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77th Brigade (United Kingdom)

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77th Brigade
Active1 Sept 2014[1]
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
RoleUpstream prevention and intervention[2]
Size4 units
Part ofForce Troops Command
Garrison/HQDenison Barracks
Commanders
Current
commander		Brigadier Alastair Aitken

The 77th Brigade is a British Army formation, created in January 2015 under the Army 2020 concept.[3] It is the renaming of the Security Assistance Group which was created under the Army 2020 concept.[4][5] It is based at Denison Barracks in Hermitage, Berkshire and will be fully operational by April 2015.[6][7]

The brigade was named the 77th in tribute to the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, which was part of the Chindits, an Indian Army guerilla warfare force led by Orde Wingate who used unorthodox tactics against the Japanese in Burma in World War II. The arm badges of the revived 77th will show a mythical Burmese creature in reference to the Chindits.[6]

History

The first 77th Brigade was raised as part of the new army also known as Kitchener's Army and assigned to the 26th Division and served on the Western Front and the Macedonian Front during the First World War. Some of the past units include, 8th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 11th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 10th Battalion, Black Watch, 12th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 77th Machine Gun Company, 77th SAA Section Ammunition Column and the 77th Trench Mortar Battery.[8]

New role and composition

The Security Assistance Group's mission was to work with cross-Whitehall agencies to achieve the goals of Defence Engagement and Building Stability Overseas Strategies.[9][10][11] News releases in January 2015 erroneously stated that the brigade will only generally attempt to 'control the narrative' of stories on social media relating to army operations. It is not just about psychological warfare despite having only one sub-unit with that title in its order of battle. The Ministry of Defence said that the “77th Brigade is being created to draw together a host of existing and developing capabilities essential to meet the challenges of modern conflict and warfare. It recognises that the actions of others in a modern battlefield can be affected in ways that are not necessarily violent.”[2][6] A parliamentary written question clarified the true role of the 77th Brigade. The unit's objectives will be similar to that of the SAG. Specifically, it is to: Provide support to other government departments in the aim to achieve stability overseas; lead on special influence methods; build military capacity in all stages of conflict.[5]

Overall, according to a FOIA request, the SAG aimed to have a full strength of 453 military and civilian personnel and occasionally, personnel from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development and the Stabilisation Unit may be attached to the Brigade or work with it.[9][12] A parliamentary reply however stated that there will be "440 military posts in [the] 77th Brigade."[5] The Chief of the General Staff stated that it will seek to draw the best talent from the regular force and the Army Reserve with up to 42% of its personnel consisting of reservists.[2]

Structure

Previous structure

Initially under the Security Assistance Group, the unit included the following units:[3]

Current structure

In July 2015 and October 2015, the four individual units above were reshaped and formed the new five Columns of 77th Brigade.[14]

  • No.1 Column - Planning support focusing on the behavioural analysis of actors, audiences and adversaries
  • No.2 Column - Provides the detail synchronisation and delivery of effect
  • No.3 Column - Provides highly deployable specialists to other parts of the Armed Forces and other Government organisations
  • No.4 Column - Provides professional specialists in Security Capacity Building in Defence
  • No.5 Column - Media operations and Civil Affairs
  • No.7 Column - The Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps - A powerful and influential specialist Army Reserve unit providing engineering, logistics and communication consultancy to both the MOD and across government agencies. (Structure formed in October 2015)

There is no No.6 Column for historical reasons.[15][16]

Recent activities

The Brigade recently participated in a two-week disaster relief exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It deployed to the Philippines in April 2015 to assist the Philippine Government in developing their contingency plans for natural disasters.[17] 77th Brigade has formed a formal partnership with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, US Army Europe.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Newsletter" (PDF). The Military Survey (Geographic) Association. Summer 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "The British Army 2014" (PDF). pp. 120–122, 135–137. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Transforming the British Army" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. p. 13. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Army revives Chindits as 'Facebook warriors' for smart battle". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Information Warfare:Written question - 225283". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  6. ^ a b c MacAskill, Ewan (31 January 2015). "British army creates team of Facebook warriors". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  7. ^ "BBC News - Army sets up new brigade 'for information age'". BBC News. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  8. ^ "26th Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Headquarters Force Troops Command". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  10. ^ "The British Army Journal 2014" (PDF). British Army. pp. 121–122. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Land Power in future conflict". British Army. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  12. ^ "Freedom of Information Request" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Military Stabilisation Support Group". gov.uk. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "77th Brigade". mod.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  15. ^ Fogden, Steve. "Rfm. Ramkrishna Limbu IDSM, including the story of Vivian Weatherall". Chindit Chasing, Operation Longcloth 1943. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  16. ^ Young, Frank. "Chindits 1st Expedition 1943 Operation Longcloth". Chindits Special Force Burma. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  17. ^ "77th Brigade: Natural Disasters Response Training". Forces TV. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  18. ^ Jones, Greg (12 November 2015). "21st Theater Sustainment Command forges UK partnership". United States Army. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
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