Green Jackets Brigade

The Green Jackets Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the English rifle regiments. The designation "Green Jackets" was derived from their rifle green tunics indicating their status as rifles.

After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. Infantry Depot O at Winchester was the headquarters for the two rifle regiments and the Middlesex Regiment. In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Green Jackets Brigade. At the same time the Middlesex Regiment was transferred to the Home Counties Brigade, with the remaining regiments each being reduced to a single battalion.

The Brigade combined the depots of:

• The King's Royal Rifle Corps
• The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)

Under the Defence Review announced in July, 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised, and on April 1, 1958, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was transferred from the Light Infantry Brigade, and was renamed as the 1st Green Jackets. The remaining two regiments were also renamed as the 2nd and 3rd Green Jackets on November 7, so that the Brigade contained three battalions:

• 1st Green Jackets (43rd & 52nd)
• 2nd Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps
• 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade

On January 1, 1966, the three regiments were amalgamated into a single three battalion "large regiment" called the Royal Green Jackets. In 1968, the Green Jackets Brigade was merged with the Light Infantry Brigade to form the Light Division.