61st Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 61st Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army raised for active service in both the First and the Second World Wars.

61st Brigade
'M' Brigade
61st Infantry Brigade
61st (Lorried) Infantry Brigade
Active1914–1919
1944–1946
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeInfantry
Lorried infantry
SizeBrigade
Part of20th (Light) Division
6th Armoured Division
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Sir Charles Richardson

History

First World War

The brigade was raised in September 1914 during the First World War from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies, originally as the 61st Brigade, as part of Kitchener's Second New Army and was composed entirely of service battalions from light infantry and rifle regiments. The brigade was assigned to the 20th (Light) Division. The brigade saw service in the trenches of the Western Front with the division throughout the war.[1]

Harry Patch, later to become the last surviving combat veteran of the trenches, served with the 61st Brigade in 1917 when he was just 19 years old with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) where he was wounded by shrapnel in September. He survived both world wars and lived until 2009 when he died, on 25 July, aged 111.

Order of battle

61st Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:[1]

Second World War

A patrol comprising 'C' Company of the 10th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) sets off in the Arne valley, Italy, 17 July 1944.

The brigade number was reactivated again during the Second World War, now as the 61st (Lorried) Infantry Brigade, in Italy on 21 May 1944. The brigade comprised three battalions of the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), the 2nd, 7th and 10th, the former being of the Regular Army and the latter two of the Territorial Army (TA). From May 1944 to August 1945 the brigade was part of the 6th Armoured Division, itself part of the British Eighth Army and fought in the Italian Campaign. It fought in the Liri Valley, Arezzo, the advance to Florence, on the Gothic Line and the Argenta Gap and the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, Operation Grapeshot.

Order of battle

The 61st Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:

Commanders

The following officers commanded the brigade:

First World War

  • 18 September 1914: Brig.-Gen. O'Donnel Colley Grattan
  • 6 July 1915: Brig.-Gen. Charles Ross
  • 13 November 1915: Brig.-Gen. William Frederick Sweny (wounded, 2 June 1916)
  • 3 June 1916: Lt.-Col. Clarence John Hobkirk (acting)
  • 19 July 1916: Brig.-Gen. W. F. Sweny (sick, 24 July 1916)
  • 27 July 1916: Brig.-Gen. Walter Edward Banbury
  • 12 March 1918 – 27 March 1919: Brig.-Gen. James Kilvington Cochrane[2]

Second World War

Recipients of the Victoria Cross

References

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