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Battlefront:WWII Dutch Belgian Independent Brigade Groups By R. Mark Davies |
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| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
While researching some ideas for a wargames campaign based upon Operation 'Paddle', the breakout by British I Corps from Normandy to the Seine in August 1944, I came across several references to the Dutch and Belgian Independent Brigade Groups. I remembered reading that the Dutch 'Princess Irene' Brigade was also involved in Operation Market Garden, but apart from that I knew nothing about either unit. It got worse; following a few library and internet searches, it quickly became clear that there was almost nothing on the subject written in English (and very little in Dutch or French either).
At the time I was involved in developing the British orders of battle for a new supplement for the 'Battlefront: WWII' wargame rules, and the discovery of a little piece of 21st Army Group that I knew almost nothing about was too much of a challenge for me to resist. Indeed, the subsequent discovery that the Belgian Brigade was actually formed and trained in my home county of Pembrokeshire proved an additional spur to my enthusiasm.
So, having corresponded with many knowledgeable, enthusiastic and generous people in Belgium and the Netherlands (thank God for the internet), here is collected together the current sum of my knowledge on the subject. As with everything written by me on this website, it will be constantly updated, as you can never stop discovering new information (much to our Webmaster's eternal annoyance). You will find below a brief history of the brigades, the orders of battle for 'Battlefront' wargames (also provided on another page in graphical form), some suggested units that they may fight alongside and details of vehicle markings.
The Dutch and Belgian Independent Brigades were formed in the United Kingdom in 1941 from a nucleus of evacuated military personnel and volunteers. Although designated as brigades, the units were small (actually reinforced infantry battalions) as the recruiting base was obviously limited. The intention was for these formations to be combined arms 'proto-armies' of infantry, armour, artillery, engineers, etc. They were to be very well equipped with vehicles and support weapons, thus enabling rapid expansion to full brigade strength once the recruiting areas had been liberated. Indeed, the combined arms nature of these formations demonstrated a high degree of forward thinking, as these would act as nuclei for each arm of service, enabling the rapid creation of new national armies in the liberated territories, thus maintaining stability in the post-war political environment.
Despite their small size, the Dutch and Belgian brigades gave a good account of themselves in their first campaign: 'Operation Paddle', the advance to the Seine in August 1944. During their campaign in Normandy, the brigades were placed under the command of the British 6th Airborne Division (part of British I Corps), along with the 1st and 4th Special Service (Commando) Brigades. Both brigades were attached to 6th Airlanding Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Edward Flavell, with the Belgians being responsible for the army's extreme left flank on the Channel coast. With the withdrawal of 6th Airborne Division to the UK at the very end of August, the brigades were transferred to the 49th (West Riding) Division for the last few days of the Normandy Campaign and the crossing of the Seine itself. The brigades were about to spearhead the assault into Le Havre when they were withdrawn from the line and transferred to the Guards Armoured Division (British XXX Corps) for the 'Great Swan' across France to Belgium.
Following the liberation of Belgium, the brigades were split up. The 1st Belgian Independent Brigade Group (known as 'Brigade Piron' after its charismatic commander, Jean-Baptiste Piron) spent much of September occupying and pacifying Belgium. However, on 22nd September, it went into action again in support of the 'Market Garden' Operation (the 'First Netherlands Campaign'), and remained in Holland until 17th November, fighting with the British VIII Corps and US XIX Corps in the operations to expand and defend 21st Army Group's salient in the country. Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers (mainly men of the Belgian 'White Brigade' resistance movement) had rallied to the colours and the brigade had to be withdrawn from the front to enable training and expansion to take place. During this period the brigade was also engaged in occupation, guard and supplementary police operations throughout Belgium. Having finally been expanded to full brigade strength the Belgians were re-activated in April 1945 and fought their last battles in the Second Netherlands Campaign alongside their old Normandy comrades from the Royal Marines.
While the Belgians were training new recruits in their home country, the Dutch were still in the war and were burning to liberate their homeland. Having stayed with XXX Corps when the Belgians departed, the 'Princess Irene' Brigade accompanied the 43rd (Wessex) Division, 50th (Northumbria) Division and 8th Armoured Brigade in Operation 'Market Garden', following in the wake of the Guards Armoured Division up 'Hell's Highway' to Eindhoven and Nijmegen. They received a rapturous welcome from their liberated countrymen, though these joyful scenes were punctuated by fierce battles as XXX Corps, supporting the American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, defended 'The Corridor' against strong German assaults from the east and west. Sadly, due to the ultimate failure of 'Market Garden', only a small portion of the Netherlands was liberated and therefore, only a small number of 'Magiret' insurgents and volunteers were recruited. The small number of recruits did however, mean that they could be trained 'on the job' by the brigade's Training & Reserve Company and the Princess Irene Brigade stayed in action throughout the winter. The brigade marched into Germany along with the rest of XXX Corps in 1945.
