Royal Anglian Regiment

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Royal Anglian Regiment
Cap Badge of the Royal Anglian Regiment
Active	September 1964-
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army
Type	Line Infantry
Role	1st Battalion - Mechanised 2nd Battalion - Light Role 3rd Battalion - TA Reserve
Size	Three battalions
Part of	Queen's Division
Garrison/HQ	RHQ - Bury St Edmunds 1st Battalion - Aldershot 2nd Battalion - Tern Hill
Nickname	The Vikings (1st Battalion) The Poachers (2nd Battalion)
March	Quick - Rule Britannia/Speed the Plough Slow - The Northamptonshire
Anniversaries	1 August - Minden 1 September - Formation Day
Commanders
Colonel in Chief	HRH The Duke of Gloucester
Colonel of the Regiment	Major-General John Christopher Blake Sutherell, CBE, ADC
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Arm Badge	Salamanca Eagle From Essex Regiment

The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division.

The regiment was formed in 1964 as one of the new large infantry regiments, through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the East Anglian Brigade.

1st Battalion (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk) from the 1st Bn of the 1st East Anglian Regiment
2nd Battalion - 1st Bn, 2nd East Anglian Regiment
3rd Battalion (16th/44th Foot) - 1st Bn, 3rd East Anglian Regiment
4th Battalion - 1st Bn, The Royal Leicestershire Regiment

The Royal Anglian Regiment serves as the county regiment for the following counties:

1 History
2 The Bermuda Regiment
3 Future Army Structure
4 Traditions
5 Order of Precedence
6 Associated Cadet Forces
7 Alliances
8 External links

[edit] History

Initially formed of seven battalions (four regular and three TA), the regiment was reduced to three regular battalions and three TA in 1975, and then to two regular and two TA battalions in 1992 with the loss of the 3rd and 5th Battalions. As one of the existing large regiments, the Royal Anglian Regiment is unaffected by the restructuring of the infantry that was announced in 2004. The remaining Territorial battalion of the regiment, the East of England Regiment will be re-designated as the 3rd Battalion as part of the reforms.

The two battalions have the nicknames the Vikings (1st Bn) and the Poachers (2nd Bn). The old 3rd Battalion was nicknamed the Pompadours.

In 1995, each battalion renamed its companies in order to perpetuate its lineage from the old County regiments:

1st Battalion
- A (Royal Norfolk) Company (after the Royal Norfolk Regiment)
- B (Suffolk) Company (after the Suffolk Regiment)
- C (Essex) Company (after the Essex Regiment)
- D (Cambridgshire) Company (after the Cambridgeshire Regiment)
2nd Battalion
- A (Royal Lincolnshire) Company
- B (Royal Leicestershire) Company
- C (Northamptonshire) Company
- D (Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire) Company

All regular battalions of the regiment have carried out tours-of-duty throughout "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The most costly time for the regiment in NI occurred in the 1970s and 1980s when they lost eighteen soldiers, the last in 1989. Despite violence in Northern Ireland having largely subsided, the regiment continues to be posted there. When in Northern Ireland, the R ANGLIANs, like the rest of the Army, is primarily used to provide support to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

A Permanent Staff Instructor (PSI) of the RAR with senior Non-Commissioned Officers of the Bermuda Regiment. The PSI wear a Bermuda Regiment cap badge on an RAR khaki beret. The RAR provides a PSI to each of the Bermuda Regiment's companies, as well as to the companies of its own Territorial Army battalions.

Throughout the 1960s, the regiment served in Aden, where they operated against guerillas fighting against the British presence such as in the Radfan. They also garrisoned Malta, the Persian Gulf, and Cyprus. The regiment has continued to carry out tours of Cyprus into recent times; the last was carried out by 2 R ANGLIAN in 1998.

During the crisis in the Balkans in the early 1990s, 2 R ANGLIAN was deployed to Bosnia in April 1994 as part of the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR. The battalion left later in the year, having suffered a single loss by a landmine. Shortly after British forces intervened in Sierra Leone during its civil war, the 2nd Battalion briefly joined the IMATT force in June 2000 to help train the Sierra Leonean armed forces.

In March 2002, 1 R ANGLIAN was sent to Afghanistan, where it was based in the capital Kabul as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The battalion often patrolled the more dangerous parts of the capital to maintain order in a city under constant fear of attack by Al Qaida and the Taliban. The ISAF force at that time was commanded by Major-General John McColl, a former officer with 1 R ANGLIAN and 2 R ANGLIAN; he commanded the latter between 1992-1994. The battalion left in June, having suffered a single loss due to an accident. The following February, A company of 2 R ANGLIAN was posted to Kabul in June 2003. They were replaced by C Company in June.

