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, ...

fought on three continents Europe, Africa and Asia. They also had to supply formations for home service. This list details the Cavalry, Armoured and Infantry brigades formed by the Indian Army during

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Cavalry brigades

1st (Risalpur) Cavalry Brigade The 1st (Risalpur) Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Indian Army formed in 1906 as a result of the Kitchener Reforms. It remained in India during the First World War but took an active part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in ...

* 3rd (Meerut) Cavalry Brigade *

4th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade The 4th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Indian Army that formed part of the Indian Army during the First World War. It was formed as Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade in February 1915 to replace the original bri ...

Armoured brigades

50th Indian Tank Brigade The 50th Indian Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed for service in the Burma Campaign of World War II from units of the British Army and the British Indian Army. The brigade's for ...

* 251st Indian Tank Brigade previously called 1st Indian Armoured and 251st Indian Armoured Brigade * 252nd Indian Armoured Brigade previously called 2nd Indian Armoured Brigade *

254th Indian Tank Brigade The 254th Indian Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade of the Indian Army during World War II. This brigade was originally raised at the cavalry depot at Risalpur in India with effect from 1 April 1941 as the 4th Indian Armoured Brigade. In Octob ...

previously called 4th Indian Armoured and 254th Indian Armoured Brigade * 255th Indian Tank Brigade previously called 5th Indian Armoured and 255th Indian Armoured Brigade *

267th Indian Armoured Brigade The 267th Indian Tank Brigade was a short lived armoured brigade of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was reconstituted as 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade. History The brigade was formed on 3 July 1942 at Sialkot with three regimen ...

* 268th Indian Armoured Brigade converted to 268th Indian Infantry Brigade October 1942

Motor brigades

* 1st Indian Motor Brigade designated, but actually formed as 1st Indian Armoured Brigade * 3rd Indian Motor Brigade *

10th Indian Motor Brigade The 10th Indian Motor Brigade was a formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in Egypt in March 1942. The brigade left Egypt for Persia in September 1942 and was converted to the 60th Indian Infantry Brigade in July 1943. ...

Anti aircraft brigades

* 1st Indian Anti-Aircraft Brigade * 2nd Indian Anti-Aircraft Brigade *

3rd Indian Anti-Aircraft Brigade Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * High ...

Parachute brigades

* 14th Indian Parachute Brigade *

50th Indian Parachute Brigade The 50th Parachute Brigade is a brigade-sized formation of the Indian Army. Its main force is formed of battalions of the Parachute Regiment. It consists of 2 Airborne battalions, supported by units of the Regiment of Artillery, the Corps of ...

77th Indian Parachute Brigade The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in India in June 1942. The brigade was assigned to the Chindits and organised into eight columns for operations behind enem ...

Infantry brigades

1st Indian Infantry Brigade The 1st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939, in Abbottabad in India. It was assigned to HQ Rawalpindi District until May 1942, when it joined the 23rd ...

2nd Indian Infantry Brigade The 2nd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in Rawalpindi in September 1939. In October 1940, it was renamed 16th (Independent) Indian Infantry Brigade in November 1941, ...

3rd Indian Infantry Brigade The 3rd Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed at Jhelum in India in September 1939. In August 1943, it was renamed the Frontier Reserve Brigade Formation *1st Battalion, 16th Pu ...

4th Indian Infantry Brigade The 4th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939, as the 7th Indian Infantry Brigade and renumbered 4th in June 1940, The brigade was assigned to HQ Rawalpi ...

* 5th Indian Infantry Brigade * 6th Indian Infantry Brigade * 7th Indian Infantry Brigade *

8th Indian Infantry Brigade The 8th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939, in India. In November 1940, the brigade was assigned to the 11th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade was ...

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 ...

10th Indian Infantry Brigade The 10th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939. In June 1940 it was assigned to the 5th Indian Infantry Division and in September 1940, sailed for Eas ...

* 11th Indian Infantry Brigade *

12th Indian Infantry Brigade 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* 13th Indian Infantry Brigade * 14th Indian Infantry Brigade *

15th Indian Infantry Brigade The 15th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1940, at Secunderabad in India and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Division. Between February and March 194 ...

