page_title: 214th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: 214th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) / Service
caption_attribution_description: English: Troops of the 7th Somerset Light Infantry, 43rd (Wessex) Division resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944. Troops of the 7th Somerset Light Infantry, 43rd (Wessex) Division resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944.
context_page_description: The 214th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army raised during World War II that saw active service on the North West Europe.
context_section_description: On 5 September 1943 the brigade joined the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, replacing the 34th Tank Brigade, and along with the 129th Infantry Brigade and 130th Infantry Brigade reformed the 43rd Division as a standard infantry division, after the experiment with Mixed divisions was abandoned.
  The Brigade landed in Normandy on 24 June 1944 under the command of Brigadier Hubert Essame and fought in the Battle of Normandy, where it faced off against the German 9th SS Panzer Division at Hill 112, in July 1944 during the Battle for Caen.
  The 214th Brigade, along with the rest of the 43rd Division, were the first British units to cross the Seine river, with an assault crossing at the French town of Vernon opposed by the German 49th Infantry Division. This enabled the armour of XXX Corps under Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks to thrust across northern France into Belgium.
  They later played a major role in Operation Market Garden, as the support to the Guards Armoured Division.
  They went on to play a small part in the Battle of the Bulge, where it was placed on the Meuse as a reserve, and a large part in the fighting in the Klever Reichswald (Operation Veritable) and the Crossing of the Rhine (Operation Plunder).
  By the end of hostilities they had reached the Cuxhaven peninsula of northern Germany.
caption: Men of the 7th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944.
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