Green Jackets Brigade
The Green Jackets Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the English rifle regiments. The designation "Green Jackets" was derived from their rifle green tunics indicating their status as rifles.
After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. Infantry Depot O at Upper Barracks, Winchester was the headquarters for the two rifle regiments and the Middlesex Regiment.[1]
In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Green Jackets Brigade. At the same time the Middlesex Regiment was transferred to the Home Counties Brigade, with the remaining regiments each being reduced to a single battalion. The Brigade combined the depots of:[2]
Under the Defence Review announced in July 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised, and on 1 April 1958, the 1st Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 43rd and 52nd was transferred from the Light Infantry Brigade to the Green Jackets Brigade. The 1st Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 43rd and 52nd was renamed the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) on 7 November 1958.[3] The remaining two regiments were also renamed as the 2nd and 3rd Green Jackets on 7 November, so that the Brigade contained three battalions:
- 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd)
- 2nd Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps
- 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade
On 1 January 1966, the three regiments were amalgamated into a single three battalion "large regiment" called the Royal Green Jackets.[4] In 1968, the Green Jackets Brigade was merged with the Light Infantry Brigade to form the Light Division.[5]
References
- ^ Messenger, Charles. "A History of British Infantry: For Love of Regiment, Volume 2, 1915-1994". p. 156.
- ^ Whitaker's Almanack 1956, p. 471
- ^ "The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on March 3, 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Christopher Wilkinson-Latham, The Royal Green Jackets, Oxford, 1975
- ^ Whitaker's Almanack 1969, p. 473