Waterloo Campaign When
Wellington organized his troops into numbered
divisions for the
Peninsular War, the component brigades were named for the commanding officer. For the
Hundred Days Campaign, he numbered his British infantry brigades in a single sequence, 1st to 10th. The 7th Brigade formed part of the
7th Division under the command of
Major-general Kenneth MacKenzie. It consisted of: • 2nd Battalion,
25th (the King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot • 2nd Battalion,
37th (the North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot • 2nd Battalion,
78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot (or The Ross-shire Buffs) It was assigned to garrison duty and so played no part in the
Battle of Waterloo.
Crimean War The 7th Brigade formed part of the
4th Division in the
Crimean War. At the
Battle of the Alma it was commanded by
Brigadier-General Arthur Wellesley Torrens and consisted of: •
20th (the East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot •
21st Regiment of Foot (Royal North British Fusiliers) •
68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) The brigade was present with the 4th Division at the
Battle of Balaclava and played a more major role at the
Battle of Inkerman.
Second Boer War and pre-First World War After the
Relief of Ladysmith, part of the
garrison of Ladysmith were reorganized into the 7th Brigade on 10 March 1900. It consisted of • 1st Battalion,
Devonshire Regiment • 1st Battalion,
Manchester Regiment • 2nd Battalion,
Gordon Highlanders • 2nd Battalion,
Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) Initially commanded by
Colonel W.G. Knox , it was taken over by
Brigadier-General Walter Kitchener on 26 March. The brigade formed part of
Lyttelton's 4th Division and took part in
Sir Redvers Buller's advance north. In August 1900, it took part in the
Battle of Bergendal, the last
set-piece battle of the war. Post-war, the brigade was reformed in January 1906 as part of the 4th Division, before joining the
3rd Division in
Southern Command in 1907.
First World War At the outbreak of the
First World War in August 1914, the 7th Brigade was a
regular army formation stationed at
Tidworth and assigned to the 3rd Division. It mobilized with the division, crossed to France between 11 and 16 August, concentrated around
Aulnoye and
Avesnes, and moved forward on 21 August 1914. Other than a brief period when it was reorganized in England in 1918, the brigade served with the 3rd and
25th Divisions on the
Western Front throughout the war.
3rd Division With the 3rd Division, the brigade took part in a large number of actions in 1914: the
Battle of Mons (23 and 24 August) and
subsequent retreat (24 August – 5 September) including the
action of Solesmes and the
Battle of Le Cateau. It then took part in the
First Battle of the Marne (6 – 9 September) and the
Race to the Sea:
First Battle of the Aisne (13 – 20 September), and the battles of
La Bassée (10 October – 2 November),
Messines (31 October – 2 November),
Armentières (1 and 2 November) culminating in the
First Battle of Ypres (5 – 21 November), notably the
Battle of Nonne Bosschen (11 November). 1915 was relatively quieter, but included the
First Attack on Bellewaarde (16 June),
Hooge (19 July) and the
Second Attack on Bellewaarde (25 September). • 3rd Battalion,
Worcestershire Regiment • 2nd Battalion,
South Lancashire Regiment • 1st Battalion,
Wiltshire Regiment • 2nd Battalion,
Royal Irish Rifles • 1/1st Battalion,
Honourable Artillery Company (
T.F.)
– joined from 8th Infantry Brigade on 9 December 1914; left for GHQ Troops on 14 October 1915 • 1/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (T.F.)
– joined on 24 February 1915 and became divisional pioneer battalion on 12 October 1915 25th Division On 18 October 1915, 7th Brigade was posted to the 25th Division in exchange for
76th Brigade as part of a policy of "stiffening"
New Army Divisions with regular units. Once there, it was extensively reorganized on 26 October: On 13 October 1917,
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment joined the brigade and on 10 November the 3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment transferred to 74th Brigade. The brigade was reformed on 16 September with battalions withdrawn from the
Italian Front: The brigade, commanded by
Brigadier John Whitaker, moved to
France with the rest of the 3rd Division on 30 September 1939 as part of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and remained there, serving alongside the
French Army, until May 1940. It first saw action against the
German Army's offensive in
Belgium and
France, notably on the
Ypres-Comines Canal (26 – 28 May 1940) before being
evacuated from Dunkirk to the United Kingdom by 1 June. On 15 September 1941, it was converted to the
Guards Support Group. go 'over the top' during training at Annappes, France, 8 April 1940. The
37th Infantry Brigade (originally in
12th (Eastern) Infantry Division) joined the 3rd Infantry Division on 27 November 1941 and on 8 December it was redesignated as
7th Infantry Brigade. At this time it commanded: • 2nd Battalion,
South Wales Borderers • 2/6th Battalion,
East Surrey Regiment •
6th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment The brigade served with the
9th Armoured Division from June 1942 until July 1944, when the division was disbanded, followed by the
47th Infantry (Reserve) Division from 10 September 1944 until August 1945. On 30 September 1944, it was reorganised as a reserve brigade whereupon it was redesignated as the
7th Infantry (Reserve) Brigade. The brigade remained in the United Kingdom throughout. By the end of the war, the brigade structure was: ==21st century==