page_title: 168th (2nd London) Brigade
section_title: First World War
hierarchical_section_title: 168th (2nd London) Brigade / First World War
caption_attribution_description: English: British 55th (West Lancashire) Division troops blinded by tear gas await treatment at an Advanced Dressing Station near Bethune during the Battle of Estaires, 10 April 1918, part of the German offensive in Flanders. Deutsch: Angehörige der britischen 55. Division geblendet von Tränengas, 10. April 1918.Русский: Британские солдаты, ослеплённые в ходе газовой атаки во время битвы на Лисе (апрель 1918)
context_page_description: The 168th (2nd London) Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army that saw service during both the First and the Second World Wars. Throughout its existence, serving under many different titles and designations, the brigade was an integral part of the 56th Infantry Division. It served on the Western Front during First World War and in the Italian Campaign during the Second World War. It was finally disbanded in the 1960s.
context_section_description: The division was mobilised soon after the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914. According to the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 soldiers of the Territorial Force were only able for overseas service and, when asked to volunteer for overseas service, the overwhelming majority of the men of the brigade (and the division) chose to do so. The men who didn't, together with the many new recruits, were formed into new 2nd Line battalions and brigades, the 2/2nd London Brigade, assigned to the 2/1st London Division, both later to become 174th (2/2nd London) Brigade and 58th (2/1st London) Division respectively. The battalions were also redesignated, adopting the '1/' prefix (1/5th Londons) to distinguish them from the 2nd Line battalions, which became '2/', 2/5th Londons.
  However, the 2nd London Brigade was broken up, as was the 1st London Division, in November 1914 when most of its battalions were posted elsewhere, either to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front or to relieve troops of the Regular Army around the British Empire for service in France and Belgium.
  In February 1916, however, the division was reformed in France, to be known as the 56th (1/1st London) Division and the brigade was reconstituted, now numbered as the 168th (1/2nd London) Brigade, with battalions from other brigades and divisions, the 1/4th London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) originally coming from 167th (1/1st London) Brigade, the 12th, 13th and 14th Londons the latter two originally coming from 140th (1/4th London) Brigade, 47th (1/2nd London) Division, and the 12th from 3rd London Brigade.
  With the rest of the division, the brigade was destined to see service in the trenches of the Western Front for the rest of the war, seeing first action at the Gommecourt salient, fighting in late June/early July 1916 alongside the 46th (North Midland) Division in an diversionary attempt to distract the German Army's attention away from the impending Somme offensive. The attack was a failure, and served only to cause heavy casualties on both attacking divisions, with 56th Division suffering nearly 5,000 losses.
  The division also fought on the Hindenburg Line in March 1917, followed by the battles of Arras, Langemarck, Passchendaele (also known as Third Ypres), Cambrai (which saw the first use of large numbers tanks in warfare), Second battles of the Somme, Albert, and the Hundred Days Offensive, which saw the First World War eventually ending on 11 November 1918. Throughout its two years of combat, the 56th (1/1st London) Division had suffered well over 35,000 casualties, with the great majority of them being in the infantry, commonly nicknamed the "Poor Bloody Infantry".
caption: British soldiers blinded by poison gas. Vera Brittain commented: "Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying their throats are closing and they know they will choke."
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