46th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

First World War

The brigade was raised, as 46th Brigade, in 1914 as part of Kitchener's New Armies shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. With the 15th Division, the brigade saw active service on the Western Front in Belgium and France.

The brigade command the following units:

The brigade number was reformed just before the Second World War, in late August 1939, as the 46th Infantry Brigade. The brigade was raised as a 2nd Line Territorial Army formation and was part of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, which was the duplicate of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. The brigade itself was formed as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 157th Infantry Brigade, being composed of the 2nd Battalion, Glasgow Highlanders and the 10th and 11th Battalions of the Highland Light Infantry. As the war progressed, however, the two HLI battalions were posted elsewhere and replaced by Scottish units from other formations.
It remained in the United Kingdom training for most of the war, crossing the channel to Normandy, France on 13 June 1944. The brigade went on to serve in the Battle of Normandy in Operation Epsom, later the Second Battle of the Odon, Operation Bluecoat, the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, followed by Operation Veritable and the assault crossing of the Rhine, Operation Plunder.

The 46th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows during the war: