71st Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 71st Brigade was raised following the outbreak of war, from men volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies.

On 12 December it was redesignated 71st Independent Infantry Brigade.

The new 71st Brigade consisted of three infantry battalions raised earlier in the year specifically for war service, the 7th Bn King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and 8th and 9th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment.

[3] On the same date, the battalions in the brigade were replaced by the 1st Battalion (a Regular unit) of the East Lancashire Regiment and 1st (also Regular) and 13th (a war service battalion) Highland Light Infantry (the 13th were later replaced by 1st Ox and Bucks).

The brigade, commanded by Brigadier Valentine Blomfield until September 1944, fought with the division throughout the Campaign in North West Europe, before finally being disbanded in March 1946.

Infantry of the 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in forward positions outside Heike on the road to 's-Hertogenbosch , Holland, 23 October 1944.
Men of the 1st Battalion, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, 53rd (Welsh) Division, guarding German prisoners in the village of Marche in Belgium , 7 January 1945.