Light Division - The Light Division Reformed

The Light Division Reformed

After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. Infantry Depot J at Farnborough, was the headquarters for the six English light infantry regiments and 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 became the Light Infantry Brigade and Green Jackets Brigade.

Then in 1968 the Light Division was reformed as an Administration Division with the regimentation of the Light Infantry Brigade and the Green Jackets Brigade.

As formed, the Light Division comprised seven regular infantry battalions:

• 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions, The Light Infantry
• 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, The Royal Green Jackets

The Light Infantry lost its 4th Battalion in 1969, while both regiments lost a battalion in 1992.

In 2005, two further regiments were attached to the Light Division:

• 1st Battalion, The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry
• 1st Battalion, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry

This was in preparation for all four regiments being amalgamated into a single large regiment named The Rifles, which was formed in February 2007. Regimental names of the regiments that formed The Rifles were not maintained. As a consequence, upon the formation of The Rifles, the name Light Division was no longer to be used.

Prior to that in 2005 a new manouvre brigade appeared in the British Army, 19th Light Brigade, as a fast, agile, lightly armed Brigade to balance the mix of Heavy and Light Brigades in the British Army order of battle.