page_title: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
section_title: North Africa and Italy (1942–45)
hierarchical_section_title: Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry / Second World War (1939–1945) / North Africa and Italy (1942–45)
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Italy 1944 Platoon commanders of 7th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Regiment are briefed for an attack on German forces in the village of Gemmano, 6 September 1944.
context_page_description: The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II.
  The regiment was formed as a consequence of the 1881 Childers Reforms, a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms, by the amalgamation of the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 52nd Regiment of Foot, forming the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry on 1 July 1881. In 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, the regiment's title was altered to become the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, commonly shortened to the Ox and Bucks.
  After service in many conflicts and wars, the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry was, in 1948, reduced to a single Regular Army battalion and on 7 November 1958, following Duncan Sandys' 1957 Defence White Paper, it was renamed the 1st Green Jackets, forming part of the Green Jackets Brigade.
context_section_description: The 50th (Holding) Battalion were a hostilities-only battalion created on 3 June 1940, whose original job was to 'hold' men who were medically unfit, awaiting orders, on a course or returning from abroad. In October 1940 the battalion was redesignated the 7th Battalion. In February 1941, they became part of the 167th (London) Infantry Brigade, serving alongside the 8th and 9th battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, both Territorial units, and were attached to the 56th (London) Infantry Division.
  Shortly before departing the United Kingdom the battalion was inspected by General Sir Bernard Paget, Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, an officer who had served with the regiment before and during the Great War and whose son Lieutenant Tony Paget would later serve with the 1st Battalion of the regiment. With the rest of the division, they left the United Kingdom in late August 1942. The division was sent to Persia and Iraq Command and the battalion later fought in the final battle in the Tunisia Campaign in April 1943. The battalion made a successful attack at Enfidaville following a 3,000-mile road move from Iraq. In the Italian Campaign, 7th Ox and Bucks took part in the landings at Salerno in September 1943 and then the Anzio landings in February 1944 and sustained heavy casualties in both landings and came under command of the US Fifth Army, led by Lieutenant General Mark Wayne Clark, in both landings.
  In late March 167 Brigade, together with the rest of 56 Division, was transferred to Egypt to rest and be brought back up to strength. After the fighting at Anzio the 7th Ox and Bucks were reduced to a mere 60 men, out a strength of 1,000, testimony to the severe fighting in the beachhead. Due to the casualties sustained the 7th Battalion was almost disbanded to allow the 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment, a Regular Army unit, to join the 56th Division. However, the 10th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, of 168th (London) Brigade, the junior battalion of the division and in an even worse state than 7th Ox and Bucks, was chosen instead, after that battalion had been reduced to only 40 men fit for duty.
  Reinforced by large numbers of anti-aircraft gunners of the Royal Artillery who now found their original roles redundant, the battalion returned to Italy in July and fought in the severe battles around the Gothic Line near Gemmano, again sustaining heavy losses. Due to the recent heavy casualties, on 23 September 1944 the 7th Ox and Bucks was reduced to a small cadre and placed in 'suspended animation', transferred to the non-operational 168th Brigade and men were used as replacements for other infantry units in 56th Division, mainly for the 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) of 169th (Queen's) Brigade. The reason for the disbandment was due to a severe shortage of infantrymen that plagued the British Army at the time, particularly so in the Mediterranean theatre.
caption: Platoon commanders of the 7th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, of 167th (London) Brigade of 56th (London) Division, plan the attack on the village of Gemmano, 6 September 1944.
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