132nd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 132nd Infantry Brigade was a 1st Line Territorial Army formation of the British Army during World War I and World War II and after the war for a period, but disbanded by 1968.

World War I
After the creation of the Territorial Force in 1908, four battalions of the Middlesex Regiment were organised into a brigade within the Home Counties Division. On the outbreak of World War I, the men of the division accepted liability for overseas service to relieve Regular troops for the fighting fronts. The 7th and 8th Middlesex sailed for Gibraltar on 4 and 10 September 1914. The rest of the division was ordered to India, although the brigade staffs and Regular adjutants of the battalions were to remain behind. To replace 7th and 8th Middlesex, the 4th Battalion Border Regiment and 4th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry were added to the Middlesex Brigade, and the 1st Brecknockshire Battalion of the South Wales Borderers also sailed with the brigade. The Home Counties Division embarked at Southampton and sailed on 30 October 1914, disembarking at Bombay on 1–3 December.

Composition
During World War I the Middlesex Brigade was composed as follows:

Commander: Brigadier-General W.R. Clifford (remained in UK)
 * 7th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (from Hornsey) – to Gibraltar
 * 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (from Hounslow) – to Gibraltar
 * 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (from Willesden) – to India
 * 10th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (from Ravenscourt Park) – to India
 * 4th (Cumberland & Westmorland) Battalion Border Regiment (from Carlisle) – to Burma
 * 4th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry (from Shrewsbury) – to Burma
 * 1st Brecknockshire Battalion, South Wales Borderers (from Brecon) – to Aden

Service in India
On arrival, the division's units were sent distributed to various peacetime stations across India, Aden and Burma to continue their training for war. The Border and KSLI battalions joined the Burma Division, the Brecon battalion went to Aden, and for a while the two Middlesex battalions were attached to the Presidency Brigade in 8th (Lucknow) Division. The TF battalions had all taken the prefix '1' (1/4th Queen's etc) to distinguish them from their second-line battalions forming in the UK. In March 1915, 2/4th Border Regiment was sent out to the brigade to replace 4th KSLI, which had moved from Burma to Singapore. In May 1915, the division was numbered 44th (Home Counties) Division and the brigade formally became 132nd (1/1st Middlesex) Brigade (though without a commander or staff, and with its battalions scattered).

From 1915 onwards there was a regular drain on the battalions as they lost their best Non-Commissioned Officers for officer training, sent detachments to various places in India, and provided drafts to replace casualties among units fighting in Mesopotamia. By early 1916 it had become obvious that the Territorial Divisions in India were never going to be able to reform and return to Europe to reinforce the Western Front as had been originally intended. They continued training in India for the rest of the war, providing drafts and detachments as required. 1/9th Middlesex was transferred to Mesopotamia at the end of 1917, landing at Basra on 11 December and transferring to 18th Indian Division.

By 1918 the only units still formally attached to 132 Bde were 1/10th Middlesex and 1/4th Border (now returned from Burma and actually serving in the Jubbulpore Brigade of 5th (Mhow) Division). During 1919 the remaining Territorial units in India were gradually reduced, but 1/4th and 2/4th Border finally saw active service during the Third Afghan War.

132nd Brigade was reformed in the Territorial Army in 1920.

World War II
On mobilisation in September 1939, 132 Bde HQ became HQ Central Sub-Area in the UK and the units of the brigade were temporarily under the command of other formations until the brigade reassembled in 44th (Home Counties) Division on 7 October 1939.

Order of Battle
During WWII the brigade was constituted as follows:


 * 1/6th Battalion East Surrey Regiment (until 4 May 1940)
 * 4th Battalion Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
 * 5th Battalion Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
 * 132 Bde Anti-Tank Company (1 December 1939–7 January 1941)
 * 1st Battalion Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (4 May 1940–26 June 1940)
 * 1/7th Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (from 131 Bde 1 July 1940, returned 1 July 1941)
 * 2nd Battalion The Buffs (joined 2 December 1944 from 131 Bde)

Service
132nd Brigade went to France with 44th Division as part of the British Expeditionary Force, landing on 2 April 1940. On arrival, it exchanged its Surrey battalion with the 10th Brigade, receiving 1st Battalion Royal West Kents in exchange and the 'Kent and Surrey' brigade became an all-West Kent formation. The brigade saw fighting in the St Omer–La Bassée area during the Battle of France (23–29 May) – when the brigade commander, James Steele, won a DSO – and was then evacuated from Dunkirk on 31 May 1940.

Back in the UK, 132 Bde was re-equipped and positioned in its own county of Kent to defend what 44th Division's commander, Maj-Gen Brian Horrocks regarded as 'the No 1 German invasion area, stretching from the Isle of Thanet to Dover and on to Folkestone'.

The brigade was shipped out to North Africa in 1942 with 44th Division, where it fought at the Battle of Alam Halfa and the Battle of El Alamein. The 44th Infantry Division was broken up after Alamein, and the brigade's battalions were posted away during November and December. 132nd Brigade was officially disbanded on 15 January 1943.

The brigade was reorganised postwar but disbanded by 1968.

Commanders

 * Brig. T.T. Waddington
 * Brig. J.S. Steele (from 8 November 1939)
 * Brig. C.B. Robertson (from 14 February 1941)
 * Brig. L.G. Whistler (from acting command of 133 Bde 4 September 1942)

External sources

 * The Regimental Warpath 1914–1918
 * The Long, Long Trail