GHQ Liaison Regiment (known as Phantom) was a

special reconnaissance Special reconnaissance (SR) is conducted by small units, such as a recon team, made up of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units and/or military intelligence organizations. Special reconnaissance teams operate behind ...

unit of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

first formed in 1939 during the early stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The regiment's headquarters were at The Richmond Hill Hotel in

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

(now in London); its base (including the

officers' mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

and

billet In European militaries, a billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. In American usage, it refers to a specific personnel position, assignment, or duty station to which a soldier can be assigned. Historically, a billet w ...

) was at Pembroke Lodge, a Georgian house in

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

History

It had its origins as the No 3 British Air Mission in France in 1939. Moving with the Belgian General Staff, its role was to report information about the Allied forward positions from Belgian GHQ to the

Advanced Air Striking Force The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) comprised the light bombers of 1 Group RAF Bomber Command, which took part in the Battle of France during the Second World War. Before hostilities began, it had been agreed between the United Kingdom ...

HQ so as to pinpoint the changing locations of "bomb lines". These were the battle areas not occupied by Allied troops and suitable targets for bombs and shells. In November 1939, Lieut-Col George 'Hoppy' Hopkinson was sent as a military observer to the No 3 British Air Mission and subsequently changed the method of operations to focus upon greater use of wireless communications and mobility to provide assessment from the front line. 'Phantom' the collective codename for these missions was chosen by themselves and later became an official term. After the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

, the unit was re-formed as No 1 GHQ Reconnaissance Unit. As such, it was intended to have a key intelligence role following any Nazi invasion of Britain. In January 1941, the

Reconnaissance Corps The Reconnaissance Corps, or simply Recce Corps, was a service branch of the British Army, formed during the World War II, Second World War, whose units provided reconnaissance for infantry Division (military), divisions. It was formed from infan ...

was established and Phantom was re-named GHQ Liaison Regiment to avoid confusion. Phantom recruited men with various talents, linguists, drivers and mechanics – and undertook rigorous training in wireless communication and cipher. In January 1944, the Reconnaissance Corps was absorbed into the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

and with it the Phantom GHQ Liaison Regiment. Phantom was disbanded in 1945 and then reborn as the Army Phantom Signals Regiment ( Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment) until 1960, when it was clear that technology provided for alternative solutions.

Operation Overlord

During

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, in June 1944, many patrols from Phantom came to

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

on D+1. Their task was to go around day and night to find all the British, Canadian and American units they could, marking their locations on a map, and passing the information to the main HQ.

Operation Market Garden

During Operation Market Garden, in September 1944, the only communication between the surrounded airborne troops at

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

and headquarters was via a Phantom patrol. This included the famous, desperate, message from Major-General

Roy Urquhart Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Robert Elliot "Roy" Urquhart, (28 November 1901 – 13 December 1988) was a British Army officer who saw service during the Second World War and Malayan Emergency. He became prominent for his role a ...

that "... unless physical contact is made with us early 25 Sept...consider it unlikely we can hold out long enough ..." Two Phantom officers were subsequently awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

for maintaining these vital communications during the operation. Phantom units also operated with XXX Corps and with General Browning whose HQ was next to 82nd Airborne HQ in

Groesbeek Groesbeek () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In January 2015 the former municipality merged with Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen. The larger area was known as Groesbeek until January 2016, whe ...

Organisation

Phantom deployed in squadrons in North West Europe, South East Europe, North Africa and Italy. Each squadron supported an Army and consisted of a squadron HQ (SHQ) and a number of patrols (one per corps and a further ten further forward of corps). Each patrol consisted of an officer, an NCO and up to nine other ranks. They were typically equipped with

Norton motorcycles The Norton Motorcycle Company (formerly Norton Motorcycles.) is a brand of motorcycles headquartered in Solihull, West Midlands, (originally based in Birmingham), England. For some years around 1990, the rights to use the name on motorcycles we ...

, Jeeps, Morris 15cwt trucks and White M3 A1 Scout cars and carried a 107 Receiver, 52 and 22 sets. The patrols either embedded with other formations or went on special missions from their Army HQs. The patrols' role was to provide collection, passage and dissemination of contemporaneous information on the progress of battle to corps HQ. For

, one patrol was assigned to each divisional HQ of I and XXX Corps to land with main divisional HQ. Thus on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, three Patrols (5, 8 & 14) landed with the 3rd British, 50th Northumbrian and

3rd Canadian Division The 3rd Canadian Division is a formation of the Canadian Army responsible for the command and mobilization of all army units in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as Northwestern Ontario including the ...

s. Some patrols undertook parachute drops with the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...

(SAS) to provide communications with SAS Brigade HQ. Later, with Phantom efficiency proven and with US forces under the leadership of the 12th US Army Group, similar arrangements were made for Phantom to provide communications with US corps.

Officers

Famous Phantom officers included: actors Major

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academ ...

(who initially commanded A Squadron and who remarked in a letter, "these were wonderful days which I would not have missed for anything"), Tam Williams and Willoughby Gray; the MPs Sir

Jakie Astor Major Sir John Jacob "Jakie" Astor VII, (29 August 1918 – 10 September 2000) was an English politician and sportsman. He was a member of the prominent Astor family. Early life John Jacob "Jakie" Astor VII was born 29 August 1918 at Cliveden ...

, the Hon.

Michael Astor The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor (10 April 1916 – 28 February 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. Early life Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Wi ...

, Peter Baker, Sir Hugh Fraser,

Maurice Macmillan Maurice Victor Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden, (27 January 1921 – 10 March 1984), was a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament. He was the only son of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who was Prime ...

(Viscount Macmillan), Sir

Carol Mather Sir David Carol MacDonnell Mather (3 January 19193 July 2006) was a British soldier and politician. After serving 22 years in the British Army, he was the Member of Parliament for Esher from 1970 until 1987. During his political career he hel ...

and

Christopher Mayhew Christopher Paget Mayhew, Baron Mayhew (12 June 1915 – 7 January 1997) was a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1950 and from 1951 to 1974, when he left the Labour Party to join the Liberals. In 1981 ...

(Lord Mayhew); Law Lord

Nigel Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich Nigel Cyprian Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich, PC (26 February 1917 − 20 November 2007) was a British judge, who served as Lord of Appeal in Ordinary between 1980 and 1992. A leading appellate judge, Bridge is also remembered for having pres ...

. The journalist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne; and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Robert Mark. Others, such as

Michael Oakeshott Michael Joseph Oakeshott (11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher. He is known for his contributions to the philosophies of history, religion, aesthetics, education, and law.Fuller, T. (1991) 'The Work of Michael Oakesh ...

and John Hislop, excelled in the fields of academia or athletics.

References

External links

''The Foundation of "Phantom"'', Royal Signals contact site

Spear, Roger: "Phantom, The Signals Regiment in Richmond Park", ''The VMARS Newsletter'', issue 37
{{Authority control Siegfried Line campaign Battle of France British Army in World War II History of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Military units and formations in London Operation Market Garden Regiments of the British Army in World War II Richmond Park Special forces of the United Kingdom