154th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)


The 154th Infantry Brigade was a formation of Britain's Territorial Force/Territorial Army that was part of 51st Division in both World Wars. From its origins in the 19th Century Volunteer Force, it was based in Stirling and was composed of Highland battalions. It served on the Western Front in World War I, and after it escaped from France early in World War II it was reformed from its 2nd Line and saw action in North Africa, Sicily and Northwest 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. 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 of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were initially assigned to the large Clyde Brigade and the Forth Brigade ; in 1890 these brigades were rearranged, and the 4th and 7th VBs moved to the Tay Brigade. In the reorganisation at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902, the cumbersome Clyde Brigade was broken up and the seven VBs of the A&SHs formed their own brigade under the officer commanding the regimental district. This was also too large and was later split:
Argyll and Sutherland Brigade
  • Headquarters at Prince's Street, Stirling
  • 3rd Volunteer Battalion, A&SH, at Pollokshaws
  • 4th Volunteer Battalion, A&SH, at Stirling
  • 7th Volunteer Battalion, A&SH, at Alloa
  • Army Service Corps Company
Clyde Brigade
In 1908 the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force The seven A&SH VBs had been reorganised into five TF battalions and the Argyll & Sutherland Brigade became the third brigade in the TF's new Highland Division. as follows:

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. 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. Brigade formed in 64th Individual TF battalions began being sent to the Western Front to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force : the 1/7th A&SH left on 6 January 1915, and the 1/9th A&SH on 23 February. In April the whole of the Highland Division prepared to join the BEF, and two remaining battalions of the A&S Brigade transferred to bring the 1st Highland Brigade up to strength. The A&S Brigade was temporarily replaced in the division by the North Lancashire Brigade, which was designated 3rd Highland Brigade. The division completed its concentration on the Western Front on 6 May, and on 12 May it was designated 51st Division, the brigade becoming 154th Brigade.

Reconstituted Brigade

On 6 January 1916 the North Lancashire Brigade was transferred to the 55th Division, which was being reformed in France. At the same time 154th Brigade was reformed with Highland battalions:
After being reformed as a Highland Brigade, 154th Brigade was engaged in the following actions:
1916
1917
1918
After the Armistice with Germany in November 1918 51st Division was billeted in the Scheldt Valley where demobilisation got under way. 1/4th Seaforth and 1/4th Gordons left the brigade and were 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.

Commanders

The following officers commanded 154th Brigade during the war:
  • Colonel St G.E.W. Burton, A&S Brigade 1 June 1911 until 19 April 1915
  • Brig-Gen C. E. Stewart, 6 January 1916, killed 14 September 1916
  • Lieutenant-Colonel H.G. Hyslop, acting 14 September 1916
  • Brig-Gen J.G.H. Hamilton, 17 September 1916
  • Brig-Gen K.G. Buchanan, 26 September 1917

    Interwar

The TF was reconstituted on 7 February 1920 and was reorganised as the Territorial Army the following year, with some units having merged. The brigade was reformed as 154th Brigade:

Mobilisation

In the months before the outbreak of war the TA was doubled in size, with most units and formations creating duplicates. 28 Infantry Brigade was formed in 9th Infantry Division formed the 2nd Line for 154 Brigade. After the TA was mobilised on 1 September 1939 154 Brigade had the following composition:
  • 6th Bn, Black Watch
  • 7th Bn, A&SH
  • 8th Bn, A&SH
  • 154th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company – ''formed 18 November 1939''

    Battle of France

The 51st Division joined the British Expeditionary Force in France, 154 Bde landing on 3 February 1940. The BEF had a policy of exchanging Regular and TA units to even up experience across formations: on 4 March 6th Black Watch was exchanged for 1st Black Watch from 4th Division. However, when the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, 51st Division was detached and serving under French command on the Saar front. Cut off from the rest of the BEF, which was being evacuated from Dunkirk, the division retreated towards the coast. On 9 June Brig Arthur Stanley-Clarke and his 154 Brigade HQ was given command of an ad hoc group of divisional units and army units from the line of communication, designated 'Arkforce'.

Arkforce

In addition to 154 Bde, Arkforce comprised:
Arkforce fought a series of delaying actions, and while most of 51st Division was forced to surrender at Saint-Valery-en-Caux on 12 June, the bulk of Arkforce was evacuated from Le Havre next days later in Operation Cycle.
On return to the UK, 154 Bde HQ was used during June and July 1940 to collect together the dratols of 51st Division that had escaped from France. The decision was made to reconstitute the famous 51st Division by redesignating its duplicate formation, the 9th Division in Scottish Command, on 7 August. At the same time 154 Bde was brought back up to strength by absorbing 27 Brigade.