During the Boer War, the 5th Infantry Brigade, known as the Irish Brigade, fought in the Battle of Colenso under Major General Arthur Fitzroy Hart. It consisted of the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st Connaught Rangers, and the 1st Border Regiment.[1]
Following the end of the Boer war in 1902 the army was restructured, and a 3rd Infantry division was established permanently at Bordon as part of the 1st Army Corps, comprising the 5th and 6th Infantry Brigades.[2][3]
Rifle inspection for men of the 2nd Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment at Rumegies, 14 February 1940.
During the Second World War, the 5th Brigade was again part of the 2nd Infantry Division and was sent to France in 1939 shortly after the outbreak of war, where it joined the British Expeditionary Force. It served on the Franco-Belgian border until May 1940, when it was evacuated at Dunkirk after fighting in the short but fierce battles of France and Belgium in which the German Army nearly cut off the entire BEF from the French Army.[5] With the division, the brigade remained in Britain on home defence until 10 April 1942, when it was shipped out to India to fight the Imperial Japanese Army after a series of disasters suffered by the British and Indian troops stationed there. The 5th Brigade served with the 2nd Infantry Division in the Burma Campaign under General Slim'sBritish Fourteenth Army and fought in the Battle of Kohima, which managed to help turn the tide of the campaign in the Far East.[6]
In 1979-80 Headquarters 8 Field Force was heavily involved in directing the Commonwealth Monitoring Force during the transition to the newly independent state of Zimbabwe.[10]
In the early 1980s, the Field Force concept was dropped in favour of traditional Brigades; 5th Infantry Brigade was reformed at Aldershot in January 1982 by the redesignation of 8th Field Force. The Brigade consisted of the former elements of the Parachute Contingency Force (PCF) from 6 Field Force (which became the 1st Infantry Brigade), at the time 2 PARA, together with a second Parachute Battalion from 8 Field Force (3 PARA).[11]
Falklands War
The Brigade was sent to the Falklands in 1982 as the follow-on force to 3rd Commando Brigade. Having had its two Parachute Regiment battalions withdrawn to reinforce 3 Commando Brigade, it was hurriedly reconstituted with two Guards battalions pulled from Public duties in London and No. 63 Squadron RAF Regiment, (based at RAF Gütersloh, Germany) initially to provide additional Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) of land forces landing at San Carlos Water.[12]
5th Airborne Brigade
Following the Falklands War, it was converted into 5th Airborne Brigade by it Commander, Brigadier Tony Jeapes. The brigade consisted of two battalions of the Parachute Regiment, a Gurkha battalion, and a Territorial Army infantry battalion, together with additional parachute support elements and a small parachute deployable Brigade HQ. The 7th Parachute Regiment RHA returned from Germany and was converted to an airborne unit and attached to the brigade. A Brigade Logistic Battalion was formed. On 1 September 1999, the brigade merged with 24 Airmobile Brigade to produce 16 Air Assault Brigade.[13]
Structure
First World War Order of Battle
The brigade was part of 2nd Division. The brigade commanded the following units in the First World War:[14]
^Consisting of 8 Rapier fire units deployed as 2 flights (A & B flights) A1 – A4; B1 – B4. Each fire unit was equipped with Rapier Field Standard A and DN181 'Blindfire' radar. There was also an HQ Flight and an Engineering Flight.[16]
United Kingdom
British Army