Land Command

British Army

Components British Army Territorial Army List of current regiments Structure of the British Army Administration HQ Land Command HQ Adjutant-General HQ Northern Ireland Overseas Deployments British Forces Germany British Forces Cyprus British Forces Falkland Islands British Forces Gibraltar British Garrison Brunei Equipment British military rifles Modern Equipment History History of the British Army Timeline of the British Army Recruitment in the British Army Personnel List of senior officers Officer rank insignia Other ranks rank insignia British Army Portal Portal to other related sites

Land Command (or 'HQ Land') was a military command and part of the structure of the modern British Army. It had this title from 1 April 1995 to 1 April 2008. After that date, HQ Land, with elements of HQ Adjutant-General, became HQ Land Forces.

Land Command assumed control of almost all British Army combat and combat support troops on 1 April 1995. Three major exceptions were British Forces Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, and Northern Ireland. In the last of those, the General Officer commanding reports to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for operations in support of the civil power.

Background

The headquarters was the direct descendent of the late Cold War Headquarters UK Land Forces, which in turn was formed from the renamed Strategic Command in 1972. (It was Southern Command until 1968.) It is located at Erskine Barracks, Fugglestone, Wilton, Wiltshire, but in time will amalgamate with Headquarters Adjutant General under 'Project Hyperion' and probably move to the former RAF Andover site, now used by other MOD bodies.^[1] The amalgamation was carried out on 1 April 2008.

Commander-in-Chief Land Command (CINCLAND) is also the Standing Joint Commander (UK) or SJC(UK), responsible for overall command to MOD contributions to national crisis response activities with the United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland).^[2]

Divisions and Districts

Land Command was initially divided up into eight formations, each one commanded by a Major General, and several smaller units including the training units and training support units in Belize, Brunei, Canada (Suffield for armoured battlegroups and Wainwright for infantry units) and Kenya. The reduction of army districts announced in December 1998 reduced that to six, with Scotland and London losing their formal district status. While London District was reduced to a Brigade headquarters, with the retention of a Major General commanding and its "District" title, it seems likely that it retains an importance considerably surpassing the normal regional brigade HQ.

Land Command was later divided in 2003, under the LANDmark reorganisation, into two suborganisations, Field Army and Regional Forces, that paralled the Cold War structure of UKLF.^[3] Commander Field Army has 2 deployable Divisions (1st Armoured Division, 3rd Mechanised Division), Theatre Troops, Joint Helicopter Command, and Training Support under him, while Commander Regional Forces is responsible for 3 regenerative Divisions (2nd Division, 4th Division, 5th Division), London District, and UK Support Command Germany. In 2007 it was announced that a new deployable divisional HQ would be established until at least 2011 as a means of meeting the UK's commitments to provide divisional HQs on a rotational basis to Regional Command (South) in Afghanistan and as the lead nation of Multi-National Division (South-East) in Iraq. This will be based in York and formed around the re-established 6th Division.^[4]

HQs 2, 4, and 5 Divisions (originally referred to as Regenerative Divisions), plus the London District effectively act as military districts in the UK itself; the divisions would only be able to generate field formations in the event of a general war. UK Support Command Germany forms the district HQ for personnel based in Germany that are not attached to 1st Armoured Division.

London District's most public concern is the administration of ceremonial units and provision of garrisons for such installations as the Tower of London. However, its primary responsibility is to maintain units directly for the defence of the capital. It should be noted that 56 (London) Brigade was disbanded in 1993.

Brigades

The British Army has only eight genuinely operational, deployable brigade groups – the seven incorporated in 1 Armoured Division and 3 Mechanised Division, plus 16 Air Assault Brigade. 3 Commando Brigade, a Naval Service formation formed predominantly by units of the Royal Marines but with significant army support, is under the direct command of the Commander in Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET). In November 2007, the MOD announced the temporary creation of another deployable brigade, designated as 11 Light Brigade, which will command the Operation Herrick rotation between October 2009 and April 2010.^[5]

The numerous other ‘brigades’ within 2, 4, and 5 Divisions would be better described as regional districts whose function is to administer all Territorial Army units within their area and to coordinate the provision of support to the civil authority if necessary, as well as home defence tasks. An example was the coordination of military support the regional brigades did during the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001. The fourteen new Civil Contingency Response Forces (CCRFs), each parented by a TA infantry battalion, are also linked into this structure.^[6] They form force elements which may be called on, alongside regular units, by the established chain of command (Ministry of Defence, Land Command, Divisional HQs and Regional Brigades) in the event of a request for military assistance by the civil authorities.

There are, in addition to those already mentioned, a number of specialist brigades which bring together under a single administrative apparatus several units performing similar functions. There are two logistic brigades that are attached directly to the two ready divisions; 102 Logistic Brigade is assigned to provide support to 1st Armoured Division, while 101 Logistic Brigade supports 3rd Mechanised Division. 104 Logistic Support Brigade operates as the permanent logistic support command attached to Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood; for administrative purposes, 104 Brigade comes under the authority of the GOC, Theatre Troops. All of the formation reconnaissance regiments not attached to either 1st Armoured Division or 3rd Mechanised Division are grouped together under the administration of 1 Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade, while the similarly unattached artillery regiments come under either 1 Artillery Brigade or 7 Air Defence Brigade.

