12th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

12th Mechanized Brigade
Insignia of 12th Mechanized Brigade
Active	1899 - present day
Country	United Kingdom
Allegiance	Monarch of England
Branch	British Army
Type	Mechanized infantry
Role	Armoured Infantry
Size	one brigade
Part of	3rd Division
Engagements	World War I Le Cateau Battle of Marne Battle of Aisne First Battle of Ypres (1914) Battle of Messines (1914) Hill 60 Second Battle of Ypres (1915) Battle of Albert Battle of Le Transloy Battle of the Somme First Battle of the Scarpe Third Battle of the Scarpe Battle of Polygon Wood Battle of Broodseinde Battle of Poelcapelle Battle of Passchendaele Battle of Arras (1918) Battle of Hazebroucke Battle of Bethune Advance in Flanders Battle of the Scarpe (1918) Battle of Drocourt-Queant Battle of the Canal du Nord Battle of the Selle Battle of Valenciennes World War II

The 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, formerly the 12th Mechanized Brigade, is a regular British Army brigade which has been in existence since 1899 and now forms part of the 3rd Division.

History

Second Boer War

The brigade was first formed in December 1899 as 12th Infantry Brigade and saw action at the Battle of Rensburg, Battle of Norval's Point, Battle of Biddulph's Berg and Battle of Slabbert's Nek.

First World War

During the First World War, the 12th Infantry Brigade, a regular army formation, was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. It was dispatched to France, crossing the English Channel on 22 August 1914, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and saw action in the First Battle of the Marne beginning in September 1914. It then spent much of the rest of the conflict engaged in trench warfare.

Brigade units during the First World War included:

• 1st Battalion, The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
• 2nd Battalion, the Lancashire Fusiliers
• 2nd Battalion, The Essex Regiment
• 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (from January 1916 to 10th Bde. February 1918)
• 2nd Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment (from March 1915, to 11th Bde. July 1915)
• 1/5th Battalion, The South Lancashire Regiment (from February 1915 until January 1916)
• 1/2nd Battalion, The Monmouthshire Regiment (until January 1916)

From early November 1915 until February 1916 the 12th Brigade was swapped with the 107th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.

Second World War

During the Second World War, except for a few brief periods of detachment, the brigade formed part of 4th Infantry Division. It was part of the British Expeditionary Force and took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940. It moved to North Africa in February 1943 to take part in the later stages of the Tunisia Campaign and saw action at the Battle of Oved Zara, the Battle of Medjez Plain and the Battle of Tunis. It then took part in the Italian Campaign, moving to Naples in February 1944 and saw further action at the Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino. By October 1944 the Division was taking part in Eighth Army's battle on the Gothic Line but was withdrawn in November to spend the rest of the war in Greece, part of the Allied force tasked to prevent civil unrest as rival factions attempted to fill the political vacuum when the Germans withdrew from the country.

Brigade units during the Second World War included:

• 2nd Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers
• 1st Battalion, the South Lancashire Regiment (until June 1940)
• 1st Battalion, the Black Watch (until March 1940)
• 6th Battalion, the Black Watch (from March 1940)
• 1st Battalion, the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (from September 1940)

Post-1945

The Brigade was disbanded in March 1947, but reformed from 91 Lorried Infantry Brigade in April 1956. After being briefly converted to "Task Force Delta" in the late 1970s, the brigade was reinstated in 1981. Moved to 1st Armoured Division, it remained, with a spell under HQ 3rd Armoured Division during Operation Granby, until disbandment under Options for Change. Following the Strategic Defence Review in 1998, the brigade was reformed in mechanized form under 3rd Armoured Division at Aldershot: it relocated to Ward Barracks in Bulford in February 2004.

Present

The brigade headquarters, with two battle groups - the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment and the 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards - deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 to form the headquarters and main infantry combat units of Task Force Helmand as a part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force. Under Army 2020, its headquarters remains at Bulford and it forms part of the Reaction Force. It has been renamed 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade.

