164-973: The Finsbury Rifles was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force and later Territorial Army from 1860 to 1961. It saw action at Gallipoli , in Palestine and on the Western Front during the First World War . In the Second World War , it served in the Anti-Aircraft (AA) role during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz , then in North Africa , Sicily and Italy . The unit began as the Clerkenwell Rifles , formed in
328-499: A German invasion of England which was, at the time, thought highly likely. In November 1941, after serving in Kent since July 1940, the division moved to East Anglia , in particular to Suffolk , where they came under command of XI Corps . The move to Suffolk proved to be popular for the many men, mostly conscripts but also wartime volunteers, from the nearby counties who had joined the brigade since Dunkirk. The brigade performed much
492-556: A royal commission chaired by Viscount Eversley was appointed "to inquire into the condition of the volunteer force in Great Britain and into the probability of its continuance at its existing strength". According to the report, as of 1 April 1862, the Volunteer Force had a strength of 162,681 consisting of: Their report made a number of recommendations and observations on funding and training: To carry into effect
656-531: A '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas. Later they were mobilised for overseas service in their own right. the Finsbury Rifles formed its own second line on 3 September 1914. Several battalions of the division were soon posted away to relieve Regular Army garrisons in the Mediterranean or to supplement
820-478: A County". On acceptance, the corps would be deemed lawfully formed. Existing corps were to continue under the new Act, although the power was given to the Crown to disband any corps. The constitution of a permanent staff consisting of an adjutant and serjeant instructors was permitted for each corps. The grouping of two or more corps into administrative regiments was recognised, and a permanent staff could be provided for
984-465: A black KRRC button on the shoulder straps of their tunics and battledress blouses. On 1 January 1939 the RA adopted the more normal designations of 'regiments' for 'brigades'. By April 1939 272 Bty had left 61st AA Rgt to become the basis of a new 90th AA Rgt in 37th AA Bde. In February 1939 the existing AA defences came under the control of a new Anti-Aircraft Command and 37th AA Brigade was transferred to
1148-521: A final offensive against the Germans in the spring, with the scheduled date being for 1 April 1945. On 30 November, the Queen's Brigade was temporarily detached from 56th Division command to come under control of British 46th Division, replacing the 139th Brigade which had been transferred to Greece , and reverted to 56th Division on 11 December 1944, when both the 138th and 169th brigades were relieved by
1312-485: A flank attack designed to manoeuvre the Turks out of their defences, but it too became bogged down in trench warfare. On 15 August the battalion took part in the action at Kiretch Tepe Ridge, where 162nd Brigade's task was to protect the flank of the two attacking brigades. Little fighting was anticipated. There was no time to reconnoitre and the brigade advanced towards the lower slopes of the ridge with 'no information about
1476-520: A former Captain in the 71st Foot . The corps was based at 16 Cold Bath Square, Clerkenwell. Colvill was later obliged to relinquish the command by the Middlesex magistrates, who considered it incompatible with his prison duties. He was replaced as CO by Major Henry Penton (1817–1882) of the 3rd (Royal Westminster) Middlesex Militia , a local landowner in Clerkenwell whose grandfather had developed
1640-643: A major role in the Battle of the Argenta Gap where the Queen's Brigade, riding in LVTs (nicknamed Fantails ) manned by the 27th Lancers and the U.S. 755th Tank Battalion , captured, with minimal loss, 300 prisoners of war from the 42nd Jäger Division which greatly surprised the Germans. The brigade continued to fight in the offensive, which ultimately ended on 2 May 1945 with the surrender of all German forces in Italy and, after nearly 20 months of fighting (minus
1804-684: A mass raid flew up the Thames Estuary to attack RAF Hornchurch on the Essex shore: the raid was broken up by 37 and 28 AA Bdes, and then the fighters of No. 11 Group RAF attacked. Follow-up raids were marked for the fighters by 'pointer' rounds of HAA fire. On 2 September another mass raid arrived over the Medway and flew up the Thames towards Hornchurch. They came under heavy fire from the 3.7s and 4.5s of 28 and 37 AA Bdes and 15 were shot down before
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#17327811173281968-431: A month later with the surrender of over 230,000 Italian and German soldiers, a number almost equal to that captured at the Battle of Stalingrad the year before, who would become Prisoners of war . Despite playing only a comparatively minor part in the campaign the Queen's Brigade had suffered over 250 casualties, around 10% of the overall strength of the brigade. The 2/5th Queen's had 85 casualties, 15 of them being killed,
2132-667: A new 37th AA Bde based in North London. The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis , with units manning their emergency positions within 24 hours, even though many did not yet have their full complement of men or equipment. The emergency lasted three weeks, and they were stood down on 13 October. With the expansion of the TA after the Munich Crisis, most units split to form duplicates. In
2296-508: A new 6th AA Division in May. In June a partial mobilisation of TA units was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA positions. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, AA Command was fully mobilised at its war stations. 37th AA Brigade operated a layout of gun sites from Dagenham to Thorpe Bay in Essex , along
2460-646: A quarter of its infantry battalions were disbanded. The 2/11th Battalion was one of those chosen, and it was disbanded between 31 January and 6 February 1918. The men were drafted to the 1/20th , 1/21st and 1/22nd Bns London Regiment in 47th (2nd London) Division ). A reserve battalion was formed at Tadworth in Surrey on 17 April 1915 and designated the 3/11th. It trained on Epsom Downs before moving to winter billets in Sutton in October 1915. It moved to Fovant in
2624-537: A single day), finally saw an end to the Italian Campaign. The Queen's Brigade in the final offensive had, unusually for the fighting in Italy, suffered light casualties. The British Eighth Army moved into Austria for occupation duties soon after Victory in Europe Day and was redesignated British Troops Austria and the brigade entered Vienna and began occupation duties. 3rd London Infantry Brigade
2788-580: A standard infantry division. On 18 November 1940 the division regained its historical number and was redesignated 56th (London) Infantry Division . The brigade, brought up to strength earlier in the year with large numbers of conscripts , remained with the division in Kent , under command of XII Corps , and, as with most of the rest of the British Army after the evacuation from Dunkirk, either on coastal defence and home service duties or training to repel
2952-455: A steady stream of casualties. The division was relieved in the line on 28 March 1944 by the British 5th Infantry Division and sent to Egypt to rest and refit, after several weeks of nearly continuous combat. The Queen's Brigade had by this time sustained 45% casualties, nearly half its strength, in just a few weeks, testimony to the severity of fighting at Anzio. Although high, this was not
3116-564: A structure for collective training. The North London Brigade was one of the formations organised at this time. The commanding officer of the Coldstream Guards and his adjutant were ex officio the brigade commander and brigade major , while the Coldstream Guards' orderly room at Wellington Barracks acted as brigade headquarters. The brigade's original composition was: North London Brigade This organisation
3280-777: A structure for collective training. Under this scheme the Finsbury Rifles formed part of the North London Brigade which would assemble at Caterham under the command of the CO of the Coldstream Guards . During the Second Boer War the battalion was increased from ten to 12 companies, and formed a service company of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars in South Africa , earning the Battle honour South Africa 1900–1902 . The Volunteers were subsumed into
3444-580: A total of 12 3.7-inch guns, were under 73rd AA Bde defending the ferry port of Milazzo . By January 1944 the regiment, now at full strength, was defending the port of Augusta . 61st HAA Regiment crossed to mainland Italy in September 1944 and joined 25 AA Bde , which was responsible for defending the ports of Bari , Barletta , Brindisi and Manfredonia in Apulia . Bari in particular had continued to attract attention from Luftwaffe night bombers after
