Editing Brigade (section)

===United Kingdom===
Brigades, with a field not a regional administrative role, have usually been of a named type and numbered since the 19th century (e.g. cavalry brigade or infantry brigade). Since the end of World War II, brigade numbers have been unique and not by type. Brigades in divisions do not usually command their combat support and combat service support units. These remain under divisional command, although they may be permanently affiliated with a particular brigade (as a "brigade group"). Historically, infantry or cavalry/armoured brigades have usually comprised three or four combat-arm battalions, but currently larger brigades are normal, made larger still when their affiliated artillery and engineer regiments are added.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Until 1918, the chief of staff of a brigade was known as a [[brigade major]]. Before 1922, British Army brigades were normally commanded by general officers holding the rank of brigadier-general (equivalent to a "one-star" rank in the US Army); after that date, the brigade commander was an appointment for officers with the rank of brigadier, which were then classified as field officers not general officers. This is universally the case today.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

From 1859 to 1938, "brigade" ("brigade-division" 1885–1903) was also the term used for a battalion-sized unit of the [[Royal Artillery]]. This was because, unlike infantry battalions and cavalry regiments, which were organic, artillery units consisted of individually numbered [[artillery battery|batteries]] that were "brigaded" together. The commanding officer of such a brigade was a [[lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]]. In 1938, the Royal Artillery adopted the term "regiment" for this size of unit, and "brigade" became used in its normal sense, particularly for groups of anti-aircraft artillery regiments commanded by a brigadier.<ref>Maj-Gen Sir John Headlam, ''The History of the Royal Artillery'', Vol II (1899–1914), Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1937.</ref>

In the Second World War, a tank brigade comprised three tank regiments and was equipped with [[infantry tank]]s for supporting the infantry divisions. Armoured brigades were equipped with [[cruiser tank]]s or (US [[Lend-Lease]]) medium tanks and a motorised infantry battalion. The armoured divisions included one or more armored brigades.{{cn|date=March 2025}}