The 5th Indian 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. ...

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, ...

. It was converted from the

9th Indian Infantry Brigade The 9th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. Before the war the 9th (Jhansi) Infantry Brigade was a peacetime formation in Meerut district. This brigade was redesignated the 5th Indian ...

in September 1939, and assigned to the

4th Indian Infantry Division The 4th Indian Infantry Division, also known as the Red Eagle Division, is an infantry division of the Indian Army. This division of the British Indian Army was formed in Egypt in 1939 during the Second World War. During the Second World W ...

. The brigade first moved to Egypt and took part in the early battles in North Africa. Then in 1941, it moved to the Sudan with 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 diff ...

. Returning to 4th Indian Division command it took part in the Syria-Lebanon Campaign. The brigade then returned to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

coming under command of the 5th and

10th Indian Infantry Division The 10th Indian Infantry Division was a war formed infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. In four years, the division travelled over from Tehran to Trieste, fought three small wars, and fought two great campaigns: ...

s, and the

50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division The 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that saw distinguished service in the Second World War. Pre-war, the division was part of the Territorial Army (TA) and the two ''Ts'' in the divisional in ...

and the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division in the Campaign in Tunisia. The brigade once more returned to the 4th Division for the Italian Campaign and the Greek Civil War.

Commanders during World War II

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. ...

Theophilus J. Ponting (Sep 1939 - Jun 1940) * Brigadier

Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd Major General Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd CBE, DSO and Bar, MC (1 March 1896 – 22 January 1944) was an officer in the British Army and the British Indian Army during the First and Second world wars. Early life Lloyd was born in York, England, on 1 ...

(Jun 1940 - Sep 1941) * Brigadier

Dudley Russell Lieutenant General Sir Dudley Russell KBE, CB, DSO, MC (1 December 18964 February 1978) was a senior officer of both the British Army and the British Indian Army, and served during World War I and World War II, where he commanded the 8th ...

(Sep 1941 - Dec 1942) * Brigadier Donald R.E.R. Bateman (Dec 1942 - Apr 1944) * Brigadier John C. Saunders-Jacobs (Apr 1944 - 1946)

Formation

*1st 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 ...

September 1939 to August 1941 *25th Field Regiment,

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 ...

September 1939 to September 1940 *3rd Battalion,

1st Punjab Regiment The 1st Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamated w ...

September 1939 to February 1942 *4th Battalion,

6th Rajputana Rifles The 6th Rajputana Rifles were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They were formed in 1922, after the Indian government reformed the army. They moved away from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. The regiment se ...

September 1939 to July 1943 and February to April 1944 *4th 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 ...

January to March 1941 and August to November 1944 *3rd Battalion,

14th Punjab Regiment The 14th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on independence in 1947, and amalgamated with the 1st, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Regi ...

February 1941 *1st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery June to July 1941 * 2/3rd Australian Infantry Battalion June 1941 *1st 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. ...

August to September 1941 *1st Battalion,

Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

October to December 1941 *1st Battalion,

December 1941 to February 1942 and July 1943 to April 1944 *1st Battalion,

Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

January to April 1942 *8th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery February 1942 *3rd Battalion,

10th Baluch Regiment The 10th Baluch or Baluch Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. After independence, it was transferred to the Pakistan Army. In 1956, it was amalgamated with the 8th Punjab and Bahawalpur Regiments. During more ...

April 1942 to February 1943 and June 1944 to August 1945 *1/4th Battalion,

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

9th Gurkha Rifles The 9th Gorkha Rifles is a Gorkha infantry regiment of the Indian Army and, previously, the British Army. The regiment was initially formed by the British in 1817, and was one of the Gurkha regiments transferred to the Indian Army after independe ...

February 1943 to August 1945 *1st Battalion, Westminster Regiment January 1944 *2nd 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 ...

August to September 1944 ? 2/7 Gurkha Rifles Gurkha *18th Field Company,

Indian Engineers The Indian Army Corps of Engineers is a combat support arm which provides combat engineering support, develops infrastructure for armed forces and other defence organisations and maintains connectivity along the borders, besides helping the civil ...

May to October 1941

References

External links

5th Mountain Brigade
recent report British Indian Army brigades {{WWI-stub

Commanders during World War II

Formation

See also

References

External links