The 188th Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army which comprised several battalions provided by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The brigade was formed in July 1916 following the absorption of the Royal Naval Division into the British Army, thereby becoming the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. The brigade itself was the direct successor to the 1st (Royal Naval) Brigade, and would serve until its disbandment in 1919.
Formation
In July 1916, the Royal Naval Division was placed under the control of the British Army, and subsequently left the jurisdiction of the Royal Navy. On 19 July, the 188th Brigade was formed by redesignation of the 1st (Royal Naval) Brigade, which had been the new formation's direct predecessor.
Western Front
Battle of Ancre
After the evacuation of Gallipoli, the Royal Naval Division moved to France where it participated as 63rd Division in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme, advancing along the River Ancre to capture Beaucourt. The division had four objectives during the Battle of Ancre, the Dotted Green Line, the German front trench, then the Green Line, the road to Beaucourt station. The road ran along a fortified ridge. The Yellow Line was a trench which lay beyond the road, around the remains of Beaucourt on its south-west edge and the final objective, the Red Line, was beyond Beaucourt, where the division was to consolidate.
The plan was for the battalions to leap-frog towards the final objective. The 1st Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI), Howe, Hawke and Hood battalions were assigned the Dotted Green Line and the Yellow Line, the 2nd RMLI, Anson, Nelson and Drake battalions were to take the Green and Red lines. When the battle began in the early hours of 13 November, platoons from the 1st RMLI crawled across no-man's land towards the German line. A creeping barrage was fired by the British artillery but many casualties were suffered in no-man's land, about 50 percent of the total casualties occurring before the first German trench had been captured. German artillery-fire and machine-gun fire was so effective that all company commanding officers of the 1st RMLI were killed before reaching the first objective.
The German trenches had been severely damaged by the British bombardment, the attackers lost direction and leap-frogging broke down. The commander and second-in-command of the Drake Battalion were killed and the Hawke battalion lost its commander and several company commanders. Freyberg, having been promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel and command of the Hood Battalion, led it to the Green Line and pressed forward with the remaining men of the Drake Battalion. The station road served as a landmark and allowed the attackers to orientate themselves and re-organise the attack. The next creeping barrage began on time at and led the British towards the Yellow Line at Beaucourt Station. The Nelson, Hawke and Howe battalions had suffered many casualties; Lieutenant-Colonel Burge of the Nelson Battalion was killed whilst attacking a fortified section of the Dotted Green Line and Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson was severely wounded attacking the same objective. Lieutenant-Colonel Saunders was killed early in the battle but the Anson Battalion still managed to capture the Green Line and advance to the Yellow Line, after making contact with the 51st Highland Division to its left. By Beaucourt had been captured.