The 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

that saw active service in the

Indian Army during the Second World War The Indian Army during World War II, a British force also referred to as the British Indian Army, began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men.Sumner, p.25 By the end of the war, it had become the largest volunteer army in history ...

, notably in the Burma Campaign.

History

The 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade was formed in October 1941, at Campbellpore in India. The brigade was assigned to the

7th Indian Infantry Division The 7th Infantry Division is a war-formed infantry division, part of the British Indian Army that saw service in the Burma Campaign. History The division was created on 1 October 1940 at Attock, under the command of Major General Arthur Wakely ...

until July 1942, when it was attached to the

North Western Army The Northern Command is a Command of the Indian Army. It was originally formed as the Northern Army of the British Indian Army in 1908. It was scrapped upon India's independence in 1947 and later re-raised in 1972. Currently, the XIV Corps (Leh) ...

. It returned to the 7th Division in December 1942, and took part in the Burma Campaign. Between April and May 1944, it was corps reserve for XXXIII Indian Corps and was attached to the

5th Indian Infantry Division The 5th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II that fought in several theatres of war and was nicknamed the "Ball of Fire". It was one of the few Allied divisions to fight against three differe ...

in March 1945. The rest of the war it was under 7th Division command.

Order of battle

The brigade included the following units: *4th Battalion,

5th Gurkha Rifles 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army. The regiment's battalions served ...

October 1941 to January 1944 *4th Battalion,

10th Gurkha Rifles The 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, (abbreviated to 10 GR), was originally a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was formed in 1890, taking its lineage from a police unit and over the course of its existence it had a ...

October to December 1941 *4th Battalion,

15th Punjab Regiment The 15th Punjab Regiment was a infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947 and of the Pakistan Army from 1947 to 1956. Following its allotment to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947, it was amalgamated in 1956 with ...

April 1942 to August 1945 *4th Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles May to October 1942 *4th Battalion,

1st Gurkha Rifles 1st Gorkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment), often referred to as the 1st Gorkha Rifles, or 1 GR in abbreviation, is the most senior Gorkha Infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally formed as part of the East India Company's Bengal Arm ...

February 1944 to August 1945 *1st Battalion,

Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

December 1942 to September 1944 and April to August 1945 *1st Battalion,

11th Sikh Regiment The 11th Sikh Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1922, when after World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.S ...

March to April 1944 *1st Battalion,

Burma Regiment Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

May 1944 to April 1945 *2nd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment February 1945 *2nd Battalion, 8th Punjab Regiment May 1945 *1st Battalion,

19th Hyderabad Regiment The 19th Hyderabad Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed at the time of reforms of the Indian Army after the First World War, when it moved from single-battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. The reg ...

May 1945

Commanders

The brigade had the following commanders in the Second World War:

References

Bibliography

External links