The 12th Armoured Brigade Combat team, formerly the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is a regular

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. ...

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 Gurkha ...

which has been in almost continuous existence since 1899 and now forms part of

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as th ...

History

Second Boer War

The brigade was first formed in December 1899 as 12th Infantry Brigade and saw action at the Battle of Rensburg, Battle of Norval's Point, Battle of Biddulph's Berg and Battle of Slabbert's Nek.

First World War

During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the 12th Brigade, a

regular army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

formation, was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. It was dispatched to France, crossing the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

on 22 August 1914, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and saw action in the

First Battle of the Marne The First Battle of the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. It was fought in a collection of skirmishes around the Marne River Valley. It resulted in an Entente victory against the German armies in the ...

beginning in September 1914. It then spent much of the rest of the conflict engaged in

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artille ...

Order of battle

The 12th Brigade was constituted as follows during the war: *1st Battalion,

King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the First and the Second World Wars, from 1680 to 1959. In 1959, the r ...

*2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers *2nd Battalion,

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

*2nd Battalion,

Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division. In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...

(from January 1916 to 10th Brigade February 1918) *2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (from March 1915, to 11th Brigade July 1915) * 1/5th Battalion,

South Lancashire Regiment The South Lancashire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment, which recruited, as its title suggests, primarily from the South Lancashire area, was created as part of the Childers Re ...

(from February 1915 until January 1916) *1/2nd Battalion,

Monmouthshire Regiment The Monmouthshire Regiment was a Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial infantry regiment of the British Army. Originating in units of Volunteer Force (Great Britain), rifle volunteers formed in Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in 1859, ...

(until January 1916) From early November 1915 until February 1916 the 12th Brigade was swapped with the

107th (Ulster) Brigade The 107th Brigade, later 107th (Ulster) Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army which saw service in the First World War. The brigade was later reformed during the Cold War and finally disbanded in 2006, following the drawdown of ...

of the

36th (Ulster) Division The 36th (Ulster) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of Lord Kitchener's New Army, formed in September 1914. Originally called the ''Ulster Division'', it was made up of mainly members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, ...

Second World War

During 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 ...

, except for a few brief periods of detachment, the brigade formed part of the 4th Infantry Division, as in the First World War. It was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and took part in

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

and the subsequent

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allies of World War II, Allied soldiers during the World War II, Second World War from the bea ...

in May–June 1940. The brigade remained in the United Kingdom for the next two years, preparing and training to repel

Operation Sea Lion Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...

, the German invasion of England, although that never arrived. It moved to North Africa in February 1943 to take part in the later stages of the

Tunisian Campaign The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. Th ...

and saw action at the Battle of Oved Zara, the Battle of Medjez Plain and the Battle of Tunis. It then took part in the Italian Campaign, moving to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

in February 1944 and saw further action at the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino. By October 1944 the 4th Division was taking part in the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Force ...

's battle on the

Gothic Line The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of ...

but was withdrawn in November to spend the rest of the war in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, part of the

Allied force An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

tasked to prevent civil unrest as rival factions attempted to fill the political vacuum when the Germans withdrew from the country.

Order of battle

The 12th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war: * 2nd Battalion,

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

* 1st Battalion,

(''until June 1940'') * 1st Battalion,

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

(''until March 1940'') * 6th Battalion, Black Watch (''from March 1940'') * 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (''from September 1940'')

Post-1945

The brigade was disbanded in March 1947, but reformed from 91 Lorried Infantry Brigade in April 1956. During the 1970s, it was one of two "square" brigades assigned to 2nd Armoured Division. After being briefly converted to "Task Force Delta" in the late 1970s, the brigade was reinstated in 1981, assigned to 1st Armoured Division and based at Quebec Barracks at

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

. It remained with 1st Armoured Division, apart from a spell under HQ 3rd Armoured Division during

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations ...

, until disbandment under

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

. Following the

Strategic Defence Review The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) was a British policy document produced in July 1998 by the Labour Government that had gained power a year previously. Then Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, set out the initial defence policy of ...

in 1998, the brigade was reformed in mechanized form under 3rd Mechanised Division at

Aldershot Garrison Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the vill ...

: it relocated to Ward Barracks in

Bulford Camp Bulford Camp is a military camp on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1897, the site continues in use as a large British Army base. The camp is close to the village of Bulford and is about northeast of the town of Amesbury. ...

in February 2004.

Future

Under the Future Soldier programme, the brigade has been redesignated as the 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, and in the future will control a reconnaissance regiment equipped with the

General Dynamics Ajax The Ajax, formerly known as the Scout SV (Specialist Vehicle), is a group of armoured fighting vehicles being developed by General Dynamics UK for the British Army. The Ajax is a development of the ASCOD armoured fighting vehicles used by the ...

. The current armoured regiment (RTR) will be re-equipped with the Challenger 3 MBT and the armoured infantry battalions with the Warrior IFV re-equipped with the

Boxer AFV The Boxer is a multirole armoured fighting vehicle designed by an international consortium to accomplish a number of operations through the use of installable mission modules. The governments participating in the Boxer programme have changed as th ...

Current Organisation

The current organisation of the brigade under the Defence in a Competitive Age is: * 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade Headquarters, at Bulford Barracks, Bulford Garrison *

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...

, at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth Garrison (Armoured (Tanks)) * 1st Battalion,

Royal Welsh The Royal Welsh (R WELSH) ( cy, Y Cymry Brenhinol) is an armoured infantry regiment of the British Army. It was established in 2006 from the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot). History The ...

, at Lucknow Barracks, Tidworth Garrison (Armoured Infantry) * 1st Battalion,

Mercian Regiment The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, which is recruited from five of the counties that formed the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Known as 'The Heart of England's Infa ...

, at Picton Barracks, Bulford Garrison (Armoured Infantry) * 3rd Battalion,

, Battalion HQ in

Cardiff, Wales Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingdo ...

(Army Reserve – Armoured Infantry, paired with 1 R WELSH) * 4th Battalion,

, Battalion HQ in Wolverhampton, West Midlands (Army Reserve – Armoured Infantry, paired with 1 MERCIAN) * 4 Regiment,

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

, at

Dalton Barracks Dalton Barracks is a military installation near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England and home to No. 3 and 4 Logistic Regiments of the Royal Logistic Corps. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Abingdon airbase, in ...

, Abingdon

Brigade Commanders

Brigade commanders have included: * Brigadier-General Charles E. Bradley: March 1907 – July 1909 * Brigadier-General Francis S. Inglefield: July 1909 – June 1912 * Brigadier-General Henry F.M. Wilson: June 1912 – October 1914 * Brigadier-General Frederick G. Anley: October 1914 – June 1916 * Brigadier-General James D. Crosbie: June 1916 – January 1917 * Brigadier-General Adrian Carton de Wiart: January–November 1917 * Brigadier-General Edward A. Fagan: November 1917 – October 1918 * Brigadier-General E.B. Macnaghten: October 1918 – 1919 * Brigadier-General Arthur H. Marindin: November 1919 – November 1923 * Brigadier-General Neville J.G. Cameron: November 1923 – October 1925 * Brigadier-General Edward B. Hankey: October 1925 – October 1929 * Brigadier Sir Hereward Wake, Bt.: October 1929 – August 1932 * Brigadier Charles A. Howard: August 1932 – July 1935 * Brigadier Martin Kemp-Welsh: July 1935 – August 1936 * Brigadier the Hon. P. Gerald Scarlett: August 1936 – September 1938 * Brigadier John G.W. Clark: September 1938 – October 1939 * Brigadier John L.I. Hawkesworth: October 1939 – June 1940 * Brigadier Daniel M.W. Beak: June 1940 – December 1941 * Brigadier Robert G.W. Callaghan: December 1941 – April 1943 * Brigadier Richard A. Hull: April–June 1943 * Brigadier Gordon H.A. MacMillan: June 1943 * Brigadier Thomas P.D. Scott: July–November 1943 * Brigadier F.M. Elliott: November 1943 – April 1944 * Brigadier Algernon G.W. Heber-Percy: April 1944– * Brigadier Cyril E.H. Dolphin: 1949–1950 * Brigadier Frederick Stephens: -December 1950 * Brigadier Victor D.G. Campbell: December 1950 – November 1952 * Brigadier John F.M. Macdonald: November 1952 – 1954 * Brigadier Alfred (John) Tilly: 1954–1955 * Brigadier Ian H. Freeland: April 1956 – November 1957 * Brigadier Patrick H. Man: 1959 – March 1962 * Brigadier Philip T. Tower: March 1962 – 1964 * Brigadier Walter B. Thomas: 1964–1966 * Brigadier H. Mark G. Bond: 1966 – December 1968 * Brigadier W.G. Hugh Beach: December 1968 – September 1970 * Brigadier David T. Young: September 1970 – September 1972 * Brigadier Walter R. Taylor: September 1972 – December 1974 * Brigadier Michael F. Reynolds: December 1974 – December 1976 * Brigadier John C.O.R. Hopkinson: December 1976 – December 1978 * Brigadier Brian L.G. Kenny: December 1978 – December 1980 * Brigadier Charles A. Ramsay: December 1980 – December 1982 * Brigadier Peter R. Davies: December 1982 – November 1984 * Brigadier Jeremy J.G. Mackenzie: November 1984 – 1986 * Brigadier G. Hyde: 1986 – December 1988 * Brigadier Jonathan M.F.C. Hall: December 1988 – November 1990 * Brigadier Timothy J. Granville-Chapman: November 1990 – January 1993 * Brigadier John Cooper: November 1999 – January 2002 * Brigadier the Hon. Jonathan D. Shaw: January 2002 – April 2003 * Brigadier Christopher G.S. Hughes: April 2003 – June 2005 * Brigadier John G. Lorimer: June 2005 – November 2007 * Brigadier David M. Cullen: November 2007 – December 2009 * Brigadier Justin C.W. Maciejewski: December 2009 – September 2011 * Brigadier Douglas M. Chalmers: September 2011 – September 2013 * Brigadier C. Roland V. Walker: October 2013 – July 2015 * Brigadier Robin C.N. Sergeant: July 2015–

References

Sources

External links

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade

{{DEFAULTSORT:12 Infantry Brigade 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 1899 Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Organisations based in Wiltshire 1899 establishments in the United Kingdom Future Soldier

History

Second Boer War

First World War

Order of battle

Second World War

Order of battle

Post-1945

Future

Current Organisation

Brigade Commanders

References

Sources

Further reading

External links