77th Brigade
Brigade emblem, the Chinthe
Active1 September 2014[1]
Country United Kingdom
Allegiance King Charles III
Branch British Army
Size5 Groups
Part of6th UK Division.[2]
Garrison/HQDenison Barracks
Commanders
Current
commander		Brigadier Alexander Turner[3][4][5]

The 77th Brigade is a British Army formation, created in January 2015 by renaming the Security Assistance Group which was created under the Army 2020 concept.[6][7] It is based at Denison Barracks in Hermitage, Berkshire and became operational in April 2015.[8][9]

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 shows a stylized lion known as a Chinthe in reference to the Chindits.[8][10][11]

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. According to one amateur military history blog, some of the past units include:[12]

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.[8] In 2015, the UK government said the unit's objectives would be similar to those 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.[7]

Laurie Clarke in Wired described the brigade as a "psychological operations unit responsible for 'non-lethal' warfare that reportedly uses social media to "control the narrative", as well as disseminating UK government-friendly podcasts and videos".[13]

Warfare Today says of the brigade that it is a combined regular army and reserve unit "for non-lethal warfare and behavioural influence", based at Denison Barracks, Hermitage, Berkshire.[14]

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,[15] of this total there will be 440 military posts in the brigade.[7]

Structure

Current structure

From 2022 under the Future Soldier programme the structure of the brigade became:[16]

Previous structure

Initially designated as the Security Assistance Group, the formation included the following units:[17]

  • Headquarters Element
  • Media Operations Group (Volunteers) (MOG) - Media Operations
  • Security Capacity Building Team (SCBT) - Military Capacity Building
  • 15 Psychological Operations Group (15 POG) - Psychological Warfare
  • Military Stabilisation Support Group (MSSG)[18] - Stabilisation and Conflict Prevention. The Group was tasked with civil-military work in conflict zones or unstable areas.[19] It was a hybrid unit consisting of both regular and reserve soldiers of all branches of the British armed forces.[20][21][22][23] Under the Army 2020 concept, the MSSG has been placed under the command of the 77th Brigade.[24] The MSSG was led by a colonel and had three detachments and a specialist detachment, each led by a lieutenant colonel.[25] It used to be under the Royal Engineers.[26] It has worked in many UK operations most notably Afghanistan, where it won an award for humanitarian work and helped to win over the population's minds from the Taliban.[27][28][29] The MSSG has also helped with conflict prevention in Uganda, Sierra Leone and the Philippines.[30][31]

In July 2015 and October 2015, the headquarters and four subordinate elements were reshaped into six 'Columns'.[32]

  • No.1 Column - Planning support focusing on the behavioural analysis of actors, audiences and adversaries
  • No.2 Column - Provided reachback support to deployed operations
  • No.3 Column - Provided deployable specialists to other parts of the Armed Forces and other Government organisations
  • No.4 Column - Provided professional specialists in Security Capacity Building
  • No.5 Column - Media operations and Civil Affairs
  • No.7 Column - Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps (Structure formed in October 2015)

There was no No. 6 Column for historical reasons.[33][34]

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.[35] 77th Brigade has formed a formal partnership with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, US Army Europe.[36]

The Brigade uses social media such as Twitter and Facebook to influence populations and behaviour.[10][11] David Miller, then a professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol studying British government propaganda and public relations, said that it is "involved in manipulation of the media including using fake online profiles".[37]

In September 2019, Middle East Eye reported that Gordon MacMillan, a Twitter executive with editorial control over the Middle East and North Africa, is also a reservist officer in the 77th Brigade. Both Twitter and the British Army denied that they have a relationship or agreement. Miller said it was hypocritical of Twitter to close accounts alleged to be connected with non-Western governments while having links to the British Army.[38][39]

On 22 April 2020, during the UK government's daily coronavirus briefing, General Nick Carter confirmed that 77th Brigade are working with the Home Office Rapid Response Unit "helping to quash rumours from misinformation, but also to counter disinformation".[40][41][42]

On 7 May 2020, The Economist interviewed Carter on the role of 77th Brigade in fighting COVID-19 pandemic disinformation.[43] The Defence Cultural Specialist Unit was used to monitor the internet for content on COVID-19 and to look for evidence of disinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines.[44] An army source later told the Mail on Sunday that this involved monitoring of the UK population. A government spokesman stated in response "These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives. They did not target individuals or take any action that could impact anyone’s ability to discuss and debate issues freely."[45]

