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28th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

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28th Brigade
28th Infantry Brigade
28th Commonwealth Brigade
28th ANZUK Infantry Brigade
Active1914–1974
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeInfantry
SizeBrigade

The 28th Infantry Brigade was a British Army formation which served during the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War.

History

First World War

The 28th Brigade was part of 9th (Scottish) Division during the early stages of the First World War, from civilians volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. It was initially composed of the 6th (Service) Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, 9th (Service) Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), and the 10th and 11th (Service) battalions of the Highland Light Infantry. The brigade trained, with the rest of the division, from August 1914 until May 1915 and arrived on the Western Front and were to remain there until being disbanded in May 1916, being replaced in the division by 1st South African Brigade.

The brigade was, however, briefly reformed in September 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive in the final stages of the war.

Order of battle World War I

The 28th Brigade was composed as follows during World War I:

Upon being reformed in September 1918:

Second World War

Reformed in the Territorial Army in September 1939, the brigade was a 2nd Line Territorial Army formation and a duplicate of the 154 Infantry Brigade. Initially the 28th Brigade belonged to the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division from its creation in 1939 until August 1940. After the destruction of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division during the Battle of France in May-June 1940, the 9th Division was redesignated the 51st (Highland) Division and the 28th Brigade HQ was absorbed by the HQ 154th Infantry Brigade.[1]

The 28th Brigade came into being again when the 2nd Gibraltar Brigade was redesignated as the 28th Brigade at Gibraltar on 1 December 1943. The brigade was initially composed entirely of Regular Army battalions, the 2nd King's and 2nd Somersets had been in Gibraltar many years before the war. It served with the 4th Infantry Division in the Italian Campaign and later were involved in the Civil War in Greece, remaining there for the rest of the war.[2]

Order of battle World War II

The 28th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:

From December 1943 the 28th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows:

Korean War

The Brigade arrived in Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1949, to join the 40th Infantry Division. It arrived in April 1951 in Korea, took the title '28 Commonwealth Brigade' and joined the 1st Commonwealth Division, and served right through the war, until leaving in 1954. It comprised two British and two Australian infantry battalions and 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery.

Order of battle Korean War

SEATO

The Brigade was reformed on 16 September 1955 in Malaya, formed from a combination of forces from Australia, New Zealand and Britain.[3] The formation was now air-portable and named the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group. Its main elements were three infantry battalions from Australia, Britain and New Zealand and a British field artillery regiment with an Australian battery. The Brigade's operational role was as the 'Immediate Reaction Force' for the South East Asia Treaty Organisation.

It was stationed in a new camp at Terandak, near Malacca in Malaysia. On 31 October 1971 the Brigade ceased to exist. However, its demise was painless and involved a mere change of name and location. On 1 November 1971 the Brigade became 28 ANZUK Infantry Brigade and was located on the northern side of Singapore Island. The brigade disbanded in 1974.

The Brigade actually disbanded in January 1976 and consisted of 1RHF, 6RAR and 1 RNZIR together with supporting Artillery, Signals, Engineer and Logistic units. HQ ANZUK Force HQ was located in the old RN Naval based at what was HMS Terror. After a short period as 28 (UK) Infantry Brigade after the demise of ANZUK Force. The HQ was at the old Admiralty Building near to HMS Terror and the naval base.

Order of battle 1949

Mid 1949

Notes

  1. ^ Joslen
  2. ^ Joslen
  3. ^ 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Provost Unit - Malaya, Borneo, and Singapore, accessed June 2008

References

  • Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.
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