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{{infobox military unit
|unit_name=161st Indian Infantry Brigade 161st Infantry Brigade (Indian Army)
|image=
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|dates=1941–1948 and onwards
|country={{flag|British India|23px}} {{flag|India|23px}}
|allegiance={{flag|British Empire}} {{army|India}}
|branch={{army|British India|23px}} {{army|India|23px}}
|type=[[Infantry]]
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|size=[[Brigade]]
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|battles=[[Western Desert Campaign]] [[Burma Campaign]] [[Battle of Kohima]]
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|notable_commanders=
* Brigadier [[William Donovan Stamer]] CB CBE DSO MC
* Brigadier [[Harry Grimshaw]] CB CBE DSO

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The '''161st Indian Infantry Brigade''' was an [[infantry]] [[brigade]] formation of the [[Indian Army during World War II]]. As part of the arrangements for the independence and partition of [[British Raj|British India]] the brigade was allocated to [[India]] and became the 161st Infantry Brigade in the [[Indian Army|army]] of the newly independent India.

==History==
The brigade was formed in late November 1941 from the reformed [[Essex Brigade|British 161st Infantry Brigade]] which had been assigned to the [[5th Infantry Division (India)|5th Indian Infantry Division]] earlier in the month.<ref name="OOB161IIB">{{cite web| access-date=2012-07-02|work=Orders of Battle.com website|title=161 Indian Infantry Brigade|url=http://www.ordersofbattle.com/Units/UnitHistory?UniX=6422}}</ref> The brigade was then sent to garrison [[Cyprus]] in case of a German invasion. In April 1942, it moved to Egypt to take part in the [[Western Desert Campaign]] having been re organised as a motor brigade. Attached to the [[10th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|British 10th Armoured Division]] for the [[First Battle of El Alamein]] between June and July 1942, the brigade returned to the 5th Division for action in [[Burma Campaign|Burma]]. In Burma it was attached successively to a number of divisions: [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|British 2nd Infantry Division]] between April and May 1944, then [[7th Indian Infantry Division]] between May and June 1944, during the [[Battle of Kohima]], following which it returned to the 5th Division. In March 1945 there was a further brief attachment to 7th Division returning once more at the end of that month to the 5th Division until the end of the war. The brigade ended the war at sea as part of the force assembled to invade Malaya.<ref name="OOB161IIB"/> At the end of the war the brigade formed part of the force sent to the [[Dutch East Indies]] to restore order for the colonial government facing hostile opposition from the [[Indonesian National Revolution|local independence movement]]. The brigade returned to India in 1946.{{sfnp|Brett-James|1951|loc=Chapter XXXII}}

==Post independence succession==
After [[Independence Day (India)|India's independence]] the brigade, under the arrangements of the [[Partition of India|partition of British India]], was allocated to India and became part of the [[Indian Army]], dropping the epithet "Indian" to be 161st Infantry brigade and moving to [[Ranchi]] with the 5th Infantry Division. Elements of 5th Infantry Division, including 161st Infantry Brigade, were called to [[Punjab (Indian state)|Punjab]] to help curb the violence being inflicted on refugees during [[Partition of India|partition]]. The brigade was urgently airlifted in an ad hoc manner to [[Srinagar]] in [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] to halt the tribal invasion during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]].<ref name="Slender">{{cite book |title=Slender Was the Thread: Kashmir Confrontation 1947-48 |last=Sen |first=Maj Gen L. P. |year=1969 |publisher=Orient Longman |location=New Delhi |isbn=0-86131-692-4 |pages=40–69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYHXmx4cOUsC |access-date=4 August 2010}}</ref> The brigade successfully prevented the fall of Srinagar, fought the battles of [[Battle of Badgam|Badgam]] and [[Battle of Shalateng|Shalateng]], reinforced [[Poonch (town)|Poonch]] garrison, distinguished itself in recapture of [[Uri, Jammu and Kashmir|Uri]] and the successful ejection of tribals from the [[Jhelum River|Jhelum]] valley.<ref name="Rescue">{{cite book |title=Operation Rescue:Military Operations in Jammu & Kashmir 1947-49|last=Sinha |first=Lt. Gen. S.K. |year=1977 |publisher=Vision Books |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7094-012-5 |pages=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMwBAAAAMAAJ |access-date=4 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="Offl_Hist_1947">{{cite book |title=History of Operations In Jammu and Kashmir 1947-1948 |last1=Prasad|first1=S.N.|last2=Dharm Pal |year=1987 |publisher=History Department, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. (printed at Thomson Press (India) Limited) |location=New Delhi |pages=418 }}.</ref>

==Formation during the Second World War==
*3rd Battalion, [[7th Rajput Regiment]] November 1941 to July 1942
*4th Battalion, [[7th Rajput Regiment]] November 1941 to August 1945
*1/4th Battalion, [[Essex Regiment]] November 1941 to March 1942
*1st Battalion, [[2nd Punjab Regiment]] April to July 1942
*1st Battalion, [[1st Punjab Regiment]] April 1942 to August 1945
*1st Battalion, [[Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders]] August to November 1942
*4th Battalion, [[Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment]] December 1942 to June 1945
*28th Field Regiment, [[Royal Artillery]] May to June 1943
*[[25th Dragoons]] January to February 1944
*2nd Battalion, [[Suffolk Regiment]] February to March 1944
*1st Battalion, [[Burma Regiment]] March to April 1944
*3rd Battalion, [[4th Gurkha Rifles]] June to August 1945<ref name="OOB161IIB"/>
* No 2 Field Company, [[Bengal Sappers]], July 1942 to August 1945.

==See also==
{{portal|World War II}}
* [[List of Indian Army Brigades in World War II]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===

* {{Cite book|last=Brett-James|first=Antony | author-link = Antony Brett-James |url=http://ourstory.info/library/4-ww2/Ball/fire18.html|title=Ball of Fire: The Fifth Indian Division in the Second World War|publisher=Gale & Polden|year=1951|chapter=Chapter XXXII|oclc=4275700|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430002058/http://ourstory.info/library/4-ww2/Ball/fire18.html|archive-date=April 30, 2019|access-date=July 2, 2012|url-status=live}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=British Indian Army brigades, Brigades of the Indian Army, Brigades of India in World War II, Military units and formations in Burma in World War II
|description=
}}

[[Category:British Indian Army brigades]]
[[Category:Brigades of the Indian Army]]
[[Category:Brigades of India in World War II]]
[[Category:Military units and formations in Burma in World War II]]

161st Indian Infantry Brigade - Revision history

MetaBOT at 13:11, 8 July 2023