The brigade, together with the rest of the division and most of the rest of the Territorial Army, was mobilised between late August and early September 1939. On 1 September 1939
Poland was invaded by the
German Army, and two days before the
Second World War officially began, when both Britain and France declaring war on
Germany. Inadequately armed and equipped, the brigade began home defence and training duties and, as some units were understrength, had to be brought up to their War Establishment strength through large drafts of
militiamen (essentially
conscripts who had only just completed basic training in late October 1939). , bearing the name 'Father O'Flynn' of the 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles, Sussex, during the winter of 1939. The division was not sent to join the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, but instead moved to
Kent in April 1940, joining
XII Corps. When most of the BEF was forced to
retreat to Dunkirk during the disastrous
Battle of France in mid-1940 the division assumed a defensive posture and alternated between coastal defence duties and training to repel an expected
German invasion which never arrived, due mainly to events that happened in the
Battle of Britain and the German
invasion of the Soviet Union in mid-1941. which had fought in France and suffered severe losses. On 18 November 1940 the division was redesignated
56th (London) Infantry Division and on 28 November the 2nd London Infantry Brigade was renumbered as the
168th (London) Infantry Brigade. November 1940 also saw another change to the 168th Brigade, with both the 1st Battalion,
Queen's Westminsters and 1st Battalion,
London Rifle Brigade being posted elsewhere. They were replaced in the brigade by 1st Battalion,
London Irish Rifles, previously from the
167th (London) Infantry Brigade and the 18th Battalion,
Royal Fusiliers, a battalion raised specifically for war service only, created a few months before in June–July. The 18th were posted elsewhere in mid-February 1941 and replaced by 10th Battalion,
Royal Berkshire Regiment, another unit raised for war service, created in September 1940. Prior to being the 10th Battalion, it was the 50th (Holding) Battalion. The 18th Royal Fusiliers was later transferred to the
Royal Artillery in late 1941 and converted into
100th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment and became the light anti-aircraft regiment for the 56th Division when it joined in February 1942 and served for the rest of the war. s and infantrymen of the 10th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment advance 'under fire' during training near
Sudbury,
Suffolk, 10 June 1942. The 168th Brigade and the rest of 56th Division, now composed largely of a mixture of pre-war
Territorials,
Regulars and wartime volunteers, moved to
Suffolk in June 1942 where they were inspected by
General Sir Bernard Paget, at the time
Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces. Another guest was
His Majesty King George VI. On 25 August 1942, the 56th Division left the United Kingdom and moved to the
Middle East where it served with the
5th Infantry Division in
III Corps, part of the
British Tenth Army under
Persia and Iraq Command. The division was ordered to move to
Egypt in March 1943 and thence forward to
Libya, and the front, in April. On 8 April 1943, however, the 168th Brigade was detached from the 56th Division and initially became an independent brigade group, with
90th (City of London) Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery and
501st (London) Field Company, Royal Engineers, both under command. On 29 May 1943, the brigade was transferred to the understrength
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, which had suffered heavy casualties and lost the
150th Brigade the previous summer in
Battle of Gazala. In July 1943, with the 50th Division, the 168th Brigade fought in the
invasion of Sicily, landing on
D-Day+3, yet the brigade suffered comparatively light casualties in the short campaign (10th Royal Berkshires had suffered 109 casualties, 26 of them
KIA whereas 1st London Irish had 160, with 40 KIA). In October the 50th Infantry Division, along with the
51st (Highland) Infantry Division and
7th Armoured Division, was chosen by General
Bernard Montgomery, Commander of the
British Eighth Army, to be returned to the United Kingdom to spearhead the
invasion of Normandy. On 17 October the 168th Brigade rejoined the rest of the 56th Division
fighting in Italy and making it a four-brigade division, as the
201st Guards Brigade joined on 23 July to replace the 168th and only left on 3 January 1944. The division, part of
British X Corps and under command of
Mark Clark's
U.S. Fifth Army, had just seen fierce fighting in the
Salerno landings. Together with the rest of the division the brigade advanced up Italy, and
crossed the Volturno. By late 1943, however, together with the rest of the
Allied Armies in Italy, the brigade was held up in front of the formidable
Winter Line defences, with the brigade and division fighting near the
Bernhardt Line. In mid-January 1944 the brigade, still fighting on the Bernhardt Line, crossed the
Garigliano river as part of the
First Battle of Monte Cassino where
Private George Allan Mitchell of the 1st Battalion,
London Scottish gained the
Victoria Cross, the first and only for the regiment and division during the war. Shortly afterwards, on 30 January, the Commander of British X Corps, Lieutenant-General Sir
Richard McCreery, was ordered to send a brigade to strengthen the
Anzio bridgehead. The 168th Brigade was chosen and was, again, detached from the division to temporarily come under command of the
British 1st Infantry Division, and under command of
U.S. VI Corps. The 168th Brigade landed at Anzio on 3 February launched their own spirited counterattack in an attempt to relieve the
3rd Brigade (1st
Dukes, 2nd
Foresters, 1st
KSLI), of British 1st Division, which was surrounded, in what was known to both sides as the "Thumb", by
