159th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

.Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 159th Infantry Brigade
abbreviation= 159th Inf Bde
Caption=
dates= 1941 - 1946
country= Great Britain
allegiance=
branch= British Army
type= Infantry
role=
size= Brigade
command_structure= British 11th Armoured Division
equipment=
Past Commanders=
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
notable_commanders=
identification_symbol= Black Bull on Yellow Background
identification_symbol_2=
nickname= The Black Bull
patron=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles= Normandy
Operation Epsom
Operation Goodwood
Hill 112
Operation Bluecoat
Falaise Gap
Operation Market Garden
Battle of the Bulge
Operation Varsity
anniversaries=
decorations=
battle_honours=|

The 159th Infantry Brigade was a British Army infantry brigade of World War II.

History

The creation of the 11th Armoured Division (which included this Brigade together with 29th Armoured Brigade) was part of the British answer to the success of German panzer divisions in the previous years. In Poland in 1939 then in Western Europe in 1940, the German armoured elements had clearly displayed new tactics and methods of fighting, and the Allied Forces now had to address those developments in Europe.

Originally part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, the brigade detached to form the 11th Armoured in October 1943, from thereon being involved in intensive training while gradually receiving new, modern equipment.

Component Units

*4th Bn, The King's Shropshire Light Infantry
*1st Bn, The Herefordshire Regiment
*3rd Bn, Monmouthshire Regiment, (South Wales Borderers)

Normandy

The Brigade landed on Juno Beach in Normandy on 13th June. In July 1944, the Brigade as part of "11th Armoured Division" broke out of the Normandy beachhead and advanced into France, before turning northward to Belgium as part of Operation Epsom and Operation Goodwood, Operation Bluecoat , Hill 112 ,and the actions around the Falaise Gap, in Normandy. They also participated in the "swan" to Amiens, the fastest and deepest penetration into enemy territory ever made, until the Gulf War (1991).On September 4, 1944, the 11th Armoured Division captured the city of Antwerp.

Market Garden

The Brigade had a minor role in Operation Market Garden and went on to participate in the Ardennes.

Soon thereafter, the 11th Armoured Division pushed forward into the German-occupied Netherlands. In March 1945, it crossed the Rhine River and by the end of the war had advanced to the northeast and captured the German city of Lübeck on May 2, 1945.

As it drove into Germany, the Brigade occupied the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 15, 1945, pursuant to an April 12 agreement with the retreating Germans to surrender the camp peacefully. When the Brigade entered the camp, they found more than 60,000 emaciated and ill prisoners in desperate need of medical attention. More than 13,000 corpses in various stages of decomposition lay littered around the camp. Units of the Division and its higher formations were detached to oversee the work needed in the camp.

From the end of the war in Europe (8 May 1945) the Division was involved in the occupation of Germany until its' disbandment in January 1946.

External links

*http://www.rrw.org.uk/museums/brecon/fact_sheets/24.htm
*http://www.strategos.demon.co.uk/D-Day/Hill%20112.htm