Future

Under the Future Soldier programme, the brigade will move to Pirbright Camp in Surrey in 2026.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Newsletter" (PDF). The Military Survey (Geographic) Association. Summer 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Laity, Mark. "The Birth and Coming of Age of Nato Stratcom" (PDF). Defence Strategic Communications. p. 69.
  3. ↑ Mackie, Colin (1 October 2020). "Generals October 2020" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie. Retrieved 3 November 2020. Brigadier I. Alexander J. Turner Commander, 77th Brigade, November 2020
  4. ↑ "News from 77 Brigade" (PDF). The Chindit Column. 2021. p. 7. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "UK to streamline influence operations to help with its new ambitions in Indo-Pacific". Intelligence Online. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2023. 77th Brigade commanded by Brigadier Alexander Turner
  6. ↑ "Army revives Chindits as 'Facebook warriors' for smart battle". Financial Times. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Information Warfare:Written question - 225283". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 MacAskill, Ewan (31 January 2015). "British army creates team of Facebook warriors". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "BBC News - Army sets up new brigade 'for information age'". BBC News. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Army sets up brigade 'for information age'". BBC News. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  11. 1 2 Miller, Carl (14 November 2018). "Inside the British Army's secret information warfare machine". Wired UK. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "26th Division". The Long Long Trail. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  13. ↑ Clarke, Laurie (8 October 2019). "Twitter needs to start exposing the UK's murky online propaganda". Wired UK. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  14. ↑ "77th Brigade". Warfare Today. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "Freedom of Information Request" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  16. 1 2 "Future Soldier Guide" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  17. ↑ "Transforming the British Army" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. p. 13. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  18. ↑ "Military Stabilisation Support Group". gov.uk. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "MSSG exercise looks at conflict prevention - Announcements - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  20. ↑ "March of the white-collar army - FT.com". Financial Times. ft.com. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "RAF engineer brings government message to local Afghans - Announcements - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Reserve Elements - British Army Website". army.mod.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  23. ↑ "Royal Aeronautical Society | Society News | Recognising excellence in newly qualified Chartered Engineers". aerosociety.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  24. ↑ "Troops at the ready". army.newsdeskmedia.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  25. ↑ Structure of the MSSG Retrieved 30 December 2022
  26. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. ↑ "MSSG awarded for humanitarian work in Afghanistan - Announcements - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  28. ↑ "Stabilisation in Afghanistan: winning the population from the insurgent - Announcements - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  29. ↑ "Operation Herrick Campaign Study Chapter 5-4" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  30. ↑ "Philippines: 18 Nov 2013: Hansard Written Answers - TheyWorkForYou". theyworkforyou.com. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  31. ↑ "CIOR | Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers". cior.net. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  32. ↑ "77th Brigade". mod.uk (via archive.org). Archived from the original on 18 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  33. ↑ Fogden, Steve. "Rfm. Ramkrishna Limbu IDSM, including the story of Vivian Weatherall". Chindit Chasing, Operation Longcloth 1943. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  34. ↑ Young, Frank. "Chindits 1st Expedition 1943 Operation Longcloth". Chindits Special Force Burma. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  35. ↑ "77th Brigade: Natural Disasters Response Training". Forces TV. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  36. ↑ Jones, Greg (12 November 2015). "21st Theater Sustainment Command forges UK partnership". United States Army. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  37. ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (7 April 2019). "Scottish Labour candidate facing questions over links to 'secretive military propaganda unit'". The Herald Scotland. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  38. ↑ Haddad, Tareq (1 October 2019). "Twitter executive revealed to be 'psyops' soldier linked to spreading disinformation across social media: 'a threat to our democracy'". Newsweek. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  39. ↑ Knowles, Tom (2 October 2019). "Twitter boss Gordon MacMillan helping to wage army's online war". The Times. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  40. ↑ "Live: Dominic Raab leads UK government's daily coronavirus briefing - 22 April". ITV News. YouTube. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  41. ↑ Young, Gregor (22 April 2020). "Defence chief says 77th Brigade is countering Covid misinformation". The National. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  42. ↑ "Armed Forces chief: Coronavirus greatest logistic challenge in 40 years' service". Express and Star. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  43. ↑ "What can past wars teach us about conquering coronavirus?". The Economist. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  44. ↑ Pogrund, Gabriel; Ripley, Tim (29 November 2020). "Army spies to take on antivax militants". The Times. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  45. ↑ "Army's 'information warfare' unit monitored Covid lockdown critics". The Daily Telegraph. 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
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