143rd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The 143rd Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and the Second World Wars. In the First World War the brigade served on both Western Front and later the Italian Front. During the Second World War the brigade fought in Belgium and France before being evacuated to England where it remained for the rest of the war and was finally disbanded in 1946. Raised again in the 1980s, this brigade disbanded under Army 2020 in November 2014. Formation The Warwickshire Brigade, as this brigade was originally known, was first raised in April 1908 under the Haldane Reforms when the Territorial Force was created, which was formed by the amalgamation of the Yeomanry and Volunteer Force. The brigade was assigned to the South Midland Division, one of fourteen divisions of the peacetime Territorials. The Warwickshire Brigade was composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Volunteer battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. First World War The brigade and division were mobilised on 5 August 1914, a day after the British declaration of war on Germany, thus beginning the First World War. When asked to serve overseas (as soldiers in the TF were not obliged to serve overseas), most of the men of the brigade volunteered for Imperial Service and those who did not were left to be formed into 2nd Line battalions and brigades, forming the 2nd Warwickshire Brigade (2/5th-2/8th Royal Warwickshires) of the 2nd South Midland Division, later the 182nd (2/1st Warwickshire) Brigade, 61st (2nd South Midland) Division. The 1st Line battalions adopted the '1/' prefix (1/5th-1/8th Royal Warwickshires) to distinguish them from the 2nd Line, which adopted the '2/'. The South Midland Division spent many months in England training until 13 March 1915 when it was warned to prepare for overseas service to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front which had suffered heavy casualties in the winter of 1914-15. On 13 May 1915 the division was numbered, becoming the 48th (South Midland) Division and the brigades in the division were also numbered, the 1st Warwickshire Brigade became the 143rd (Warwickshire) Brigade. The brigade served throughout the Great War on the Western Front in battles at the Somme and Passchendaele. In early November 1917 the 143rd Brigade, with the rest of 48th (South Midland) Division, was sent to the Italian Front and fought at Piave River in June 1918 and later at Vittoria Veneto, which ended the war in Italy with the signing of the Armistice of Villa Giusti. Both the brigade and division ended the war in Italy. Order of battle 1/5th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1/6th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1/7th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment (until September 1918) 143rd Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps (formed 8 January 1916, moved to 48th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps 22 March 1918) 143rd Trench Mortar Battery (formed 14 June 1916) Interwar The brigade and division were both disbanded in 1919 and