Royal Sussex Regiment
Royal Sussex Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1881–1966 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Role | Line infantry |
Size | 1–2 Regular battalions 1–2 Militia and Special Reserve battalions Volunteer battalionsUp to 17 Hostilities-only battalions |
Garrison/HQ |
The Royal Sussex Regiment was a
On 31 December 1966, the Royal Sussex Regiment was amalgamated with the other regiments of the Home Counties Brigade – the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, and the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) – to form the Queen's Regiment; which was later, on 9 September 1992, amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment to form the present Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires).
History
1881–1914
The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the
The 2nd Battalion was stationed at Malta from 1882, then moved to India in 1885 and took part in the Hazara Expedition in 1888 and the North-West Frontier campaign 1897–1898.[4] The battalion stayed in India until late 1902, when it returned home after more than 20 years′ foreign service.[6][7]
When the Second Boer War required more troops to reinforce British forces in South Africa, the 1st Battalion was sent there in February 1900, and fought at the Battle of Doornkop in May 1900.[8] A memorial to the fallen of the Second Boer War, incorporating a sculpture by Charles Leonard Hartwell titled "The Bugler", is at Regency Square, Brighton. The Sergeant Bugler sounded the charge of The Royal Sussex that swept The Boers from their formidable position at Doornkop.[9] A smaller bronze casting of The Bugler is held by the National Army Museum.[10] A silver reduction copy is also held by The 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Officers' Mess.[11]
The Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia formed the 3rd Battalion.[2] It was embodied in December 1899 and embarked for South Africa to take part in the Second Boer War in March 1901.[5] Most of the officers and men returned home on the SS Dominion in August 1902, after the war had ended two months earlier.[12] The three Volunteer Battalions contributed to a service company that reinforced the 1st Battalion, and gained them the Battle honour.[13]
Following the end of the war in South Africa, the 1st battalion transferred to India, where they were stationed at Sitapur in Bengal Presidency.[14]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
First World War
Regular Army
The 1st Battalion, which formed part of the 1st (Peshawar) Brigade in the 1st (Peshawar) Division, was one of the few infantry battalions that remained in India throughout the whole war, being stationed at Peshawar.[17] However, it served in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.[18]
The 2nd Battalion landed in France as part of
Territorial Force
Before the war the 4th and 5th battalions were Army Troops attached to the Home Counties Division. However, the division went to India without them. The
New Armies
The 7th (Service) Battalion was formed in September 1914 by men volunteering for
The 11th, 12th and 13th (Southdowns) Battalions were all raised in late 1914 as part of the
After the war, St George's Chapel, in Chichester Cathedral, was restored and furnished as a memorial to the fallen of the Royal Sussex Regiment. It now has all their names recorded on the panels that are attached to the chapel walls.[25]
Victoria Crosses during World War I
- Sgt. Harry Wells – (posthumously for the Battle of Loos, 1915)
- Lt. Eric Archibald McNair – (Hooge in Belgium, 1916)
- C.S.M. Nelson Victor Carter – (posthumously for Richebourg-l'Avoué in France, 1916)
- Lieut. Col. D.G.Johnson – (Crossing the Sambre Canal, November 1918)
Second World War
Regular Army
The 1st Battalion was based in Egypt at the outbreak of the Second World War, having been sent to Palestine in 1938. The battalion was initially part of the 23rd Infantry Brigade. In October 1940, the battalion was transferred to the 7th Indian Infantry Brigade in the 4th Indian Infantry Division, with whom it remained for the rest of the war.[26] The battalion, briefly commanded by Geoffrey Charles Evans,[27] took part in the Western Desert campaign and the Italian Campaign, where it had a terrible time and was involved in the bloody Battle of Monte Cassino.[4] In late 1944 the battalion was shipped across to Greece with Lieutenant-General Ronald Scobie and his III Corps, remaining there until 1946 to help calm the Greek Civil War after the German withdrawal.[28]
The 2nd Battalion was a
In 1943, the 2nd Battalion and volunteers from the 4th and 5th Royal Sussex were formed into the
The 2nd Battalion was reraised, after the old one became the 10th Para, and joined the 4th and 5th Battalions in 133rd Brigade of 44th (Home Counties) Division. They were sent to Egypt and fought at the battles of
Territorial Army
The regiment also raised the 6th and 7th battalions (both 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicates of the 4th and 5th Battalions) which were both in the 37th (Royal Sussex) Infantry Brigade, part of the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division.[33] They also served in France with the BEF in 1940 but suffered heavy casualties during the fighting and were evacuated from Dunkirk. The 12th Division was disbanded in July 1940 due to the heavy number of casualties suffered. The main reason for such heavy casualties was because most of the men had had very little training and few had even fired a rifle. After the return to England, the 6th Battalion served as a home defence unit for the rest of the war and was disbanded after the war in 1946. The 7th Battalion defended Amiens against air raids and the German 1st Panzer Division, which captured the town on 20 May. The battalion was transferred to the Royal Artillery and converted into the 109th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery.[34]
Hostilities-only
The 8th (Home Defence) Battalion was raised in 1939, presumably from the National Defence Companies. The battalion was mainly composed of older and less fit men and remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war. The battalion was redesignated as the 30th Battalion in 1941 and it was disbanded in 1943.[16]
The 9th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment was created in July 1940. It was originally commanded by 41-year-old
The 10th Battalion was another hostilities-only battalion also raised in 1940 and joined the 219th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), later the 203rd Brigade.[41]
Post 1945
On 31 December 1966 the regiment was amalgamated with the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment and the Middlesex Regiment to form the Queen's Regiment.[42]
Regimental museum
The Royal Sussex Regiment Museum and that of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars is based at Eastbourne Redoubt in Sussex.[43]
Battle honours
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[16]
- From 35th Regiment of Foot: Maida.
