Aberdeen Brigade
Gordon Brigade
2nd Highland Brigade
153rd Infantry Brigade
51st (Highland) Division's insignia from 1940 onwards
Active1890–1919
1920–1940
1940–1946
1947–1967
Country United Kingdom
Branch Territorial Army
TypeInfantry
SizeBrigade
Part of51st (Highland) Division
Garrison/HQAberdeen
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Douglas Graham
Sir Horatius Murray
Roderick Sinclair, 19th Earl of Caithness

153rd Infantry Brigade was a formation of Britain's Territorial Force/Territorial Army that was part of 51st (Highland) Division in both World Wars. From its origins in the 19th Century Volunteer Force it was based in Aberdeen and was composed of Highland battalions. It served on the Western Front in World War I, and after it was captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux early in World War II it was reformed from its 2nd Line and saw action in North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe. It continued serving postwar until the reduction of the Territorial Army in the 1960s.

Volunteer Force

The Volunteer Force of part-time military units formed in Great Britain after an invasion scare in 1859 had no higher organisation than the battalion until the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a comprehensive mobilisation scheme. Under this scheme Volunteer infantry battalions would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training.[1][2][3] Five Volunteer Infantry Brigades were initially formed in Scotland, covering the Highlands, the South of Scotland, and the Clyde, Forth and Tay estuaries. The Volunteer Battalions (VBs) of the Gordon Highlanders, recruiting from Aberdeenshire and Banffshire, were initially assigned to the Tay Brigade (1st, 2nd and 4th VBs) and the Highland Brigade (3rd, 5th and 6th VBs). However, the original Volunteer brigades were too large and cumbersome, and in 1890 the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th VBs of the Gordons were separated to form the Aberdeen Brigade (Headquarters (HQ) at 60 School Hill, Aberdeen), with only the 6th VB remaining in the Highland Brigade. Until 1892 the command of the Aberdeen Brigade was exercised by the officer commanding 75th Regimental District, then Major-General F.S. Russell of Aden was appointed to the command, which he held until 1902. In the reorganisation at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902, the Aberdeen Brigade was renamed the Gordon Brigade, now consisting of all seven VBs of the regiment (an additional battalion having been raised in Shetland in 1900) under the officer commanding the regimental district:[4][5][6][7]

For the Royal Review at Edinburgh on 17 September 1905, the 7th (London Scottish) Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps and the officers of the 8th (Scottish) Volunteer Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment), were attached to the Gordon Brigade under the command of Brigadier-General P.D. Trotter, which was part of the '3rd Infantry Division' formed for the day.[7][8] In 1906 permanent commanders were appointed to the Volunteer Brigades, drawn from retired colonels, Col J.W. Hughes-Hallett being appointed to the Gordon Brigade.[9]

Territorial Force

In 1908 the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF)[10][11] and the Gordon Brigade became the second brigade in the TF's new Highland Division. The battalions had been reorganised as follows:[4][6]

World War I

Mobilisation

The Highland Division was at its annual camp in 1914 when it received orders to mobilise at 17.35 on 4 August and by 17 August had concentrated at its war stations round Bedford as part of First Army in Central Force.[14][15] Although the TF was intended as a home defence force and its members could not be compelled to serve outside the UK, units were invited to volunteer for overseas service and the majority did so. Those who did not volunteer were formed into 2nd Line units and formations to train the mass of volunteers who were coming forward; these were given the prefix '2/' to distinguish them from the 1st Line.[16] (192nd (2nd Gordon Highlanders) Brigade formed in 64th (2nd Highland) Division as a 2nd Line duplicate; this never saw action, but supplied drafts to the 1st Line.[17]) Individual TF battalions began being sent to the Western Front to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF): the 1/6th Gordons left on 5 December, and the 1/4th Gordons on 27 February 1915. (Although both battalions eventually returned to the Highland Division, they were assigned to different brigades.) In April the whole of the Highland Division prepared to join the BEF, and two battalions were transferred to the Gordons Brigade from the independent Black Watch Brigade. From now on the Gordons Brigade, as the second brigade in the division, was designated 2nd Highland Brigade. The division completed its concentration on the Western Front on 6 May, and on 12 May it was designated 51st (Highland) Division, the brigade becoming 153rd (2nd Highland) Brigade.[14][15]

Order of Battle

For the rest of the war, 153rd (2nd Highland) Brigade had the following composition:[14][15]

Service

153rd (2nd Highland) Brigade was engaged in the following actions:[14][15]

1915

1916

1917

1918

51st (H) Division's casualties during the Battle of the Lys were so great that on 12 April it was reduced to a composite brigade under the Commander, Royal Engineers, ('Fleming's Force') and each brigade was reduced to battalion strength. 153rd Brigade Composite Battalion (200 men) was commanded by Major W.H. Newson under Lieutenant-Colonel J.M. Scott, commanding 152nd and 153rd Brigades. The division was withdrawn after the battle and underwent a long period of rest and reinforcement in a quiet sector.[14][15][18]

