3rd Guards Brigade (United Kingdom)

Formation

The 3rd Guards Brigade was formed at Lumbres, near St Omer, France^[1] on 15 August 1915. The 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards and 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards joined on 18 and 20 August, respectively, from England and the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards and 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards joined on 5 and 8 August from 20th Brigade, 7th Division.^[2] The latter two battalions had been in Belgium and France from 5 October 1914 with the British Expeditionary Force. They served on the Western Front in 1914 and 1915 taking part in the First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 5 November 1914), the Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10 – 13 March 1915), the Battle of Aubers Ridge (9 May), the Battle of Festubert (15 – 19 May), and the Battle of Givenchy (15 and 16 June).^[3]

War service

In 1915, the brigade took part in the Battle of Loos (26 September – 8 October) and Hohenzollern Redoubt (18 – 19 October). In 1916, it fought in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme, in particular the Battle of Flers–Courcelette (15 – 16 and 20 – 22 September), the Battle of Morval (25 – 28 September), and the Capture of Lesboeufs (25 September). In 1917, it saw action in the Third Battle of Ypres including the Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 August – 2 July), the Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October), and the First Battle of Passchendaele (12 October). It then took part in the Battle of Cambrai (24 November – 3 December).^[1]

Men of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards resting in a reserve trench near Guillemont, France, during the Battle of the Somme, 3 September 1916.

In February 1918, British^{[lower-alpha 1]} divisions on the Western Front were reduced from a 12-battalion to a 9-battalion basis (brigades from four to three battalions).^[4] As a result, the 4th Guards Brigade was formed on 8 February 1918 by taking a battalion from each of the brigades of the Guards Division and the 3rd Guards Brigade lost the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards.^{[2][lower-alpha 2]}

The latter half of the year of 1918 saw the return of the war of movement. The 3rd Guards Brigade had to withstand the German Spring Offensive in the First Battles of the Somme (1 – 25 March) then switched over to counter-attack in the Second Battles of the Somme (21 – 23 August), the Second Battle of Arras (26 August – 3 September), the Battles of the Hindenburg Line (12 September – 12 October), and in the Final Advance in Picardy including the battles of the Selle and of the Sambre. Its final action was the Capture of Maubeuge on 9 November.^[5]

Post-war

At the Armistice, the brigade was at Maubeuge,^[6] and on 17 November it regained 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards from the disbanding 4th Guards Brigade. The next day it began the march on Germany and crossed the frontier on 11 December. By 19 December it had reached the Cologne area. Battalions started returning to England on 20 February 1919 and the last units had completed the move by 29 April.^[5]