306th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
306th Infantry Brigade (306 Bde) was a British Army formation organised towards the end of the Second World War from surplus Royal Artillery (RA) personnel who had been retrained as infantry. Origin. By the end of 1944, 21st Army Group was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry. In January 1945, the War Office began to reorganise surplus anti-aircraft and coastal artillery regiments in the UK into infantry battalions, primarily for lines of communication and occupation duties in North West Europe, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service. 306th was one of  seven brigades formed from these new units. Composition. 306th Infantry Brigade was formed on 22 January 1945 by the conversion of Headquarters 55th Light AA Bde, which was part of 2 Anti-Aircraft Group. It was commanded by Brigadier W.R. Harvey and comprised the following Territorial Army RA units: Service. After infantry training, including a short period attached to Southern Command, 306 Bde came under the orders of 21st Army Group on 4 May 1945, and landed on the Continent three days later.