1st Airlanding Brigade

1st Airlanding Brigade Group 1st Airlanding Brigade
Men of the 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, part of the 1st Airlanding Brigade, during the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944.
Active	1941–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Airborne forces
Role	Glider infantry
Size	4 battalions (maximum)
Part of	1st Airborne Division
Engagements	Sicily landings Battle of Arnhem Operation Doomsday
Commanders
Notable commanders	Philip Hicks
Insignia
Emblem of the British airborne forces

The 1st Airlanding Brigade was an airborne infantry brigade of the British Army during the Second World War and the only glider infantry formation assigned to the 1st Airborne Division, serving alongside the 1st and 4th Parachute Brigades.

The brigade was formed in late 1941 during World War II through the conversion of an existing infantry brigade previously stationed in India, the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade. Two of the initial four infantry battalions left in May 1943 to form the new 6th Airlanding Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division and were replaced by a single new battalion, thereby reducing the brigade's strength by one quarter.

The brigade only saw action on two occasions during the Second World War, in Operation Ladbroke, as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily, in July 1943 and later in Operation Market Garden in September 1944. During the second operation, in the fighting around Arnhem, 1st Airlanding Brigade along with the rest of 1st Airborne Division held out against overwhelming German odds, sustaining very heavy losses. Only around 20 percent of the brigade were evacuated south of the River Rhine. The rest had either been killed, were missing or became prisoners of war.