* 16th Indian Infantry Brigade * 17th Indian Infantry Brigade *

18th Indian Infantry Brigade The 18th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October, 1940 at Meerut in India and assigned to the 8th Indian Infantry Division. It was then detached for independent ...

19th Indian Infantry Brigade The 19th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October, 1940 at Old Delhi in British Raj, India and assigned to the 8th Infantry Division (India), 8th Indian Infantry Di ...

20th Indian Infantry Brigade The 20th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. History The brigade was formed in September 1940, by the conversion of the Khojak Brigade and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Divis ...

21st Indian Infantry Brigade The 21st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. History It was converted from the Quetta Brigade in September 1940, and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Division. In March 1941, i ...

22nd Indian Infantry Brigade The 22nd Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1940, at Baleli in India using assets from the 8th Indian Infantry Brigade and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry D ...

* 23rd Indian Infantry Brigade *

24th Indian Infantry Brigade The 24th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in February 1941, in India and at first assigned to the 10th Indian Infantry Division, and fought in the Anglo-Iraq ...

* 25th Indian Infantry Brigade *

26th Indian Infantry Brigade The 26th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in March 1941, at Secunderabad, India and assigned to the 6th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade was part of the Line of C ...

27th Indian Infantry Brigade The 27th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in March 1941, at Secundarabad in India and assigned to the 6th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade was used as Line of ...

* 28th Indian Infantry Brigade *

29th Indian Infantry Brigade The 29th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed on 11 October 1940, by the renumbering of the British 21st Infantry Brigade. It was assigned to the 5th Indian Infantry Divi ...

* 30th Indian Infantry Brigade * 31st Indian Infantry Brigade *

32nd Indian Infantry Brigade The 32nd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was formed in January 1941 in India and assigned to the HQ Western Independent District until April 1942. It was then assigne ...

33rd Indian Infantry Brigade The 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Indian Army that saw active service in the Indian Army during the Second World War, notably in the Burma Campaign. History The 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade was formed in ...

* 34th Indian States Forces Infantry Brigade *

36th Indian Infantry Brigade The 36th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in June 1941, at Baleli in India and assigned to the 14th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade spent between March 1942 a ...

37th Indian Infantry Brigade The 37th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was formed in June 1941, at Quetta in India and assigned to the 14th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade was then assigned to the ...

* 38th Indian Infantry Brigade * 39th Indian Infantry Brigade * 40th Indian Infantry Brigade *

43rd Indian Infantry Brigade (Lorried) The 43rd Independent Gurkha Infantry Brigade, also called the 43rd Indian Infantry Brigade or the 43rd Gurkha Lorried Infantry Brigade, was an infantry brigade of the Indian Army during World War II. It was created in 1943, by the renaming of ...

44th Indian Infantry Brigade The 44th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in June 1941, at Poona in India and assigned to the 17th Indian Infantry Division. Under the command of Brigadier George Ba ...

45th Indian Infantry Brigade The 45th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in June 1941, at Ahmednagar in India and assigned to the 17th Indian Infantry Division. It was transferred to Malaya Comman ...

* 46th Indian Infantry Brigade *

47th Indian Infantry Brigade The 47th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed October 1942, at Secunderabad in India and assigned to the 19th Indian Infantry Division. In March 1942, it was transferred ...

* 48th Indian Infantry Brigade *

49th Indian Infantry Brigade The 49th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October 1941 at Bolarum in India. It was assigned to the 19th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade fought in the Burma C ...

51st Indian Infantry Brigade The 51st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Indian Army that saw active service in the Indian Army during the Second World War. It took part in the Arakan Campaign and in the immediate post-war period reoccupied Ma ...

* 53rd Indian Infantry Brigade *

55th Indian Infantry Brigade The 55th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in India in April 1942 and assigned to the 7th Indian Infantry Division. In July to September 1942, it was attached to the ...