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#17327811173283608-519: A wider European conflict. On 12 May 1859, the Secretary of State for War , Jonathan Peel issued a circular letter to lieutenants of counties in England, Wales and Scotland, authorising the formation of volunteer rifle corps (VRC, a.k.a. corps of rifle volunteers and rifle volunteer corps), and of artillery corps in defended coastal towns. Volunteer corps were to be raised under the provisions of
3772-463: Is composed of Arms to which their use is not appropriate". The large number of small independent corps proved difficult to administer, and, by 1861, most had been formed into battalion-sized units, either by "consolidation": increasing an existing corps to battalion size (usually in large urban areas), or by forming administrative battalions or brigades by the grouping of smaller corps (in rural areas). An official book of drill and rifle instructions for
3936-568: The 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division and seen service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the Battle of France where they were forced into a retreat to Dunkirk , where they suffered heavy casualties and were evacuated to England . Shortly after arriving back in England the 12th Division was disbanded in July and its brigades sent elsewhere, the 35th transferring to the 1st London Infantry Division, and reforming it
4100-602: The 1st London Infantry Division , in October 1939 the brigade was reassigned to 2nd London Infantry Division , formed in April 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of the original London Division (which had been redesignated 1st London Division upon creation of a duplicate 2nd). In the New Year of January 1940 the 1st battalions of both the Tower Hamlets Rifles and The Rangers were transferred elsewhere, leaving only
4264-425: The 2nd New Zealand Division . In April 1945 the Queen's Brigade, together with the rest of 56th Division, and the 15th Army Group fought in the final offensive in Italy (Operation Grapeshot). The 56th Infantry Division, fighting alongside the British 78th Infantry Division (nicknamed The Battleaxe Division , the 78th served with distinction, many times alongside the 56th, throughout the whole campaign), played
4428-620: The 46th (North Midland) and 49th (West Riding) Divisions. From March to April the 58th Division followed up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and was then put to work to repair the roads and railways destroyed by the retreating enemy. The 58th Division's first offensive operation was a peripheral part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt (4–17 May), for which 175th Bde was attached to 2nd Australian Division . On 17 May
4592-467: The British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front . By January 1915, only the 1/10th (Hackney) and 1/11th (Finsbury Rifles) Battalions remained with the artillery and other support elements of the division, and these were attached to the 2nd-Line TF division ( 2/1st London Division ) that was being formed. In April 1915, the 1/10th and 1/11th Battalions were sent to Norwich to join 162nd (East Midland) Brigade in 54th (East Anglian) Division , which
4756-530: The Clerkenwell and Finsbury districts of London during the invasion scare of 1859–60 that led to the creation of hundreds of Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs). It was adopted by the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex as the 39th Middlesex RVC , and he issued the first officers' commissions on 6 March 1860, the commanding officer (CO) being Lieutenant-Colonel Colvill, Governor of Coldbath Fields Prison and
4920-726: The Crimean War , it was painfully clear to the War Office that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Empire on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences. During the Crimean War , the War Office had been forced to send militia and yeomanry to make up
5084-978: The Crimean War , the British military (i.e., land forces ) was made up of multiple separate forces, with a basic division into the Regular Forces (including the British Army , composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, and the Ordnance Military Corps of the Board of Ordnance , made up of the Royal Artillery , Royal Engineers , and the Royal Sappers and Miners though not including the originally civilian Commissariat Department , stores and supply departments, all of which, with barracks and other departments, were absorbed into
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5248-518: The First Battle of Monte Cassino . In mid-February, however, the brigade was pulled out of the line and, with most of the 56th Division (168th Brigade had already been sent earlier in the month), was sent to Anzio , scene of much better fighting in the Battle for the Anzio beachhead , where the division came under command of U.S. VI Corps . The division started to land around mid-February, with
5412-505: The Germans tried desperately to repel the Allies ' invasion. The Queen's Brigade, together with the rest of 56th Division (minus the 168th Brigade , temporarily replaced by the 201st Guards Brigade ), which was still part of British X Corps but now under command of the U.S. Fifth Army under Mark W. Clark , saw heavy and confused fighting over the next few days and mounting casualties (by
5576-771: The Hundred Days Offensive , suffering heavy casualties in nearly all engagements. By the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 the division had sustained nearly 35,000 casualties in just over two and a half years. The brigade was composed as follows during the war: Due to a shortage of manpower in the BEF in early 1918, all British divisions serving on the Western Front were reduced from twelve to nine infantry battalions, with all brigades reducing to three. The 1/9th Londons (the only original battalion of
5740-671: The India and the Middle East , respectively. The brigade soon left to be sent to Essex for a month before returning to Suffolk again and in July, after being brought up to full War Establishment strength, began to prepare for overseas service although the whereabouts where as yet unknown and the men of the battalions were given 14 days leave. Shortly before departing the men of the brigade and division were visited by General Sir Bernard Paget , Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces , followed by His Majesty King George VI The division left
5904-533: The Isle of Man , and consequently the 7th (Isle of Man) Volunteer Battalion of The King's (Liverpool Regiment) continued to serve as the only remaining unit of the Volunteer Force until disbandment in 1922. (1868–1922) According to the Territorial Year Book 1909 , the Volunteer Force had the following strength over its existence: 169th (3rd London) Brigade The 169th (3rd London) Brigade
6068-474: The Napoleonic Wars compared with the linear tactics of the standing army. Many units initially favoured green and grey (colours until then used by British and German rifle units in the army) rifleman uniforms as opposed to the red coats of the infantry and engineers of the army and militia. In turn, the army was glad not to have amateur volunteers wear the scarlet of the regulars . The provisions of
6232-725: The Reserve Forces , most of these had been allowed to lapse after the Napoleonic Wars, although the Yeomanry was maintained to potentially support the civil authorities against civil unrest, as at the 1819 Peterloo massacre , the Militia remained as a paper tiger , and rifle clubs were encouraged as the backbone against which the Volunteer force might be re-raised. The Militia and Volunteer Force were both re-organised in
6396-505: The Second Boer War , when the prolonged campaign necessitated an increase in the size of British forces in South Africa. Volunteer Battalions formed Volunteer Active Service Companies that joined the regular battalions of their county regiments. Following the war, the battle honour "South Africa 1900–02" was awarded to the volunteer units that provided detachments for the campaign. By 1907, when its civilian administration teetered on
6560-668: The Territorial Army , formed on a very similar basis to the old Territorial Force. The brigade was reformed as the 169th (3rd London) Infantry Brigade , along with the rest of the division, with much the same composition it had before the Great War, of four Territorial battalions of the London Regiment. In 1922 all battalions of the London Regiment dropped the 'battalion' from their title, becoming, for example, 9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles). Throughout
6724-607: The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 , soldiers of the TF were only allowed to serve overseas with their consent). The men who did not volunteer, together with the many recruits coming forward to volunteer, were formed into 2nd Line battalions and brigade, 2/3rd London Brigade, part of 2/1st London Division. These later became 175th (2/3rd London) Brigade and 58th (2/1st London) Division respectively. The battalions were also redesignated, becoming, for example, '1/8th' Londons (for
