It was recaptured in a counter-attack led by the adjutant, Captain Anthony Farrar-Hockley, and the Chinese launched seven attacks in one hour in an attempt to take it again, all without success. Awarded for actions during the First World War; Hardy Falconer Parsons – 14th Battalion. [21][23], The new regiment acquired its march, The Kinnegad Slashers, and its official nickname, Slashers, from the 28th Regiment. Military Medal group awarded to Private G Hadfield, 10th Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment, 1945, Bugle recovered from a Chinese position in Gloster Valley on the RIver Imjin, Korea, 1951. General James Van Fleet, commander of the US Eighth Army, described the stand as "the most outstanding example of unit bravery in modern war",[144] and in a letter to General Ridgeway, commander-in-chief of UN forces in Korea, he wrote that "the loss of 622 officers and men saved many times that number". I asked him how he felt & he said with a smile "There is some lead in me which ought not to be there & I am afraid I have done in your tunic. To find out more about how we collect, store and use your personal information, read our Privacy Policy. [55], As volunteers answered Lord Kitchener's call to arms, ten New Army battalions, the 7th to the 16th, were added to the regiment's establishment between 1914 and 1916. Awarded for actions during the First World War; Francis George Miles – 1/5th Battalion. An attempt to retake it failed, and the company, now at less than half strength and with all officers killed or wounded, fell back to Hill 235. As a measure of the fighting that engulfed the whole brigade, the, 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, 1st (City of Bristol) Volunteer Battalion, 7th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, 12th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (Bristol's Own), Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 66th (Gloucesters) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, Battle honours of the British and Imperial Armies, "Bragg's Regiment and the 28th Foot – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "The Creation of the 61st Regiment of Foot – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "North and South Gloucestershire – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "The Battle of Alexandria – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "The Gloucestershire Regiment – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "The Siege of Ladysmith – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "Regulars and Volunteers in the Boer War – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "Outbreak of First World War – Soldiers of Gloucestershire", "The Gloucesters on the Somme – Soldiers of Gloucestershire", "Outbreak of First World War – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "The Fifth Gloucester Gazette a chronicle, serious and humorous, of the Battalion while serving with the British Expeditionary Force", "The muse in arms, a collection of war poems, for the most part written in the field of action", "The Hindenburg Line & Third Ypres – Soldier of Gloucestershire", "Cassel and Ledringhem – Soldiers of Gloucestershire", "Front Line Frankie & Vinegar Joe – Soldiers of Gloucestershire", "The End of the War in South-East Asia – Soldiers of Gloucestershire", "Heroic last stand of the Glosters – Battle of Imjin River", "The Trials and Release of the P.O.Ws – Imjin River", "Supplement to the London Gazette, 8 December 1953", "28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot", "61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot", The Official Website of the Gloucestershire Regimental Association, The Regimental Museum – The Soldiers of Gloucestershire, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gloucestershire_Regiment&oldid=973802426, Military units and formations established in 1881, Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Korean War, Regiments of the British Army in World War II, Regiments of the British Army in World War I, Military units and formations in Gloucestershire, Military units and formations disestablished in 1994, 1881 establishments in the United Kingdom, Military units and formations in Burma in World War II, Recipients of the Presidential Unit Citation (United States), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Ramillies, Louisburg, Guadaloupe 1759, Quebec 1759, Martinique 1762, Havannah, St Lucia 1778, Corunna, Barrosa, Albuhera, Vittoria, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Maida, Talavera, Busaco, Salamanca, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub, Delhi 1857, Egypt, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, A badge of the Reconnaissance Corps with years '1944–1945' and scroll 'North-West Europe', 1st Battalion – formerly the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 2nd Battalion – formerly the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 3rd (Militia) Battalion – formerly the Royal South Gloucestershire Militia, 4th (Militia) Battalion – formerly the Royal North Gloucestershire Militia, 2nd Volunteer Battalion – formerly the 2nd Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteers, 2nd Battalion – deployed to Tianjin, China, 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion – formerly 3rd (Militia) Battalion, 1st Battalion – stationed around Rangoon in Burma. [41] The three battalions completed tours in the front line around Neuve Chapelle, but for the 2/4th and 2/6th Battalions the first significant action was on 19 July 1916 in a costly and unsuccessful attack in the Battle of Fromelles which cost the two battalions a total of 332 casualties. [104] At the same time, the Japanese halted operations in Burma. It was a relatively quiet sector, and although the battalion was involved in attacks across the Struma in September, October and December 1916 – the last costing the battalion 114 casualties – and conducted a number of raids in 1917, sickness was more of a threat than enemy action. In a subsequent battle near Padigong, 5 miles (8 km) from Paungde, D Company became isolated for 17 hours and had to fight its way back to the battalion at Shwedaung. Awarded for actions during the Korean War; Philip Curtis – attached to the 1st Battalion from the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Company C was in reserve near Hill 314, overlooking battalion headquarters (HQ) and Support Company at Solma-Ri. By 28 May, the battalion had concentrated at Ledringhem, where it was surrounded, and it withdrew under orders in the early hours of 29 May. The withdrawal left D Company's position exposed and, with one of its platoons badly mauled in the overnight fighting, it too retired to the hill. The battalion reached Nijmegen in late November, where it spent over four relatively quiet months interrupted only by a four-day battle at Zetten in January 1945. But by that time, the dissolution of the Soviet Union had prompted the government to restructure the armed forces.

