146th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

1st West Riding Brigade 146th (1st West Riding) Brigade 146th Infantry Brigade
49th Division insignia, 3rd pattern, Second World War, worn by the brigade from 1943.
Active	1908–1919 1920–1945 1946–1967
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Territorial Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	49th (West Riding) Infantry Division 49th (West Riding) Armoured Division
Nickname(s)	"The Polar Bears" (Second World War)
Engagements	World War I World War II
Insignia
146th Brigade First World War battle patches (1917).	Top (l-r)1/5th, 1/6th, 1/7th and 1/8th West Yorkshire Regiment, worn on the right sleeve and the back of the collar. Lower (l-r)146th MG company, 146th trench mortar battery.
49th Infantry Division badge pre and early Second World War II (first pattern).	In white metal.
49th Infantry Division patch, second pattern.	Adopted in Icelend.

The 146th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force (Territorial Army from 1920) with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The brigade saw active service during both World War I and World War II, and during the early part of the Cold War. The brigade was active from 1908 until 1967 when it was finally disbanded.

The brigade was raised in 1908 upon the creation of the Territorial Force, formed by the amalgamation of the Volunteer Force and the Yeomanry, as the 1st West Riding Brigade, composed of four Volunteer battalions of the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), including two of the Leeds Rifles. The brigade was assigned to the West Riding Division.

On the outbreak of the Great War in early August 1914, the division was immediately mobilised and most men volunteered for overseas service.

In mid-May 1915 the brigade and division would become the 146th (1/1st West Riding) Brigade and 49th (West Riding) Division respectively. The battalions adopted the '1/' prefix (1/5th West Yorks) to differentiate them from their 2nd Line duplicates, which were forming up as 185th (2/1st West Riding) Brigade, of the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division. The 2nd Line units were raised from those men who did not originally volunteer for overseas service, although many of them did end up seeing active service.