The 1st battalion also served in Northern Ireland between Aug 89 to Jan 90 (South Armagh), Apr to Oct 91 (Fermanargh) and Dec 93 to June 94 (Co Tyrone). They also did short tours of Cyprus (1992) and the U.S. (Fort Lewis) in 1995. Also in 1995 the 1st Battalion was sent to Croatia during the time UN soldiers were being taken hostage by local militia. As part of 24 Airmobile Brigade they were sent there between July and Oct of that year.

In 1996 C Company (1st Bn) was sent with the Parachute Brigade that was taking part in the biggest Airborne exercise since the Second World War in South Carolina, U.S. During this exercise WOII "Boogie" Boulton was killed in a Road Traffic Accident (RTA).

The 1st Battalion (as of 2006) is part of 12th Mechanised Brigade, based in Pirbright. As mechanised infantry the battalion primarily operates the Saxon. By the end of the arms plot in 2009, the 1st Battalion will be permanently based at Bulford

The 2nd Battalion (as of 2006) is part of the 2 Infantry Brigade, based in Tern Hill. The battalion operates in the light infantry role, primarily operating the Land Rover. By the end of the arms plot in 2009, the 2nd Battalion will be based at Celle in Germany.

In 2005 the 1st Battalion had a successful tour in Iraq where the battle group was responsible the Basra Rural South area of operations. C (Essex) Company was detached to act as a Brigade Operations Company and was involved in several high profile arrest operations including the arrest in Basra of 14 insurgents. The 2nd Battalion deployed to Basrah in Summer 2006 and served all over the Basra area. Unfortunately the Regiment mourned the loss of two soldiers of the 2nd Battalion in May 2006 who were killed by a roadside bomb attack in Basra. A third soldier was badly injured.

[edit] The Bermuda Regiment

The RAR has a unique relationship with the Bermuda Regiment, a Territorial battalion of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. Although the Bermuda Regiment is usually described as an affiliated regiment, its relationship to the RAR is more akin to that of one of RAR's own TA battalions. The Bermuda Regiment is an amalgam of the old Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC, which had been renamed the Bermuda Rifles). During the Great War, the latter unit had sent two drafts to serve as part of the 1 Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, one of RAR's predecessors, on the Western Front. The affiliation of the Lincolns and the BVRC was made official after the War, with the Lincolns adopting the same role it fulfilled to its own TA battalions: providing seconded Permanent Staff Instructors and officers. The BVRC sent two more drafts to the Lincolns during the Second World War. When the BVRC was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965, the RAR, as successor to the Royal Lincolns, continued the paternal relationship. In addition to providing a PSI to each of the Bermuda Regiment's companies, many other Royal Anglian Regiment personnel have been seconded or loaned to the Bermuda Regiment over the years. The Bermuda Regiment's first nine Adjutants (from 1965 to 1984) were all RAR officers. Three of its past Regimental Sergeant Majors were seconded from the RAR. In 1992, the Bermuda Regiment had two serving Lieutenant-Colonels, as its Staff Officer, an RAR Major, was promoted to the same rank as its Commanding Officer (CO). In 1996, the Bermuda Regiment's Second-In-Command, Staff Officer, and Adjutant were all on secondment from the RAR. Additionally, senior NCOs are loaned to the Bermuda Regiment for the duration of its annual Recruit Camps, with one attached to each platoon of its Training Company.

The Junior NCOs (Corporals and Lance-Corporals) of the Bermuda Regiment attend Skill-At-Arms courses at the RAR depot, and many Bermuda Regiment officers and NCOs have served on attachment with the RAR. During the 1980s, the entire cadre of officers, warrant officers, and NCOs of the Bermuda Regiment was briefly attached to a battalion of RAR deployed to Belize.

[edit] Future Army Structure

Although there was some doubt, the Regiment has continued unchanged after the reorganistation as part of the Queen's Division. However the Regiment is expected to regain its third battalion as succsessors to the East of England Regiment. The new battalion will be called the 3rd (V) Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment and will be composed of the local Territorial soldiers.

[edit] Traditions

Regimental Quick March: "Rule Britannia and Speed the Plough"
Regimental Slow March: "The Northamptonshire"

Regimental Days

1 August - Minden Day
1 September - The Royal Anglian Regiment Formation Day

Celebrated by the individual battalions (in date order)

2nd Battalion: 10 February - Sobraon Day
1st Battalion: 17 March - St Patrick's Day
1st Battalion: 25 April - Almanza Day
2nd Battalion: 25 June - Hindoostan Day
1st Battalion: 27 June - Dettingen Day
1st Battalion: 22 July - Salamanca Day
2nd Battalion: 27 July - Talavera Day
2nd Battalion: 13 August - Blenheim Day

[edit] Order of Precedence

Preceded by: Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	Infantry Order of Precedence	Succeeded by: Royal Marines or Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th)