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6888-543: The Volunteer Act 1804 ( 44 Geo. 3 . c. 54), which had been used to form local defence forces during the Napoleonic Wars . Alfred Tennyson captured the spirit of the time by publishing his poem Riflemen Form in The Times on 9 May 1859. As a basis for the units, many communities had rifle clubs for the enjoyment of the sport of shooting. Originally corps were to consist of approximately 100 all ranks under
7052-525: The War Office authorised for the division to be reformed in France, although now it was to be known as 56th (1/1st London) Division and the brigade came into existence again, now the 169th (1/3rd London) Brigade but was now composed mainly of different units, with the exception of 1/9th Londons. The other three battalions had joined mainly from other divisions, the 1/2nd Londons had originally been with 1st London Brigade and fought in France with 17th Brigade of 6th Division (later 24th Division ), and
7216-448: The bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham . The perceived threat of invasion by the much larger French Army was such that, even without sending a third of the army to another Crimea, Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly thin. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire (the Second Italian War of Independence ), and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in
7380-430: The invasion of Sicily , but instead remained behind in reserve in Libya where they were visited by many senior high-ranking officers and H.M. The King George VI, who had visited them nearly a year before when they began departing for overseas service, and the men cheered as he drove past. On 1 June they celebrated the Glorious First of June . In July, the 169th (Queen's) Brigade began training in amphibious warfare for
7544-484: The trenches of the Western Front in both Belgium and France and saw its first action fighting alongside the 46th (North Midland) Division on the Gommecourt Salient on 1 July 1916, to distract the German Army 's attention away from the simultaneous Somme offensive . The first day of the Somme was a complete failure, and saw nearly 60,000 casualties being sustained by the British Army, the bloodiest day in British military history. The diversionary assault at Gommecourt
7708-426: The " Cassino of the Adriatic"), which was captured on 8 September by 2/7th Queen's. The attack by two battalions, and supported by very heavy artillery fire, was "watched with pride by their fellow Queensman, Maj-Gen Whitfield" . They managed to capture 100 prisoners of war , from the German 5th Mountain Division . The Germans later launched a series of intense counterattacks against all three Queen's battalions with
7872-451: The 1/5th Bedfords; when not in the line the battalion was in reserve at 'Finsbury Vale'. In October the dismounted 1/1st Suffolk Yeomanry were attached to the Londons for training, and then relieved the battalion, which went into a rest camp dubbed 'Penton Hill' from 26 to 31 October. During November the battalion alternated with the Suffolk Yeomanry in the line. The 1/11th Battalion was evacuated to Mudros on 3 December, and shortly afterwards
8036-415: The 1/5th Londons, originally part of 2nd London Brigade , had served with 11th Brigade of 4th Division (later 8th Brigade of 3rd Division ) and the 1/16th Londons, originally of 4th London Brigade of 2nd London Division , later served with 18th Brigade of 6th Division, before transferring to 169th Brigade. The reformed brigade would serve with 56th Division for the rest of the war, fighting in
8200-400: The 169th (Queen's) Brigade was, at the time, commanded by Brigadier Lewis Lyne , who would later receive promotion to command of the 7th Armoured Division from November 1944 onwards. Together with the rest of the division, the brigade advanced up Italy and later crossed the Volturno Line . On the morning of 18 October, the brigade was ordered to secure the village of Calvi Risorta , which
8364-572: The 169th (Queen's) Brigade, and the whole of the 56th Division, was inspected again by H.M. The King George VI, who had visited them almost exactly two years before when the division was preparing for overseas service. Soon after, on 26 July, the 56th Division received a new General Officer Commanding GOC, Major-General John Yeldham Whitfield , who was previously the CO of the 2/5th Battalion, Queen's before being promoted to command of 13th Brigade (British 5th Division) and returning to take over from Major-General Gerald Templer . Soon after arriving
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#17327811173288528-412: The 1850s. These forces were originally local-service, embodied during wartime or emergency, and placed under the control of Lords-Lieutenant of counties, and, in British colonies , under the colonial governors . After the British Army's Regular Reserve was created in 1859, by Secretary of State for War Sidney Herbert , and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 110),
8692-424: The 1st Devonshire Rifle Volunteers (and were often referred to as the 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps), and the Victoria Rifles (descended from the Duke of Cumberland's Sharpshooters , formed in 1803) who became the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. An order of precedence was established for ninety-two other counties, depending upon the date of establishment of the first corps in the county. The most senior artillery corps
8856-435: The 1st Line) to differentiate them from the 2nd Line units, which were redesignated '2/8th' Londons (for the 2nd Line). However, from November 1914 until April 1915 all of the battalions of the brigade were posted elsewhere, either to other formations or to reinforce the tired Regulars of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) serving on the Western Front . The 3rd London Brigade was, as a result, broken up in April 1915 as
9020-415: The 2/11th Bn provided two companies to act as stretcher bearers, suffering 30 casualties in so doing. For the next few weeks the division was engaged in small actions against the Hindenburg Line, and then went into a period of intensive battle training in old German trenches. 175th Brigade was then assigned to railway construction at Achiet-le-Grand near Arras . After a period of trench holding near Arras,
9184-437: The 3rd London Infantry Brigade. The 3rd London Infantry Brigade and the division, along with the rest of the Territorial Army, were mobilised between late August and early September 1939, due to the already tense situation in Europe becoming worse when, on 1 September, the German Army invaded Poland . Two days later, both Britain and France declared war on Germany, thus beginning the Second World War . Initially assigned to
9348-414: The 54th Division settled down to a defensive routine. The next operation began on 9 April at Berukin , but 162nd Bde's planned attack on 14 April was cancelled at the last moment. 54th Division was now warned to prepare to move to reinforce the BEF on the Western Front following its defeats during the German spring offensive . This move was however cancelled in July, and the EEF reorganised for operations in
9512-403: The 56th Division and it was largely due to him that the brigade avoided being split up and " retained their integrity as a Queen's Brigade ". By the end of the war, it was the only brigade of the 56th Division not to undergo any significant changes in its composition. The Queen's Brigade continued to fight in front of the Bernhardt Line, and crossed the Garigliano river in January 1944, part of
9676-417: The 58th Division moved to the Ypres Salient in late August 1917, with 2/11th Battalion being one of the first units going into the line, taking over positions at St Julien . To minimise casualties, the line was held by a series of outposts. In the attack of 20 September (the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge ), 2/11th Battalion was in reserve with 175th Brigade. On 23 September, after coming under fire, an SOS
9840-400: The 7th Volunteer Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) in 1881, but without changing its title. It had already adopted the Rifle green uniform with red Facing colour of the KRRC. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided
10004-437: The AA guns around London, particularly Thames North, were continuously in action. Between the guns and fighters, the Luftwaffe lost 85 aircraft that day, an unsustainable rate of loss. After 15 September the intensity of Luftwaffe day raids declined rapidly, and it began a prolonged night bombing campaign over London and industrial towns ( The Blitz ). This meant that the Thames North guns were in action night after night as
