The 163rd 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 ...

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 ...

that saw active service during 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 Gallipoli and the Middle Eastern Theatre as part of the

54th (East Anglian) Division The 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 following the creation of the Territorial Force (TF) as the East Anglian Division. During the First World War the division fo ...

. In 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 remained in the United Kingdom until it was disbanded in late 1943.

History

Formation

The brigade was raised in 1908 upon the creation 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 ...

, originally as the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade and was part of the East Anglian Division. The brigade consisted of two

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

battalions, the 4th and 5th, of the

Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

and two, the 4th and 5th, of the Suffolk Regiment.

First World War

The division was mobilised on 5 August 1914, the day after Britain declared war on Germany. On 20 August the entire division moved to Chelmsford, Bury St Edmunds and Norwich. The division spent the next few months on home service and coastal defence and started training in preparation to eventually go overseas. In May 1915 the East Anglian Division was numbered as the

and all the brigades in the division were also numbered—the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade became 163rd (Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade. As happened in all Territorial Force divisions, the battalions were also numbered and adopted the '1/' prefix (1/4th Suffolks), to distinguish them from their 2nd Line units which were being formed. The 2nd Line were initially intended to act as a draft-finding reserve for the 1st Line. They were the 208th (2/1st Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade, 69th (2nd East Anglian) Division. In November 1914 the 1/4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was transferred to the

3rd (Lahore) Division The 3rd (Lahore) Division was an infantry division of the British Indian Army, first organised in 1852. It saw service during World War I as part of the Indian Corps in France before being moved to the Middle East where it fought against troops ...

of the British Indian Army and were replaced in the brigade by the 1/8th (Isle of Wight Rifles) Battalion,

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...

, which was previously unattached to a field formation. In July 1915 the division was ordered to prepare for overseas service. The brigade served with the 54th Division in the Middle Eastern theatre and fought in the Gallipoli Campaign,

landing at Suvla Bay The landing at Suvla Bay was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire as part of the August Offensive, the final British attempt to break the deadlock of the Battle of Gallipol ...

on 10 August 1915, as part of

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

. During the fighting on 12 August the 1/5th Norfolks ''"...were on the right of the line", wrote

Sir Ian Hamilton Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, (16 January 1853 – 12 October 1947) was a British Army general who had an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Hamilton was twice recommended for the Victoria Cro ...

, commanding all forces in the region "and found themselves for a moment less strongly opposed than the rest of the brigade. Against the yielding forces of the enemy Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp, a bold, self-confident officer, eagerly pressed forward, followed by the best part of the battalion. The fighting grew hotter, and the ground became more wooded and broken. At this stage many men were wounded, or grew exhausted with thirst. These found their way back to camp during the night. But the colonel, with sixteen officers and 250 men, still kept pushing on, driving all the enemy before them. Nothing more was ever seen or heard of any of them. They charged into the forest and were lost to sight or sound. Not one of them ever came back."'' The men, the so-called vanishing Norfolks, were the subject of a BBC TV film, ''

All the King's Men ''All the King's Men'' is a 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. The novel tells the story of charismatic populist governor Willie Stark and his political machinations in the Depression-era Deep South. It was inspired by the real-life story of U ...

''. The division was evacuated from Gallipoli in early December and spent the most of 1916 in Cairo, Egypt, occupying No. 1 (Southern) Section of the Suez Canal defences. The division (and the brigade) fought again in 1917 and invaded Palestine. The brigade fought in the

First Battle of Gaza The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from th ...

in late March,

Second Battle of Gaza The Second Battle of Gaza was fought on 17-19 April 1917, following the defeat of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) at the First Battle of Gaza in March, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Gaza was defended by ...

in mid-April and

Third Battle of Gaza The Third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of 1–2 November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I and came after the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the ...

in late October – early November battles of Gaza and the Battle of Jaffa in December. In 1918 the brigade fought at Berukin from April to May and finally at the

Battle of Sharon The Battle of Sharon fought between 19 and 25 September 1918, began the set piece Battle of Megiddo (1918), Battle of Megiddo half a day before the Battle of Nablus (1918), Battle of Nablus, in which large formations engaged and responded to mov ...

in mid-September. The division concentrated at

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

between 31 October and 5 November, but the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

surrendered on 31 October with the signing of the

Armistice of Mudros Concluded on 30 October 1918 and taking effect at noon the next day, the Armistice of Mudros ( tr, Mondros Mütarekesi) ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I. It was signed by th ...

