26th Regiment Royal Artillery

26th Regiment Royal Artillery
Active 1947 to Present
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Branch  British Army
Role Field artillery
Size 6 Batteries
Part of 1st Artillery Brigade
Garrison/HQ Mansergh Barracks, Westfalen Garrison
Nickname(s) The West Midland Gunners
Equipment AS-90 self-propelled guns

26th Regiment Royal Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS-90 self-propelled gun and one battery with GMLRS.

History

The regiment was formed from 4th Field Regiment RA in 1947.[1] It saw action in Malaya later that year and deployed to Libya in 1951.[1] It was renamed 26th Airportable Regiment RA in 1962 and re-equipped with 105mm Pack Howitzers.[1] In 1963, it was renamed 26th Medium Regiment RA and re-equipped with 5.5" Howitzers and then deployed to Cyprus.[1] It moved to Hohne in 1965 and was renamed 26th Field Regiment RA when it re-equipped with the Abbot self propelled gun.[1]

An AS90 of 26th Regiment conducts live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr, Germany, 2014

In the 1970s, it saw tours in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and during the 1980s it was based at Baker Barracks with a tour of Northern Ireland in 1987.[1] The Regiment was moved out to Mansergh Barracks, Gutersloh, Germany and was equipped once again with the Abbot. At the onset of the Kuwait invasion by Iraq, the Regiment took charge of M109 howitzer artillery and was deployed as part of Operation Granby with 1st Armored Division during the 1991 gulf war. On return to Mansergh Barracks, the Regiment again had tours of Northern Ireland before changing roles once more and being issued AS90 in 1994. The regiment was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina the following year.[1] Units went to Kosovo in 2000, took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was deployed to Afghanistan under Operation Herrick 9 in 2008.[1] Most recently, 16 (Sandham's Company) Battery deployed on Operation CABRIT 1, NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in Estonia, in March 2017.

Batteries

The batteries are as follows:[2]

26th Regiment Royal Artillery Association

In 1993, the association was formed to enable serving and ex serving members of the regiment to meet bi-annually. Since then, the association has grown in membership and currently has approximately 500 full members. The association's website is intended to reach people in all parts of the world that either serve or have served in 26th Regiment Royal Artillery, whatever their cap badge might have been.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "26th Regiment Royal Artillery". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "26th Regiment Royal Artillery". Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Rob Olver (2015-02-09). "Artillery Regiment Says Farewell to 137 (Java) Battery". Forces TV. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  4. ↑ "Gunners complete live fire exercise with AS90 - British Army Website". Army.mod.uk. 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2016-12-23.
  5. ↑ 26th Regt RA Association
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.