214th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The brigade was formed for service in the United Kingdom on 11 October 1940 by No 14 Infantry Training Group in Western Command as the 214th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). It was initially composed of newly raised battalions from English infantry regiments. On 1 December 1941 it was redesigned as the 214th Independent Infantry Brigade for general service.[1]

On 5 September 1943 the brigade joined the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, replacing the 34th Tank Brigade, and along with the 129th Infantry Brigade and 130th Infantry Brigade reformed the 43rd Division as a standard infantry division, after the experiment with Mixed divisions was abandoned.[1][2]

The Brigade landed in Normandy on 24 June 1944 under the command of Brigadier Hubert Essame and fought in the Battle of Normandy, where it faced off against the German 9th SS Panzer Division at Hill 112, in July 1944 during the Battle for Caen.[3][4]

Men of the 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944.

The 214th Brigade, along with the rest of the 43rd Division, were the first British units to cross the Seine river, with an assault crossing at the French town of Vernon opposed by the German 49th Infantry Division.[3][5] This enabled the armour of XXX Corps under Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks to thrust across northern France into Belgium.

They later played a major role in Operation Market Garden, as the support to the Guards Armoured Division.[3][6][7]

They went on to play a small part in the Battle of the Bulge, where it was placed on the Meuse as a reserve, and a large part in the fighting in the Klever Reichswald (Operation Veritable) and the Crossing of the Rhine (Operation Plunder).[3][6][8]

By the end of hostilities they had reached the Cuxhaven peninsula of northern Germany.[3]

The 214th Brigade had the following composition during World War II:[1][9]

• As part of Area Commands and the Hampshire County Division.
  • 19th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (11 October 1940 — 30 November 1941)
  • 20th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (11 October 1940 — 30 November 1941)
  • 21st Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (11 October 1940 — 15 July 1941)
  • 6th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (11 October 1940 — 26 November 1941)
  • 11th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (15 July — 25 November 1941)
  • 11th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (13 November 1941 — 30 November 1941)
  • 12th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (25 November 1941 — 30 November 1941)
• As part of the 214th Independent Infantry Brigade under various commands
  • 19th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (1 December 1941 — 1 January 1942, converted to the 98th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery)[10]
  • 20th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (1 December 1941 — 1 January 1942)
  • 11th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (1 December 1941 — 8 September 1942)
  • 12th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (1 December 1941 — 5 September 1942)
  • 7th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment (30 November 1941 — 11 September 1942)
  • 5th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (6 September 1942 — 5 September 1943)
  • 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (12 September 1942 — 5 September 1943)
  • 9th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (2 June 1942 — 5 September 1943)
  • 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment (7 — 25 June 1943)
• As part of 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
  • 5th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (from 6 September 1943)
  • 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (from 6 September 1943)
  • 9th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry (6 — 30 September 1943)
  • 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment (from 30 September 1943)

The 214th Brigade had the following commanders during World War II:[1]

• Brigadier J.M. Prower (from 11 October 1940)
• Brigadier J.O. Carpenter (from 25 February 1941)
• Brigadier H. Essame (from 15 September 1942)
• Lieutenant-Colonel G. Taylor (acting) (from 16 June 1945)
• Brigadier R.E. Goodwin (from 22 June 1945)

• Maj-Gen H. Essame, The 43rd Wessex Division at War 1944–45, London: William Clowes, 1952.
• Ken Ford, Assault Crossing: The River Seine 1944, 2nd Edn, Bradford: Pen & Sword, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84884-576-3.
• Lt-Gen Sir Brian Horrocks, A Full Life, London: Collins, 1960.
• Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
• Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1974/Coronet 1975, ISBN
• Tim Saunders, Battleground Europe: Hill 112 - Battles of the Odon 1944, Barnsley: Pen & Sword/Leo Cooper, ISBN 0-85052-737-6.
• Tim Saunders, Battleground Europe: Operation Plunder –The British and Canadian Rhine Crossing, Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2006, ISBN 1-84415-221-9.

• Hill 112 memorial
• The Battle for Hill 112