- Gibraltar 1704–05, Louisburg, Quebec 1759, Martinique 1762, Havannah, St Lucia 1778, Egypt 1882, Abu Klea, Nile 1884–85, South Africa 1900–02.
- The Great War (23 battalions): Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Soissonais-Ourcq, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917–18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915–17, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917–18, N.W. Frontier India 1915 1916–17, Murman 1918–19.
- Afghanistan 1919.
- The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Amiens 1940, St Omer-La Bassée, Forêt de Nieppe, North-West Europe 1940, Karora-Marsa Taclai, Cub Cub, Mescelit Pass, Keren, Mt Engiahat, Massawa, Abyssinia 1941, Omars, Benghazi, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Akarit, Djebel el Meida, Tunis, North Africa 1940–43, Cassino I, Monastery Hill, Gothic Line, Pian di Castello, Monte Reggiano, Italy 1944–45, North Arakan, Pinwe, Shweli, Burma 1943–45.
Colonel-in-Chief
The colonel-in-chief was as follows:[16]
- 1953: HM Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands
Regimental Colonels
The regimental colonels were as follows:[16]
- 1881 (1st Bn): Gen. Henry Renny, CSI
- 1881–1883: (2nd Bn): Gen. Hon. Arthur Upton
- 188n–1885: (1st Bn): Gen. Sir Richard Thomas Farren, GCB
- 1885–1888: Lt-Gen. William Lenox Ingall, CB
- 1888–1895: Lt-Gen. Robert Julian Baumgartner, CB
- 1895–1898: Lt-Gen. John McNeill Walter, CB
- 1898–1900: Lt-Gen. Sir George Samuel Young, KCB
- 1900–1901: Gen. Sir John Davis, KCB
- 1901–1903: Lt-Gen. Sir Henry Francis Williams, KCB
- 1903–1914: Lt-Gen. Sir William Freeman Kelly, KCB
- 1914–1926: Maj-Gen. James Charles Young, CB
- 1926–1941: Brig-Gen. William Lushington Osborn, CB, CMG, DSO
- 1941–1942: Brig. Richard Maule Birkett, DSO
- 1942–1953: Brig. Thomas Francis Vere Foster, CBE, MC
- 1953–1963: Gen. Sir Lashmer Gordon Whistler, GCB, KBE, DSO
- 1963–1966: Brig. John Blackwood Ashworth, CBE, DSO
Honorary Colonel
- 1941–1965: Col. Sir Winston Churchill, KG, OM, PC, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA
- (Honorary Colonel of the 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment)
Cultural references
In the film Atonement (2007), Robbie Turner's unit during the Battle of France is identified as the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment: in fact, the 1st Battalion never served in France.[44]
From 1942 to 1946 Peter Ustinov served as a private soldier with the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was batman for David Niven and the two became lifelong friends. Ustinov spent most of his service working with the Army Cinema Unit, where he was involved in making recruitment films, wrote plays and appeared in three films as an actor. At that time he co-wrote and acted in The Way Ahead (1944) (aka Immortal Battalion).[45][46]
See also
References
- ^ "No. 24992". The London Gazette. 1 July 1881. pp. 3300–3301.
- ^ a b c d Frederick, pp. 209–212.
- ^ "Lionel James Trafford". Royal Sussex. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Royal Sussex Regiment". National Army Museum. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ a b Hart′s Army list, 1903
- ^ "Naval & military intelligence". The Times. No. 36929. London. 19 November 1902. p. 10.