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#173278111732810168-420: The AA role, the 11th Londons being transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) on 15 December 1935 as 61st (Finsbury Rifles) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery) , with the following organisation: Despite their transfer to the RA, the personnel continued to wear their Finsbury Rifles cap badge. The 61st AA Bde formed part of 28th (Thames and Medway) Anti-Aircraft Group of 1 AA Division, but in May 1938 it joined
10332-497: The Ali Muntar ridge outside Gaza. 162nd Brigade, with 1/11th Londons as support battalion, formed the division's left, with its flank on the point where Wadi Mukkademe crossed the Gaza- Beersheba road. The advance began promptly at 07.20 on 19 April, but it soon became clear that the bombardment of the enemy trenches by artillery and naval guns had failed in its effects. The division's leading battalions came under well-directed artillery fire and intense machine gun fire as they approached
10496-428: The British Army when the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855). and the Reserve Forces . After the 1855 consolidation of the Regular Forces (ignoring minor forces such as the Yeomen Warders and the Yeomen of the Guard ) into the Regular Force (i.e., the British Army ), there still remained a number of British military (not to be confused with naval ) forces that were not part of the British Army; specifically
10660-521: The Corps of Rifle Volunteers and volunteer regulations were published in 1859 and 1861 respectively. From 1860 Cadet Corps were also formed, consisting of school-age boys, which were the forerunners of the Army Cadet Force and Combined Cadet Force . Like the adult volunteers, the boys were supplied with arms by the War Office, for which they had to pay a fee, which reduced the longer they remained members. Cadet Corps were usually associated with private schools. They paraded regularly in public. In 1862,
10824-537: The Desert Mounted Corps pursued them to Aleppo the infantry of 54th Division were left far behind. By the time the division reached Beirut at the end of October, hostilities were brought to an end by the Armistice of Mudros . The battalion was reduced to cadre strength in Egypt on 6 July 1919 and afterwards demobilised, the personnel being shipped home. The 2/11th Londons joined 2/3rd London Brigade at Crowborough in November 1914. The 2/1st London Division concentrated in East Anglia round Ipswich in August 1915, and
10988-447: The Eighth Army commander, General Sir Oliver Leese , claiming that he "had 'severely mauled' eleven German divisions and taken over 8,000 prisoners" but it had delivered far less than had been expected and with the weather worsening due to the oncoming autumn rains and snow of winter, and no hope of a successful breakthrough offensive in such weather, both the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth Armies settled down and began to prepare plans for
11152-425: The Finsbury Rifles becoming 11th London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles) , once again affiliated to the KRRC, but now in 142nd (6th London) Brigade of 47th (2nd London) Division . In 1935 the increasing need for anti-aircraft (AA) defence, particularly for London, was addressed by converting the 47th (2nd London) Division into the 1st Anti-Aircraft Division . A number of London infantry battalions were also converted to
11316-599: The Finsbury Rifles joined with those from the 13th (Kensington) , 15th (London Scottish) and 16th (Queen's Westminsters) Battalions of London Regiment, to for 105th Provisional Bn at Frinton-on-Sea in Essex . It joined 7th Provisional Brigade in the defences of East Anglia . The Military Service Act 1916 swept away the Home/Foreign service distinction, and all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service, if medically fit. The Provisional Brigades thus became anomalous, and their units became numbered battalions of their parent units. On 1 January 1917 105th Provisional Bn
11480-411: The Force. The lord-lieutenant of a county, or the commanding officer of a corps or administrative regiment was empowered to appoint a court of inquiry into any corps, officer, non-commissioned officer or volunteer. Part II of the Act dealt with "Actual Military Service". The terms for calling out of the force were altered: this would now happen in "the case of actual or apprehended invasion of any part of
11644-463: The Gallipoli operation was closed down. The 54th Division, very weak from battle casualties and sickness, was re-embarked on 13 December and landed at Alexandria in Egypt on 18 December. After recuperating, most of the division moved into the Suez Canal defences at the end of March 1916. It stayed there under the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) until the beginning of 1917. By mid-January 1917, 54th Division had been concentrated at Moascar for
11808-455: The London brigades and divisions: 3rd London Brigade The London Irish Rifles became the 18th Londons and transferred to the 5th London Brigade in the 2nd London Division . In May 1912, however, the 10th Battalion (Paddington Rifles) was disbanded and the personnel were absorbed by 3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment ( Royal Fusiliers ), part of 1st London Brigade , and
11972-737: The Midlands, many infantry battalions of the Territorial Army were, throughout the 1930s, converted into anti-aircraft or searchlight battalions of either the Royal Artillery or Royal Engineers . Therefore, on 15 December 1935, the 11th London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles) was converted into an anti-aircraft role, being transferred to the Royal Artillery, and became 61st (Finsbury Rifles) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery , becoming part of 28th (Thames and Medway) Anti-Aircraft Group , attached to 1st Anti-Aircraft Division , which
12136-687: The Persian oilfields never materialised, but Tenth Army found a secondary role in acclimatising units before they went on active service in North Africa . Hence 61st HAA Rgt left 8th AA Bde in March 1942 to move to Middle East Forces (MEF) in Egypt to bolster the AA defences of the Suez Canal . In April, RHQ 61st HAA Rgt with its signal section, Royal Corps of Signals , and Royal Army Ordnance Corps workshop
12300-409: The Queen's Brigade landing on 16 February, coincidentally at the same time the Germans launched a major counter-attack and all three Queen's battalions were immediately deployed in the front line. The 2/7th Queen's, chosen as it was " fresh ", was given a task to locate and extract a U.S. Army battalion, the 2nd Battalion of the 157th Infantry Regiment , part of U.S. 45th Infantry Division , which
12464-654: The Queen's Brigade participating in Exercise 'Fortissimo', watched by over 5,000 people). On 19 March 1943, however, the brigade, the men now very well trained and fit, received orders to depart for Egypt and were relieved by the Polish 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division . The brigade arrived in Egypt, by road, on 19 April 1943, and from there was ordered to Tunisia to join X Corps of the British Eighth Army , which
12628-540: The Regular Army. This culminated in the Childers Reforms of 1881 which nominated rifle volunteer corps as volunteer battalions of the new "county" infantry regiments, which also consisted of regular and militia battalions within a defined regimental district. Over the next few years many of the rifle volunteer corps adopted the "volunteer battalion" designation and the uniform of their parent regiment. This
12792-724: The Reserve forces, to avoid confusion, were generally known as the Auxiliary Forces or Local Forces . The Regulation of the Forces Act 1871 removed the Lord-Lieutenant as head of the county reserve forces and they were increasingly integrated with the British Army. A large number of Volunteer Corps were formed during the French Revolutionary War but were stood down afterwards. Following
12956-625: The Salisbury Plain training area in January 1916. The unit was redesignated the 11th Reserve Bn, London Regiment, in the 1st London Reserve Group on 8 April, and absorbed by the 9th Reserve Bn on 1 September 1916. Throughout the war it trained recruits and prepared them for drafting to the service battalions overseas. The remaining Home Service men of the TF were separated when the 3rd Line battalions were raised in May 1915, and were formed into Provisional Battalions for home defence. The men of
13120-579: The Second World War. The Volunteer Force of part-time soldiers was created following an invasion scare in 1859, and its constituent units were progressively aligned with the Regular British Army as the 19th Century progressed. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided
13284-541: The Special Reserve, which provided a body of trained men available for drafting to regular battalions as required during wartime). The total cost of the TF was to be met in future by central government. In addition to the introduction of terms of service for volunteers, most of the units lost their unique identities, becoming numbered territorial battalions of the local army regiment, albeit with distinctive badges or dress distinctions. The 1907 act did not extend to
