Misplaced Pages

#775224

177-494: I have always thought that if one was prepared to take the rough with the smooth they would ultimately balance out, but this has not been the case with the North Staffordshire Regiment, who throughout their history, have had far too much of the rough and far too little of the smooth. Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of

354-432: A 2nd Lieutenant with the 1st Battalion, records another incident which probably took place in 1917, when (very unusually) the battalion was addressed at a church parade by a general , who railed against "the disgusting word many of you utter every time you speak. ... I tell you again this indecent word is not to be used any longer. It is so common amongst you that it has become the shameful nickname by which your battalion

531-481: A prisoner of war camp . On his way to the camp, Horrocks befriended his German escort—he attributed their rapport to the mutual respect that front line troops share. He was promoted to lieutenant on 18 December 1914, despite being in enemy hands, and often tried to escape, once coming within 500 yards (460 m) of the Dutch border before being recaptured. He was eventually placed in a compound for Russian officers, in

708-448: A strafing German fighter struck his upper chest and carried on through his body, piercing his lungs , stomach and intestines . He underwent five operations and spent fourteen months recovering. He was replaced as GOC of X Corps by Lieutenant-General Sir Richard McCreery . It was a year before Horrocks recovered sufficiently to tell Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke , the Chief of

885-560: A case of the remainder of the 2nd Army struggling desperately to relieve 30 Corps cut off by the Germans north of Arnhem. Maybe in the long run we were lucky." During the operation and for several weeks after the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Brigadier General James M. Gavin , came under Horrocks' command, and Gavin, impressed by Horrocks, later wrote of him: He was truly a unique general officer and his qualities of leadership were greater than any I have ever seen. In lecturing at

1062-564: A ceremony officially amalgamating with the 2nd Battalion in Egypt in 1948. The new 1st Battalion remained in Egypt until 1950, when it returned to the depot in Staffordshire. A year later, the battalion was posted to the disputed port city of Trieste . In 1953, the battalion was transferred to Korea , where they were stationed on garrison duties as part of the United Nations force established at

1239-689: A corps in my Army. I knew I could not have a better man and so it turned out; he was exactly what was wanted for the job which lay ahead. On arriving in North Africa, Horrocks' corps was ordered to defend the Alam el Halfa ridge in northwestern Egypt from an expected attack by the Afrika Korps . Concerned that heavy casualties would jeopardise his planned El Alamein offensive , Montgomery instructed Horrocks to repel Erwin Rommel 's forces "without getting unduly mauled in

1416-505: A division in battle, he was further promoted to acting lieutenant-general and sent to Egypt to command the Eighth Army 's XIII Corps , under Montgomery. General Sir Harold Alexander and Lieutenant-General Montgomery had decided to make a "clean sweep" when replacing the dismissed General Sir Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Middle East and Eighth Army commander respectively. Officers perceived to have failed under

1593-548: A fellow Middlesex Regiment officer, since the landings in Normandy two months earlier. Horrocks retained control of XXX Corps during the advance through Belgium, taking Brussels , and at one point advanced 250 miles (400 km) in only six days. Supplies were a constant concern; the major French deep-water ports were still in German hands, and Allied supply lines stretched back to the Normandy beaches. Montgomery's 21st Army Group

1770-472: A further five days, by 21 September almost three-quarters of the division was destroyed or captured. Postwar analyses have been divided, some stressing a perceived lack of urgency on the part of Horrocks' men, while others note that German defences in the area were severely underestimated by First Allied Airborne Army intelligence . Particularly important was the failure to identify the remnants of two SS Panzer divisions, which after Normandy had been sent to

1947-483: A high cost, and the Allied forces unwilling to try to re-take it after a failed attack by the 2nd New Zealand Division . The army's defensive success raised morale, and Horrocks was praised by his subordinate, Brigadier Philip Roberts , for his "wonderful knack of inspiring confidence and enthusiasm wherever he goes". Montgomery, too, was pleased, saying "he deserves great credit for his action on that day". Horrocks

SECTION 10

#1732845334776

2124-461: A man back to the front-line trench to investigate. The soldier realised he was at some risk of being shot by his own side, and so "when he had crawled within shouting distance he enquired politely but firmly what —— bastards were holding that —— trench. The 9th East Surreys , who were the troops thus addressed, recognised the North Stafford idiom and let him in unhurt". Bernard Martin, who served as

2301-575: A ninety-five-man draft of replacements, joined the 1st Battalion of his regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the BEF's retreat following its baptism of fire at the Battle of Mons . By the time he and his men had got to Southampton his ninety-five-man draft had increased to ninety-eight, with three others, in their keenness to get into the war, having sneaked in. He described

2478-562: A rapport with his men and an admiration for the Russian soldier. Although British forces were ordered home shortly afterwards, Horrocks and another officer, George Hayes , remained to advise the First Siberian Army. The White Army was in retreat, and Horrocks joined them as they fell back to Vladivostok, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away. He was captured by the Red Army on 7 January 1920, in

2655-454: A result of which the regiment was awarded the battle honour "North West Frontier, India, 1915". Amusingly, the commanding officer at this time was Major Fox and the adjutant Captain Squirell. Although it was a Regular Army battalion, it received very few replacements during the war. From a pre-war establishment strength of a HQ plus eight companies, after the 1915 North West Frontier campaign

2832-450: A series of British Army regimental histories. In 1968 Horrocks collaborated with J & L Randall as editor of the board game Combat , made by the Merit company. Horrocks' portrait and signature appear on the box and his introduction to the game states: "In war no two battles are ever the same because the terrain is always different and it is this, more than anything else, which influences

3009-600: A significant number of tribes and received British backing in the form of the Sikh army against the Barakzai king Dost Muhammad . The civil war in Afghanistan coupled with a British backed assault meant that the Sikhs could virtually walk into Peshawar. They managed to capture some Pashtun territory including Peshawar which was under direct British supervision and control. At the beginning of

3186-547: A similar policy by different means. With India's Army de-mobilising, and its Government preoccupied with violent unrest in western India, Amanullah sent his troops across the Frontier in early May. At the end of the month he sought an armistice, which was granted on 3 June. By the Treaty of Rawalpindi signed in August, Afghanistan gained control of its foreign affairs, and in turn, recognised

3363-547: A single narrow raised highway through flat or flooded countryside. The bridge at Nijmegen , just 8 miles (13 km) from Arnhem, was not captured by the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the first day as planned, and XXX Corps had to assist in its capture on their arrival in Nijmegen two days later, causing a further delay of 36 hours. Horrocks was not personally blamed for the operation's failure although he himself writes in his autobiography that "If we were slow then

3540-459: A smile ." He also came to greatly admire Captain Gibbons, along with his platoon sergeant, Sergeant Whinney. Once, while it was pouring with rain, the officers of the battalion were offered billets in a comfortable farmhouse, while the other ranks slept in a field covered with manure which had recently been departed by some cows; Captain Gibbons was furious, insisting that the officers should share in

3717-401: A successful action in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle , capturing the village of L'Epinette. In October 1915 17th Brigade was exchanged with 71st Brigade of 24th Division , as part of an official policy of mixing Regular with New Army units. Immediately on joining 24th Division, the battalion was moved to 72nd Brigade within the same division. It was to remain part of this formation until

SECTION 20

#1732845334776

3894-474: A total of more than 350 casualties. In June 1917, the battalion was involved (and suffered over 150 casualties) in the assault on Messines Ridge , one of the most successful British offensives of the war. This battle formed a prelude to the Third Battle of Ypres , when the battalion took part in the initial assault on 31 July 1917. Its objectives were to capture the German frontline trench called Jehovah trench,

4071-526: A training role until it was disbanded in August 1944. The 9th Battalion was, like the 8th Battalion, also initially raised as a training battalion, and was assigned to the 224th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home) . The 9th Battalion was transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps in December 1941, becoming 154th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps , retaining their North Staffords cap badge on the black beret of

