56th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

56th Brigade 56th Independent Infantry Brigade 56th Infantry Brigade
Insignia of the 49th Division, World War II
Active	1914–1919 1944–1946
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Kitchener's Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Brigade
Part of	19th (Western) Division 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division

The 56th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both World War I and World War II.

The 56th Brigade was raised soon after the outbreak of the Great War in September 1914 from men, mainly from Lancashire and Northern England, volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies. The 56th Brigade was assigned to the 19th (Western) Division and served on the Western Front from 1915 and was disbanded after the war. The brigade saw service at the Battle of Loos in late 1915, and at during the Somme offensive, at Albert and Pozières and later at Messines in June 1917, Third Ypres and, in 1918, at Sambre, part of the Hundred Days Offensive.

During the Second World War the 56th Independent Infantry Brigade was reformed in the United Kingdom on 15 February 1944. The brigade consisted of three Regular Army infantry battalions that had all seen service overseas: the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers (which fought in the Norwegian Campaign), 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment and 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (which both fought at the Battle of Dunkirk).