23 Para Engineer Regiment train alongside RAF Benson Personnel MOD 45166881

23 Parachute Engineer Regiment is a

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

regiment 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 ...

that was formed in 2003. It provides engineer support to

16 Air Assault Brigade 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, from 1999 to 2021 16 Air Assault Brigade, is a formation of the British Army based in Colchester in the county of Essex. It is the Army's rapid response airborne formation and is the only brigade in the Britis ...

in both the parachute and air assault role. The regiment is currently based at

Rock Barracks Ministry of Defence Woodbridge or MoD Woodbridge is a military installation located near the town of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England. The site opened in 2006 and is operated by the British Army and incorporates both Rock Barracks and Woodbridge ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

and consists of three regular squadrons and one Army Reserve squadron. As part of 16 Air Assault Brigade it can be called upon to deploy on operations across the globe at extremely short notice. SPR Baker will never pass course HAT

History

23 Engineer Regiment can trace its roots to the founding of the airborne forces of the Parachute Regiment and other related during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In July 1948, 23rd Field Engineer Regiment was formed in

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is locat ...

from the former 2nd Division Divisional Engineer regiment. In December 1948, the regiment moved to

Halen Halen (), formerly Haelen ( li, Hôle), is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, to the west of Hasselt. On January 1, 2018, Halen had a total population of 9,461. The total area is 36.29 km² which gives a ...

and two years later moved to

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. In September 1957, 2 Field Squadron was allocated to 6th Infantry Brigade and 5 Field Squadron to the 5th Infantry Brigade. In May 1958, the regiment was split and its headquarters became the new "Headquarters Royal Engineers, 2nd Division". Eleven years later in April 1969, it was re-organised into the new 23 Engineer Regiment at Osnabruck. The regiment served as infantry 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 ...

from March - July 1972. In September 1976 the 2nd Division was re-organized as the new 2nd Armoured Division, and the regiment was broken up for the second time. In January 1983 at Osnabruck the regiment reformed and part of the regiment, 73 Field and 39 Field Support Squadrons, participated in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. The regiment was later disbanded in 1992 as a result of the

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...

. In 2001, 23 Engineer Regiment was tasked to provide engineer support to the newly formed

. The regiment was deployed for

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 ...

and in September 2009 on their return from

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 ...

the regiment was granted the

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

of the town of Woodbridge. In 2015, the "Parachute" title was officially added to the name, although the unit had already been supporting

since its re-establishment, and a new flag was presented to the regiment to mark the occasion.

Organization

* 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment ** 12 Parachute HQ & Support Squadron – includes a dive team and a signal troop ** 9 Parachute Squadron ** 51 Parachute Squadron ** 70 Gurkha Parachute Squadron ** 299 Parachute Squadron (

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

), in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

References

External links

23 Parachute Engineer Regiment
{{British Airborne Forces Airborne units and formations of the United Kingdom Regiments of the Royal Engineers 2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 2003 Royal Engineers