The 130th (Devon & Cornwall) Brigade, originally the Plymouth Brigade was an infantry formation of Britain's Volunteer Force, Territorial Force, and later Territorial Army (TA). In the First World War the brigade was in British India for most of the war and did not see service as a complete formation, but many of its battalions fought in the Middle East campaigns. The brigade (without its Devon or Cornwall battalions) did see action during the campaign in North West Europe of the Second World War, distinguishing itself at actions such as Operation Jupiter (Hill 112), the capture of Mont Pinçon, Operation Market Garden, at 'Dorset Wood' and at Hengelo. As 130 (West Country) Brigade it continued in the postwar TA until 1961.
Volunteer Force The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a comprehensive Mobilisation Scheme for the part-time Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these Volunteer Infantry Brigades provided a structure for collective training.Beckett, pp. 135, 185–7.Dunlop, pp. 60–1; Appendix A. On 9 February 1889 Lieutenant-Colonel the Earl Mount Edgcumbe, commanding officer (CO) of the 2nd (Prince of Wales's) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, was appointed Colonel in command of the Plymouth Brigade, consisting of the volunteer battalions of the Devonsand the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI), which was charged with defending the Royal Navy's base at Plymouth. The brigade commander was assisted by a retired Regular officer acting as Brigade major. Later staff appointments were filled by officers from the volunteer battalions.Army List, various dates.'Earl of Mount Edgcumbe', Burke's. Lord Mount Edgcumbe commanded the Plymouth Brigade until 1893; he was succeeded as Colonel Commandant by a retired Regular officer, Major-General M.A.H.J. Heriot. By 1895 the Plymouth Brigade had the following organisation: Headquarters (HQ): Ivybridge Brigade Commander: Maj-Gen M.A.H.J. Heriot Aide-de-camp: Captain E.C. Nicholetts, 3rd VB Devons Brigade Major: Major (retired) F.M. Eden Supply and Transport Officer: Maj L.E. Beare, VD, 5th VB Devons Brigade Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel: D. Thompson, 2nd VB DCLI 1st (Exeter and South Devon) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 2nd (Prince of Wales's) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 4th Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 5th (The Hay Tor) Volunteer Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 1st (Duke of Cornwall's) Volunteer Battalion, DCLI 2nd (Duke of Cornwall's) Volunteer Battalion, DCLI Supply Detachment, later designated an Army Service Corps (ASC) Company Bearer Company, later part of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Lewis, 9th Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, VD, the CO of the 5th (Hay Tor) VB, Devons, took command of the Plymouth Brigade as a Temporary Colonel in 1901, and shortly afterwards it was renamed the Devonshire Brigade when the HQ moved to Exeter and the two DCLI battalions transferred to the Cornwall & Somerset Brigade (also headquartered at Exeter).'Baron Clifford of Chudleigh', Burke's.London Gazette 19 July 1901.London Gazette 8 June 1906.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14. the brigade carried on as the Devon and Cornwall Brigade in the TF's Wessex Division. Lord Clifford continued in command and retained the temporary rank of colonel.London Gazette, 15 May 1908. The reorganised brigade had the following composition: HQ: Lennard Buildings, Goldsmith Street, Exeter 4th Bn Devonshire Regiment (from the former 1st & 3rd VBs) at ExeterFrederick, pp. 86–7. 5th (Prince of Wales's) Bn Devonshire Regiment (from the 2nd & 5th VBs) at Plymouth 4th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (from the 1st VB) at TruroFrederick, pp. 137–8. 5th Bn Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (from the 2nd VB) at Bodmin No 2 (Devon & Cornwall) Section, Wessex Divisional Signal Company, Royal Engineers Devon & Cornwall Brigade Company, ASC, at Mutley Barracks, Exeter
The 6th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, (from the 4thVB) at Barnstaple was not part of the brigade, but was designated as 'Army Troops' attached to the Wessex Division.
First World War On 29 July 1914 the Wessex Division was in the Salisbury Plain Training Area carrying out its annual training camp when 'precautionary orders' were received, and next day the division took up emergency war stations in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The order to mobilise arrived on the evening of 4 August. Between 10 and 13 August the division concentrated on Salisbury Plain and began war training.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 43–8.43rd (1st Wessex) Division at Long, Long Trail.
On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service and on 15 August the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6. The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry experienced a shortfall in volunteers, and so many Overseas Service men had to be transferred from the 1/5th DCLI to bring the 1/4th up to strength that the 1/5th was withdrawn from the Devon & Cornwall brigade and replaced by the 1/6th Devons on 16 September; 1/5th DCLI later became a pioneer battalion on the Western Front.DCLI at Long, Lnng Trail.
