26th Regiment Royal Artillery is a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. The regiment is equipped with

MLRS A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a voll ...

and is

3rd (United Kingdom) Division The 3rd (United Kingdom) Division is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as th ...

's divisional fires regiment.

History

British army artillery regiment conducts live-fire exercise at Grafenwoehr 140731-A-ZG808-789

The regiment was formed from 4th Field Regiment RA in 1947. It saw action in Malaya later that year and deployed to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

in 1951. It was renamed 26th Airportable Regiment RA in 1962 and re-equipped with 105mm Pack Howitzers. In 1963, it was renamed 26th Medium Regiment RA and re-equipped with 5.5" Howitzers and then deployed to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. It moved to

Hohne Hohne is a municipality in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany, east of the county town of Celle. It includes the three former parishes of Hohne, Helmerkamp and Spechtshorn. It should not be confused with the British Army camp of Hohne (German: ' ...

in 1965 and was renamed 26th Field Regiment RA when it re-equipped with the Abbot self propelled gun. In the 1970s, it saw tours in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

and during the 1980s it was based at

Baker Barracks Baker Barracks is a British Army barracks located on Thorney Island around east from Portsmouth, Hampshire. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Thorney Island airbase, in 1986, when 26th Regiment Royal Artill ...

with a tour of Belize in 1987 followed by

in 1990. The Regiment was moved out to Mansergh Barracks,

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and was equipped once again with the Abbot. At the onset of the Kuwait invasion by Iraq, the Regiment took charge of

M109 howitzer The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western indirect-f ...

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

before changing roles once more and being issued

AS90 The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army. It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (comp ...

in 1994. The regiment was deployed to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

the following year. Units went to

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

in 2000, took part in the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

and was deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

under

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Ass ...

9 in 2008. Most recently, 16 (Sandham's Company) Battery deployed on

Operation CABRIT Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) is a NATO-allied forward-deployed defense and deterrence military force in Central and Northern Europe. This posture in Central Europe through Poland and Northern Europe through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, is in ...

1, NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in Estonia, in March 2017. Under

Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. Army 2020 Refine The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reacti ...

, the regiment will be a divisional fire regiment. On 14 May 2019, the regiment's last group of members left Mansergh Barracks in Germany. The regiment has, of October 2019, fully been based in Purvis Lines in

Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

. These barracks are brand new and were designed especially for the regiment. During their farewell parade, the regiment received the ceremonial ribbon, which is Germany's most prestigious award.

Batteries

The batteries are as follows: * 19 (Gibraltar 1779 – 1783) Battery * 55 (The Residency) Battery - Headquarters Battery * 132 Battery (The Bengal Rocket Troop) * 159 (Colenso) Battery *

176 (Abu Klea) Battery Royal Artillery 176 (Abu Klea) Battery Royal Artillery is the junior currently-existent regular battery of the Royal Artillery. Its name is pronounced "One Seven Six", and the battery is commonly referred to as "The Abus", and its members as "Abus", after the ...

Three batteries are equipped with M270B1 systems, while one battery is equipped with the EXACTOR 2 systems.

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.

References

External links

Official website
{{British Army Artillery Regiments Royal Artillery regiments Field regiments of the Royal Artillery