• 12 Mechanized Brigade Units 2014
  • The King's Royal Hussars (Armoured)
  • The Light Dragoons (Formation Reconnaissance)
  • 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (Duke of Wellington's) (Armoured Infantry)
  • 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment (Mechanized Infantry)
  • 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh (The Royal Welch Fusiliers) (Light Role Infantry)
  • 3rd Battalion, The Rifles (Light Role Infantry)
  • 1st battalion, Grenadier Guards (light role infantry)
  • 19th Regiment Royal Artillery (Self Propelled Artillery)
  • 26 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers
  • 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
  • 4 Logistic Support Regiment The Royal Logistics Corps
  • 4 Medical Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps

Modern Structure

After the Army 2020 refines the brigade now consisted of:

• Brigade Headquarters in Bulford
• 16th Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals in Stafford
• The Royal Tank Regiment - Heavy Armoured in Tidworth
• 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh - Armoured Infantry in Tidworth
• 1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment - Armoured Infantry
• 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh (Volunteers) - Reserve Armoured Infantry in Cardiff
• 4th Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Volunteers) - Reserve Armoured Infantry in Wolverhampton
• 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - Self-Propelled Field Artillery at Larkhill
• 22nd Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers - Close Support (Mechanized) at Perham Down

Brigade Commanders

Recent commanders have included:

• 1907—1909 Brigadier General Charles E. Bradley
• 1909—1912 Brigadier General Francis S. Inglefield
• 1912—1914 Brigadier General Henry F. M. Wilson
• 1914—1916 Brigadier General Frederick G. Anley
• 1916—1917 Brigadier General James D. Crosbie
• 1917—1917 Brigadier General Adrian Carton de Wiart
• 1917—1918 Brigadier General Edward A. Fagan
• 1918—1919 Brigadier General Ernest Brander Macnaghten
• 1919—1923 Brigadier General Arthur H. Marindin
• 1923—1925 Brigadier General Neville J. G. Cameron
• 1925—1929 Brigadier General Edward B. Hankey
• 1929—1932 Brigadier Sir Hereward Wake
• 1932—1935 Brigadier Charles A. Howard
• 1935—1936 Brigadier Martin Kemp-Welsh
• 1936—1938 Brigadier The Honourable Percy Gerald Scarlett
• 1938—1939 Brigadier John George Walters Clark
• 1939—1940 Brigadier John Ledlie Inglis Hawkesworth
• 1940—1941 Brigadier Daniel Marcus William Beak
• 1941—1943 Brigadier Robert C. W. Callaghan
• 1943—1943 Brigadier Richard Amyatt Hull
• 1943—1943 Brigadier Gordon Harold Alexander MacMillian
• 1943—1943 Brigadier Thomas P. D. Scott
• 1943—1944 Brigadier F. M. Elliott
• 1944—???? Brigadier Algernon George William Heber-Percy

12th Infantry Brigade

• 1956—1957 Brigadier Ian Freeland

12th Mechanised Brigade

• 1970—1972 Brigadier David Young

12th Armoured Brigade

• 1984—1986 Brigadier Jeremy Mackenzie
• 1989—1990 Brigadier Jonathan Hall
• 1999—2002 Brigadier John Cooper
• 2002—2003 Brigadier Jonathan Shaw
• 2005—2007 Brigadier John Lorimer
• 2007—2009 Brigadier David Marck Cullen
• 2009—2011 Brigadier Justin C. W. Maciejewski
• 2011—2013 Brigadier Douglas McKenzie Chalmers

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade (2014)

• 2013—2015 Brigadier C. Roland V. Walker
• 2015—2017 Brigadier Robin C. N. Sergeant
• 2017—2019 Brigadier Adrian P. Reilly
• 2019—Present Brigadier Joseph Butterfill

Sources

• Watson, Graham (2005). The British Army in Germany: An Organizational History 1947-2004. Tiger Lily. ISBN 978-0972029698. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZNm0n9SwRQIC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=7th+Armoured+Brigade+task+force+alpha&source=bl&ots=c68H1kChJK&sig=ES8YpA3nbQDyICXERGXQLMvfD44&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NQ8qUYPPGsmS0QWW-IDYCQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=7th%20Armoured%20Brigade%20task%20force%20alpha&f=false. 

External links

• 12 Mechanized Brigade - on British Army official website
• 12 Infantry Brigade at Orders of Battle.com
• British Army 1939