178th Assault Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

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178th Assault Field Regiment, RA
23rd Indian Division
EngagementsSecond Arakan Offensive
Battle of Mandalay
Operation Zipper
Occupation of Java

178th Assault Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a

Burma where it was given a range of specialist roles, ranging from operating tracked self-propelled guns to manning light howitzers parachuted into jungle clearings. After the Japanese surrender, it saw action in the Allied Occupation of Java
before disbanding in late 1946.

Organisation

178th Field Regiment was formed in the Royal Artillery (RA) on 29 January 1942 in the West Country[a] with the following organisation:[1]

On 15 May 1942 the new regiment was assigned to 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, which was being re-assembled in Western Command after a period of service in Iceland. However, on 28 December the regiment left the division and (together with its Signal Section of the Royal Corps of Signals and Light Aid Detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) came under direct control of the War Office preparatory to embarking for service overseas in March 1943.[5][6][7]

Burma

Priest SP gun in Burma.

178th Field Rgt arrived at

Burma were cancelled because of a lack of landing craft, even for training, before 1945. 366 Battery was sometimes referred to as 366 Light Battery because of its small guns: the 3.7-inch howitzer was also chosen for the new 'Jungle Field Regiments' because of its accuracy at close range and for its high angle fire.[1][8][9][10][11][12]

Arakan

36th Indian Division was in reserve for the

25th Indian Division on 9 April for the attack on Point 551 which involved days of bitter fighting that effectively ended the Arakan campaign before the arrival of the Monsoon.[8][9][11][13][14][15]

36th Indian Division was withdrawn from Arakan in May 1944 and made available to reinforce the Allied campaign in northern Burma. 178th Assault Fd Rgt rejoined it for the move to Shillong, which began on 12 May and was completed by 7 June. All the division's amphibious assault equipment was returned to the amphibious warfare training school and the division reorganised as a standard infantry division.[8][11][16][17]

Railway Corridor

3.7-inch Howitzer in action in Burma.

36th Indian Division was now assigned to reinforce US

130th (Lowland) Assault Field Rgt, moved up to Ledo ready to move into the forward area. On 18 August, while 36th Division was advancing on the Japanese stronghold of Pinbaw, it was augmented by six of 366 Lt Bty's mountain howitzers, which were successfully dropped by parachute close to the tactical HQ of 29th Brigade. Pinbaw was captured on 25 August, although most of the supporting bombardment came from aircraft of US Tenth Air Force. 36th Division then began pushing along 'Railway Corridor', entirely supplied by air until the railway and roads could be repaired.[11][18][19][20][21][22][23]

On 1 September 1944, 36th Indian Division was redesignated as a British division, the majority of the Indian Army units having been transferred.[11][14][18][24] The gunners of the rest of 178th Assault Fd Rgt were flown into Burma to join the division on 15 October (321 A/T Bty having returned unused to Shillong in September).[11][20] When NCAC began its post-Monsoon offensive on 16 October 1944, 36th Division was the only formation in contact with the enemy, and was the first to run into heavy opposition on 25 October, at a Japanese defensive position that blocked all roads. This was broken through on 29 October and Mawlu occupied on 31 October, but then the Japanese began to raid the division's precarious supply route and the advance halted until the following Chinese division broke through to Mawlu. Resuming its advance along the railway corridor, 36th Division captured Pinwe on 30 November, and occupied Indaw, Naba and Katha, reaching the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers without opposition during December. It continued to push along the river valleys in January 1945, meeting occasional rearguards, until it found the river crossing on the Shweli bend at Myitson to be strongly held.[25][26]

Meiktila and Mandalay

A 25-pounder of 36th Division in action in Burma, 1944.

36th Division was now the only part of NCAC in action, on the left flank of

Rangoon.[18][27]

While Fourteenth Army fought the Battle of the Rangoon Road, 36th Division cleared the area east of Meiktila, supplied by road from the Mandalay airhead and by supply drops to the forward troops by US Tenth Air Force. However, the difficulty of supplying and reinforcing British formations in Central Burma meant that 36th Division was selected to be flown out before the onset of the Monsoon and the withdrawal of US aircraft to China. On 5 May 1945 178th Assault Fd Rgt was flown to Imphal, and then moved to the rest areas round Poona, arriving on 15 May.[8][11][18][28]

Operation Zipper

While 36th Division remained in India for the rest of the war, 178th Assault Fd Rgt left on 5 July 1945 and moved to Nazik, where it joined

Cape Rachado–Port Dickson area, sending out columns to disarm Japanese troops and put down banditry and inter-communal fighting that had broken out.[8][11][18][29][30]

Occupation of Java

23rd Division's stay in Malaya was brief because it was required in

Buitenzorg area in February to deal with a reported build-up of extremists in the area. Because of raids on the roads, convoy protection required tanks and 25-pounders fighting pitched battles, and the division and the internees had to be supplied by air. The Royal Netherlands Army arrived in March to take over responsibility, but 23rd Division was retained in west Java until the autumn while evacuation of internees continued.[8][31][32]

178th Assault Fd Rgt was joined on 1 June 1946 by 395 Bty from

145th (Berkshire Yeomanry) Fd Rgt which was being placed in suspended animation. 395 Battery in turn disbanded on 14 September.[1][33] 23rd Division began to withdraw from Java in stages in the autumn. Regimental HQ of 178th Assault Fd Rgt disbanded at Batavia on 30 November 1946 and the two TA batteries (366 and 514) were placed in suspended animation pending the reform of their parent regiments in the UK in 1947.[1][8][34]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Either at Launceston, Cornwall or Great Torrington, Devon.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Frederick, p. 539.
  2. ^ Frederick, p. 506.
  3. ^ Frederick, p. 532.
  4. ^ Frederick, p. 530.
  5. ^ Joslen, pp. 79–80.
  6. ^ Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 22 November 1942, with amendments, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, files WO 212/8 and WO 33/1962.
  7. ^ Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 18 February 1943, TNA files WO 212/9 and WO 33/1987.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Farndale, Annex K, p. 363.
  9. ^ a b Farndale, Annex O, p. 381.
  10. ^ Farndale, p. 173.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Joslen, p. 510.
  12. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 2–3, 10–11, 14, 27, 61, 66–7, 254, Appendix 3.
  13. ^ Farndale, pp. 165, 182.
  14. ^ a b Farndale, pp. 226–7.
  15. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 127, 139, 155–9, 266–74.
  16. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 251–2, 274, 355.
  17. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, p. 25.
  18. ^ a b c d e Joslen, pp. 63–4.
  19. ^ Farndale, pp. 222–3, 229.
  20. ^ a b Jeff, p. 51.
  21. ^ JOslen, p. 507.
  22. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 355–6, 404–5, 413.
  23. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, pp. 23, 40–1.
  24. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, p. 143.
  25. ^ Farndale, pp. 243, 253.
  26. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, pp. 143–5, 192–6, 275.
  27. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, pp. 275–8, 302, 315–8, 326, Sketches 10, 11, 14.
  28. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol IV, pp. 325–6, 338, 383, 388.
  29. ^ Farndale, pp. 307–8.
  30. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol V, pp. 64–5, 68, 267–71, 274; Appendices 4 & 7.
  31. ^ Farndale, pp. 314–9.
  32. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol V, pp. 274, 314–49.
  33. ^ Frederick, p. 533.
  34. ^ Woodburn Kirby, Vol V, p. 350.

References

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