303rd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

303rd Infantry Brigade (303 Bde) was a formation of the British Army organised from surplus Royal Artillery (RA) personnel retrained as infantry towards the end of World War II.

Origin
By the end of 1944, 21st Army Group was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry. At the same time the German Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the United Kingdom could be discounted. In January 1945 the War Office began to reorganise surplus anti-aircraft and coastal artillery regiments in the UK into infantry battalions, primarily for line of communication and occupation duties in North West Europe, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service. 303rd was one of seven brigades formed from these new units.

Composition
303rd Infantry Brigade was formed on 22 January 1945 by conversion of Headquarters 27th (Home Counties) Anti-Aircraft Brigade within 2 Anti-Aircraft Group. It was commanded by Brigadier H.G. Smith and comprised the following Territorial Army RA units:


 * 632nd (St Pancras) Infantry Regiment Royal Artillery formed by 33rd (St Pancras) Searchlight Regiment RA (TA). (This had originally been 19th Battalion London Regiment (St Pancras) until conversion in 1935.)


 * 634th (Middlesex) Infantry Regiment Royal Artillery formed by 36th (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment RA (TA)


 * 635th (King's Regiment) Infantry Regiment Royal Artillery formed by 38th (The King's Regiment) Searchlight Regiment RA (TA). (This had originally been 6th (Rifle) Battalion The King's Regiment (Liverpool) until conversion in 1936.)

Service
After infantry training, including a short period attached to 61st Infantry Division, 303 Bde was sent to Norway in June 1945 following the liberation of that country (Operation Doomsday).

External sources

 * British Military History website
 * Land Forces of Britain, The Empire and Commonwealth
 * The Royal Artillery 1939–45
 * Imperial War Museum