British 16th Infantry Brigade strength, 1940

[Haydn]

Anyone knows the exact or approximate manpower strength of the British
16th Inf. Bde. in December 1940, Western Desert? Might it be put at
about 4,000 troops?

Thanks in advance.

Haydn

[Bill]

Post by Haydn
Anyone knows the exact or approximate manpower strength of the British
16th Inf. Bde. in December 1940, Western Desert? Might it be put at
about 4,000 troops?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Infantry_Brigade_%28United_Kingdom%29

This says it's 6 battalions, plus a small HQ element

British infantry brigades of the period had next to no 'organic'
assets, they were almost all divisional or corps level.

An infantry battalion at that time was 668 officers and men, so yes,
about 4,000 men.

In 1941 it increased to 773

http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/British/Infantry/british_infantry_battalion.htm

[Michael Emrys]

Post by Bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Infantry_Brigade_%28United_Kingdom%29
This says it's 6 battalions, plus a small HQ element

Hmmm. I'm not certain all of those battalions were present at the same
time all the time. I understood that the normal strength of a British
brigade was three battalions plus some odds and sods. I suppose a
brigade could be built up to overstrength for some particular mission
though.

Michael

[Bob Hart]

Joslen has the following Under command in July 1940.
2 Leicesters
1 A &SH
2 Queens.
It was Under command British Forces Palestine & Trans Jordan until Sept
1940, then under command 4 Indian Div.

Regards

Bob

Post by Bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Infantry_Brigade_%28United_Kingdom%29
This says it's 6 battalions, plus a small HQ element

Hmmm. I'm not certain all of those battalions were present at the same
time all the time. I understood that the normal strength of a British
brigade was three battalions plus some odds and sods. I suppose a
brigade could be built up to overstrength for some particular mission
though.

Michael