Hierarchy

CINCLAND

• Commander in Chief Land Command: General Sir P Wall KCB, CBE^[7]
  • Chief of Staff, HQ Land:

Field Army

• Commander, Field Army: Lieutenant General B W B White-Spunner CBE^[8]
  • General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Armoured Division: Major General A J Bradshaw CB OBE^[9]
    • 4 Mechanised Brigade
    • 7 Armoured Brigade
    • 20 Armoured Brigade
  • General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division: Major General J R Everard CBE
    • 1 Mechanised Brigade
    • 12 Mechanised Brigade
    • 19 Light Brigade
    • 52 Infantry Brigade ⁵
  • General Officer Commanding 6th (UK) Division: Major General J D Page OBE

Structure Theatre Troops

• • General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops: Major General B Brealey
    • 1 Artillery Brigade
    • HQ Joint Ground-Based Air Defence (16 Regiment, RA)
    • 8 Force Engineer Brigade
      • 12 (Air Support) Engineer Group
      • 29 (Land Support) Engineer Group
      • 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group
    • 101 Logistic Brigade¹
    • 102 Logistic Brigade¹
    • 104 Logistic Support Brigade (PJHQ)
    • 2 (National Communications) Signal Brigade
    • 11 Signal Brigade
    • 1 Signal Brigade
    • 1 Military Intelligence Brigade
    • 2 Medical Brigade
  • General Officer Commanding, Joint Helicopter Command: Major General G R Coward OBE
    • Joint Helicopter Command
    • 16 Air Assault Brigade²
  • Director General Training Support: Major General A C P Kennett CBE

Regional Forces

Structure Regional Forces

• Commander, Regional Forces: Lieutenant General MFN Mans CBE^[10]
  • General Officer Commanding 2nd Division: Major General AD Mackay MBE
    • 15 (North East) Brigade
    • 38 (Irish) Brigade
    • 42 (North West) Brigade⁴
    • 51 (Scottish) Brigade
    • Catterick Garrison
  • General Officer Commanding 4th Division: Major General L Kirkland CBE
    • 2 (South East) Brigade
    • 43 (Wessex) Brigade⁷
    • 145 (South) Brigade
    • Aldershot Garrison
    • British Gurkhas Nepal
    • Brunei Garrison
  • General Officer Commanding London District: Major General W G Cubitt CBE
  • General Officer Commanding 5th Division: General M J Rutledge OBE
    • 49 (East) Brigade⁶
    • 143 (West Midlands) Brigade
    • 160 (Welsh) Brigade
    • 16 Air Assault Brigade²
    • Colchester Garrison
  • General Officer Commanding UK Support Command Germany: Major General M. Melvin OBE
    • British Forces Liaison Organisation (Germany)
    • Gütersloh Garrison
    • Hohne Garrison
    • Paderborn Garrison
    • Osnabrück Garrison

Previous Commanders-in-Chief

See Article Commander-in-Chief, Land Command

Northern Ireland

Main Article - HQ Northern Ireland

Headquarters Northern Ireland is not part of Land Command. It is a separate formation whose commander reports to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for operational purposes.

• General Officer Commanding HQ Northern Ireland: Major General C C Brown CBE^[7]

38th (Irish) Brigade is the single British Army formation under the command of HQNI. It was formed in 2007 through the amalgamation of two previous formations:

• 39th Infantry Brigade
• 107 (Ulster) Brigade

38 Brigade will come under the command of the 2nd Division.^[11]

Notes

Note 1: Although 101 Logistic Brigade and 102 Logistic Brigade provide support directly to the army's two deployable divisions, they fall under the administrative control of HQ Theatre Troops [1]
Note 2: 16 Air Assault Brigade is an independent formation that can be deployed either independently or as part of a higher formation. For administrative purposes, it is part of 5 Division.
Note 3: 42 (North-West) Brigade will be transferred to 5th Division at some point, coinciding with 38 (Irish) Brigade transferring to 2nd Division. No date for this has been set.
Note 4: 52 Infantry Brigade was transferred to 3rd (UK) Division on 1 April 2007.
Note 5: 49 (East) Brigade was transferred to 5th Division on 1 April 2007.
Note 6: 43 (Wessex) Brigade was transferred to 4th Division on 1 April 2007.

British Army portal

External Links and Sources

• A Guide to Invitations and Appointments for High Commissions and Embassies in London, Ministry of Defence, June 2006 edition
• Jane's Defence Weekly article in 1995 on Land Command

References

1. ^ Project Hyperion
2. ^ Interim Joint Doctrine Publication 2
3. ^ Lt Col Richard Quinlan, R Signals, HQ Theatre Troops, in News From Formations, The Wire, April 2003, p.127
4. ^ Hansard 26th July 2007
5. ^ 11 Brigade will provide vital support to Afghan operations
6. ^ Hansard 24/02/03
7. ^ ^{a b} Senior Officer Appointments
8. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59120, p. 11615, 7 July 2009. Retrieved on 1 September 2009.
9. ^ AFF
10. ^ TA Quarterly September 2009
11. ^ Hansard, 29th Nov 2006

v • d • e Divisions of the British Army 1st (UK) Armoured Division • 2nd Division • 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division • 4th Division • 5th Division • 6th (UK) Division