• Source: 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team (United Kingdom)

The 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, formerly the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is a regular brigade of the British Army which has been in almost continuous existence since 1899 and now forms part of 3rd (United Kingdom) Division.




History






= Second Boer War

=
British Army brigades had traditionally been ad hoc formations known by the name of their commander or numbered as part of a division. However, units involved in the Second Boer War in 1899 were organised into sequentially numbered brigades that were frequently reassigned between divisions. 6th Division, consisting of the 12th and 13th Brigades, was formed on 30 November and landed in South Africa during January 1900. It was moved up to Nauwpoort, from where 12th Brigade under the command of Major-General R.A.P. Clements was pushed forward to reinforce the Cavalry Division. When the field force was reorganised after the capture of Bloemfontein, 12th Brigade returned to the command of 6th Division. The brigade saw action at the Battle of Rensburg, Battle of Norval's Point, Battle of Biddulph's Berg and Battle of Slabbert's Nek.
However, after the defeat of the main Boer field armies and the development of guerrilla warfare, all the divisions and brigades were broken up to form ad hoc 'columns' and garrisons. Battalions were detached from 12th Bde during operations in the Brandwater Basin in July 1900, and Maj-Gen Clements had detachments of Mounted infantry and Imperial Yeomanry attached to his command. By the end of the year Clements was an important column commander, but none of his units came from his original 12th Brigade.



Order of Battle

The 12th Brigade was originally constituted as follows:

2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment
2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment
After the Boer War, 12th Brigade became a permanent headquarters in 1902, stationed with 6th Division at Plymouth. By 1907 it was still part of 6th Division, but now stationed at Colchester in Eastern Command. In the Expeditionary Force established by the Haldane reforms, 12th Brigade at Colchester and later at Dover became part of 4th Division, and remained so until the outbreak of World War I.




= First World War

=
During the First World War, the 12th 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.



Order of battle

The 12th Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:

1st Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment
2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) (from January 1916 to 10th Brigade February 1918)
2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (from March 1915, to 11th Brigade July 1915)
1/5th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (from February 1915 until January 1916)
1/2nd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment (until January 1916)
From early November 1915 until February 1916 the 12th Brigade was swapped with the 107th (Ulster) 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 the 4th Infantry Division, as in the First World War. It was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and took part in Battle of France and the subsequent Dunkirk evacuation in May–June 1940.
The brigade remained in the United Kingdom for the next two years, preparing and training to repel Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion of England, although that never arrived. It moved to North Africa in February 1943 to take part in the later stages of the Tunisian 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 4th Division was taking part in the British 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.



Order of battle

The 12th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:

2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (until June 1940)
1st Battalion, Black Watch (until March 1940)
12th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company (left to join 4th Battalion, Reconnaissance Corps, 1 January 1941)
6th Battalion, Black Watch (from March 1940)
1st Battalion, 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. During the 1970s, it was one of two "square" brigades assigned to 2nd Armoured Division. After being briefly converted to "Task Force Delta" in the late 1970s, the brigade was reinstated in 1981, assigned to 1st Armoured Division and based at Quebec Barracks at Osnabrück. It remained with 1st Armoured Division, apart from 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 Mechanised Division at Aldershot Garrison: it relocated to Ward Barracks in Bulford Camp in February 2004.




Future


Under the Future Soldier programme, the brigade has been redesignated as the 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, and in the future will control a reconnaissance regiment (KRH) equipped with the General Dynamics Ajax. The current armoured regiment (RTR) will be re-equipped with the Challenger 3 MBT and the armoured infantry battalions with the Warrior IFV re-equipped with the Boxer AFV.




Current Organisation


The current organisation of the brigade under the Defence in a Competitive Age is:

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade Headquarters, at Bulford Barracks, Bulford Garrison
Royal Tank Regiment, at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth
King's Royal Hussars, at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth Garrison
The Royal Wessex Yeomanry (Army Reserve)
1st Battalion, Royal Welsh, at Lucknow Barracks, Tidworth Garrison (Armoured Infantry)
1st Battalion, Mercian Regiment, at Picton Barracks, Bulford Garrison (Armoured Infantry)
3rd Battalion, The Rifles
3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh, Battalion HQ in Cardiff, Wales (Army Reserve – Armoured Infantry, paired with 1 R WELSH)
4th Battalion, Mercian Regiment, Battalion HQ in Wolverhampton, West Midlands (Army Reserve – Armoured Infantry, paired with 1 MERCIAN)
4 Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, at Dalton Barracks, Abingdon
4 Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
15th Signal Regiment
19th Regiment Royal Artillery
26 Engineer Regiment




Brigade Commanders



Brigade commanders have included:

Major-General R.A.P. Clements: 1899–1900
Brigadier-General Charles E. Bradley: 22 July 1905–July 1909
Brigadier-General Francis S. Inglefield: July 1909 – June 1912
Brigadier-General Henry F.M. Wilson: June 1912 – September 1914
Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick G. Anley: September 1914 (acting)
Brigadier-General Henry F. M. Wilson: September – October 1914
Brigadier-General Frederick G. Anley: October 1914 – June 1916
Brigadier-General James D. Crosbie: June 1916 – January 1917
Brigadier-General Adrian Carton de Wiart: January – November 1917
Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. Glenn: November 1917 (acting)
Brigadier-General Edward A. Fagan: November 1917 – October 1918
Brigadier-General E.B. Macnaghten: October 1918 – 1919
Brigadier-General Arthur H. Marindin: November 1919 – November 1923
Brigadier-General Neville J.G. Cameron: November 1923 – October 1925
Brigadier-General Edward B. Hankey: October 1925 – October 1929
Brigadier Sir Hereward Wake, Bt.: October 1929 – August 1932
Brigadier Charles A. Howard: August 1932 – July 1935
Brigadier Martin Kemp-Welsh: July 1935 – August 1936
Brigadier the Hon. P. Gerald Scarlett: August 1936 – September 1938
Brigadier John G.W. Clark: September 1938 – October 1939
Brigadier John L.I. Hawkesworth: October 1939 – June 1940
Brigadier Daniel M.W. Beak: June 1940 – December 1941
Brigadier Robert G.W. Callaghan: December 1941 – April 1943
Brigadier Richard A. Hull: April–June 1943
Brigadier Gordon H.A. MacMillan: June 1943
Brigadier Thomas P.D. Scott: July–November 1943
Brigadier F.M. Elliott: November 1943 – April 1944
Brigadier Algernon G.W. Heber-Percy: April 1944–
Brigadier Cyril E.H. Dolphin: 1949–1950
Brigadier Frederick Stephens: -December 1950
Brigadier Victor D.G. Campbell: December 1950 – November 1952
Brigadier John F.M. Macdonald: November 1952 – 1954
Brigadier Alfred (John) Tilly: 1954–1955
Brigadier Ian H. Freeland: April 1956 – November 1957
Brigadier Patrick H. Man: 1959 – March 1962
Brigadier Philip T. Tower: March 1962 – 1964
Brigadier Walter B. Thomas: 1964–1966
Brigadier H. Mark G. Bond: 1966 – December 1968
Brigadier W.G. Hugh Beach: December 1968 – September 1970
Brigadier David T. Young: September 1970 – September 1972
Brigadier Walter R. Taylor: September 1972 – December 1974
Brigadier Michael F. Reynolds: December 1974 – December 1976
Brigadier John C.O.R. Hopkinson: December 1976 – December 1978
Brigadier Brian L.G. Kenny: December 1978 – December 1980
Brigadier Charles A. Ramsay: December 1980 – December 1982
Brigadier Peter R. Davies: December 1982 – November 1984
Brigadier Jeremy J.G. Mackenzie: November 1984 – 1986
Brigadier G. Hyde: 1986 – December 1988
Brigadier Jonathan M.F.C. Hall: December 1988 – November 1990
Brigadier Timothy J. Granville-Chapman: November 1990 – January 1993
Brigadier John Cooper: November 1999 – January 2002
Brigadier the Hon. Jonathan D. Shaw: January 2002 – April 2003
Brigadier Christopher G.S. Hughes: April 2003 – June 2005
Brigadier John G. Lorimer: June 2005 – November 2007
Brigadier David M. Cullen: November 2007 – December 2009
Brigadier Justin C.W. Maciejewski: December 2009 – September 2011
Brigadier Douglas M. Chalmers: September 2011 – September 2013
Brigadier C. Roland V. Walker: October 2013 – July 2015
Brigadier Robin C.N. Sergeant: July 2015–
Brigadier Jo Butterfill
Brigadier Henry Searby




References






Sources


L.S. Amery (ed), The Times History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902, London: Sampson Low, Marston, 7 Vols 1900–09.
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 1: The Regular British Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1934/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-38-X.
Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
Watson, Graham (2005). The British Army in Germany: An Organizational History 1947–2004. Tiger Lily. ISBN 978-0972029698.




= External links

=
Chris Baker, The Long, Long Trail
12th Armoured Infantry Brigade
British Army 1939

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team (United Kingdom)
• 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
• 1st (UK) Division
• 4th Light Brigade Combat Team
• 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team
• Brigade
• 3rd (UK) Division
• 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade
• Royal Armoured Corps
• Structure of the British Army