Order of battle

* 1/4th Battalion,

* 1/5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment * 1/4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment ''(left November 1914)'' * 1/5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment * 1/8th (Isle of Wight Rifles, Princess Beatrice's) Battalion,

''(from 19 April 1915)'' * 163rd 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 1 May 1916, moved to 54th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 19 April 1918)'' * 163rd Trench Mortar Battery ''(formed 9 May 1917)''

Commanders

The following officers commanded the brigade in the First World War: *9 October 1911: Brigadier-General R. Bayard *24 May 1915: Brigadier-General C. M. Brunker *19 August 1915: Brigadier-General F. F. W. Daniell (temporary) *19 August 1915:

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 ...

E. Evans (acting) *10 September 1915: Brigadier-General T. Ward *24 April 1918: Lieutenant-Colonel O. M. Torkington (acting) *27 April 1918: Brigadier-General A. J. McNeill

Inter-war period

The brigade (and the division) was disbanded after the war, along with the rest of the Territorial Force. However, it was reformed, as the 163rd (Norfolk and Suffolk) Infantry Brigade, in the Territorial Army and continued to serve with the 54th (East Anglian) Division and had the same four battalions as it did before the First World War. However, in 1921, the 4th and 5th battalions of the Suffolks were amalgamated as the 4th/5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. The brigade later received the 1st Battalion,

Cambridgeshire Regiment The Cambridgeshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, and was part of the Territorial Army. Originating in units of rifle volunteers formed in 1860, the regiment served in the Second Anglo-Boer War and the First and Secon ...

from the 162nd (East Midland) Infantry Brigade. The composition of the brigade remained this throughout much of the inter-war period. In 1938, however, the 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment was transferred back to 162nd (East Midland) Infantry Brigade, when all British infantry brigades were reduced to three battalions.

Second World War

In the

, the brigade continued to be part of the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division from 3 September 1939 to 13 December 1943, when that division was disbanded. The brigade then became a Lines of Communication unit for the 21st Army Group. It stayed in the United Kingdom for the duration of its service. The original battalions of the brigade were converted into the 53rd Infantry Brigade, joining the 18th Infantry Division, on 18 September 1939 and the 163rd Infantry Brigade was reformed from the redesignation of the 161st Infantry Brigade. Second World War commanders of the brigade included Brig. M.D. Jephson, Brig. R.A.D. Moseley, Brig. O.M. Wales, and Lieut.Col. A.L. Taffs.

Order of battle

* 5th Battalion,

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

''(until 17 September 1939)'' * 6th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment ''(until 17 September 1939)'' * 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment ''(until 17 September 1939)'' * 2/4th 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. ...

''(from 18 September 1939 to 11 April 1943)'' * 5th (Hackney) Battalion,

Royal Berkshire Regiment The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), b ...

''(from 18 September 1939 to 1 November 1943)'' * 7th (Stoke Newington) Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment ''(from 18 September 1939 to 16 October 1942)'' * 163rd Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company ''(formed 1 February 1940, disbanded 14 July 1941)'' * 6th Battalion,

King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) 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 ...

''(from 16 October to 11 December 1942)'' * 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion,

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. The regiment was formed as a consequence of th ...

''(from 12 December 1942 to 30 May 1943)'' * 5th Battalion,

King's Regiment (Liverpool) The King's Regiment (Liverpool) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot in 1751. Unlike most British Army infantry regiments, which were ...

''(from 18 July to 1 November 1943)''

References

{{British infantry brigades of the Second World War

163 Year 163 ( CLXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laelianus and Pastor (or, less frequently, year 916 '' Ab urbe con ...

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 1919 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943