The 116th Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army during World War I. Originally raised in December 1914 from locally raised volunteer units of 'Kitchener's Army' known as 'Pals battalions', it was later redesignated and the number was transferred to a different 'Pals' brigade. It fought with 39th Division on the Somme and the Ancre, at Ypres and in the German spring offensive. After the appalling casualties in that campaign it was relegated to a training organisation preparing US Army units for active service. It was disbanded in 1919.
Original 116th Brigade
Alfred Leete's recruitment poster for Kitchener's Army.
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army. The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.[1][2] The K2, K3 and K4 battalions, brigades and divisions followed soon afterwards. But the flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the Army to absorb them, and the K5 units were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, often from men from particular localities or backgrounds who wished to serve together: these were known as 'Pals battalions'. The 'Pals' phenomenon quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office (WO). On 10 December 1914 the WO authorised the formation of another six divisions (37th–42nd) and their brigades to command these K5 units, including 116th Brigade in 39th Division and 121st Brigade in 40th Division. The original 116th Bde was to comprise three battalions of the Birmingham Pals and one pals battalion from Bristol:[3][4]
However, on 10 April 1915 the WO decided to convert the K4 battalions into reserve units. The K4 divisions and brigades were broken up and the K5 formations took over their numbers, so that 116th Brigade in 39th Division became 95th Bde in 32nd Division.[3][4][6] Authorisation for three new infantry brigades – 116th, 117th and 118th – to constitute a new 39th Division was issued on 12 July 1915, but while 117th and 118th were newly-formed, 116th Brigade was created by renumbering 121st Bde.[6][7]
The new 39th Division began to assemble around Winchester early in August 1915, but it was only after it had moved to Aldershot at the end of September that 116th Bde Headquarters (HQ) joined and its Pals battalions began arriving: first the 'South Downs' battalions, then the 'Portsmouth' battalion in October. Early in November the division moved to Witley Camp in Surrey, where it completed its training. Mobilisation orders were received during February 1916 and after some delays entrainment for Southampton Docks began on 2 March. The division embarked and sailed to Le Havre, and by 8 March had completed its landing. It then moved to the divisional concentration area at Blaringhem in First Army's area.[7][8][9][10]
116th Brigade Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps – formed at Grantham 1 March 1916, disembarked at Le Havre 16 May and joined brigade 18 May 1916; transferred to 39th Divisional MG Battalion by 14 March 1918
116th Trench Mortar Battery – formed within the brigade as 116/1 and 116/2 on 9 April 1916, became 116th TM Bty by 16 June; personnel seconded from the infantry battalions; equipped with 3-inch Stokes mortars[11]
The Ancre battlefield, including Thiepval and the Stuff Redoubt.German trench at St Pierre-Divion with the Ancre in the background, after the fighting in November 1916.A team of stretcher-bearers struggling to evacuate a wounded man after the Battle of Pilckem Ridge.
The brigade took part in the following actions:[7][8]
Fighting on the Ancre 3 September: 116th Bde secured the German front trench on the spur above the river, and some of the Sussex reached their final objective, but other formations failed to advance up the valley and 116th Bde was driven out of its gains[14]
Battle of the Ancre 13–14 November: 116th Bde provided listening posts before the attack and 116th Bde MG Company supported the assault by the rest of 39th Division[16]
Battle of Polygon Wood 26 September: 116th Bde succeeded in capturing the group of dugouts and machine gun nests known as 'Tower Hamlets' on the spur above the Bassevillebeek stream, which had resisted since 31 July[18]
Battle of St Quentin 22–23 March: During 16th (I) Division's withdrawal 116th Bde was heavily engaged as a rearguard, in which 13th Royal Sussex was surrounded and much of it overrun; 116th Bde reverted to 39th Division during the night of 22/23 March, and next day it formed the rearguard for 39th Division, Brig-Gen Hornby being wounded by a shell.[13][20]
Battle of Bapaume 24–25 March: 116th Bde was temporarily attached to 21st Division, and once again it acted as rearguard on 24 March, succeeding in disengaging next day and going into divisional reserve.[13][21]
Battle of Rosières 26–27 March: 39th Division continued withdrawing on 26 March, the brigades 'leapfrogging' each other until 116th Bde went back into divisional reserve at nightfall; 39th Division then made small-scale counter-attacks, with 116th Bde forming a composite battalion, until relieved on 30/31 March.[13][22][23]
Each brigade was now hardly stronger than a single battalion, and the infantry of 39th Division was reorganised as '39th Composite Brigade'. No 1 Battalion was formed from 11th Sussex and 1/1st Herts with the 1st Line transport of 1/1st Herts; 13th Sussex and its 1st Line transport joined No 2 Battalion, and the remainder of 116th Bde formed C Company of No 5 Battalion. The composite brigade then fought in the following actions with XXII Corps:[7][8][24][25]
While the composite brigade was still in action, 39th Divisional HQ had moved to Éperlecques, north-west of Saint-Omer. No 5 Battalion returned to the division on 30 April and its components returned to their brigades; the rest of 39th Composite Bde was broken up and rejoined the division on 6 May. Following their crippling losses during the German spring offensive, the infantry brigades of 39th Division were withdrawn from active service. Their battalions were reduced to training cadres (TCs) and the TMBs broken up, the surplus personnel being drafted as reinforcements to other units. All three of 116th Bde's TCs left by the end of June to be reconstituted or disbanded, and it became a holding formation for a number of TCs from other divisions:[7][8][9][12][25][24]
The 77th US Division had arrived at Éperlecques, and it began training under the guidance of the 39th Division TCs on 7 May. On 7 June 39th Divisional HQ moved to Wolphus, also near Saint-Omer, and over the next two months its TCs trained the 30th, 78th and 80th US Divisions in turn. In mid-August 39th Division moved to the French coast with 116th Bde at Étaples. On 1 November the division. was ordered to demobilise its remaining TCs, and 116th Bde completed this for its TF and SR battalions before hostilities with the Armistice with Germany on 11 November. 117th and 118th Bdes were disbanded shortly afterwards, but in December 116th Bde HQ went to Le Havre to form the staff of the embarkation camp, processing demobilised soldiers returning to the UK. 39th Divisional HQ and its remaining subordinate units closed down on 10 July 1919.[7]
Brig-Gen J.E. Watson, appointed to 121st Bde 1 April 1915
Brig-Gen M.L. Hornby, appointed 13 April 1916, wounded 23 March 1918
Lt-Col W.C. Millward, acting 18–22 and 23–31 March 1918
Brig-Gen L.J. Wyatt, appointed 1 April 1918
Lt-Col D.J. Ward, acting 4 November 1918
Lt-Col R.G. Hely-Hutchinson, acting 18 December 1918
Insignia
39th Division's formation badge was a white square with three light blue vertical stripes. This was worn on the upper arm.[5] Within 116th Bde, the South Down battalions of the Royal Sussex wore a blue rectangle with one, two or three vertical stripes of orange (the traditional colour of the regimental facings) to denote 1st, 2nd or 3rd Bn. Originally this was worn as a vertical rectangle on the back, just below the collar; in the summer of 1917 the battalions were ordered to move the badge to the shoulder, so they cut them in half to form horizontal rectangles. The 14th Hants wore a triangle bisected vertically in yellow and black.[27][28]
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 3b: New Army Divisions (30–41) and 63rd (R.N.) Division, London: HM Stationery Office, 1939/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-41-X.
David Bilton, The Badges of Kitchener's Army, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2018, ISBN 978-1-47383-366-1.
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Clive Elderton & Gary Gibbs, World War One British Army Corps and Divisional Signs, Wokingham: Military History Society, 2018.
Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Western Front 1914–18, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1986, ISBN 1-870114-00-0.
Mike Hibberd, Infantry Divisions, Identification Schemes 1917, Wokingham: Military History Society, 2016.
Brig E.A. James, British Regiments 1914–18, London: Samson Books, 1978, ISBN 0-906304-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84342-197-9.
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/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
Capt Wilfred Miles, History of the Great War: Military Operations, France and Belgium 1916, Vol II, 2nd July 1916 to the End of the Battles of the Somme, London: Macmillan, 1938/Imperial War Museum & Battery Press, 1992, ISBN 0-89839-169-5/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84574-721-3.
Lt-Col J.D. Sainsbury, The Hertfordshire Regiment: An Illustrated History, Ware: Castlemead Publications, 1988, ISBN 0-948555-16-5.
Instructions Issued by The War Office During August, 1914, London: HM Stationery Office, 1916
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