Campoleone station and the lateral road, and was virtually cut off, taking heavy casualties. The London Scottish, supported by 46th RTR, "
fought their way forward over sodden ground under heavy German fire in a driving rain", ending up some 400 yards short of the lateral road which shored up the right flank long enough to enable the 3rd Brigade to withdraw, under cover of nightfall, without further loss. However, the brigade had to leave behind much of its equipment and the London Scottish had, in just a few short hours of battle, sustained over 100 casualties. In its first action at Anzio the brigade helped to repel a major counterattack, potentially saving the British 1st Division from destruction, in some of the fiercest fighting endured by soldiers of either side on the Italian Front thus far. Indeed,
Albert Kesselring, the Commander of the German forces in Italy "
believed that the Fourteenth Army had overestimated the strength of VI Corps and that the attack should have commenced at least twenty-four hours earlier, before the arrival of the 168th Brigade". The 168th Brigade reverted to control of 56th Division on 15 February when the 56th Divisional Headquarters began to land. The brigade continued to fight for nearly six weeks in the severe battles at Anzio where even senior officers were not always safe, such as was the case with
Major-General Ronald Penney,
GOC British 1st Division, wounded by shellfire on 17 February and the GOC 56th Division, Major-General
Gerald Templer, took command of both the 1st and 56th divisions, until 23 February when Penney took command of 1st Division again. Over a month later, the heavily battered brigade was relieved in the line by
17th Infantry Brigade, of the British 5th Infantry Division, in late March 1944 and was withdrawn to Egypt to rest and refit, and was to remain there until mid-July. The brigade had suffered 50% casualties, the highest casualty rate of the three brigades of 56th Division, and was brought up to strength mainly with mainly ex-anti-aircraft gunners of the Royal Artillery who had been retrained as
line infantry (most of whom were commented by officers to be of excellent quality as infantrymen), together with those many wounded returning from hospital. In only six weeks at Anzio the brigade had seen extremely heavy casualties with one of its battalions – 1st
London Irish Rifles – suffering 582 casualties (32
officers and 550
other ranks), with only 12 officers and 300 other ranks embarking for Egypt, most of them returning wounded. Even worse was suffered by the 10th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, which had been reduced to around 40 men fit for duty. While in Egypt the brigade was inspected by General Sir Bernard Paget, now Commander-in-Chief,
Middle East Command. He had visited them almost two years before in Suffolk when the division was preparing for overseas service. The reorganised brigade landed at
Taranto, Italy, on 17 July 1944 and soon afterwards were visited again by H.M. The King George VI, who visited them almost exactly two years before. Now under Eighth Army command, the division fought in the
battles for the Gothic Line (Operation
Olive, where the Eighth Army suffered 14,000 casualties, at nearly 1,000 a day), in particular the
Battle of Gemmano which saw further heavy casualties, with nearly half the total casualties for Olive (6,000) in the 56th Division. A complete reorganisation of the division was needed. The brigade was pulled out of the line on 21 September and due to the severe shortage of manpower, biting particularly hard in the
Mediterranean theatre (all available replacements had been used up and although 5,000 ex-anti-aircraft gunners had been transferred to the infantry to be retrained, they had yet to complete their training and would only be available in October), that plagued the British Army at this time, and the heavy casualties in the brigade (1st Welch only mustered 320 all ranks), it was decided to disband two brigades (the other being
18th Infantry of
1st Armoured Division) to make up for the infantry shortage. As a consequence, the brigade became non-operational on 23 September 1944 and • 1st Battalion,
London Irish Rifles, (
Royal Ulster Rifles) (from 4 November 1940, left 23 September 1944) •
18th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (from 5 November 1940, left 15 February 1941) • 10th Battalion,
Royal Berkshire Regiment (from 15 February 1941, disbanded 15 May 1944) • 168th (London) Infantry Brigade Support Company (from 19 to 27 May 1943) • 1st Battalion,
Welch Regiment (from 17 May, left 26 September 1944) From September 1944 the following cadres were under command:, • 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment (from 27 September, left 19 October 1944) • 8th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (from 27 September, left 23 October, rejoined 28 November, disbanded 17 December 1944) • 7th Battalion,
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (from 27 September, disbanded 23 October 1944) • 1st Battalion,
Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) (from 5 until 16 October 1944) • 9th (
Yorkshire Dragoons) Battalion,
King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (from 5 until 16 October, rejoined 23 October, disbanded 31 December 1944) • 14th Battalion,
Sherwood Foresters (from 5 until 16 October, rejoined 23 October, disbanded 31 December 1944) • 42nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment,
Royal Artillery (from 5 to 16 October 1944)
Commanders The following officers commanded 168th Brigade during the war: •
Brigadier G.M.B. Portman (until 25 February 1942) • Brigadier K.C. Davidson (from 25 February 1942 until 19 May 1944) • Brigadier
F.R.G. Matthews (from 19 May until 3 October 1944) •
Lieutenant Colonel O.G. Brooke (
Acting, from 3 to 20 October 1944) • Lieutenant Colonel D.J.B. Houchin (Acting, from 20 to 23 October 1944) • Lieutenant Colonel G.E. Oliver (Acting, from 23 October to 8 December 1944) • Lieutenant Colonel G.P. Gofton-Salmond (Acting, from 8 to 31 December 1944) • Lieutenant Colonel A.J.B. Tarrant (Acting, from 31 December 1944) ==Post-war==