13448-626: The TF's 1st London Division . Annual training for 1st London Division had just started when war was declared on 4 August 1914, and the Finsbury Rifles promptly mustered at Pentonville for mobilisation. In mid-August it moved with 3rd London Bde to Bullswater Camp , near Pirbright in Surrey , and in Septyember to Crowborough in East Sussex . The TF was intended to be a home defence force and its members could not be compelled to serve outside
13612-470: The UK, but on 10 August TF units were invited to volunteer for overseas service and the majority did so. On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd-Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised. Initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by
13776-519: The United Kingdom (the occasion being first communicated to both Houses of Parliament if parliament is sitting, or declared in council and notified by proclamation if parliament is not sitting.)" As well as being entitled to pay and billets, relief was also to be given to the wives and families of volunteers. A bounty of one guinea was to be paid to volunteers on release from actual military service, such release being notified in order by writing by
13940-550: The United Kingdom from Liverpool on 25 August 1942 and were sent to Iraq where they arrived on 4 November and came under command of III Corps alongside the British 5th Infantry Division , part of the British Tenth Army , itself under overall command of Persia and Iraq Command and Middle East Command . The 56th Division remained in Iraq, participating in numerous exercises throughout the months stationed there (with
14104-418: The administrative battalion disbanded. In 1862 The Finsbury Rifle Volunteer Corps was officially added to its title, and it continued to expand, reaching a strength of 10 companies in 1870. Other Middlesex RVCs had been less successful and disappeared, so the Finsbury Rifles became the 21st Middlesex RVC in a general renumbering carried out in 1880. Following the Childers Reforms the Finsbury Rifles became
14268-528: The autumn to complete the Turkish defeat. The culminating Battle of Megiddo began with the Battle of Sharon . On the opening day, 19 September, the 1/11th Londons were assigned to escort the divisional artillery and cover the gap between the 54th Division and the 3rd (Lahore) Division while the rest of 162nd Bde made a difficult attack alongside the Essex Brigade. The Turks quickly collapsed, and as
14432-687: The bomber streams approached the London Inner Artillery Zone, but even with the assistance of searchlights, the effectiveness of HAA fire and fighters was greatly diminished in the darkness. 61st HAA Regiment served throughout this period. 61st HAA Regiment was next selected to be sent to the Middle East. It left AA Command in September and by 8 December 1941 it was in 8th AA Bde in Tenth Army in Iraq and Persia . Tenth Army
14596-413: The brigade) were, therefore, transferred from 169th Brigade to 175th (2/3rd London) Brigade of 58th (2/1st London) Division where they were amalgamated with the 2/9th Londons and was subsequently renamed the 9th Battalion. On 6 February, with the disbandment of 2/5th Londons, the 1/5th was redesignated as the 5th Battalion. The Territorial Force was disbanded after the war but later reformed in 1920 as
14760-591: The brink of insolvency, the Volunteer Force had become indispensable to British defence planning, as well as an enabler of the Regular Army's drawing its own forces away from home defence stations. Consequently, the government passed the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 , which merged the Volunteer Force with the Yeomanry to form the Territorial Force in 1908 (while the Militia was re-organised as
14924-436: The case of 61st AA Bde, 224 LAA Bty was expanded into a full regiment in October as 12th (Finsbury Rifles) Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery , with 33–35 LAA Btys and a new 44 LAA Bty formed on 16 January 1939, while 61st adopted 'Middlesex' as its subtitle and formed a new 272 Bty at Southgate on 1 November. On formation the new 12th LAA Bde chose to show its ancestral links to the Finsbury Rifles and KRRC by wearing
15088-402: The command of a captain, with some localities having subdivisions of thirty men under a lieutenant. The purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy's flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts. Although not mentioned in the circular letter, engineer corps were also formed, principally to place underwater mines for port defence. Stretcher-bearers attached to
15252-461: The defences to find that the Turks had evacuated Gaza. The EEF pursued the defeated Turks back to the Jaffa – Jerusalem defence line, and Jerusalem fell on 7 December. As a preliminary to the Battle of Jaffa planned for the night of 20/21 December, the 1/11th Londons were ordered to seize a hill from which enfilade fire could be brought onto Bald Hill, 350 yards away and one of the key objectives for
15416-548: The disastrous raid of December 1943. 25th AA Brigade HQ was relieved of its tasks in south east Italy in December 1944, and 61st HAA Rgt came under the command of 22nd AA Bde . The long static spell was broken by the Allied breakthrough in April 1945. 61st HAA Regiment was sent across Italy to join 66th AA Bde (in which 12th (Finsbury Rifles) LAA Rgt was serving in an infantry and field artillery role, see below ). The brigade
15580-557: The district of Pentonville . The unit's headquarters later moved to 17 Penton Street in Pentonville, and it became known from the beery ways of its members as the 'Pentonville Pissers'. Together with the Central London Rangers , the Clerkenwell unit initially formed the 3rd Middlesex Administrative Battalion of RVCs, but because both units soon consisted of eight companies they were made independent battalions and
15744-524: The division received Lee-Enfield service rifles and on 10 July 1916 it concentrated around Sutton Veny for final training on Salisbury Plain , with 2/11th Londons at Longbridge Deverill . In January 1917 the 58th Division moved to Southampton and began embarkin for France, landing at Le Havre . The 175th Bde was the last to arrive, on 4 February, and the division eventually concentrated at Lucheux on 8 February. The battalions were introduced to trench warfare by companies, being attached to battalions of
15908-585: The division, now back under Eighth Army command for the first time since May 1943, was involved in the fighting around the Gothic Line (also known as Operation Olive, where the Eighth Army sustained 14,000 casualties, nearly 1,000 per day) in the severe heat of the summer. In particular, during the first week of September, the Queen's Brigade was the spearhead of the 56th Division in its attempt to capture Gemmano Ridge (nicknamed by military historians as
16072-415: The docks and oil refinery at Port Tewfik became common. Later that month, 61st HAA Rgt was relieved at Suez and in October, at the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein , it was part of 17th AA Bde , assigned to Eighth Army and held in reserve for the breakthrough and advance into Libya . In January 1943, as Eighth Army swept westwards, 17th AA Bde, including 61st HAA with all three of its batteries,
16236-516: The end of Avalanche most battalions involved had suffered up to 360 casualties) for the next ten days and led to a unique moment in the regiment's history. On 19 September, D-Day + 10, when the Salerno crisis had passed, the 169th (Queen's) Infantry Brigade was relieved in the line by the 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade , containing the 1st Line parent 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Queen's, which (also part of British X Corps) had recently arrived as part of
16400-472: The famous 7th Armoured Division , the "Desert Rats" . This relief by six battalions of the same regiment in two brigades is believed to not only be a unique moment in the history of the Queen's, but in the history of the British Army as a whole. 9 September is now a special Regimental Day in the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment , which is also the anniversary of the creation of said regiment. Ironically,
16564-453: The fighters took over. On 7 September heavy raids up the estuary attacked oil wharves at Thameshaven , Tilbury Docks and Woolwich Arsenal : a total of 25 aircraft were destroyed by AA guns and fighters. On 15 September, remembered as the climax of the battle, 220 bombers attacked London in the morning despite heavy casualties inflicted by the RAF fighters. More attacks came in the afternoon and