- ^ "Locations: 2nd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 23 November 2005. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- ^ "Royal Sussex Regiment". Anglo-Boer War. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Brighton Herald 5 November 1904 p. 7 accessed 27 December 2020
- ^ "Statuette of a bugler of the Royal Sussex Regiment, Doornkop, South Africa, 1900 | Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk.
- ^ Confirmation from Director PWRR & Queen's Regimental Museum 4 January 2021
- ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36857. London. 27 August 1902. p. 6.
- ^ a b 'The Volunteers in Hastings' at Drill Hall Project.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence – The Army in India". The Times. No. 36896. London. 11 October 1902. p. 12.
- ^ "Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 31 March 1908. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Royal Sussex Regiment [UK]". Archived from the original on 4 January 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Royal Sussex Regiment". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Robson, pp. 83–91.
- ^ a b "The 1st Division in 1914–1918". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ "No. 29371". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 November 1915. pp. 11448–11449.
- ^ "Royal Sussex Regiment" (PDF). West Sussex Council. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Robson, pp. 160–164.
- ^ Wiebkin 1923, p. 13
- ^ "The Day Sussex Died". East Sussex Council. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-7117-4478-3.
- ^ "4th Indian Infantry Division" (PDF). British Military History. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ Mead, p. 132
- ^ "Athens 1944: Britain's dirty secret". The Guardian. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Joslen, p. 319
- ^ "No. 36917". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 March 1945. p. 669.
- ^ "10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment". Paradata. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "27th Indian Infantry Brigade". Orders of Battle. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Joslen, p. 56
- ^ "109 (R Sussex Rgt) Light AA Regiment RA (TA)". Blue Yonder. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Heathcote, p. 274
- ^ Joslen, p. 375
- ^ Kempton 2003, p. 2
- ^ George Forty, "British Army Handbook 1939–1945", Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998, p. 51
- ^ "72nd Indian Infantry Brigade". Orders of Battle. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ "Myitkyina to Mandalay a diary of the North Burma Campaign, 1944–45 'A' Company, 9th Battalion, the Royal Sussex Regiment". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ Joslen, p. 366
- ^ "The Queen's Regiment 1966–1992". Queen's Royal Surreys. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "Eastbourne Redoubt – Fortress and Museum". www.sussexmuseums.co.uk. Sussex Museums Group. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
- ^ "Atonement (2007)". IMDB. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ^ "Peter Ustinov". IMDB. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-552-15647-9.
Sources
- Buckman, Richard (2001). The Royal Sussex Regiment: 1864–1920. Hailsham: J & KH. ISBN 1-900511-66-5.
- Buckman, Richard (2004). The Royal Sussex Regiment: 1921–1966. Hailsham: J & KH. ISBN 1-900511-58-4.
- J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-007-3.
- Fox, Sylvia, ed. (2013). Not Forgetting The 9th: The War Diaries of Sgt. Cyril Grimes 1944–1945. TimeBox Press. ISBN 978-0-9550219-1-6.
- Gillings, Murray (1986). The Shiny 9th. Pinwe Club. ISBN 978-0-9511610-0-5.
- Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-696-5.
- Joslen, Lt-Col H. F. (2003) [1st pub. ISBN 1-84342-474-6.
- Kempton, Chris (2003). "Loyalty & Honour", The Indian Army September 1939 – August 1947. Vol. Part III. Milton Keynes: The Military Press. ISBN 0-85420-248-X.
- Martineau, G. D. (1955). A History of the Royal Sussex Regiment: a history of the Old Belfast regiment and the Regiment of Sussex, 1701–1953. Chichester: Moore & Tillyer.
- Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud: Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
- Brian Robson, Crisis on the Frontier: The Third Afghan War and the Campaign in Waziristan 1919–20, Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2004, ISBN 978-1-86227-211-8.
- Wiebkin, H. W. (1923). A Short History of the 39th (Deptford) Divisional Artillery 1915–1918. London: E. G. Berryman. OCLC 697621967.
External links
- Video: Back to Quebec (1959)
- The Royal Sussex Regiment history
- The Royal Sussex Living History Group Website – Source of much information on The Royal Sussex Regiment
- Royal Sussex Society – US Living History
- Badges of the Royal Sussex Regiment
- British Regiments site
- Royal Sussex Southdowns (Historical Information about 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Royal Sussex Battalions)
- Royal Sussex Regiment Victoria Crosses
- A Short History of The Royal Sussex Regiment from 1701 to 1926 by anon
- The Drill Hall Project