163rd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade 163rd (Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade 163rd Infantry Brigade
54th (East Anglian) Division badge, Second World War
Active	1908–1919 1920–1943
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Territorial Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division
Engagements	Gallipoli Campaign Sinai and Palestine Campaign

The 163rd Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service during the First World War in Gallipoli and the Middle Eastern Theatre as part of the 54th (East Anglian) Division. In the Second World War the brigade remained in the United Kingdom until it was disbanded in late 1943.

The brigade was raised in 1908 upon the creation of the Territorial Force, originally as the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade and was part of the East Anglian Division. The brigade consisted of two Volunteer battalions, the 4th and 5th, of the Norfolk Regiment and two, the 4th and 5th, of the Suffolk Regiment.

The division was mobilised on 5 August 1914, the day after Britain declared war on Germany. On 20 August the entire division moved to Chelmsford, Bury St Edmunds and Norwich. The division spent the next few months on home service and coastal defence and started training in preparation to eventually go overseas.

In May 1915 the East Anglian Division was numbered as the 54th (East Anglian) Division and all the brigades in the division were also numbered – the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade became 163rd (Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade. As happened in all Territorial Force divisions, the battalions were also numbered and adopted the '1/' prefix (1/4th Suffolks), to distinguish them from their 2nd Line units which were being formed. The 2nd Line were initially intended to act as a draft-finding reserve for the 1st Line. They were the 208th (2/1st Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade, 69th (2nd East Anglian) Division. In November 1914 the 1/4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was transferred to the 3rd (Lahore) Division of the British Indian Army and were replaced in the brigade by the 1/8th (Isle of Wight Rifles) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, which was previously unattached to a field formation.