16728-436: The following night's attack. An officer of the supporting artillery described the Finsbury Rifles as 'very short of men and the commanding officer was only a captain, so great had been their losses, but they were very gallant fellows'. Their charge was preceded by a five minute bombardment by three field batteries, during which the enemy put down a counter-barrage along the edge of Bald Hill and manned their trenches. The attack on
16892-549: The following year all British infantry divisions were reduced from twelve to nine battalions, all brigades reducing to three, and the London Division simultaneously was converted into a motorised infantry division, and so the Queen's Victoria Rifles was transferred from the brigade to become the motorcycle reconnaissance battalion for the division. A further change in 1938 came when the London Irish Rifles
17056-545: The grouping. However the individual corps were to continue to exist. As in the earlier legislation, a volunteer could resign with fourteen days notice, with the addition that if a commanding officer refused to remove a volunteer from the roll of the corps, then he could appeal to two justices of the peace of the county. An annual inspection by an officer of the regular army was instituted, and efficiency standards were to be set by Order in Council , as were regulations for governing
17220-536: The highest casualty rate of the division, with 168th Brigade suffering slightly higher, at 50%. The brigade arrived in Egypt on 4 April and, throughout the next few weeks, was brought up to strength from returning wounded and by receiving large drafts of replacements in the form of ex-anti-aircraft gunners of the Royal Artillery , and with the absence of the Luftwaffe now found their original roles redundant, who had been retrained as infantrymen and had to be taught all
17384-433: The infantry weapons. In April the Queen's Brigade was inspected by General Sir Bernard Paget, now Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command , who had inspected the division nearly two years before when the division was still 'green' and inexperienced and was preparing for overseas service. In late June the Queen's Brigade, now up to strength, learned they were to return to Italy, where they landed on 17 July. While at Tivoli
17548-413: The inter-war years 169th Brigade, unlike the other two brigades of 56 Division, saw little change in its composition until the middle part of the 1930s. In 1935 the 10th London Regiment (Hackney) was transferred as a replacement battalion to 167th (1st London) Infantry Brigade . Due to a serious need to strengthen the anti-aircraft defences of the United Kingdom, particularly for London, Southern England and
17712-488: The line for the Second Battle of Passchendaele (26 October). As it arrived, the weather broke, and the division was forced to jump off from a line of flooded craters in the Poelcapelle area and struggle forward behind a barrage that advanced too quickly. 2/11th Battalion was one of those sent up immediately afterwards to relieve the exhausted attackers. By now the BEF was suffering a serious manpower crisis and roughly
17876-409: The lord-lieutenant. If disabled on service, officers and volunteers were to receive a pension. Part III dealt with discipline and part IV with the rules and property of the corps. Part V dealt with the process of acquiring land for shooting ranges. Apart from the corps taking ownership of the land, a municipal corporation or private company could grant a licence to the volunteers to use their land for
18040-565: The lord-lieutenant. The Isle of Man was also to dealt with as if it were a county of England, with the Lieutenant-Governor performing the same role as a county lord-lieutenant. In 1872, under the provisions of the Regulation of the Forces Act 1871, jurisdiction over the volunteers was removed from the county lord-lieutenants and placed under the Secretary of State for War . Volunteer units became increasingly integrated with
18204-511: The marshes. On 1 June 1940 the RA's AA regiments equipped with 3-inch or 3.7-inch guns were redesignated Heavy AA (HAA) to distinguish them from the newer LAA regiments. By 11 July 1940, the Thames North AA layout operated by 37 AA Bde had a total of 46 HAA guns ( 3.7-inch and even 4.5-inch ). The brigade was heavily engaged throughout the Battle of Britain On 22 August, for example,
18368-563: The most part, therefore, the battalions previously part of the London Regiment became Territorial battalions of Regular Army regiments. The 9th Londons became the Queen Victoria's Rifles ( King's Royal Rifle Corps ), 12th Londons became The Rangers (King's Royal Rifle Corps), 17th Londons became the Tower Hamlets Rifles ( Rifle Brigade ) and 18th Londons became the London Irish Rifles ( Royal Ulster Rifles ). In
18532-639: The mountain and saw casualties for 2/5th Queen's, which spearheaded the assault. The commanding officer (CO) of the 2/5th Queen's, Lieutenant Colonel John Yeldham Whitfield , was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in capturing Camino, leading personally from the front with his Webley revolver . He was also awarded the Red Star Order from a general of the Russian Army in Italy. He would later command
18696-585: The new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908. The Borough of Finsbury had been incorporated into the new County of London since 1900, and so the unit joined the newly-created London Regiment , which consisted entirely of TF infantry battalions, with no Regular component. It became the 11th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), with its headquarters and all eight companies located at 17 Penton Street. The North London Brigade became 3rd London Brigade in
18860-527: The next few weeks, the brigade, together with the Americans and Germans, " fought for some of the most miserable terrain on the planet Earth in " almost a " trench-warfare stalemate " more alike to that suffered a generation before on the Western Front during the First World War. Although not involved in any major fighting, the battalions were under almost constant artillery or mortar fire, causing
19024-637: The north side of the Thames Estuary , known as 'Thames North'. Opportunities for action were rare during the Phoney War , but on the night of 22/23 November 1939 the Thames North guns combined with those of 28 AA Bde on the other bank of the river ('Thames South') to engage at least two enemy mine-laying aircraft that had strayed into the mouth of the Estuary. One wrecked aircraft was found on
19188-540: The now disbanded 47th Division. The battalion was previously known as 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles). After the disbandment of the 47th Division, the 56th Division was redesignated simply as The London Division and so the brigade was also redesignated, becoming 3rd London Infantry Brigade . In 1937 the London Regiment was disbanded after nearly all of its battalions were converted to other roles or posted elsewhere. For
19352-510: The other hill therefore came as a surprise, and the 1/11th Bn seized it with little loss, and then held it against three determined counter-attacks in the next two hours. Delivered over open ground, these attacks were easily beaten off by machine gun and rifle fire. Bombing attacks up the trenches were more dangerous, but one such attack was driven off single-handedly by Lance-Corporal John Alexander Christie , who went forward 50 yards from his own line and scattered them with grenades. 'Jock' Christie
19516-787: The part-time Reserve Forces , which had at various times included the Honourable Artillery Company , Militia Force (also referred to as the Constitutional Force , and originally an infantry force), the Yeomanry Force (made up of mounted units, organised similarly to the Volunteer Force), Volunteer Force , and Fencibles . Equivalents were also raised in the Crown Dependencies and many colonies. Known collectively as
19680-577: The probable whereabouts of the enemy'. After about 400 yards the leading battalion, the 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment , came under increasing rifle and machine-gun fire in the gullies and lost cohesion. Early in the action, Brigadier-General de Winton was wounded and Lieutenant Colonel Byrne took command of the Brigade with Major G.F.M. Davies assuming command of 1st Battalion. Captain Crosbie, the Adjutant,
19844-954: The purpose. Justices of the peace were given the power to close rights of way adjacent to ranges. The Act concluded by defining the counties to which the corps were to belong: for the purposes of the Act the Isle of Wight , the Tower Hamlets and the Cinque Ports were separate counties, with the Governor of the Isle of Wight, the Constable of the Tower of London and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports commissioning officers in place of
20008-469: The recommendations of the commission, and to replace the 1804 legislation, the Volunteer Act 1863 ( 26 & 27 Vict. c. 65) was passed. Part I of the Act dealt with the organisation of the Volunteer Force. It became lawful for "Her Majesty to accept the services of persons desiring to be formed under the Act into a Volunteer Corps, and offering their services to Her Majesty through the Lieutenant of