Here is presented an order of battle and suggested Battlefront TO&E for the two brigades. I freely admit that the exact composition of some units (particularly in terms of vehicle types) may be open to discussion. If anyone finds out anything new, I would be extremely interested - please feel free to e-mail me at rmarkdavies@aol.com
I would like to thank Mr Hans Sonneman of the Museum, Brigade & Garde Regiment Prinses Irene for his invaluable help, as well as for giving his permission to reproduce the pictures in the Dutch section below. His museum's website can be found here.
I would also like to thank Jean-Louis & Georgette Houbion for granting their permission to use the pictures in the Belgian section below. Their superb website detailing the organisation and history of 'Brigade Piron' can be found here.
Lastly, I would like to thank Hanno Spoelstra and Dirk Leegwater for their help with compiling the order of battle of the Princess Irene Brigade, and Rob van Meel for providing information on the brigade's vehicle markings.
| Navigate to other pages in the site | |
| Back to the Late-War Card Supplement Information Page. | |
| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
(a) These Oerlikon AA guns were probably left behind in Britain. The British certainly left theirs behind and the Belgians certainly only took one gun per Independent Unit (giving a total of one model for the entire brigade).
| Navigate to other pages in the site | |
| Back to the Late-War Card Supplement Information Page. | |
| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
| Navigate to other pages in the site | |
| Back to the Late-War Card Supplement Information Page. | |
| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
The vehicle badge of the Princess Irene of the Netherlands Brigade was a black circle with an orange lion, displayed as British vehicle badges, on the front and rear left (from the driver's viewpoint) of the vehicle. Unlike British brigade/division/corps badges, this badge does not appear to have been worn as a sleeve badge. Unlike the Belgians, their vehicles do not appear to have displayed a national marking.
The vehicle badge of the 1st Belgian Brigade was theoretically a black shield, with a red 'St. George's' cross and a gold lion's mask. However, in practice, the vehicles actually displayed a large capital 'B' in white, painted on the front and rear left of the vehicle. Neither of these designs seem to have been worn as a sleeve badge, however, which was simply a black-gold-red Belgian tricolour. A black-gold-red roundel was also painted on the centre-rear of the vehicles.
Both brigades followed the British Army system of unit identification 'flashes'. These were coloured squares indicating the arm of service or seniority of a brigade within a division, superimposed with a number that identified the individual unit within that arm of service or brigade (for example, red-over-blue indicated Royal Artillery units, while red indicated the first brigade of a division, green the second and brown the third). These flashes were painted on the front and rear right of the vehicle (or on the side of a motorcycle's fuel tank). This system was deliberately obtuse and confusing - all the better to conceal the identity of units from the enemy. To explain the entire system would take an entire book, but I have given a rough guide to the markings of 21st Army Group on another page of this website.
Luckily for us, the Dutch and Belgian Brigades both used the same system:
| Brigade HQ | 109 in white on black square |
| Brigade Signals Company | 109 in red on white-over-blue square |
| 1st Independent Fighting Unit | 110 in white on red square |
| 2nd Independent Fighting Unit | 111 in white on red square |
| 3rd Independent Fighting Unit | 112 in white on red square |
| Reserve & Training Company | 113 in white on black (?) square |
| Artillery Battery | 114 in white on red-over-blue square |
| Engineer Company (Belgians only) | 115 (?) in white on light blue square |
| Supply Company | 116 (?) in white on blue-over-red-over-blue square |
| Repair Company | 117 (?) in white on red-over-yellow-over-red square |
| Transport Company | 118 in white on red/green diagonally-divided square* |
| Armoured Car/Reconnaissance Squadron | 138 in white on blue-over-green (?) square |
* In the British Army, troop carrier 3-Tonner detachments had the transport flash painted above
that of the infantry unit to which they were attached. It is probable that this system was also used here.
Other markings included the usual British Army registrations, bridge weight discs in yellow or yellow outline, large circled stars on the roof or turret-top, and often a plain uncircled star on the rear of vehicles.
| Navigate to other pages in the site | |
| Back to the Late-War Card Supplement Information Page. | |
| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
| Navigate to other pages in the site | |
| Back to the Late-War Card Supplement Information Page. | |
| Introduction | Historical Perspective |
| Princes Irene Independent Brigade Group | Brigade Piron |
| Vehicle Markings | External Attachments/Service History |
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