* 60th Indian Infantry Brigade * 62nd Indian Infantry Brigade *

63rd Indian Infantry Brigade The 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in January 1942, at Jhansi in India and was assigned to the 23rd Indian Infantry Division and served in the Burma Campaign. ...

* 64th Indian Infantry Brigade *

71st Indian Infantry Brigade The 71st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in March 1942, at Nowshera in India. The brigade was assigned to the 26th Indian Infantry Division on formation. Th ...

* 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade * 73rd Indian Infantry Brigade * 74th Indian Infantry Brigade * 75th Indian Infantry Brigade * 77th Indian Infantry Brigade *

80th Indian Infantry Brigade The 80th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in April 1942, in India and assigned to the 20th Indian Infantry Division until the end of the war. Composition *2nd Battalion, Bord ...

* 84th Indian Infantry Brigade *

88th Indian Infantry Brigade The 88th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1942, at Chittagong to protect the 14th Indian Infantry Division's lines of communications and was disbanded on ...

89th Indian Infantry Brigade The 89th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October 1942, at Bhiar Kund in India. The brigade was assigned to the 7th Indian Infantry Division and fought in the Burma Campai ...

* 90th Indian Infantry Brigade *

98th Indian Infantry Brigade The 98th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in April 1941, at Bareilly. The brigade served with three different divisions in the Burma Campaign. The 34th Indian Infant ...

* 99th Indian Infantry Brigade * 100th Indian Infantry Brigade *

106th Indian Infantry Brigade The 2nd Burma Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Burma Army during World War II. It was formed in July 1941. The Brigade was then disbanded in June 1942, and reformed in October 1942, to command battalions of the newly formed Burm ...

109th Indian Infantry Brigade The 109th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in March 1942 in India, and assigned to the 26th Indian Infantry Division. The brigade was transferred to the 14th ...

* 111th Indian Infantry Brigade * 113th Indian Infantry Brigade * 114th Indian Infantry Brigade * 115th Indian Infantry Brigade *

116th Indian Infantry Brigade The 2nd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in Rawalpindi in September 1939. In October 1940, it was renamed 16th (Independent) Indian Infantry Brigade in November 1941, ...

123rd Indian Infantry Brigade The 23rd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II from 1941 to at least 1947. The brigade was formed in February 1941, at Loralai in India and in June 1941, assigned to the 14th Indian Infan ...

150th Indian Infantry Brigade The 150th Indian Infantry Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in March 1944, at Secunderabad as a Jungle Training Brigade assigned to the Southern Army. In September 1945 the brigade w ...

* 155th Indian Infantry Brigade *

161st Indian Infantry Brigade The 161st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. As part of the arrangements for the independence and partition of British India the brigade was allocated to India and became the 161st Inf ...

268th Indian Infantry Brigade The 268th Indian Infantry Brigade is an infantry formation of the Indian Army, previously of the British Indian Army. History It was initially formed as 268th Indian Armoured Brigade at Sialkot in July 1942, with three regiments of the Indian Ar ...

Named brigades

Bannu Brigade The Bannu Brigade was formed after the 1903 reforms of the British Indian Army by Herbert Kitchener when he was Commander-in-Chief, India. The brigade was part of the Northern Army and deployed along the North West Frontier. In 1914 at the start ...

* Frontier Reserve Brigade * Gardai Brigade * Khojak Brigade * Kohat Brigade * Landi Kotal Brigade *

Lushai Brigade The Lushai Brigade was an improvised fighting formation of the British Indian Army which was formed during World War II. It participated in the Battle of Imphal and the Burma Campaign. History In March 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded ...

* North Assam Indian Infantry Brigade * Nowshera Brigade * Peshawar Brigade * Quetta Brigade *

Razmak Brigade The Razmak Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was in existence in September 1939, for service on the North West Frontier. It was normal practice for newly formed battalions to be posted to the North West ...

* Risalpur Training Brigade * Thal Brigade * Wana Brigade * Zhob Brigade

References

{{British military formations during the Second World War Military units and formations of India in World War II British Indian Army brigades