem or the Liberation of ...

in April 1945 and the fierce battles that led up to it. During the fighting on the Continent, the 49th Infantry Division was nicknamed ''"the Polar Bears"'' because of their divisional insignia. On 28 September 1944

John William Harper of the

was posthumously awarded the

Second World War order of battle

146th Brigade was constituted as follows during the war: * 4th Battalion,

* 1/4th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry *

* 146th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company ''(formed 20 March 1940, disbanded 1 August 1941)''

Commanders

The following officers commanded 146th Brigade during the war:Joslen, p. 331. *

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...

C. G. Phillips ''(from 2 September 1939 until 12 April 1940)'' *

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

( Acting) R. W. Newton ''(from 12 to 17 April 1940)'' * Brigadier C. G. Phillips ''(from 17 April 1940 until 10 March 1941)'' * Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. Robins (Acting) ''(from 10 to 31 March 1941)'' * Brigadier N. P. Procter ''(from 31 March 1941 until 11 April 1943)'' * Lieutenant-Colonel R. L. de Brisay ''(from 11 April until 1 May 1943)'' * Brigadier N. P. Procter ''(from 1 May 1943 until 20 January 1944)'' * Brigadier A. Dunlop ''(from 20 January until 19 June 1944)'' * Brigadier J. F. Walker ''(from 19 June until 6 December 1944)'' * Brigadier D. S. Gordon ''(from 6 December 1944 until 25 July 1945)'' * Lieutenant-Colonel (Acting) M. B. Jenkins ''(from 25 July until 3 August 1945)'' * Brigadier D. S. Gordon ''(from 3 August 1945)''

Victoria Cross recipients

Samuel Meekosha, 1/6th Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), Great War * Corporal George Sanders, 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, Prince of Wales's (West Yorkshire Regiment), Great War * Corporal John William Harper, Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, Second World War

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

*
Composition of the 49th Division

{{British infantry brigades of the Second World War 146 Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War I Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1908 Military units and formations disestablished in 1967