20172-466: The rest wounded, 2/6th Queen's had lost their Commanding Officer along with 15 other ranks killed and a further 79 officers and men wounded and 2/7th Queen's had one officer and 20 men killed and four officers and 62 men wounded. The 56th Division (minus the 168th Brigade which was detached to come under command of the 50th Division in April 1943) did not take part in Operation Husky ,
20336-522: The retreat of the rear party and Captain Lewer assumed command. Lone Tree Gully was shelled all the next day. Captain Lewer was wounded with Captain Windsor taking command. During the night the positions were consolidated as far as possible. The battalion's total casualties in the two days were about 360, including nine officers. Over the next two months the 1/11th Battalion alternated in the firing line with
20500-536: The rifle corps subsequently formed volunteer medical detachments affiliated to the Army Medical Corps . In a handful of counties, units of light horse or mounted rifles were formed. Two volunteer units whose services had been accepted by Queen Victoria during the early 1850s became the two senior rifle corps of the new force. These were the Exeter and South Devon Volunteers , formed in 1852, who became
20664-426: The role of the former provisional units was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas, and as men were drafted the 31st Londons was run down, and it was disbanded on 7 September 1917. The TF was reconstituted on 7 February 1920 and reorganised as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921. The London Regiment had been in abeyance since 1916, so its battalions were designated as regiments in their own right,
20828-442: The same duties as they had in Kent, performing home defence duties and in training to expel an invasion. As the spring of 1942 arrived the brigade, and in turn the rest of 56th Division, were involved in more and more demanding large-scale exercises . However, there was a drain on the battalions as they were frequently required to send drafts overseas as replacements for the 1st and 2nd battalions, both Regular Army units stationed in
20992-594: The shortfall of soldiers in the Regular Army . The situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855. Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair , an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the would-be assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have
21156-594: The start of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign . After a difficult crossing of the Sinai Desert , the division closed up to join the EEF's attack on Gaza . 162nd Brigade had only a peripheral part in the First Battle of Gaza (26–27 March), when 161st (Essex) Brigade took the objective but due to confusion was pulled back after dark. For the Second Battle of Gaza , 54th Division was to advance and then wheel left to attack
21320-412: The town on 2 November. It was a holding attack but the leading brigades made such good progress that 162nd Bde was able to pass through by 06.00 to move on to the final objective, Sheikh Hasan, which it secured after a 15-minute bombardment. The attack was continued on 7 November, with 162nd Bde heading towards Turtle Hill, north west of Gaza town. Supported by powerful artillery, the infantry walked through
21484-416: The trenches. 162nd Brigade attacked towards the trench complex known as 'The Beer' and made the furthest advance but were forced back at the end of the disastrous day. The EEF did not make another attempt to take Gaza until November, after months of preparation. As part of the operation to clear the Gaza–Beersheba Line (the Third Battle of Gaza , 27 October–7 November), 54th Division attacked directly towards
21648-429: The two 2nd Line duplicate battalions in the brigade. Later in the year the remaining battalions were also posted away, on 16 October, the 2nd Tower Hamlets Rifles was transferred to the newly created 26th Armoured Brigade and the 2nd Rangers, on 15 October, became part of 20th Armoured Brigade . On 28 November 1940 the brigade Headquarters was redesignated as Headquarters 71st Infantry Brigade . A new 169th Brigade
21812-438: The upcoming invasion of the Italian mainland , code-named Operation Avalanche, with D-Day being scheduled for 9 September where they were assigned as an assault brigade. The 56th Division left Libya, where they had remained for nearly the past four months, on 4 September and were at sea for the next four days and landed at Salerno on 9 September 1943, D-Day, and initially met light opposition but soon met heavy resistance as
21976-410: The village. Soon afterwards, the brigade crossed the Barbara Line but, with the rest of Allied Armies in Italy , were eventually held up by the formidable Winter Line defences (or Gustav Line). On 2 December, when fighting in front of the Bernhardt Line (a smaller part of the Winter Line), the Queen's Brigade led an assault to capture Monte Camino , which took four days of hard fighting to capture
22140-403: The volunteers having to purchase their own rifles and uniforms was felt by some to exclude the lower classes. Unlike regular rifle regiments, the volunteer units had colours often made and presented by the women of the community. These were unauthorised, however, with the Volunteer Regulations stating "Neither Standards nor Colours are to be carried by Corps on parade, as the Volunteer Force
22304-415: The whole brigade being involved, but these were beaten off and the brigade managed to successfully hold on to the village. The day after, the Queen's Brigade was relieved by 139th Infantry Brigade of British 46th Infantry Division . On 13 September Brigadier Grenfell Smith-Dorrien , commanding the Queen's Brigade and son of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien , a general who served in the First World War,
22468-517: Was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present Army Reserves Infantry , Artillery , Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units. Prior to
22632-404: Was absorbed into 107th Provisional Battalion (formed from the Home Service men of the 17th (Poplar & Stepney Rifles) , 18th (London Irish Rifles) and 21st (1st Surrey Rifles) Bns, London Regiment to become 31st (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment , in 226th Mixed Bde , attached to 71st Division from 13 April 1917. By May 1917 the battalion was at St Osyth in Essex. Part of
22796-400: Was again brought up to strength from anti-aircraft gunners and men from the 7th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (previously of 167th Brigade ) and the 1st Battalion, Welch Regiment (from the now disbanded 168th Brigade ), the former was now disbanded due to the acute shortage of manpower that plagued the British Army at this stage of the war whereas the 1st Welch
22960-412: Was also considered a failure, sustaining only heavy casualties for both divisions involved, with 56th Division suffering 4,567 men and 182 officers killed, wounded or missing. The division later participated in the pursuit of the German Army when they retreated to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917, and later in battles at Arras , Langemarck , Passchendaele , Cambrai , Albert , Spring Offensive , and
23124-410: Was also wounded early. Parties of the 1/10th and 1/11th Londons were 'dribbled forward' to reinforce the line. The battalions breasted the gully-riven slopes of the ridge, and ultimately advanced the left of the line to the south-western shoulder of Kidney Hill but they were unsupported, and withdrew that night to positions in Lone Tree Gully. Major G.F.M. Davies of 1/11th Londons was killed while covering
23288-401: Was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and the Second World Wars. Throughout its existence the brigade, serving under numerous many different titles and designations, was an integral part of the 56th (London) Infantry Division . It served on the Western Front in the First World War, and in the North African and Italian campaigns during
23452-408: Was awarded the VC . The EEF began a new phase of offensive operation in March 1918, the so-called Actions of Tel 'Asur . At dawn on 12 March, 162nd Brigade assaulted behind a creeping barrage , 'The infantry – Londons and Bedfords – were seen to disappear into the wadis in the pale light and then to reappear scrambling up the steep hillsides like lines of ants'. Having occupied a much better line,
23616-425: Was being built ip to counter the threat from air raids on the vital oil installations if the German Army on the Eastern Front penetrated into the Caucasus . The tasks allotted to 8th AA Bde were defence of the Basra base area, RAF Habbaniya , Mosul and the oil installations at Kirkuk . These widely spread Gun Defence Areas (GDAs) generally received one HAA battery and one LAA battery each. The German threat to
