From the Beaches to the Baltic: 'G' Company 8th Battalion The Rifle Brigade

A tightly typeset company history describing 'G' Company's exploits during the campaign through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany in 1944/45. The 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade was formed in early January 1941 by the re-designation of the 2nd Battalion, London Rifle Brigade. As a motor battalion, it took part in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, as part of the 29th Armoured Brigade in the 11th Armoured Division, and saw action in the North West Europe Campaign, including the hard-fought major Operations 'Epsom', 'Goodwood' and 'Bluecoat'.

G Company, as a mobile infantry company, fought with a strength of 175 officers and men, and consisted of one scout (reconnaissance) platoon (in Bren Carriers) and three mobile infantry platoons (using White half-tracks). Each platoon consisted of anything between 29 to 43 men and was itself divided again into three sections. Company histories are rare, as usually such histories were only produced at battalion or divisional level.