142nd ( 6th London ) Brigade 142nd ( 6th London ) Brigade ( 142 Bde ) was an infantry formation of Britain ' s Territorial Army that served in World War I and briefly in World War II . Origin . When the Territorial Force was created in 1908 under the Haldane Reforms , the existing volunteer units in the London area were brought together into a new London Regiment and organised into two divisions with a full complement of infantry brigades and supporting arms . 6th London Brigade , with battalions drawn from South London , formed part of 2nd London Division , with the following composition : World War I . The outbreak of war on 4 August saw 6th London Brigade at Perham Down on Salisbury Plain , where it had just arrived for its annual training camp with the rest of 2nd London Division . They were immediately recalled to London to complete their mobilisation and by mid - August 6 London Bde had reached its war station round Watford , Hertfordshire . The County of London Territorial Force Association immediately began raising ' Second Line ' battalions , which quickly led to the formation of a duplicate 2 / 6th London Brigade ( eventually 181st Brigade ) ; consequently 6th London Brigade was renumbered 1 / 6th and its battalions were similarly prefixed ( 1 / 21st – 1 / 24th ) . In October 1914 , 2nd London Division was selected for service on the Western Front and progressive training was carried out through the winter . The division embarked for France in March 1915 , concentrating round Béthune . In May the division ( already known in France simply as ' The London Division ' to distinguish it from the Regular Army 2nd Division ) took its place in the line and was designated 47th ( 1 / 2nd London ) Division , with the brigades numbered consecutively : 6th London became 142nd ( 1 / 6th London ) Brigade . The division suffered casualties from shellfire while holding the line as neighbouring formations fought the Battle of Aubers Ridge , ( 9 & 15 May ) , but Heathcote - Drummond - Willoughby ' s 142 Bde carried out the division ' s first offensive action , on 25 May during the Battle of Festubert . The attack on the ' S ' Bend was timed for 18 . 30 , to precede a Canadian night attack further along the line . The 23rd and 24th Londons swept across the open ground and immediately captured the German front trenches with few losses . However , German listening posts had given warning of the impending attack , and they had registered their artillery onto their own trenches . The divisional historian records that the Londoners now encountered ' a fierce and deadly enfilading fire from the German guns , and particularly from a heavy battery posted near Auchy - les - la Bassée , far to the south and out of range of the guns of our Division ' . The brigade supports , 21st Londons , and the 20th Londons from divisional reserve , were brought up and desperate attempts made to extend the brigade ' s gains , ' but tremendous losses were suffered by the men crowded in the captured trenches . Nothing could be done to keep down this enfilading fire , and by the following morning much of the captured trenches had been knocked to bits and had to be abandoned , but a considerable part of their front line was retained and taken into our own trench system ' . Actions . The brigade was engaged in the following further operations during World War I : 1915 1916 1917 1918 Order of Battle . There were few changes to the brigade ' s Order of Battle during the war : After the Armistice , 47th Division was engaged in railway repair and then settled down around Béthune ( where it had started the war ) to await demobilisation . This began in January , and the last troops left France on 10 May 1919 . The brigade was demobilised at Felixstowe in May – June 1919 . Interwar years . 47th Division and its subformations began to reform in the redesignated Territorial Army in 1920 . 142 Bde was reformed with its original battalions , and with brigade HQ at the Regimental Headquarters of the Welsh Guards at Wellington Barracks in Birdcage Walk . In the 1930s , reorganisation of the TA saw the brigade ' s traditional battalions being retasked ( the 21st became a searchlight regiment and the 23rd a tank regiment in 1935 ) and posted away . The brigade was disbanded in 1936 . World War II . The rapid expansion of the TA after the Munich Crisis saw 6th London Brigade reformed in April 1939 as a Second Line TA formation within a new 2nd London Division . It consisted of battalions of the Middlesex Regiment organised in the machine gun role : As its units were progressively posted away , the reduced brigade first came under the command of the brigadier of 3rd London Brigade , and was then disbanded on 4 May 1940 . Neither the 6th London nor 142 Brigade titles was reactivated . Commanders . 142 Brigade was commanded by the following officers :