5th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

5th Brigade 5th Infantry Brigade 5th Airborne Brigade
Badge of 5th Infantry Brigade
Active	1908-1918 1935-1976 1982-1999
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Airborne Infantry brigade
Size	Brigade
Part of	3rd (UK) Division
Garrison/HQ	Aldershot Garrison
Engagements	First World War Second World War Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Troubles Falklands War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Michael West

The 5th Infantry Brigade was a regular infantry brigade of the British Army that was in existence since before the First World War, except for a short break in the late 1970s, until amalgamating with 24th Airmobile Brigade, in 1999, to form 16 Air Assault Brigade.

During the Boer War, the 5th Infantry Brigade, known as the Irish Brigade, fought in the Battle of Colenso under Major General Arthur Fitzroy Hart. It consisted of the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st Connaught Rangers, and the 1st Border Regiment.

The brigade was part of the 2nd Division during the First World War and was one of the first British units to be sent overseas on the outbreak of war. The brigade became part of the British Expeditionary Force and saw action on the Western Front in the Battle of Mons and the subsequent Great Retreat and at the First Battle of Ypres, which saw the old Regular Army virtually destroyed.

During the Second World War, the 5th Brigade was again part of the 2nd Infantry Division and was sent to France in 1939 shortly after the outbreak of war, where it joined the British Expeditionary Force. It served on the Franco-Belgian border until May 1940, when it was evacuated at Dunkirk after fighting in the short but fierce battles of France and Belgium in which the German Army nearly cut off the entire BEF from the French Army. With the division, the brigade remained in Britain on home defence until 10 April 1942, when it was shipped out to India to fight the Imperial Japanese Army after a series of disasters suffered by the British and Indian troops stationed there. The 5th Brigade served with the 2nd Infantry Division in the Burma Campaign under General Slim's British Fourteenth Army and fought in the Battle of Kohima, which managed to help turn the tide of the campaign in the Far East.