On 24 September, at the special request of the Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, the Wessex Division accepted liability for service in British India to relieve the Regular units there for service on the Western Front. The division's infantry battalions (without their brigade headquarters) embarked at Southampton on 8 October and they were convoyed to Karachi (the Devon battalions) and Bombay (1/4th DCLI). They were immediately distributed to garrisons across India, reverting to peacetime service conditions, and the Devon & Cornwall Brigade never saw service as a whole, though it was formally numbered the 130th (Devon and Cornwall) Brigade in May 1915. (The 3rd Welsh Brigade, raised for 'Kitchener's Army' by the Welsh National Executive Committee, had received the number '130th' on 10 December 1914, but it had been renumbered 115th Brigade on 27 April 1915.Becke, Pt 3b, p. 87; Appendix 2.)
As soon as the Wessex Division had left for India, the 2nd Wessex Division and its brigades began to be organised from the 2nd Line battalions being raised by the home depots. Recruitment and training of the 2nd Wessex Division proceeded so well that it was also sent to India in December 1914, and later received the notional titles of 45th (2nd Wessex) Division and 136th (2/1st Devon and Cornwall) Brigade.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 55–60.45th (2nd Wessex) Division at Long, Long Trail. Brigadier-General R.J. Pinney, who had commanded the Devon & Cornwall Brigade since 16 July 1913, took temporary command of the 2nd Wessex Division on its formation and Brig-Gen Lord St Levan (a retired colonel in the Grenadier Guards) commanded the 2/1st Devon and Cornwall Brigade until it embarked for India.
By early 1915 the need was growing for troops to be sent from India to various theatres of war, and the first drafts and formed units from the Wessex Divisions began to go on active service, particularly to the Mesopotamian Front. By the end of the war only one battalion remained in India from the two Devon & Cornwall brigades.
Interwar The TF (reorganised as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921) began to reform on 7 February 1920. 130th (Devon and Cornwall) Infantry Brigade in 43rd (Wessex) Division was composed as follows:Titles and Designations, 1927. 4th Bn Devons 5th Bn Devons 6th Bn Devons 4th/5th Bn DCLI (amalgamated 1921)
Second World War Mobilisation After the Munich Crisis in late 1938, when the possibility of another European conflict loomed, the TA was doubled in size, and once again its units formed duplicates. The TA's infantry units mobilised on 1 September 1939, two days before war was declared. At the time of mobilisation the duplicate 45th Division was still being organised, so both 1st and 2nd Line units were administered by 43rd (Wessex) Division HQ. Once the two were separated, the Devon and DCLI battalions were all assigned to 45th Division and 130th Infantry Brigade (the 'Devon and Cornwall' subtitle having been dropped) in 43rd (W) Division had the following organisation:Southern Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.Joslen, p. 320.Joslen, pp. 69–70.Joslen, pp. 73–4. 4th Battalion, Dorset Regiment 5th Battalion, Dorset Regiment 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment 130th Infantry Brigade Anti-Tank Company – formed 17 May 1940, disbanded 20 December 1941 Section, No 3 Company, 43rd (Wessex) Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS)Lord & Watson, pp. 151–2, 262.
Home Defence In May 1940 43rd (W) Division was preparing to go overseas to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, but the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May ended the 'Phoney War' before the division was ready. When the Battle of France was lost and the BEF was being evacuated from Dunkirk, 43rd (W) Division was one of the few reasonably well-equipped formations left in Home Forces to counter a German invasion of the United Kingdom. It formed part of the mobile GHQ Reserve disposed on the line from Northampton through North London to Aldershot, from which brigade groups could be despatched to any threatened area. During the period when invasion was most feared, the division was stationed just north of London.Collier, Chapter VII.Collier, Map 5. Collier, Map 6.Collier, Maps 17. By the end of 1940 the division was stationed in East Kent, where it remained for the next four years, first in defensive mode, later training intensively for the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord). It was later noted that its habitual training area round Stone Street, outside Folkestone, bore a marked resemblance to the Bocage countryside in Normandy where it would later fight.Joslen, pp. 69–70.Collier, Map 20.Collier, Map 27.Essame, pp. 2–3.
Normandy 130th Brigade landed in Normandy on 24 June 1944,Essame, pp. 15–7. and for the rest of the North West Europe campaign its normal organisation for mobile operations was as follows:Essame, Appendix C.Ford, Appendix 1.
130 Infantry Brigade Group Brigade HQ Three infantry battalions One machine gun company and one heavy mortar platoon from 8th Bn Middlesex Regiment 112th (Wessex) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery 233rd A/T Battery, 59th (Duke of Connaught's Hampshire) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery One self-propelled (SP) troop from 361 LAA Battery, 110th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery 553rd Field Company, Royal Engineers Section, No 3 Company, 43rd (Wessex) Divisional Signals 130th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps 505th Company, Royal Army Service Corps – in the divisional administrative area 130th Infantry Brigade Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers – in the divisional administrative area
Units from the supporting armoured brigade (31 Tank Brigade at Hill 112, usually 8 Armoured Brigade thereafter) would also be attached for specific operations.
Hill 112