The 46th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the

Indian Army during World War II 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, ...

. The brigade was formed in June 1941, at

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar (), is a city located in the Ahmednagar district in the state of Maharashtra, India, about 120 km northeast of Pune and 114 km from Aurangabad. Ahmednagar takes its name from Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who founded the town in 1494 ...

in India and assigned to the

17th Indian Infantry Division The 17th Infantry Division is a formation of the Indian Army. Indian Army during World War II, During World War II, it had the distinction of being continually in combat during the three-year-long Burma Campaign (except for brief periods of refit ...

. In February 1942, during the

Japanese conquest of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign (December 1941 to mid-1942) ...

the Brigade suffered heavy casualties during the retreat to the

Sittang River The Sittaung River ( my, စစ်တောင်းမြစ် ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittounghttps://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.75.pdf ) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago ...

and was dispersed into small groups after the

Battle of Sittang Bridge The Battle of Sittang Bridge was part of the Burma campaign during the Second World War. Fought between 19 February and 23 February 1942, the battle was a victory for the Empire of Japan, with many losses for the British Indian Army, which was f ...

. The Brigade was never reformed and officially disbanded 25 February 1942.

Formation

*3rd Battalion,

7th Gurkha Rifles The 7th Gurkha Rifles was a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army, before being transferred to the British Army, following India's independence in 1947 and after 1959 designated as the 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles. History F ...

*7th Battalion,

10th Baluch Regiment The 10th Baluch or Baluch Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. After Partition of India, independence, it was transferred to the Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was amalgamated with the 8th Punjab Regiment, 8th Punja ...

*5th Battalion,

17th Dogra Regiment The 17th Dogra Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1922, after the Indian government decided to reform the army moving away from single battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. After the part ...

Also attached in February 1942 *4th Battalion,

Burma Rifles The Burma Rifles were a British colonial regiment raised in Burma. Founded in 1917 as a regiment of the British Indian Army, the regiment re-used the name of an unrelated earlier unit, the 10th Regiment (1st Burma Rifles) Madras Infantry, which evol ...

*2nd Battalion,

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall ...

*2nd Battalion,

Duke of Wellington's 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 ...

References

British Indian Army brigades Military units and formations in Burma in World War II {{WWII-stub

Formation

See also

References