It inherited the unique distinction in the British Army of wearing a badge on the back of its headdress as well as the front, a tradition that originated with the 28th Regiment after it fought in two ranks back to back at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. View this … [147][148] Carne, himself taken POW and already a recipient of the DSO for his leadership during the earlier battle at Hill 327, was awarded the VC and the American Distinguished Service Cross. The Gloucestershire Regiment. The fire from the ditch was so intense that practically all the bayonets in the trench were broken. It rejoined the division in the middle of April and fought in the unsuccessful attempt to lift the siege of Kut. To commemorate this action, the regiment began wearing a badge on the back as well as the front of the headdress, a unique distinction in the British Army that was officially sanctioned in 1830.

[30] By the war's end the regiment had lost 2 officers and 94 other ranks killed, 13 officers and 201 men wounded, and suffered 250 deaths from sickness. I passed him on his way down – though hit in seven places, his courage was wonderful. [19][20] The reforms also added the county's auxiliary forces to the regiment's establishment, and at its formation it thus comprised two regular, two militia and two volunteer battalions: The Gloucestershire Regiment inherited from the 28th Regiment the privilege of wearing the back badge. The regiment spent 1955-56 fighting the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya, before deploying to Aden.

Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. In the latter half of the 20th century, the regiment was reduced to a single regular battalion and completed tours of duty around the world, including Germany, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East, as well as in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. It continued in British Army service until 1994, when it became part of The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment.

[131], After nightfall on 22 April, the Chinese launched the Spring Offensive, the first phase of which was designed to eliminate the US 3rd Division, the 29th Brigade and the ROK 1st Division. In 1928, the 2nd Battalion returned to the UK and the 1st Battalion was posted overseas, serving three years in Egypt, a year in Singapore and six years in India before ending up in Burma in 1938. Their assault on the hill was finally broken up after sunrise by airstrikes.

It achieved fame during the Korean War when the 1st Battalion held out for three nights against overwhelming odds during the Battle of the Imjin River. I am awfully sorry". It saw its first significant action of the war on 7 and 8 March at the Taukkyan Roadblock, and for the rest of the month operated independently to cover the retreat, fighting battles at Letpadan on 17 March and Paungde on 27 March. Two awards of the DSO were made, to Harding and Farrar-Hockley, and six MCs, two DCMs and ten MMs were also awarded. Later the same month, during the Battle of Pozières, the battalion made two unsuccessful attacks against the German line east of the village which together cost it 374 casualties, among whom were Carton de Wiart and his successor, Major Lord A.G. Thynne, both wounded. On 21 March, during the Battle of Alexandria, French cavalry broke through the British lines, formed up behind the regiment, and began to charge. The Germans probed the town the next day and began assaulting it on 27 May. On the first day of the battle, UN forces fell back to Line Kansas, but both the Koreans and the British were already on Line Kansas, and did not have as much leeway to fall back. The troops moved out on the night of 29 October with the intention to be in position before the main battle started, but they left too late to reach their objective before daybreak. [16], Another thread that would be woven into the story of the Gloucestershire Regiment is that of the civilian administered auxiliary forces which supported the army in times of need.

Daniell pp. The POWs were also welcomed back to great fanfare following their release in 1953. By 1760, Gloucestershire had raised two battalions of militia, and these were organised in 1763 as the South Gloucestershire Militia based at Gloucester and the North Gloucestershire Militia at Cirencester. 166, 168. The two battalions alternated between postings at home and overseas, mostly in India, but their first action came in 1899 during the Second Boer War. The regiment was also sometimes referred to as The Old Braggs, from Colonel Philip Bragg, who commanded the 28th Regiment when it was still named after its colonels. [79][b][82] Five of Harvey's poems were included in the 1917 anthology of war poetry, The Muse in Arms, alongside poems by Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Rupert Brooke.