52nd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
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| 52nd Infantry Brigade | |
|---|---|
 Insignia of 52 Infantry Brigade |
|
| Active | World War I 1914 - 1918 World War II 1939 - 1945 1982 - |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Light Infantry |
| Part of | 3rd (Mechanised) Division |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Brigadier A.D.MacKay OBE |
The 52nd Infantry Brigade is a Scottish formation in the British Army. It has been formed and disbanded several times during the 20th Century.
Contents |
[edit] History
It began its existence in September 1914 as a formation of the British 17th (Northern) Division during the First World War. It spent the whole war with the Division on the Western Front, until May 1919 when it was disbanded.
The Brigade was reformed in September 1943 as a training formation for jungle warfare reinforcements. It was redesignated as Headquarters Training Group on 1 August 1945, and then disbanded later, possibly in 1946.
[edit] 52nd (Lowland) Division
However the dominant historical threads behind the current 52nd Infantry Brigade comes from the famed 52nd Lowland Division. It was initially deployed to Gallipoli during World War I, sent to the Middle East, and moved to France in March 1918. It was later reformed in the Territorial Army in the interwar period.
During World War II it was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, the Division was evacuated along with rest of the army from Dunkirk, and then trained before D-Day as both an airlanding and a mountain division. However, it was deployed to mainland Europe finally in November 1944 as a conventional infantry formation and fought in North Western Europe for the remainder of the war.
[edit] Reformed
The Territorial Army in Scotland re-raised the 51st/52nd Scottish Division in the late 1940s, which was in existence until the TA was disbanded and reorganised as the TAVR in 1967. In 1968 the Division was split into two brigade level districts based in the Highlands and Lowlands, with the Lowland District Headquarters in Hamilton, near Glasgow. The Brigade was reformed in 1982 from that Lowland District, as 52nd (Lowland) Brigade. As 52 Lowland Brigade it consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers, as well as other TA units in the Scottish Lowlands.
The Brigade was retitled 52 Infantry Brigade on 1 April 2002, taking command of Regular Army units in Scotland and the North West of England and giving up its regional and TA responsibilities to 51 Scottish Brigade. This freed 52 Brigade to parent regular light role battalions for operational deployments. The Brigade is currently commanded by Brigadier A D Mackay OBE. He is the commander of the Edinburgh Castle Garrison and is also responsible for the security of the Key to the Castle. The Brigade is now listed as the 'proponent' for mountain and cold weather warfare, being involved in associated exercises.
[edit] Component units today
The Brigade consists today of the Brigade HQ at Edinburgh Castle and the following units:
- 52 Infantry Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron (258 Signal Squadron)
- The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, Glencorse Barracks in Penicuik
- 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th & 33rd/76th Foot) (Green Howards), Weeton Barracks in Preston
- 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, Sir John Moore Barracks in Shorncliffe
- 3rd Battalion The Rifles, Redford Barracks in Edinburgh
[edit] Future reorganisation
Under the reorganisation of the infantry, 52 Brigade will receive a number of battalions that are stationed on a semi-permanent basis.
- 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh (Royal Welch Fusiliers) in 2008.
- The UK based Gurkha battalion will be trained in the air assault role, and will rotate with the two other line infantry battalions in 16 Air Assault Brigade. These are The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, stationed in Canterbury, and 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment), stationed in Tern Hill in 2008).
- The Royal Highland Fusiliers will rotate with The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland in 19 Light Brigade. The battalion in 52 Brigade will be responsible for all public duties in Edinburgh.
- 52 Brigade will assume responsibility for the infantry battalion based at Weeton, near Preston. This will be the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th & 33rd/76th Foot) (Green Howards) once they have moved from Chepstow.
Under this structure, all infantry battalions not attached to a ready brigade, or permanently deployed elsewhere (London, Cyprus, Brunei) will be attached to 52 Brigade and will be trained to provide the Spearhead Land Element - this is a battalion sized group held at Extremely High Readiness for deployment overseas as part of the land element of the Joint Rapid Reaction Force.
Those battalions that are not rotated to a ready brigade (initially 1 R WELSH and 2 YORKS), will rotate with the light infantry battalions stationed in London (2 RRF) and Cyprus (2 PWRR and 2 LANCS). The UK based Gurkha battalion (initially 2 RGR) will continue to rotate with the battalion stationed in Brunei.
In July 2007, it was announced that 52 Infantry Brigade would provide the command element for the upcoming Operation Herrick VII roulement to Afghanistan. They will be relieved in spring 2008 by 16 Air Assault Brigade
Casualties Operation Herrick VII
- Major Alexis Roberts , 2 Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles , 04/10/2007
- Captain John McDermid , Royal Highland Fusiliers,2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland , 18/11/2007
- Trooper Jack Sadler , Honourable Artillery Company , attached Brigade reconnaissance force , 04/12/2007
- Sergeant Lee Johnson, Yorkshire Regiment , 08/12/2007
- Corporal Darryl Gardiner , Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers , attached Brigade reconnaissance force , 20/01/2008
- Coporal Damian Lawrence , Yorkshire Regiment , 17/02/2008