23780-437: Was being prepared for overseas service. On 29 July 1915 the battalion embarked at Liverpool aboard the RMS Aquitania bound for the Mediterranean, and arrived at Mudros on 6 August. After transferring to a smaller vessel it landed on 11 August at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Gallipoli Campaign had been in progress for several months and had reached stalemate. The Landing at Suvla Bay on 6 August had been
23944-452: Was carried over into the Territorial Force (TF) when that was created under the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the North London Brigade becoming the 3rd London Brigade in 1st London Division . The commander and staff continued to be provided by the Coldstream Guards up to the outbreak of war in 1914. All of the Volunteer Battalions in the Central London area became part of the all-Territorial London Regiment and were numbered sequentially through
24108-429: Was constituted as follows during the war: From 28 November 1940 169th Infantry Brigade was constituted as follows: The following officers commanded 3rd London Infantry Brigade during the war: From 28 November 1940 the following officers commanded 169th Infantry Brigade: The brigade remained in Italy after the war until it was disbanded, with the battalions being absorbed by their 1st Line parent formations. When
24272-415: Was created on the same day from the redesignation of the 35th Infantry Brigade , which was renumbered 169th (London) Infantry Brigade on 28 November 1940. The brigade, also known frequently as the "Queen's Brigade" , was composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th ( Bermondsey ) and 2/7th ( Southwark ) battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) , all Territorial battalions. The 35th Brigade had been part of
24436-421: Was defending the port of Tobruk and its airfields at El Adem and Gambut . It was still in these positions in May when the Tunisian Campaign ended. 61st HAA Regiment was not involved in the assault phase of the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) ( see below ), but moved to the island when it became the base for the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943. RHQ, 170 Bty and half of 171 Bty, with
24600-413: Was far from universal, however, with some corps retaining their original names and distinctive dress until 1908. The artillery volunteers were similarly remodelled as reserve formations of the Royal Artillery , eventually being redesignated as Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) in 1902, while the Engineer Volunteers became Royal Engineers (Volunteers). The volunteers finally saw active service during
24764-399: Was fighting in the Campaign in Tunisia . By now the brigade had covered a distance of over 3,200 miles. The 169th (Queen's) Brigade, now 10 miles south of Enfidaville , relieved the 69th Infantry Brigade , part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and suffered its first casualties (as part of 56th Division) on 23 April 1943, from shellfire. The campaign in Tunisia ended less than
24928-523: Was formed by the redesignation of the Headquarters of 47th (2nd London) Infantry Division . Two replacement battalions arrived, the first being the 17th London Regiment ( Tower Hamlets Rifles ), previously the 17th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles) and, more recently, 17th London Regiment (Tower Hamlets Rifles). The other replacement battalion was the 18th London Regiment ( London Irish Rifles ). Both battalions were originally from 141st (5th London) Infantry Brigade from
25092-413: Was killed by enemy shellfire. The battles around the Gothic Line lasted another few weeks, and by the end of the battle the 56th Division had sustained very heavy casualties, and the Queen's Brigade was reduced to nearly half strength, with all three battalions losing up to 400 casualties whereas the division itself had been reduced to virtually two brigades and had to be completely reorganised. The brigade
25256-507: Was numbered as 58th (2/1st London) Division ; the 2/11th Londons were in 175th (2/3rd London) Brigade . Although the division formed part of First Army of Central Force , no serious training could be undertaken because of lack of equipment. At first the only small arms available were .256-in Japanese Ariska rifles . In the Spring of 1916 the division took over a sector of the East Coast defences, digging many trenches, with 2/11th Londons at Bromeswell Heath, near Woodbridge, Suffolk . Finally,
25420-645: Was ordered down from Tell El Kebir in the Nile Delta to Suez , arriving on 21 May. During the summer the regiment took charge of all HAA batteries on the eastern side of the canal at the Suez end under 89th (Cinque Ports) HAA Rgt , whose CO was AA Defence Commander (AADC), Suez. These 3.7-inch gun sites were manned by 170 and 171 Btys of 61st HAA Rgt, together with 5 HAA Bty, Royal Malta Artillery manning two 4.5-inch guns and Z Battery rocket projectors. By September 1942, with Rommel 's Panzerarmee Afrika at El Alamein , just 66 miles (106 km) from Alexandria , Luftwaffe reconnaissance raids over Suez Bay and
25584-405: Was reduced to a small cadre . However, the manpower available was simply not enough, and, as a direct result of heavy casualties and the lack of infantrymen, all British infantry battalions in serving Italy were reduced from four to three rifle companies and this "would seriously hamper deployment once one of the three suffered loss." The Gothic Line offensive had been partially successful, with
25748-408: Was replaced by a new 10th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Hackney Rifles). In 1913 the new battalion was retitled 10th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Hackney). The 1st London Division was mobilised in early August 1914, soon after the outbreak of the First World War . Most of the men of the brigade, when asked, elected to volunteer for overseas service (according to
25912-425: Was sent 100 miles north to defend Genoa , and it was AA advance parties who actually captured the city with little difficulty. Early in May the requirement for AA defence ended when the Surrender of Caserta came into force. Regimental HQ with 171 and 195 HAA Btys was placed in suspended animation on 1 September 1945; 170 HAA Bty followed on 27 October. Volunteer Force (Great Britain) The Volunteer Force
26076-412: Was sent up at 7 pm and the enemy counterattack was beaten off. Lieutenant Fraser was wounded and 10 other ranks were killed. Captain A.C. Soutten captured six prisoners of the 100th Infantry regiment single handed. 175th Brigade led the division's attack at the Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September), with 2/11th Battalion in support. Afterwards the 58th Division went into reserve. The division returned to
26240-476: Was surrounded and isolated a mile from the main frontline and suffering heavy casualties. The 2/7th Queen's completed the task but, in the process, themselves suffered very heavy losses in what is known to veterans as the Battle of the Caves . Casualties were high at 85%, with 362 officers and men being lost, nearly half the strength of a British infantry battalion at the time, most being taken prisoner. The other battalions would come to suffer similar casualties. For
26404-402: Was the 1st London Division. The 1/9th and 1/12th Londons were both sent to France, the 1/9th to 13th Brigade of 5th Division , and 1/12th to 84th Brigade of 28th Division , both consisting largely of Regular Army troops. The remaining two battalions, the 1/10th and 1/11th Londons, were both transferred to 162nd (1/1st East Midland) Brigade , 54th (East Anglian) Division In early 1916
26568-465: Was the 1st Northumberland formed at Tynemouth on 2 August 1859. Initially, there were attempts at class distinction with the middle class seeing the formation of rifle units as a contrast with the strict class divide between the officers of the gentry and the other ranks of the working class and farm labourers of the militia and the standing army. Some also compared the initiative, small unit tactics and marksmanship principles of rifle regiments of
26732-405: Was to be aided by bombardment from air support. However, the village was captured before the scheduled bombardment but the message that it had been captured, delivered by a pigeon named G.I. Joe , of the U.S. Army Pigeon Service , managed to arrive in time to avoid the bombing, after having flown 20 miles in 20 minutes. In doing so, he had saved the lives of many soldiers as well as the civilians of
26896-469: Was transferred to 1st London Infantry Brigade, making the 3rd a two battalion brigade. In March 1939, almost as a direct result of the invasion of Czechoslovakia , the Territorial Army was ordered by to be doubled in size and each unit was ordered to form a 2nd Line duplicate, and so both The Rangers and the Tower Hamlets Rifles formed 2nd battalions, with the original battalions becoming the 1st battalions of their respective regiment, and were all assigned to
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