4248-522: A treaty with Russia. The British sent a mission anyway, but the mission and its armed escort were denied passage through the Khyber Pass. The British threatened to invade, and when no apology was forthcoming, did so. Sher Ali died while fleeing to Russian territory, and his son Yakub succeeded him. On May 26, 1879, Amir Yakub signed the Treaty of Gandamak , whereby Afghanistan surrendered its foreign policy to

4425-451: Is difficult to fight with one hand tied behind you." "It is always easy to be wise after the event but, knowing what I do now, I think it would have been better to have committed the 43rd Division on a different axis. Instead of passing them through the Guards on the 22nd, I should have ordered General Thomas [GOC 43rd Division] to carry out a left hook across the lower Rhine much farther to

4602-504: Is known throughout my Division". As the parade ended, one soldier was heard to ask, "What was that bugger gassing about?"; to which another replied, "Buggered if I know, I was having a kip. Where's the old bugger gone now?". The 1st Battalion was posted to the Curragh , Ireland after the armistice, becoming involved in the Irish War of Independence until 1922, when it moved to Gibraltar . In

4779-671: The Second Afghan War in 1878, the Guides Infantry, together with the 1st Sikh Infantry, PFF, took part in forcing the Khyber , and were prominent in seizing the fortress of Ali Masjid . For this and subsequent efforts the Corps of Guides was awarded the battle honours A LI M ASJID , K ABUL 1879 , and A FGHANISTAN 1878–80. The last decade of the 19th century saw the Guides employed in

4956-532: The 131st (Surrey) , 132nd (Kent) and the 133rd (Sussex) Infantry Brigades together with supporting units, was stationed in Kent preparing to repel the expected German invasion of the United Kingdom . The division was responsible for the southern Kent coast east of Folkestone and was serving under the command of XII Corps , commanded by Montgomery, who secured for Horrocks his new command. In March 1942, Horrocks

5133-526: The 1st Armoured Division , a Free French brigade and the attached New Zealand Corps (which included the 2nd New Zealand Division and the British 8th Armoured Brigade ), was ordered to attack as part of Operation Supercharge II after XXX Corps failed to breach the line. He carried out a flanking manoeuvre through a pass judged by the Germans to be impenetrable, rendering the Mareth position untenable and forcing

5310-616: The 207th and 228th Infantry brigades in the Orkney and Shetland islands in 1943–1945, and later the 25th Brigade , before being transferred in 1945 as an administrative unit in the 183rd Brigade within the 61st Infantry Division and, in 1945 after the war in Europe was over, was preparing for a move to the Far East to fight the Japanese but they surrendered before the division arrived. The battalion

5487-532: The 26th Indian Infantry Division , before being withdrawn to India again. For the rest of the war, the battalion was employed mainly on internal security duties and saw no further action. The 2nd Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Donald Butterworth , was sent to France shortly after the outbreak of war in September 1939 as part of the 2nd Infantry Brigade (alongside the 1st Loyal Regiment and 1st Gordon Highlanders ), 1st Infantry Division and

North Staffordshire Regiment - Misplaced Pages Continue

5664-680: The 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment of the Territorial Army (1926–1930); student at the Staff College, Camberley (1931–32); Staff Captain at the War Office (1934–36); brigade major with the 5th Infantry Brigade (1936–38); and instructor at the Staff College. The Territorial Army posting, which Horrocks considered to be among his happiest periods, provided experience in dealing with citizen soldiers, "those truly remarkable people,

5841-421: The Battle of Armentières , his platoon was surrounded, and Horrocks, while defending the town of Maisnil against a German attack, received a bullet wound through the lower abdomen and upper thigh, and was taken prisoner. "The war for me was over and my active military career had stopped for four years." Incarcerated in a military hospital, he was repeatedly interrogated by his German captors, who believed that

6018-586: The British Army , which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was created on 21 April 1758 from the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Regiment of Foot . In 1881, under the Childers Reforms , the 64th Regiment of Foot was merged with the 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot (originally raised in 1824) to form the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) . In 1921

6195-584: The Chitral campaign of 1895, and the Punjab Frontier Revolt of 1897–8. Thus was the corps awarded the battle honours 'C HITRAL ', 'M ALAKAND ' , and 'P UNJAB F RONTIER '. The reforms of 1903 gave to the Queen's Own Corps of Guides (Lumsden's) a subsidiary title in the form of its founders name, but left it numberless. In 1911 the corps took up Frontier Force as its first subsidiary title. During

6372-573: The Durand Line as its border with India. The short-lived war had long-term consequences in Waziristan , where tribesmen rallied to Amanullah's cause. The western militia posts were abandoned. Many of the militia deserted, taking their modern weapons and joining their fellow tribesmen in attacking the remaining posts. As a result, the Indian Army's Waziristan Force was fully engaged in re-establishing

6549-687: The East India Company against the resurgent Punjab, but was rebuffed. So Dost Mohammad turned to Imperial Russia for help. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a Sikh ruler of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire. His Samadhi is located in Lahore, Pakistan. He then spent the following years fighting the Afghans, driving them out of western Punjab, taking opportunity of the Afghans being embroiled in civil war. The deposed Afghan king Shah Shuja rallied

6726-706: The First Paratroop Army (General Kurt Student ) had arrived and set up strong defensive positions along the opposite side of the canal. The task of breaking the strengthened German line, which stretched from Antwerp to the North Sea along the Scheldt River, would fall to the First Canadian Army in the month-long, costly Battle of the Scheldt . By mid-September, XXX Corps had been diverted again, this time to

6903-512: The German Army was forced back over the Rhine. The corps employed firepower on a massive scale, and "every trick that had been learnt during the past two and a half years was brought into play, and several new ones added". For a short period XXX Corps had nine divisions under its command. Before the operation, Horrocks accepted an offer to use Bomber Command to attack the town of Cleves , assisting

7080-625: The House of Lords , controlling admission to it, and taking part in ceremonies. In 1957, Horrocks had the unusual duty of ordering Vivien Leigh out of the House when she interrupted proceedings to plead that the St James's Theatre be saved from demolition. On other occasions, because the Black Rod had to remain in place during long debates, Horrocks relieved his boredom by completing football pools coupons. This had

7257-805: The Indian Mutiny . At the time of the forming of the amalgamation with the 98th Foot, the 64th was based in Ireland. The 98th Regiment of Foot, raised in 1824 in Chichester , had a much shorter history, but like the 64th had spent the majority of its time overseas spending a long time in South Africa before seeing action in China in the First Anglo-Chinese (or Opium) War and India on the North West Frontier . It

North Staffordshire Regiment - Misplaced Pages Continue

7434-739: The Khojak and Bolan passes. Meanwhile, the conflict between Afghanistan and the Punjab focused on the Khyber route . Dost Mohammad appealed to the HEIC for aid in recovering Peshawar, but the company could not help him without alienating its treaty ally Ranjit Singh. When Dost Mohammad redirected his appeal to Russia, the Governor-General Lord Auckland resolved to depose Dost Mohammad, and replace him with Shuja Shah Durrani. Restored to his throne in Kabul,

7611-659: The Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours that year, he served as Honorary Colonel of a Territorial Army unit of the Royal Artillery . In 1949 he was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod , a post traditionally held by retired officers; this appointment was confirmed on the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952. Black Rod has the responsibility of supervising the administration of

7788-521: The Punjab in 1849. Between 1849 and 1947 the military history of the frontier was a succession of punitive expeditions against offending Pashtun (or Pathan ) tribes, punctuated by three wars against Afghanistan. Many British officers who went on to distinguished command in the First and Second World Wars learnt their soldiering on the North-West Frontier, which they called the Grim . In 1747 when Ahmad Khān Abdālī seized control of Kandahar , Kabul , and Peshawar , and, as Ahmad Shah Durrani ,

7965-417: The River Thames , with "the shock and loss" being "almost insupportable". At the outbreak of the Second World War, Horrocks was working as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, where he had taught since 1938. After helping organise a new, shorter, officer-training course, in December 1939 he was promoted to substantive lieutenant colonel. The following May, he was despatched to France to command

8142-427: The Royal Military College, Sandhurst , in October 1912, "bottom but one". Horrocks's time at Sandhurst was, by his own admission, not very distinguished. "Let me be quite honest about it; I was idle, careless about my turnout—in army parlance, scruffy—and, due to the fact that I am inclined to roll when I walk, very unsmart on parade". His score was sixth-lowest of the 167 successful applicants for cadetships—even after

8319-441: The Sandbostel concentration camp, Stalag X-B . XXX Corps had reached Cuxhaven by the time hostilities ceased in May. Horrocks received two further mentions in despatches for his service in north-west Europe on 22 March and 9 August 1945, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 5 July. He was honoured by the governments of Belgium (the Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm and Grand Officer of

8496-403: The Second Boer War . Forming part of 15th Brigade in the 7th Division , the majority of the battalion saw little action throughout the conflict, being mostly occupied in garrison duties in Johannesburg in 1900. In 1901, the battalion was part of a mobile column under Brigadier-General Dartnell in the Eastern Transvaal which carried out a scorched earth campaign. More action was seen by

8673-408: The Second Sudanese War , the Second Boer War , the Anglo-Irish War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War . In 1959, as part of a defence review, the North Staffordshire Regiment, by now reduced to only a single regular battalion, was amalgamated with the South Staffordshire Regiment to form the Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) which was, in 2006, amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and

8850-450: The Second World War . He also served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War , was taken prisoner twice, and competed in the modern pentathlon at the 1924 Paris Olympics . Later he was a television presenter, wrote books on military history, and was Black Rod in the House of Lords for 14 years. In 1940 Horrocks commanded a battalion during the Battle of France , the first time he served under Bernard Montgomery ,

9027-422: The Sepoy Rebellion broke out Amir Dost Mohammad Khan came under internal pressure to seize the advantage and attack India. However he stood by his treaty obligations. This allowed Indian troops on the frontier to deploy to Delhi and deal with the revolt centered there. In 1877, Amir Sher Ali received a Russian mission in Kabul, but refused to accept one from the British. The following year Sher Ali signed

SECTION 50

#1732845334776

9204-510: The Siegfried Line and into Germany with only light casualties. Aided by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie 's XII Corps to its right, XXX Corps began crossing the Rhine on 23 March, and, although there was a foothold which had been established, the enemy put up strong resistance, notably at the town of Lingen on the Dortmund–Ems Canal . Thereafter progress was rapid, however, with Bremen –which "produced 6000 prisoners including two generals and one admiral"–being captured on 26 April, exposing

9381-512: The Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 and the Battle of Amiens in 1918. The 1st Battalion went to France in September 1914 as part of 17th Brigade in 6th Division . It took part in the First Battle of Ypres being based in the Armentières sector on the southern flank of the battle. In December 1914 it was in trenches in the Rue-du-Bois area (near Fleurbaix ), and participated in the Christmas truce , where British and German soldiers fraternised in no man's land . In March 1915 it carried out

9558-482: The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) to form the Mercian Regiment . Today the traditions of the North Staffordshire Regiment are continued by the Mercian Regiment . The Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment was formed under the Childers Reforms on 1 July 1881, by the amalgamation of the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot and 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot . These two regular regiments became, respectively,

9735-438: The campaign in Tunisia , British First Army . The battalion did not participate in the invasion of Sicily or the initial invasion of Italy but was one of the lead units in the Anzio landings in January 1944, under command of US Fifth Army , where they suffered extremely heavy casualties. On 7 February the battalion suffered 323 casualties attempting to capture Buonriposo Ridge which they captured but were forced to surrender

9912-461: The mounted infantry company of the regiment that had been formed on arrival in South Africa. In January 1900 Lord Roberts , commander of the British forces in South Africa, ordered that every infantry battalion in South Africa was to raise a company of mounted infantry. These companies were to be detached from their parent units and operate as part of eight independent mounted infantry battalions. The North Staffords company thus formed became part of

10089-471: The 1st and 2nd Volunteer battalions served alongside the 2nd Battalion at various times. As a result of these contributions and those of the two regular battalions, the regiment was awarded the "South Africa 1900–1902" battle honour. At the war's end in June 1902, the 2nd battalion returned to England on the SS Galeka in October that year, but the home posting was brief. In the following year, it returned to India, remaining there until 1919. The 1st Battalion

10266-424: The 1st and 2nd battalions of the new regiment. The Militia and Rifle Volunteers forces of North Staffordshire were also incorporated into this new regiment, and a permanent depot was established at Whittington Barracks , Lichfield , which also housed the newly formed South Staffordshire Regiment . The 64th Regiment of Foot was originally raised in 1756 as the 2nd Battalion of the 11th (Devonshire) Foot , and

10443-474: The 2nd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, a machine-gun battalion directly subordinate to the 3rd Division headquarters of Major-General Bernard Montgomery . British doctrine at the time retained heavy machine guns under the direct command of a corps or division, rather than as an organic part of subordinate formations. He joined the battalion during its retreat to Dunkirk , and after only 17 days had impressed his superiors sufficiently to be given

10620-515: The 5th North Staffords, served in Anti-Aircraft Command as part of the air defence of the Midlands from 1939 to 1944. The regiment became the first complete searchlight regiment to land in Normandy after the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 . It served with 21st Army Group , as part of 31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade , until the end of the war in Europe and then undertook garrison duty in Lower Saxony . The two Territorial battalions formed part of 176th Infantry Brigade (which included both

10797-436: The 6th and 7th North Staffords and the 7th South Staffords ) of 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division . The division trained in the United Kingdom for many years until it landed in Normandy in June 1944 as part of Operation Overlord where they fought in the Battle for Caen and gained an excellent reputation during Operation Charnwood and the Second Battle of the Odon . However, only the 6th Battalion landed in France as

SECTION 60

#1732845334776

10974-462: The 7th Battalion had been transferred elsewhere in 1942, being replaced in the 176th Brigade by the 7th Royal Norfolks . The 6th Battalion had been in France for less than two months when, in August 1944, along with other infantry units of 59th Division, it was broken up to supply replacements to other British units, due to a severe shortage of infantry replacements throughout the Army at the time. The 7th Battalion, upon leaving 59th Division, served with

11151-423: The 8th Battalion, Mounted Infantry. This unit was involved in the pursuit of Koos de la Rey and was present when he was captured at Wildfontein . The militia and volunteer battalions also saw service in the Second Boer War. The 4th Battalion was deployed in the Cape Colony and later the Bechuanaland Protectorate before being replaced by the 3rd Battalion. Additionally, the two volunteer companies which formed from

11328-406: The 8th and 9th battalions, of which both were raised in 1940 but later converted to other roles. The roles of the two regular battalions were reversed this time, with the 1st Battalion serving in India and Burma throughout the war, while the 2nd Battalion were deployed in North Africa and Italy . The North Staffordshire Regiment was awarded 22 battle honours for the Second World War but, as at

11505-416: The American service school I stated frequently that General Horrocks was the finest general officer I met during the war, and the finest corps commander. In the aftermath of the failed operation, XXX Corps, which also had the U.S. 84th Infantry Division under command in its first battle, took its first German town, Geilenkirchen , as part of Operation Clipper . During the Battle of the Bulge , Horrocks

11682-486: The Arnhem area for rest and refitting; intelligence had stated that only "a few infantry units and between 50 and 100 tanks" were in the Netherlands. However, Ultra reports revealed the movement of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions to Nijmegen and Arnhem, creating enough concern for Eisenhower to send his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, to raise the issue with Montgomery on 10 September. Montgomery dismissed Smith's concerns and refused to alter

11859-450: The Axis into another retreat. Three Italian divisions were destroyed, and the German 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions and the 164th Division were heavily depleted. Horrocks continued to command X Corps in the following weeks before being transferred to the First Army to take over IX Corps after its previous commander, Lieutenant-General John Crocker , was wounded in a training accident. Also transferred with him from

12036-460: The British Empire, which in turn promised protection from aggression. Afghanistan ceded some territory and accepted a British Resident in Kabul until 1894. In September 1879, some six weeks after establishing his residency, Sir Louis Cavagnari and his escort were murdered. Hostilities promptly resumed. Yakub's army was defeated in September 1880, and his throne was offered to, and accepted by, Abdur Rahman , who agreed to surrender all claims on

12213-409: The British officer John Masters , Pashtun women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of British India during the Anglo-Afghan Wars would brutally castrate non-Muslim soldiers who were captured, especially British and Sikhs. Pashtun women urinated into prisoners' mouths. A method of execution by this is recorded: captured British soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to

12390-408: The British territorials", which would prove highly valuable during the Second World War. He received a brevet majority in 1935, and was promoted to substantive major in 1936, and brevet lieutenant colonel in 1937. In 1928, Horrocks married Nancy Kitchin, daughter of an architect for the Local Government Board . They had one child, a daughter named Gillian, who drowned in 1979 while swimming in

12567-400: The British were using expanding bullets in contravention of the 1899 Hague Convention . Horrocks' captors refused to change his clothes or sheets, and denied him and a fellow officer basic amenities. Both had temporarily lost the use of their legs, and were forced to crawl to the toilet, which caused Horrocks' wounds to become infected. Conditions improved after his discharge and transfer to

12744-577: The Eighth Army to the First Army were the 7th Armoured and 4th Indian Divisions and the 201st Guards Brigade, all highly experienced veterans of the desert. He led this corps in the final Allied offensive in Tunisia during April and May 1943, capturing Tunis and accepting the surrender of the remnants of Rommel's Army Group Africa . He was mentioned in despatches on 24 June, and for his service in Tunisia,

12921-564: The First World War the cavalry branch of the Corps was deployed overseas to Mesopotamia , but not before winning a further honour in its own territory; 'N.W. F RONTIER I NDIA 1915'. In 1922 the separation became permanent, when the mounted branch was redesignated the 10th Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) , and the infantry was amalgamated as the 5th Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment (Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides) . Formed in 1846 to guard

13098-465: The German forces after their crippling defeat in Normandy." "Even if the 2nd German S.S. Panzer Corps had not been in a position to intervene so rapidly, and if we had succeeded in getting right through to the Zuider Zee, could we have kept our long lines of communication open? I very much doubt it. In which case instead of 30 Corps fighting to relieve the 1st British Airborne Division, it would have been

13275-525: The Guides were engaged in most frontier affairs, and from 1857 the corps was included in the Punjab Irregular Force , and subsequently in the Punjab Frontier Force . That same year the Corps of Guides was ordered to Delhi, covering the 930 km from Mardan in twenty-two days and famously going into action on arrival. They were duly honoured with D ELHI 1857 . At the beginning of

13452-543: The Imperial General Staff (CIGS), that he was "very anxious to be given another corps". Restored to the acting rank of lieutenant-general in August 1944, he was sent to France to assume command of XXX Corps during the cataclysm engulfing the trapped German 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army in the Falaise Pocket . Montgomery had been dissatisfied with the performance of the corps and its GOC, Gerard Bucknall ,

13629-539: The Indian subcontinent has been repeatedly invaded through these northwestern routes. With the expansion of the Russian Empire into Central Asia in the twentieth century, stability of the Frontier and control of Afghanistan became cornerstones of defensive strategy for British India. Much of the Frontier was occupied by Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century, and then taken over by the East India Company when it annexed

13806-617: The Jehovah trench line having lost 11 officers and 258 other ranks as casualties, almost 50% of the battalion strength. After the war, the anniversary of this attack became the main Regimental Day. On 21 March 1918, the 1st Battalion was in front-line trenches near Saint-Quentin when the German Army launched Operation Michael , the opening attack in their Spring Offensive . The battalion was virtually wiped out, losing 19 officers and 662 men in

13983-792: The Khyber, the Kurram , Sibi , and Pishin . In support of the British war effort, the Indian Army deployed expeditionary forces to the Western Front , East Africa , Gallipoli , Mesopotamia , Sinai and Palestine . India was thus vulnerable to hostile attention from Afghanistan. A Turco-German mission arrived in Kabul in October 1915 with obvious strategic purpose. However, Amir Habibulla abided by his treaty obligations and maintained Afghanistan's neutrality, in

14160-655: The Manzai brigade relocated to Wana. From 1940 to 1947, Waziristan and indeed most of the Frontier remained relatively calm and the British were able to divert most of their military effort to more important theatres. There were, however, brief periods of trouble on the frontier, which required the British to continue to maintain a military presence in the region, although for the main they were able to employ mainly garrison or rear-area troops during this time, thus allowing them to free up front-line units for active service elsewhere. Trained regular troops were desperately needed for

14337-453: The North Staffordshire Regiment was formed, and remained there until 1886. During this time period, it took part in an expedition to the Zhob Valley in 1884, thus making it the first battalion in the regiment to see active service. In 1886, it returned to England via Aden , and then deployed to Ireland in 1893. In 1899, 2nd Battalion mobilised and moved to South Africa , where it took part in

14514-658: The Order of the Crown with Palm ), France ( Croix de Guerre and Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur ), the Netherlands (Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau ), Greece (Commander of the Order of George I ), and the United States ( Legion of Merit ). On 12 April 1945, Horrocks met with two German officers just outside the town of Winsen during a ceasefire. A document setting out

14691-612: The River Lys during the advance in Flanders (18 August to 6 September 1918) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres , and in France and Belgium during the final weeks of the war. Altogether, the regiment was awarded 52 battle honours, but it was ruled that only ten could be carried on the colours . Four Victoria Crosses were awarded to men of the North Staffordshire Regiment during World War I: Even by

14868-603: The Royal Armoured Corps, as did all other infantry units converted in this way. The regiment was assigned to 36th Army Tank Brigade alongside RAC regiments converted from infantry battalions. However, the regiment was disbanded in July 1943. Following the independence of India in 1947, all infantry regiments in the British Army were reduced to a single regular battalion. Accordingly, the 1st Battalion left India to take part in

15045-410: The War Office issued instructions for those men who had volunteered for foreign service to be separated out into what were called first line battalions. Home service men were placed in second line battalions. Thus there would now be a first line 5th Battalion and a second line 5th Battalion. On 24 November 1914, as the first line battalions began to go overseas, additional instructions were issued allowing

15222-554: The addition of 200 bonus points for an Officer Training Corps (OTC) certificate, which not all the other candidates had. An unpromising student, he might not have received a commission at all but for the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. Horrocks was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Middlesex Regiment , a line infantry regiment of the British Army , on 8 August 1914. Horrocks, in charge of

15399-563: The administrative border from where they could keep an eye on things. The unadministered districts would then once again become the responsibility of the local militias. In 1947, following the independence , the North-West Frontier region became a part of the newly formed nation of Dominion of Pakistan . Based upon the recommendations of the Tucker committee in 1944 (see above), the newly formed Pakistani government decided to move away from

15576-422: The advance of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division . The bombers released 1,384 long tons (1,406 t) of high explosive that devastated the town. Horrocks later said that this had been "the most terrible decision I had ever taken in my life" and that he felt "physically sick" when he saw the bombers overhead. Operation Veritable was successful; by the evening of 9 February (D+1) XXX Corps had broken through

15753-679: The advantage of looking like note-taking to the assembled lords. Horrocks held the post of Black Rod until 1963. Horrocks became interested in writing, and submitted articles about military matters to newspapers and magazines including the Picture Post and The Sunday Times . This led to a short but successful career as the presenter of a series of television programmes, British Castles (1962), Men in Battle and Epic Battle , produced by Huw Wheldon . In these, Horrocks lectured on great historical battles, "highlighting excitement and interest" to allow

15930-573: The army after the war. Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some as one of the most successful British generals of the war, "a man who really led, a general who talked to everyone, down to the simplest private soldier" and the " beau ideal of a corps commander". General Dwight D. Eisenhower , the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, called him "the outstanding British general under Montgomery". Brian Gwynne Horrocks

16107-511: The attack itself and the withdrawal which followed. The battalion was subsequently re-formed, and in the last weeks of the war in October 1918 took part in the Battle of the Selle , in which it suffered nearly 200 casualties. The 2nd Battalion was one of only eight regular battalions of the British Army to remain in India throughout the war. It took part in operations on the North West Frontier in 1915, as

16284-661: The battalion comprised only a HQ company and four rifle companies. By 1919 the strength of the regiment was reduced by a third compared to the pre-war establishment with 20 officers and 538 enlisted men on the regimental roll. Over 60% of the enlisted men had joined the battalion since the 1915 campaign and only five officers fought in both the 1915 campaign and the Third Afghan War in 1919. The 1/5th and 1/6th battalions arrived in France in February 1915 as part of 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade of 46th (North Midland) Division . Among

16461-537: The campaign, the 1st Battalion were based initially at Wadi Halfa but moved to Gemai to avoid a cholera outbreak. In September the battalion took part in the action against the Dervish Army at Hafir, which was decisive in ending the campaign. As a result, the North Staffordshire Regiment received the unique "Hafir" battle honour , given to no other British regiment. The 2nd Battalion was stationed in India in 1881 when

16638-662: The cause of the misunderstanding. His next assignment was in Yekaterinburg in the Urals , where he was appointed second in command of a training school for non-commissioned officers attached to the Anglo-Russian Brigade. He found this post frustrating, having to dismiss nearly a third of his initial cadre on medical grounds, and struggling to get supplies and support from the White Army authorities. Despite this, he developed

16815-435: The cavalry component later expanded to 2½ squadrons , and the infantry to 4½ companies. Two further infantry battalions were raised in 1917. From its inception the corps was clothed in native style, with smock, baggy trousers and turban of home-spun cotton, and jerkin of sheepskin. The cotton was dyed grey with a derivative of a dwarf palm known as mazari , while the leather was dyed khaki with mulberry juice. Thus

16992-473: The composition of the different armies and the tactics employed by the rival Commanders". His autobiography, A Full Life , was published in 1960, and he co-authored Corps Commander , an account of his battles in north-west Europe, published in 1977. North-West Frontier (military history) The two main gateways on the North West Frontier are the Khyber and Bolan Passes . Since ancient times,

17169-492: The difficulties encountered. At every station, he had to ward off station masters intent on acquiring the carriages. While stopped in Manzhouli , the British officers' presence provoked a duel between two Cossack officers. Horrocks accepted an invitation to act as a second, but the pair were arrested before the duel could take place. He managed to defuse the situation before it came to trial, by claiming his faulty Russian had been

17346-628: The east. In September, Montgomery, now a field marshal, made his planned ambitious thrust across the Rhine and into the German industrial heartland, codenamed Operation Market Garden , a priority for 21st Army Group. XXX Corps under Horrocks was to lead the ground assault, passing along a corridor held by airborne forces to link up with the British 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem within four days. In any event XXX Corps never arrived and although 1st Airborne clung on to their tenuous position for

17523-530: The end of the Korean War . In 1954, it moved to Hong Kong, where the regiment's 200th anniversary was celebrated in 1956. In July 1957, a defence review was announced, which resulted in the amalgamation of the North Staffordshire Regiment with the South Staffordshire Regiment , with the new regiment becoming part of the new administrative Mercian Brigade . The amalgamation of the 1st Battalions of

17700-696: The end of the First World War, only 10 could be displayed on the colours. The 1st Battalion was in British India on the outbreak of the Second World War and saw no action until 1942, when one company that was stationed on the Andaman Islands were involved in the defence of the islands during the Japanese invasion . In 1943, the battalion served for six months in Burma, with the 36th Indian Infantry Brigade , part of

17877-556: The end of the war, Horrocks had difficulty adapting to a peacetime routine. He went on sprees in London , spending four years of accumulated back-pay in six weeks. In 1919 Horrocks was posted to Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War . After landing at Vladivostok on 19 April, he was briefed at British headquarters. The White Army under Admiral Kolchak , with

18054-456: The end of the war. In April and June 1916 the battalion suffered casualties of well over 500 in two serious gas attacks , on both occasions when in trenches north of Wulverghem (near Messines ). In August–September 1916, the 24th Division participated in the Battle of the Somme . The 1st Battalion was engaged in the fighting around Guillemont and later the defence of Delville Wood , suffering

18231-570: The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, it returned to the regimental depot at Lichfield . Until 1939, it spent time in "home stations". Apart from England, this included service in Gibraltar from 1930 to 1932 and a year in Palestine in 1936–7. The 3rd and 4th (Special Reserve) Battalions were placed in suspended animation in 1921, finally being disbanded in 1953. The Territorial Force

18408-610: The exiled former ruler would accept the Sikh gains west of the Indus, and the Company controlling his foreign policy. The agreement was formalised with the Treaty of Simla signed in June 1838 between Shah Shuja, the HEIC, and Ranjit Singh. In the period following the annexation of the Punjab in 1849 until the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 , several expeditions were undertaken against almost every tribe along

18585-508: The face of internal opposition from factions keen to side with the Ottoman Sultan . Hostilities on the frontier remained local. Having upheld Afghan neutrality while India was engaged in the Great War , Habibulla sought full independence for Afghanistan in February 1919. Such a reward might have consolidated his rule, but later that month he was murdered. His successor Amanullah pursued

18762-474: The fault was mine because I was the commander", further stating that "the sense of desperate urgency was there all right. There could be no doubt about that, and it was not for want of trying that we failed to arrive in time. I don't believe that any troops in the world could possibly have fought better than the Guards [Armoured Division] and the 82nd U.S. Airborne Division when they captured the bridges at Nijmegen. But, after all we were cut off three times, and it

18939-427: The feeling at the time: This was, I should think, the last time there was any romance attached to war. It is impossible now after the bitter experience of two world wars to recapture the spirit of this country in August, 1914. As I marched through those cheering crowds I felt like a king among men. It was all going to be over by Christmas and our one anxiety was whether we would get over there in time. And all ranks felt

19116-601: The few tribal sections in South Waziristan remaining openly hostile were subdued by aircraft alone. For this operation the No. 2 (Indian) Wing of the RAF under Wing Commander Richard Pink was based at Tank and Miranshah . Aircraft comprising the Wana Patrol maintained regular weekly contact with the posts at Wana and Tanai until 1929, when the road from Sarwekai was completed, and

19293-496: The first Territorial Force units to go to France, these two battalions took part in the 1915 Battle of Loos , especially the battles around the Hohenzollern Redoubt in 1915, and at Gommecourt on the northern flank of the Battle of the Somme. By September 1918 the 1/5th Battalion had been reduced to a cadre and had been transferred away from 46th Division. The 1/6th remained and with the rest of 137th Brigade took part in

19470-457: The following year it was moved to Thrace , where it played a peace-keeping role in the conflict between Greek and Turkish forces. In 1923 it moved to India and remained in the Far East until 1948. The 2nd Battalion was stationed in India in 1919 when Afghan forces crossed the border and occupied some Indian territory, sparking the brief Third Anglo-Afghan War . During this conflict, the battalion

19647-663: The ground, then a stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pashtun women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time. This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns. Corps of cavalry and infantry , raised at Peshawar in 1846 by Lt. Harry Lumsden , and later based at Hoti Mardan . Originally one troop of cavalry and two companies of infantry,

19824-523: The help of released Czechoslovak Legion prisoners, had driven the Red Army out of Siberia . Kolchak's Czech troops were returning home, and the British military contingent was urgently trying to replace them with Russians. To accomplish this, the British had only two infantry battalions and two small administrative missions, one charged with training and arming the Russians with British war-surplus equipment, and

20001-639: The hope that the language barrier would hinder his escape attempts; Horrocks used the time to learn the Russian language . Years later, working in the House of Commons , he startled Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin by greeting them in their native tongue. In the latter part of the war he was held in Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp . His resistance in captivity would earn him the Military Cross (MC), awarded in 1920 and backdated to 5 May 1919. Repatriated at

20178-578: The involvement of these battalions: The numbering of the Territorial Force battalions was laid down by War Office instructions issued in 1914 and 1915. On joining the Territorial Force men were asked if they would serve overseas (foreign service) or just volunteered for service in the United Kingdom (home service) and their service records amended accordingly. At the declaration of war all Territorial battalions were mobilised and on 15 August 1914

20355-458: The misery of their subordinates. "My heart sank but I knew instinctively that he was right", Horrocks later wrote. Douglas Delaney writes that the "willingness of soldiers to follow was constructed on gestures like this. It is interesting how some events, though seemingly insignificant in the bigger scheme of things, become embedded in memory, making lifelong memories of themselves." Horrocks was not to last much longer in battle, as on 21 October, at

20532-611: The most prominent British commander of the war. Montgomery later identified Horrocks as one of his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in both North Africa and Europe . In 1943, Horrocks was seriously wounded and took more than a year to recover before returning to command a corps in Europe. It is likely that this period out of action meant he missed out on promotion; his contemporary corps commanders in North Africa, Oliver Leese and Miles Dempsey , went on to command at army level and above. Horrocks' wound continued to impair his health and led to his early retirement from

20709-626: The nineteenth century, the East India Company controlled southern India, Bengal , Bihar , and Orissa (modern Odisha). Dominance was gained at the expense of its French equivalent, the Compagnie des Indes . Britain and France were at war , and the Franco-Persian alliance of 1807, followed the same year by the Franco-Russian Treaty of Tilsit , alerted the HEIC to the external threat posed from

20886-655: The north-west. By 1819 only Sindh and the Sikh Empire remained outside the company's control. Napoleon was vanquished, but the Empire of the Tsars had begun to expand south and east. Russian influence grew likewise, and by the early 1830s Qajar Irān was within the Tsar's sphere. Attempts by Irān to recover Herat in 1834, and again in 1837, raised the spectre of Russian armies on the road to Kandahar , whence direct access to India through

21063-417: The north. Montgomery told Horrocks that he was not to incur tank losses, so XIII Corps' offensive operations were limited to raids. In the aftermath of the landmark British victory that followed, Horrocks' corps was assigned to the reserve and was reduced in size while the rest of the Eighth Army pursued the retreating Axis forces, "while poor old 13 Corps became the 8th Army's Mrs. Mopp, left behind with

21240-590: The occupation forces life in Cologne was very pleasant, because, owing to the chronic inflation of the German mark, we always had plenty of money, a most unusual experience for me. He then followed the battalion back to the United Kingdom during the 1921 coal strike , then to Ireland , which was then embroiled in the Anglo-Irish War . His duties included searching for arms and dealing with ambushes and roadblocks, which he called "a most unpleasant form of warfare". This

21417-404: The old regime were removed, and Montgomery's favoured commanders were brought in. Among these was Horrocks, as Montgomery later explained: I decided to ask Alexander to get General Horrocks flown out from England at once to command the 13 Corps. Horrocks had been in my 3rd Division as a battalion commander; I had got him a brigade and then a division in my corps in England; I now wanted him to have

21594-426: The other with improving the White Army's communications. Horrocks' first task, along with a party of 13 British officers and 30 other ranks , was to guard a train delivering 27 carriages of shells to the White Army in Omsk , 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away on the Trans-Siberian Railway . The journey took more than a month, and as the only party member fluent in Russian, Horrocks had to deal with many of

21771-416: The plans for the landing of 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. Counter-attacks by Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model kept Horrocks' units on the defensive, and delayed their advance by forcing the British to halt and secure their flank. The terrain over which Horrocks' men had to move was also unsuitable, restricting the vanguard (Major-General Allan Adair 's Guards Armoured Division ) to

21948-399: The posts and restoring the lines of communication from November until May 1920. The western base at Wana was finally reoccupied in December 1920. The long-term plan for control of the district entailed building metalled roads along the lines of communication to a new central base to be established at Razmak . In 1921 work began on the southern road up the Tank Zam from Jandola , under

22125-411: The previous British policy of 'forward defence' in the North-West Frontier region and ordered the withdrawal of forces from Waziristan, as it was felt that the presence of a regular military force in the region was provoking tensions with the local tribesmen. This withdrawal began on December 6, 1947 and was successfully completed by the end of the month under the codename Operation Curzon. According to

22302-420: The process". Horrocks prepared for a purely defensive battle, with his armour dug in around the ridge. When the Germans attacked on 30 August, they failed to lure the British tanks towards their 88 mm guns —a tactic that had previously been used with great success—and found themselves battered by both artillery and the Desert Air Force (DAF). The battle ended with the Germans in control of Himeihat hill, but at

22479-423: The programmes to appeal to the widest possible audience. He was interviewed extensively for the Thames Television series, The World at War , and, to his embarrassment, appeared on the cover of the BBC's Radio Times magazine. After his television career ended, Horrocks served on the board of the housebuilding company Bovis , and continuing to write, contributing a column to The Sunday Times and editing

22656-476: The protection of the Waziristan Force. The following year work on the northern road from the Tochi began at Idak , shielded by the Razmak Force advancing to its objective. The two roads met in 1924, linking North and South Waziristan , and enabling the Indian Army to reorganise both areas as one military district. The Waziristan and Razmak Field Forces then devolved into brigades based permanently at Manzai , Razmak, Gardai , and Bannu . The following year

22833-470: The pursuit. Horrocks was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 31 December 1942 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East". Following the fall of Tripoli in January 1943, the remaining Axis forces retreated to defensive positions in Southern Tunisia, in front of the Mareth Line built by France before the war. Here in March, Horrocks carried out one of his most successful actions. His corps, composed of

23010-418: The raising of a third line battalion once the first line battalion was on foreign service. In January 1915 these designations were simplified and the battalions called the 1/5th, 2/5th and 3/5th battalions respectively. The battalions that served in France took part in many of the major actions of the war including the 1915 Battle of Neuve Chapelle , the 1915 Battle of Loos , the Battle of the Somme in 1916,

23187-450: The regiment were also reorganised in 1908 by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 , with the two militia battalions being re-designated the 3rd (Special) and 4th (Special Reserve) battalions, and the volunteer battalions being re-designated as Territorial Force and renumbered as the 5th and 6th battalions (TF): they were based at College Road in Hanley and Horninglow Street in Burton upon Trent respectively. The 1st Battalion

23364-419: The regiment. In September 1939, the North Staffordshire Regiment consisted of two Regular and two Territorial battalions – the 1st and 2nd Regular and the 6th and 7th Territorials. Following the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, the regiment was expanded as it had been during the First World War. This expansion, however, was limited this time only to the addition of two more battalions –

23541-426: The regimental title was altered to the North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) . Formed at a time when the British Empire was reaching its peak, the regiment served all over the Empire, in times of both peace and war, and in many theatres of war outside the Empire. It fought with distinction in World War I and World War II , as well as in other smaller conflicts around the world. These other wars included

23718-407: The resultant internecine struggles for the throne lasted more than thirty years. During this period the Punjab was effectively ceded to its erstwhile governor Ranjit Singh , Iran recovered Khorassan, and Sindh broke away. In 1813 Sikh forces from the Punjab crossed the Indus and seized the old Mughal fort at Attock . In 1819 Kashmir was lost, and west of the Indus Derajat also. Four years later

23895-478: The ridge after expending their ammunition. By May, following Operation Diadem , the battalion had absorbed eight drafts of replacements. Now fighting as part of the British Eighth Army , the 2nd Battalion continued to serve in Italy, fighting around the Gothic Line , until January 1945 when the battalion and the rest of 1st Infantry Division were transferred to Palestine . The 41st (5th North Staffordshire Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Engineers , previously

24072-408: The same. Arriving in France, Horrocks was assigned to No. 16 Platoon of the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, with Captain Edward Stephen Gibbons (who was killed in 1918) as his company commander . The battalion was part of the 19th Independent Brigade , which was not assigned to a division. Horrocks wrote that his "chief memory of those days, and the memory retained by all platoon commanders,

24249-400: The second line trench called Jordan trench and the remains of Bulgar Wood. These three objectives were 1,000 yards (910 m), 1,500 yards (1,400 m) and 1,750 yards (1,600 m) from the British front line. The battalion managed to capture both trenches and a platoon reached Bulgar Wood before events around them forced a retreat from Bulgar Wood and Jordan trench. The battalion dug in on

24426-515: The size of the Territorial Army was doubled, and the 6th Battalion formed a duplicate 7th Battalion. In 1921, the regimental title was altered to The North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) . In 1937, the black facings formerly worn by the 64th Foot were restored, replacing the white colour that had been imposed on all non-royal English regiments in 1881. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway renamed one of their Royal Scot class locomotives, number 6141 (formerly Caledonian ), after

24603-406: The southern part of the North-West Frontier. Initially consisting of just the Scinde Irregular Horse, the force under Capt. John Jacob was part of the Bombay Army . The Scinde Irregular Horse was raised at Hyderabad in 1839 by Capt. Ward. The regiment earned its first battle honour during the Operations in Scinde 1839-42 , when it was awarded the unique distinction 'C UTCHEE '. For

24780-407: The standards of the British Army, the Regiment (and the 1st Battalion in particular) seems to have gained a reputation during the First World War for profane language . When the 1st Battalion was relieved in the front line following its defence of Delville Wood in September 1916, one of the advanced posts was missed out by mistake. The Lance-Corporal in command, suspecting something was amiss, sent

24957-405: The storming of the St Quentin Canal . It was a company of the 1/6th Battalion, led by acting Captain A. H. Charlton, that seized the Riqueval Bridge over the St Quentin Canal on 29 September before the Germans could fire the explosive charges, an action for which Charlton was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order . The 12th Battalion formed part of 40th Division and served in France on

25134-448: The subsequent Scinde Campaign of 1843 it was awarded 'M EEANEE ' and 'H YDERABAD ' . A second regiment was raised at Hyderabad in 1846 by Capt. J. Jacob. During the Second Sikh War both the 1st and 2nd Irregular Horse earned further distinction with 'M OOLTAN ', 'G OOJERAT ', and 'P UNJAUB '. A third regiment was raised in 1857, and in 1860 the regiments were designated simply Scinde Horse . The 1st Scinde Horse

25311-407: The temporary rank of brigadier , and the command of 11th Brigade . The brigade's previous commander, Kenneth Anderson , had been promoted to General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Division during the evacuation , when Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke , commander of II Corps , was recalled to the United Kingdom and Montgomery took over the corps. On Horrocks' return to Britain, he

25488-406: The terms of a no-fire zone around the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was typed out and signed by both parties. On the day the camp was liberated by the British Army (15 April 1945), Horrocks organised the rescue of the thousands of inmates by rounding up all the food stores, water trucks and army medical services he could get hold of quickly. Horrocks continued to serve in the armed forces after

25665-426: The town of Krasnoyarsk , and spent 10 months as a prisoner, narrowly surviving severe typhus . The British government negotiated a prisoner release, and Horrocks left Russia on 29 October, returning home on the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Delhi . Horrocks rejoined the 1st Battalion of his regiment, based in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine . His time was enjoyable for him, later writing: For us in

25842-468: The two regiments took place on 31 January 1959 at Minden, Germany , to form the 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) . Brian Horrocks Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks , KCB , KBE , DSO , MC (7 September 1895 – 4 January 1985) was a British Army officer, chiefly remembered as the commander of XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden and other operations during

26019-446: The unpleasant task of clearing up the battlefield of Alamein". At one point the only formation under his command was a salvage unit clearing the wreckage of the battlefield, which he visited daily. In December, he relinquished command of XIII Corps to Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey and took over command of X Corps, the lead corps in the advance of the Eighth Army, after Lumsden's dismissal for his perceived poor performance during

26196-488: The war against Germany and Japan. Razmak, Wana and Bannu were garrisoned with half-trained units which suffered serious reverses, losing men, rifles, and light machine-guns. In 1944, a British committee under Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Tuker was set up to review future policy for the region. As part of its findings, it recommended a return to the Curzon Plan , which advocated the withdrawal of all regular forces from tribal territory into outposts, or cantonments, along

26373-431: The war believing that his corps might have advanced another 100 miles (160 km) with the fuel available. Although some doubt this could have been achieved without delays, it is now known that XXX Corps was opposed by only one German division, although Allied forces were unaware of this at the time. The pause allowed the Germans to regroup around the Scheldt River, and by the time the Allies resumed their advance,

26550-442: The war, initially as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command , receiving substantive promotion to lieutenant-general in 1946, with seniority backdated to 29 December 1944. He briefly commanded the British Army of the Rhine , until he fell ill in August 1948; he was invalided out of the service early in January 1949 by the lingering effects of the wounds he had received in North Africa. Promoted to Knight Commander of

26727-425: The west and so attack the Germans, who were engaged with the 1st Airborne Division, from behind. This might well have been successful but even then I must emphasise that we should only have been able to establish a bridgehead position on the north bank of the lower Rhine. We could not have advanced any farther as envisaged in our original orders. The failure at Arnhem was primarily due to the astonishing recovery made by

26904-406: The whole of the North-West Frontier, most notably under Sir Charles Napier and Sir Colin Campbell , under orders from the governor-general, Lord Dalhousie . Disgusted at being instructed to burn Pathan villages, first Napier and then Campbell resigned and returned to England. Campbell had already decided that the best method of dealing with the tribesmen on the frontier was through bribery. When

27081-468: The winter capital at Peshawar came under attack. In 1826 Dost Mohammad Khan emerged as undisputed ruler in Kabul, and was there proclaimed Emir . He defeated a further attempt to oust him by his exiled rival Shuja Shah Durrani in 1833; however the Sikhs seized all of Peshawar the following year. In 1837 Dost Mohammad launched a counter-attack through the Khyber, but the Afghan force was halted at Jamrud Fort . Dost Mohammad had sought assistance from

27258-419: Was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 5 August. He was also given the rank of temporary lieutenant-general and war substantive major-general. In June 1943, after returning to command of X Corps, Horrocks sustained serious injuries during an air raid at Bizerte , while watching an amphibious rehearsal by the 46th Infantry Division for Operation Avalanche, the Salerno landings . Bullets from

27435-434: Was based in Afghanistan when the amalgamation occurred. The battalions that constituted the regiment in 1881 were as follows: The 2nd and 5th Staffordshire Rifle Volunteer Corps were designated the 1st and 2nd Volunteer battalions, North Staffordshire Regiment, in 1883. Together with the Volunteer battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment , they formed the Staffordshire Volunteer Infantry Brigade in 1888. This brigade

27612-467: Was by now operating 300 miles (480 km) from its ports—twice the distance logistical planners had accounted for—so XXX Corps was diverted towards Antwerp to secure its docks and harbour . The city and port fell to the 11th Armoured Division in early September, but Montgomery halted XXX Corps for resupply short of the wide Albert Canal to the north of the city, which consequently remained in enemy hands. Horrocks regretted this after

27789-559: Was deployed to suppress the Sepoy Revolt of 1857–8, and was duly awarded C ENTRAL I NDIA . All three regiments were rewarded for their part in the Second Afghan War :- Its hard-won honours notwithstanding, the third regiment was disbanded in 1882. The 1st and 2nd Regiments joined the Bombay line in 1885 as the 5th and 6th Bombay Cavalry respectively. In the reformed Indian Army in 1903 they were likewise redesignated 35th Scinde Horse and 36th Jacob's Horse . Jacob's Rifles , raised in 1858 by Maj. John Jacob. In 1861

27966-411: Was disbanded after the war in 1947. The 8th Battalion was initially raised as a training battalion in 1940 and was assigned to the 205th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home) and was mainly concerned in home defence duties. The 8th Battalion was transferred to the Royal Artillery in March 1942 and converted to the 180th Field Regiment . The regiment served with the 48th Infantry (Reserve) Division in

28143-445: Was educated at Bow School, Durham , later Uppingham School , Rutland , an English public school , "where I gravitated automatically into the army class. There was never any question of my entering a profession other than the army." Of his childhood, he claimed to have had "an extremely happy childhood". Horrocks later wrote that, as his life was devoted almost entirely to sport, he had very little aptitude for hard work. He entered

28320-431: Was followed by a short period in Silesia to deal with tensions between the Polish and German populations. On his return to Britain, Horrocks took up the modern pentathlon . He competed successfully in army tournaments, and was picked for the British Olympic team for the 1924 Paris Olympics , where he finished 19th out of 38. Horrocks spent the remainder of the inter-war years in postings that included adjutant for

28497-426: Was given command of 9th Brigade and assigned to defend against a possible German invasion. A short stint as Brigadier General Staff of Western Command followed, before promotion to acting major-general and command of the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division on 25 June 1941. He was promoted to substantive colonel on 28 May 1941 (with seniority backdated to 1 July 1940). The 44th Division, composed of

28674-441: Was given command of the newly formed 9th Armoured Division and gained the temporary rank of major-general on 27 June. Horrocks, an infantry soldier with no experience in dealing with cavalry, was an unusual choice for commander of an armoured division. He trained the division hard, organising exercises to improve the effectiveness of his troops, and to familiarise himself with armoured warfare . Despite never having commanded

28851-456: Was heavily committed to the fighting during the First World War, and over the course of the conflict, was expanded to 18 battalions, some by duplication of the Territorial Force battalions and others, labelled "service" battalions raised as part of Field Marshal Kitchener's New Army . These battalions saw service in a number of theatres including on the Western Front , at Gallipoli , in the Middle East , and India . The following list details

29028-409: Was intended to assemble at Wolverhampton in time of war, while in peacetime it acted as a focus for collective training of the Volunteers. On the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the two Volunteer battalions were renumbered as the 5th and 6th battalions of the North Staffordshire Regiment, forming part of the Staffordshire Brigade in the North Midland Division . The reserve battalions of

29205-429: Was involved very early on, firstly in the investing of Peshawar City , where Afghan sympathisers were mooting a holy war and on 11 May 1919 when they were involved in a bayonet charge on the Afghan forces at Bagh, near Landi Kotal. For their involvement, the regiment received the battle honour "Afghanistan NWF 1919". The battalion returned to England via Egypt and the Sudan in 1921, and was quickly redeployed to Ireland. On

29382-444: Was military dress first coloured khaki for its camouflage effect, and the Guides were the first troops to wear it. The drab colour is well suited to the barren rocky terrain of the North-West Frontier, and all but one of the other Punjab frontier units soon followed the Guides example. In 1848 the Second Sikh War broke out and the corps won its first battle honours ; 'M OOLTAN ', 'G OOJERAT ' , and 'P UNJAUB '. Thereafter

29559-410: Was of marching—endless and exhausting marches. I had never realised before that it was possible to go to sleep while the legs continued automatically to function." He found comfort in "that priceless Cockney sense of humour. A small private soldier in the rank in front of me looked up at his neighbour, who was blessed with a long lugubrious face, and said, Why don't you give your face a holiday, chum? Try

29736-408: Was offered the command of X Corps , an armoured corps, in the planned Alamein battle. He refused it, believing that Major-General Herbert Lumsden , a cavalry officer, would be more suited to the role. Instead he retained command of XIII Corps, and was given the task of making a feint to the south to deceive Axis forces , while the main thrust was made by XXX Corps and X Corps to

29913-479: Was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and was involved in the battles of France and Belgium before eventually being evacuated from Dunkirk on 1 June 1940. Following that, the 2nd Battalion spent years on home defence in the United Kingdom preparing for a possible German invasion of England which never arrived. The battalion remained in the United Kingdom until 1943 when, still as part of 1st Infantry Division, it sailed to North Africa and took part in

30090-406: Was proclaimed Shah of the Afghans . He went on to conquer Herat and Khorassan , and established an empire from the Oxus to the Indus . On his death in 1773, the Afghan domain included Baluchistan , Sindh , the Punjab , and Kashmir . Ahmad Shah was succeeded by his son Timur Shah Durrani , whose rule of twenty years saw the Afghan tide begin to ebb. Timur left many sons but no heir, and

30267-425: Was reconstituted as the Territorial Army in 1920, and the 5th and 6th battalions were reformed, still with the 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade of 46th (North Midland) Division . In 1936, the 5th Battalion was converted to an anti-aircraft searchlight unit of the Royal Engineers as 41st (North Staffordshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion while remaining 'part of the corps of the North Staffordshire Regiment'. It

30444-405: Was renumbered the 64th in 1758. It had a long history of overseas service with much less time spent in Europe. It had served in the West Indies during the Seven Years' War , America during the American War of Independence , South America, the West Indies and Canada during the Napoleonic Wars . Subsequent long periods were spent in Ireland and the West Indies before action was seen in India during

30621-544: Was stationed in India from 1897 until 1903. The battalion was divided between barracks in Jhansi and Nowgong until late 1902, when it was reunited at Bombay . The following year, the 1st and 2nd Battalions met for the first time, and no fewer than 590 men from the 1st Battalion were transferred to the 2nd Battalion. Thus 1st Battalion was reduced to a small cadre, which served for nine years upon its return to Lichfield and other stations in England, before moving to Buttevant in Ireland in 1912. The North Staffordshire Regiment

30798-407: Was stationed in Ireland at the time of the amalgamation. It moved to England in 1883, and the following year to the West Indies , based mainly in Barbados , but with detachments on other islands. It moved to Natal in 1887, to Mauritius in 1890, to Malta in 1893 and to Egypt in 1895. From there the 1st Battalion took part in operations in the Second Sudanese War under Lord Kitchener . During

30975-532: Was temporarily relieved of his command of XXX Corps by Field Marshal Montgomery and sent back to Britain to rest. Montgomery had taken this move because Horrocks had become "nervy and difficult with his staff" and had "attempted to act foolishly" with XXX Corps. The corps was temporarily commanded by Major-General Ivor Thomas of the 43rd Division. In early 1945, XXX Corps, now transferred from Dempsey's British Second Army to Harry Crerar 's First Canadian Army , took part in Operation Veritable , during which

31152-444: Was the only son of Colonel Sir William Horrocks , a Lancashire born doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), and his wife, Minna Horrocks, "who had all the gaiety and charm of the Irish". Born in Ranikhet in British India on 7 September 1895, young Brian—after having had "particularly happy memories of the four years spent at Gibraltar when my father was working on the causes of Malta fever "—returned to Britain, where he

31329-416: Was transferred to the Royal Artillery in August 1940 as the 41st (5th North Staffordshire) Searchlight Regiment TA. In the same year the remaining 6th Battalion was transferred to 166th Infantry Brigade , 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division after the HQ of the 46th Division became 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division . Throughout the spring and summer of 1939, due to the increasing threat posed by Nazi Germany ,

#775224