After the Armistice with Germany in November 1918 51st (H) Division was billeted in the Scheldt Valley where demobilisation got under way. 1/6th Black Watch left the brigade and was posted to the Highland Division in the British Army of the Rhine. By the middle of March 1919 the remaining units had been reduced to cadre strength and left for home.[14]

Commanders

The following officers commanded 153rd (2nd Highland) Brigade during the war:[14]

Interwar

The TF was reconstituted on 7 February 1920 and was reorganised as the Territorial Army (TA) the following year, with some units having merged. The brigade was reformed as 153rd (Black Watch and Gordon) Brigade:[4][19]

World War II

Mobilisation

In the months before the outbreak of war the TA was doubled in size, with most units and formations creating duplicates. 27 Infantry Brigade was formed in 9th (Highland) Infantry Division formed the 2nd Line for 153 Brigade, with some of its battalions formed by reversing the mergers of the 1920s.[6][20][21] After the TA was mobilised on 1 September 1939 153 Brigade had the following composition:[22]

Battle of France

The 51st (H) Division joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, 153 Bde landing on 30 January 1940. However, when the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, 51st (H) Division was detached and serving under French command on the Saar front. Cut off from the rest of the BEF, which was evacuated from Dunkirk, it retreated to the coast where most of the division was forced to surrender at Saint-Valery-en-Caux on 12 June.[22][23][24][25]

The decision was made to reconstitute the famous 51st (Highland) Division by redesignating its duplicate formation, the 9th (Highland) Division in Scottish Command, on 7 August. At the same time 153 Brigade was recreated by redesignating 27 Brigade.[21][23]

Reconstituted Brigade

The brigade was reconstituted as follows:[21]

Service

51st (H) Division sailed for Egypt on 16 June 1942 and 153 Bde was engaged in the following actions under its command during the war:[21]

Men of the Gordon Highlanders cross the border into Tunisia, 1943.

1942

1943

1944

Brigadier Douglas Graham later commander of 51st (H) Division.

Commanders

The following officers commanded 153 Bde after its reconstitution:[21]

Postwar

The TA was reformed on 1 January 1947, with 153 (Highland) Brigade in 51st/52nd Scottish Division until the two divisions regained their independence in 1950. The TA's divisional/brigade structure disappeared with the reduction into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve in 1967. The brigade's composition in 1947 was:[6][27]

(The Lovat Scouts at Beauly may also have been included,[27] but that regiment was in the process of reforming in the Royal Armoured Corps.[28])

Notes

  1. ^ Beckett, pp. 135, 185–6.
  2. ^ Dunlop, pp. 60–1; Appendix A.
  3. ^ Spiers, pp. 228–9.
  4. ^ a b c Monthly Army List, various dates.
  5. ^ Grierson, pp. 82–5, 98–9.
  6. ^ a b c d Frederick, pp. 102–5.
  7. ^ a b Sinclair, Appendix.
  8. ^ Grierson, pp. 106–11.
  9. ^ Grierson, p. 115.
  10. ^ Dunlop, Chapter 14.
  11. ^ Spiers, Chapter 10.
  12. ^ Aberdeenshire at Great War Drill Halls.
  13. ^ Banffshire at Great War Drill Halls.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 101–7.
  15. ^ a b c d e 51st (Highland) Division at Long, Long Trail.
  16. ^ Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.
  17. ^ Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 55–9.
  18. ^ Bewsher, pp. 316–26.
  19. ^ Titles & Designations, 1927.
  20. ^ Frederick, pp. 66–8.
  21. ^ a b c d e Joslen, p. 274.
  22. ^ a b Joslen, p. 339.
  23. ^ a b Joslen, pp. 83–4.
  24. ^ Ellis, Chapter XVII.
  25. ^ Ellis, Chapter XX.
  26. ^ 51st (H) Recce Regiment at Recce Corps website.
  27. ^ a b Graham Watson, TA 1947.
  28. ^ Frederick, p. 42.

References

  • Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-39-8.
  • Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2b: The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th), with the Home-Service Divisions (71st–73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1937/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-39-8.
  • Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0 85936 271 X.
  • Maj F.W. Bewsher, The History of the Fifty First (Highland) Division 1914–1918, Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1921/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-843421-08-5.
  • Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
  • Maj L.F. Ellis, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940, London: HM Stationery Office, 1954/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, 978-1-85457-056-6.
  • J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-007-3.
  • Maj-Gen James Grierson, Records of the Scottish Volunteer Force 1859–1908, Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1909.
  • 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.
  • Donald Sinclair, The History of the Aberdeen Volunteers, Aberdeen: Daily Journal Office, 1907.
  • Edward M. Spiers, The Army and Society 1815–1914, London: Longmans, 1980, ISBN 0-582-48565-7.
  • War Office, Titles and Designations of Formations and Units of the Territorial Army, London: War Office, 7 November 1927.

External sources[edit]

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