Active 1 Sept 2014 Branch British Army Part of Force Troops Command | Allegiance United Kingdom Size 6 units Garrison/HQ Denison Barracks | |
The 77th Brigade is a British Army formation, created in January 2015 under the Army 2020 concept. It is the renaming of the Security Assistance Group which was created under the Army 2020 concept. It is based at Denison Barracks in Hermitage, Berkshire and will be fully operational by April 2015.
Contents
The brigade was named the 77th in tribute to the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, which was part of the Chindits, an Indian Army guerilla warfare force led by Orde Wingate who used unorthodox tactics against the Japanese in Burma in World War II. The formation badge of the revived 77th show a mythical Burmese creature in reference to the Chindits.
History
The first 77th Brigade was raised as part of the new army also known as Kitchener's Army and assigned to the 26th Division and served on the Western Front and the Macedonian Front during the First World War. Some of the past units include, 8th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 11th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 10th Battalion, Black Watch, 12th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 77th Machine Gun Company, 77th SAA Section Ammunition Column and the 77th Trench Mortar Battery.
Role and composition
The Security Assistance Group (SAG)'s mission was to work with cross-Whitehall agencies to achieve the goals of Defence Engagement and Building Stability Overseas Strategies. 77th Brigade was created to draw together a host of existing and developing capabilities essential to meet the challenges of modern conflict and warfare, the unit's objectives will be similar to that of the SAG. Specifically, it is to: Provide support to other government departments in the aim to achieve stability overseas; lead on special influence methods; build military capacity in all stages of conflict.
The SAG aimed to have a full strength of 453 military and civilian personnel and occasionally, personnel from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development and the Stabilisation Unit may be attached to the Brigade or work with it, of this total there will be 440 military posts in the Brigade with up to 42% of these being reservists. A recent FOIA answer in December 2016 stated that the liability of the brigade was 182 regular and 266 reserve but current strength is only 153 regular and 123 reserve.
Previous structure
Initially under the Security Assistance Group, the unit included the following units:
Current structure
In July 2015 and October 2015, the four individual units above were reshaped and formed the new five Columns of 77th Brigade.
There is no No.6 Column for historical reasons.
Activities
The Brigade participated in a two-week disaster relief exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It deployed to the Philippines in April 2015 to assist the Philippines Government in developing their contingency plans for natural disasters. 77th Brigade has formed a formal partnership with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, US Army Europe.