185th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

185th Infantry Brigade
Insignia of the 3rd Division
Active	Formed 1 September 1942
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	79th Armoured Division 3rd Infantry Division
Insignia
Identification symbol	Black Triangle with a smaller inverted Red Triangle inside

The 185th Infantry Brigade (185 Bde) was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army raised during World War II that participated in the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944, fighting in the Normandy Campaign and the subsequent campaign in North-West Europe with the 3rd British Infantry Division.

The Brigade was formed on 1 September 1942 by redesignation of 204th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), a static Home Defence formation serving under Durham and North Riding Area HQ. It was assigned frontline infantry battalions and became the infantry component of the new 79th Armoured Division. When 79th Armoured was reorganised as a specialist armour formation in April 1943, 185th Brigade transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division, training for Operation Overlord. 3rd Division was the first British formation to land at Sword Beach on D-Day. During the often intense fighting from Sword Beach to Bremen, the 3rd Infantry Division suffered 2,586 killed with over 12,500 wounded or missing. Throughout the North West Europe Campaign, two members of the brigade (and division) were awarded the Victoria Cross. They were Corporal Sidney Bates of the 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment and Private James Stokes of the 2nd Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry.