The British organisation is based on mid-late 1970's organisation, and there were no formed TA bdes etc. Instead, there were 4 mixed regular-TA infantry divisions called "field forces," which were essentially a regular inf. bde which absorbs a large number of TA bns to be expanded into a division on mobilisation. Ca. 1982, these were separated, and the TA components of 5th and 7th divisions were combined into the new 2nd Infantry Division. Going through the histories, it's clear the BAOR was gutted, and had only 2 armoured divisions (1st and 3rd), probably binary ones (2 bdes) and the airmobile bde in Germany (mentioned in SGUK). The remaining two armoured divisions are mobilised in 1996, along with 5th and 7th Mech Divs and sent to Germany. The 7th Mech is later merged with 3rd Armr, and possibly one of 3rd Armr's bdes moved to 1st Armr. A problem is 19 and 24 bde appear with 5th and 7th Divs. In reality, these were the regular component of 5th and 7th divisions. 1st airborne bde were 16 para bde in the 1970's, and paired with 44 airborne bde to form 6th division. 1st Inf Bde were the regular component of 8th division, expected to remain in the UK as a deployable reserve in the UK. A more sensible starting orbat, based on t2k's presumptions, is: BAOR 1st Armoured Division: 7 and 22 Bdes (3 Armr and 5 Mech Bns, with CR and WR) 3rd Armoured Division: 6 and 33 Bdes (ditto) 5 Airmobile Bde 14 (Berlin) Bde Home 2nd Armoured Division: 4 and 12 Bdes (4 Armr and 4 Mech Bns, mostly CR etc., but still converted) 4th Armoured Division: 11 and 20 Bdes (4 Armr and 4 Mech Bns, still CH and FV432) 5th Infantry Division: 24 (regular) and 15 (TA) Bdes, reorganised into a standard 3x3 pattern on mobilisation 6th Infantry Division: 16 parachute bde (reg) and 44 airborne bde (only 6 para bns, 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 and a Gurkha Bn, 10 Para goes to AMF(L) bde) 7th Infantry Division: 19 (regular) and 49 (TA) Bdes, reorganised into 3x3 8th Infantry Division: 1 (regular) and 43 (TA) Bdes, ditto - remains in UK as formed reserve. 9th Infantry Division: 2 Inf Bde (to BAOR after moblisation) and the HQ of 51 or 52 Bdes as a rear area security formation. AMF(L) Bde (1 SG, 10 Para(V) and 1 Wessex(V)) and 3 Cdo Bde to Norway. 3, 8 and 39 Inf Bdes, which comprised the 5th Infantry Division in the early 1970's, would remain in NI, but several of the Bns would be reassigned.
Great detail, I possibly should have been clearer regarding the missing TA units. They don't show as the augmentation units. I did a lot of work back in the day rewriting the unit organisations and wish I had your thoughts then!
@@jameslangham9854It's useful to look at structures in the decades before. Coming of Wilson's defence review: BAOR 1st Division: 7 Armr and 11 Inf Bdes (at this time Armr Bdes were 3x Armr, 1x Inf, and Inf Bdes in the Armr Divs 1x Armr and 3x Inf, they were soon "squared" to be 2+2) 2nd Division: 4 Gds Inf and 12 Inf Bdes (both 1+3) 4th Division: 6 Armr and 22 Armr (both 3+1) 14 Inf Bde: the Berlin Bde Home 3rd Inf Division: 5, 19 and 24 Inf Bdes (OPCON Army Strategic Command) 5th Inf Division: 2, 8 and 39 Inf Bdes (only 39 Bde reached deployable status, 2 and 8 Bdes were largely filled with units returning to the UK for rebuilding) 1 Inf Bde - UKMF (a mech formation designated for Denmark, not to be confused with the AMF(L)) 16 Para Bde - strategic reserve (paired with the TA 44 Airborne Bde, the only formed TA bde at the time) 3 Cdo Bde RM Northern Ireland deployments caused 8 and 39 Bdes to be deployed there, along with a reformed 3 Bde, and 5 Div was disbanded in 1970, with 3 Inf Div having command of 1, 2, 5, 19 and 24 inf bdes and 16 para bde. In the mid-1970's the Labour government put an increased emphasis on the BAOR, and HQ 3 Div was redesignated an Armr Div and forward deployed. However, since essentially 4th Armr Div was split in two to make the new division and both 3rd and 4th Armr Divs had to then build up to full strength, this was not done by 1980 (3 and 4 Divs only having 5 armr/mech bns instead of the full establishment 8). The six, now independent army bdes had one HQ deleted (16 Para, along with 44 AB in the TA), and each became the core of a mixed regular/TA division, although 2 bdes "division" was never formally formed and remained a shadow organisation. The Nott review reduced the number of units in an armr bde from 4 to 3, and moved 2nd Division HQ to the UK, taking over 24 Bde (regular component of 7 FF) and the TA parts of 5 and 7 FF. Divisions restructured to have 3 bdes of 3 units (with one bde being 19 inf), and were actually weaker than the binary, square divisions. Finally, 6 bde was converted for a time to airmobile due to lack of modernised tanks. It was converted back to armr in the late 1980's as the Army argued they needed at least 8 armr bdes and 2 airmobile bdes. That's about where GDW wrote the NVG. It is a mix of 1970's and 1980's organisations.
