The brigade, now composed of two battalions of the
Welch Regiment and one of the
Monmouthshire Regiment, together with the rest of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, was mobilised in late August 1939 and soon afterwards Britain declared war on
Nazi Germany. In April 1940 160th Brigade was sent to
Northern Ireland and, after the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was
evacuated from France, the brigade was mainly involved in anti-invasion duties and
exercises training to repel a potential
German invasion of Northern Ireland. In late 1941 160th Brigade, and the rest of the 53rd Division, were sent to
Southeast England, where they began years of training for
Operation Overlord, the planned
Allied invasion of Northern France. men of the 4th Battalion,
Welch Regiment advance along a railway embankment during the capture of 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, 25 October 1944. On 14 January 1944
Brigadier Lashmer 'Bolo' Whistler was appointed to command 160th Bde. He had just returned to the UK after a successful year commanding the lorried infantry brigade of the famous
7th Armoured Division in
North Africa. General Sir
Bernard Montgomery regarded Whistler as 'the best and most experienced Brigadier in the British Army' and had earmarked him for a future divisional command. Whistler's appointment to 160th Bde was in line with Montgomery's policy of giving experienced leadership to the inexperienced formations in 'Overlord'. Whistler took over command of 160th Bde on 28 January, and the brigade was immediately involved in two corps-level training exercises. In March the 53rd (W) Division's HQ and all its brigade and ancillary HQs took part in Exercise Shudder to study 'thrust line' technique, then in April the division was engaged in Exercise Henry on the
South Downs training area; this included a river crossing and full-scale simulated attack. In May, Exercise Bud practised loading vehicles on to landing craft. Finally, in the last week of May, the brigade began moving into its concentration area at
Herne Bay, ready for the invasion. As a follow-up formation, 53rd (W) Division did not take part in the invasion on
D Day (6 June). The 160th Brigade began loading men and equipment aboard its ships on 20 June, but that night Brigadier Whistler was called away to take over
3rd Division whose commander had been wounded in the early fighting in Normandy. Lieutenant-Col
Charles Coleman of the 4th Welch, who had been acting-Brigadier before Whistler's arrival, was promoted to take command permanently. The 160th Brigade landed in Normandy on 28 June and with the rest of the 53rd (W) Division was almost immediately involved in severe
attritional fighting around the French city of
Caen, facing numerous German
panzer divisions, in what came to be known as the
Battle for Caen. The brigade later participated in the
Second Battle of the Odon, suffering heavy casualties, which resulted in the 1/5th Battalion, Welch Regiment being transferred to the
158th Brigade of the division and replaced by the 6th Battalion,
Royal Welch Fusiliers. The decision was made by the divisional commander,
Major-General Robert Ross (a former commander of the brigade), due to an acute shortage of infantrymen in the British Army at this stage of the war, even more so in finding sufficient numbers of battle casualty replacements (or reinforcements) for three battalions of the same regiment serving in the same brigade, which, like the 160th Brigade, had also suffered many losses. •
6th (Caernarvonshire and Anglesey) Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers (from 4 August 1944) Commanders The following officers commanded 160th Infantry Brigade during the war: •
Brigadier Aubrey Williams (
until 10 May 1940) • Brigadier
Robert Ross (
from 10 May 1940 until 17 September 1942) • Brigadier
Eric Dorman-Smith (
from 17 September 1942 until 22 November 1943) •
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Coleman (
acting, from 22 November 1943 until 28 January 1944) • Brigadier
Lashmer Whistler (
from 28 January 1944 until 22 June 1944) • Brigadier Charles Coleman (
from 22 June 1944 until 27 May 1945) • Lieutenant-Colonel H.B.D. Crozier (
acting, from 27 May 1945 until 3 June 1945) • Brigadier Charles Coleman (
from 3 June 1945) == Post War ==