157th (Highland Light Infantry) Brigade

The Highland Light Infantry Brigade was originally a Volunteer Infantry Brigade formed in 1902 when the former Glasgow Brigade of the Volunteer Force was split up. The four Volunteer Battalions of the Highland Light Infantry constituted one brigade, while the four Volunteer Battalions of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) formed the other (the Scottish Rifles Brigade Brigade, later the 156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade of the TF).[2]

From 1902 to 1908 the Highland Light Infantry Brigade had the following composition:[2]

• 1st Volunteer Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, at 24 Hill Street, Garnethill, Glasgow
• 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, at Kelvinhaugh Road, Overnewtown
• 3rd (Blythswood) Volunteer Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, at 105 West George Street, Glasgow
• 9th Lanarkshire Volunteer Rifle Corps at Lanark
• 5th (Glasgow Highland) Volunteer Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, at 81 Greendyke Street, Glasgow
• Bearer Company, Royal Army Medical Corps, later an Army Service Corps Company

The Brigade Headquarters (HQ) was at Hamilton, later at 2 West Regent Street, Glasgow. Initially the brigade commander was the Officer Commanding the 26th and 71st Regimental Districts (the HLI districts), later it was Colonel R.C. MacKenzie, former commanding officer of the 1st VB, HLI.[2]

After the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,[3][4] the Scottish Rifles Brigade formed part of the Lowland Division of the TF with the following composition:[5][6][7][8][9][10]

• 5th (City of Glasgow) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry
• 6th (City of Glasgow) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry
• 7th (Blythswood) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry
• 8th (Lanark) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry

Upon the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Lowland Division was mobilised immediately for full-time war service. In May 1915 the brigade became the 157th (1/1st Highland Light Infantry) Brigade and the division the 52nd (Lowland) Division. The battalions were also redesignated with the '1/' prefix, 1/4th HLI. This was to avoid confusion with the 2nd Line duplicates which were also forming up and training as the 196th (2/1st Highland Light Infantry) Brigade of 65th (2nd Lowland) Division. The 2nd Line units consisted mainly of those few men who did not volunteer for overseas service when asked at the outbreak of war, together with the many recruits, and were intended to act as a reserve for the 1st Line units being sent overseas. During the war the brigade and division served in the Middle East and later on the Western Front.

After the Great War both the brigade and division were disbanded, as was the rest of the Territorial Force which was later renamed in the 1920s as the Territorial Army and the 52nd Division was reconstituted as was the brigade, which became the 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Infantry Brigade, again composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th battalions of the Highland Light Infantry and remained this way for most of the inter-war period.[12]

In 1938, due to an increasing need to strengthen the anti-aircraft defences of the country, the 7th Battalion, HLI was transferred to the Royal Artillery and converted into 83rd (7th (Blythswood) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery.[13] In the same year the 9th (Glasgow Highland) Battalion was redesignated 1st Battalion, Glasgow Highlanders[14] but still retained the Highland Light Infantry as its parent regiment. In the following year the brigade was redesignated as 157th Infantry Brigade.

Men of the 7th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) use a small boat to cross a canal in the town of Rheine, Germany, 3 April 1945.

During the Second World War, the brigade served with the division during Operation Ariel in France in mid-1940 to cover the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) being evacuated from France. In 1942 to June 1944 the division was trained in mountain warfare yet was never used in the role. They were then trained in airlanding operations but were again never utilised in the role. In October 1944 they were sent to Belgium to join the 21st Army Group and were attached to the First Canadian Army and fought in the Battle of the Scheldt. The brigade took part in Operation Blackcock in 1945 and ended the war by the River Elbe.

• Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-39-8.
• Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
• James, Brigadier E. A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited. ISBN 0-906304-03-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Joslen, Lt.-Col. H. F. (1990) [1st. Pub. HMSO:1960]. Orders of Battle, Second World War, 1939–1945. London: London Stamp Exchange. ISBN 0-948130-03-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Edward M. Spiers, The Army and Society 1815–1914, London: Longmans, 1980, ISBN 0-582-48565-7.
• Lt-Col R.R. Thompson, The Fifty-Second (Lowland) Division 1914–1918, Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson 1923/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, ISBN 978-1-84342993-7.

• Mark Conrad, The British Army, 1914 (archive site)
• The Long, Long Trail
• The Regimental Warpath 1914–1918 (archive site)