52nd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 52nd Infantry Brigade is a Scottish formation in the British Army. It was formed and disbanded several times during the 20th Century.

History
It began its existence in September 1914 as a formation of the 17th (Northern) Division during the First World War. It spent the whole war with the Division on the Western Front, until May 1919 when it was disbanded.

The Brigade was reformed in September 1943 as a training formation for jungle warfare reinforcements. It was redesignated as Headquarters Training Group on 1 August 1945, and then disbanded later, possibly in 1946.

52nd (Lowland) Division
However the dominant historical threads behind the current 52nd Infantry Brigade comes from the famed 52nd Lowland Division. It was initially deployed to Gallipoli during World War I, sent to the Middle East, and moved to France in March 1918. It was later reformed in the Territorial Army in the interwar period.

During World War II it was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, the Division was evacuated along with rest of the army from Dunkirk, and then trained before D-Day as both an airlanding and a mountain division. However, it was deployed to mainland Europe finally in November 1944 as a conventional infantry formation and fought in North Western Europe for the remainder of the war.

Reformed
The Territorial Army in Scotland re-raised the 51st/52nd Scottish Division in the late 1940s, which was in existence until the TA was disbanded and reorganised as the TAVR in 1967. In 1968 the Division was split into two brigade level districts based in the Highlands and Lowlands, with the Lowland District Headquarters in Hamilton, near Glasgow. The Brigade was reformed in 1982 from that Lowland District, as 52nd (Lowland) Brigade. As 52 Lowland Brigade it consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers, as well as other TA units in the Scottish Lowlands.

The Brigade was retitled 52 Infantry Brigade on 1 April 2002, taking command of Regular Army units in Scotland and the North West of England and giving up its regional and TA responsibilities to 51 Scottish Brigade. This freed 52 Brigade to parent regular light role battalions for operational deployments. 52 Infantry Brigade was transferred to 3rd (UK) Division on 1 April 2007. However the Brigade was only used once operationally for 1 deployment to Afghanistan in 2007/08 and since that time the Brigade has returned to once again focus on more Regional tasks including being a Regional Training Centre and involvement in the Edinburgh Tattoo. The headquarters of 52 Infantry Brigade was located at Edinburgh's Redford Barracks, with some administrative functions located in the New Barrack Block at Edinburgh Castle.

Component units today
The Brigade consists today of the Brigade HQ which is split between Redford Barracks and Edinburgh Castle and the following units:


 * 52 Infantry Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron (258 Signal Squadron)
 * Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, Edinburgh
 * Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, Penicuik
 * Black Watch, 3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, Inverness
 * 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, Preston
 * 3rd Battalion The Rifles, Edinburgh

Operation Herrick VII
In July 2007, it was announced that 52 Infantry Brigade, under the command of Brigadier Andrew Mackay would provide the command element for the UK Task Force on Operation Herrick VII in Afghanistan. They served in Afghanistan between September 7 and March 8, and were relieved in spring 2008 by 16 Air Assault Brigade. During the time that the Brigade were in Afghanistan, they successfully retook the strategic Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala. Brigadier MacKay subsequently received a CBE for his work.

Fatal Casualties Operation Herrick VII


 * Major Alexis Roberts, 2nd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles, 04/10/2007
 * Captain John McDermid, Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, 18/11/2007
 * Trooper Jack Sadler, Honourable Artillery Company, attached Brigade reconnaissance force, 04/12/2007
 * Sergeant Lee Johnson, Yorkshire Regiment, 08/12/2007
 * Corporal Darryl Gardiner, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, attached Brigade reconnaissance force, 20/01/2008
 * Corporal Damian Lawrence, Yorkshire Regiment, 17/02/2008
 * Corporal Sean Vivolino 36 Engineer Regiment
 * Sapper Jake Alderton 36 Engineer Regiment