The Duke of Wellington's Regiment
The Duke of Wellington's Regiment is a regiment in the United Kingdom armed forces.
Created in 1881 under Cardwell's wide-ranging armed forces reforms, which included the end of flogging in both the Royal Navy and the Army. The 1st battalion of the regiment performed with distinction in the Boer War, taking part in the Relief of Kimberley in 1901, which gained them a battle honour. The regiment was named the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment).In 1921 the regiments name was slightly changed to it's present name, becoming the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding).
World War I
The regiment during the whole of WWI raised an astonishing twenty one battalions, sadly suffering terrible casualties during the Great War. The regiments batallions was the first of the regiment to be sent, seeing action at the Battle of Mons, as well as the rearguard action at Le Cateau which was a vital action during the retreat from Mons. The British forces inflicted severe casualties on the Germans, despite the British being heavily outnumbered. The British soldiers ability to fire the Lee-Enfield rifle with deadly accuracy and speed was certainly a deciding factor in the engagement, though it was a victory for the Germans, at least tactically, the brave action of the British soldiers that fought the rearguard effectively saved the war for the Allies.
The battalions of the regiment also fought in the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, the Battle of La Bassée and the brutal first Battle of Ypres, which had initially been an offensive battle, though the attacking and exposed, British infanty received heavy casualties in attacking German positions that had fearsome machine guns. The battle soon became an entrenched affair. The BEF suffered some 54,100 casualties, astonishing figures that sadly would be eclipsed within two years.
They fought at the Battle of Hill 60. The British placed six mines near to Hill 60. When the mines were detonated, the results were truly devastating. Most of the hill had been blown away causing many casualties. A massived bombardment of German positions took place. Once the bombardment was over, the British began the assault, in which vicious hand-to-hand fighting ensued. About 150 Germans were killed in the brutal fighting, the British lost seven. That night, the Germans counter-attacked, inflicting a large amount of casualties on the British defenders, subsequently re-taking the hill. The Dukes, along with the 2nd Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry assaulted the hill, recapturing it after some fighting. They were subsequently relieved by by four regiments, with one in reserve. The Germans counter-attacked two days latter, but were repelled by those regiments, in which an officer from the 1st Surreys won a VC for his actions during the defence of the hill.
The Dukes also took part in the Battle of the Somme in which the British suffered over 60,000 killed, wounded or missing in just one day, about 20,000 killed the largest amout of dead suffered in the history of the British Army. Indeed, if Ypres ripped the heart out of the old Regular army, then the Somme certainly ripped the heart out of the New Army. The Dukes also fought at the horrendous Battle of Passchendale that descended into an act of attrition, hampered by truly terrible weather. The Dukes also participated in the Battle of Cambrai, in which the first large use of tanks took place. The tanks attacked without any preliminary bombardment taking place, thus taking the Germans by surprise. They took large gains, at least by Western Front standards, on the first day, but within the week, nearly all territory that the Germans had lost, had been regained. The British had suffered some 45,000 casualties, the Germans suffered over 50,000.
In all, during the course of World War I, the regiment suffered an astonishing 8,000 casualties, fighting in nearly every theatre of the war.
World War II
In World War II, the 1st Bn of the regiment was immediately sent to France as part of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division of I corps of the BEF. During the retreat to Dunkirk, the Dukes formed part of the rearguard.
The Dukes returned to France in 1944, during the Normandy Landings. They fought at Tilly-sur-Seulles, where during the course of the battle from the 14th to the 19th June, the town changed hands between the British and the Germans more than twenty times. Sadly, the town had been reduced to a heap of rubble once the battle had concluded. Their fighting was not over though, and the Dukes were soon involved in fight at Fontenay le Pesnil. Heavy fighting ensued, with a number of German units putting up stiff resistance.
The Dukes fought in Italy, taking part in the Anzio Campaign in early 1944. They were involved at the Battle of Campoleone, during a German attack of two veteran German divisions one armoured, the other a parachute division. The British forces defended stoutly, suffering 1,000 casualties in the first day alone. They only withdrew after further heavy fighting took place. The Dukes fought with distinction at the Battle of Monte Ceco in October 1944. Private Richard Henry Burton of the 1st Dukes won a VC for his courageous action in the battle. The regiment also won a battle honour for the engagement.
The Dukes also fought in North Africa, fighting with distinction in a number of actions there, gaining a number of battle honours for their part in that theatre of operations. They fought at the Battle of Medjez Plain, as well as fighting at the Battle of Djebel bou Aoukaz in 1943, taking the town on 27th April. The town however, was re-taken by German forces on the 30th April, after heavy fighting. On the 5th May, the British forces re-took the town from the German forces.
They fought in the Far East, taking part in the rearguard action at the Battle of Sittang Bridge in February 1942. They took part in the Battle of Paungde in March that year. The plan was to advance and occupy Paungde. The strike force advanced on the 29th March, but had to fight Japanese forces just north-east of their objective in the area of Padigon. The force made some progress in the Paungde area before meeting stiff resistance. Due to their orders not to be cut off, the 2nd Dukes and the 7th Hussars withdrew. A Japanese regiment had crossed the west bank of the Irawaddy River, digging in at Shwedaung, just behind the British strike force. An engagement ensued, with the 17th Indian Division attacking the Japanese held town, though the Japanese force held firm. The British force suffered heavy casualies in fighting their way through Shwedaung to rejoin the 17th Indian Division.
They were part of the Chindits in March 1944, but as part of the 23rd Brigade, did not join in the second expedition, being sent by General Slim to operate behind Japanese lines, who were at that time attacking India.
Korean War
The 1st Kings were deployed to Korea in 1952, two years after the Korean War had broke out. They were attached to the 1st Commonwealth Division. In 1953, the 1st Kings relieved the Black Watch, who had been defending a position known as The Hook, a crescent shaped ridge, which was of tactical importance in the Commonwealth sector. From the 10th May to the 28th, the 1st Dukes suffered some fifty-eight casualties from artillery and mortar fire.
The 28th was the beginning of the third Battle for the Hook. An initial bombardment of the British positions took place, with the Chinese forces charging the forward British positions once the bombardment ceased. The fighting that ensued was bloody and more akin to the battles that the Dukes had fought in WWI. Shells were now raining down on the the Hook from artillery and mortars, from both the Chinese and UN forces. A second attack by the Chinese was launched at 8:45pm, though much of the attacking force was cut down by heavy fire from the Commonwealth forces. Some however managed to join up with survivors of the first attack. Further attacks occured on the 28th but all were defeated with heavy fighting taking place.
Just 30 minutes into the 29th, another attack was launched by the Chinese forces, though as before, they were defeated. Later that day, the Dukes began advancing up the line of the original trenches to dislodge the remaining Chinese forces in the forward trenches. The Dukes secured the Hook at 3:30am. The battle had caused total devastation to the area, and had cost the Dukes 28 dead and 121 wounded. The Chinese had about 250 killed, with over 800 being wounded.
Post-Korean War
Garrison duties awaited the Dukes after those bloody encounters in the Korean War, being deployed first to Gibraltar, then to Cyprus in 1956, being involved in anti-terrorist operations there. The following year, the Dukes were deployed to Northern Ireland. They moved to the mainland in 1959, where they joined the new UK Strategic Reserve, becoming part of 19 Infantry Brigade.
In 1960, the Dukes were deployed to Kenya at the request of the Governor. In 1968, the Dukes deployed to Hong Kong for internal security duties, just a year after the riots there, when young followers of Chairman Mao besieged Goverment House. Thousands of bombs were planted during the riots, which sadly killed fifteen people in that terror campaign. The Dukes though, thankfully, had a more quiet deployment than the units that had been involved in the riots.
They returned to the UK in 1970. The Dukes were to see much violence in the 1970s, being deployed to Northern Ireland a number of times during the bloodiest years of 'The Troubles'. Their first deployment was in 1971, during one of the bloodiest times in NI in which 43 British soldiers were killed. Many ncivilians and terrorists also died in that year. They also saw tours in 1973, 1976, 1977 and 1979. The Dukes lost six soldiers during these deployments.
In 1985, the Dukes deployed to Belize for a six-month tour of duty there. In March 1994, the Dukes deployed to Bosnia, with it's area of responsibility including Bugojno, Vitez, Travnik and the besieged enclave of Gorazde. The latter was under siege for much of the war. It was declared a UN Safe Zone in that year. The Dukes were one of the first units to enter the town. The regiment pushed the Bosnian-Serb Army from their positions around the town to a distance of over one miles. Their objective in doing this was to create a safe zone for the town. While at Gorazde, Private Shane Taylor of C Company of the regiment was killed in heavy fighting with Bosnian-Serb forces while manning an observation post. The engagement lasted fifteen minutes, with over 2,000 rounds of ammunition being expended by the Dukes. Seven of the Bosnian-Serb soldiers were killed in the fire-fight. Gorazde remained a safe zone, being held by British troops from 1994-95, indeed it was the only safe zone to survive the war. Unlike the tragedies that occured in other UN safe zones, like Srebrenica and Zepa.
Corporal Wayne Mills of the 1st Dukes became the first recipient of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross. On 29th April 1994, the patrol led by Corporal Mills came under heavy small-arms fire from a group of Bosnian-Serbs. The patrol returned fire, killing two of the attackers. The patrol then withdrew, but the attackers persisted, carrying on firing on the patrol. The patrol soon reached an open clearing, where it was obvious they would be highly vulnerable to fire from the attackers. Corporal Mills performing an astonishing feat of bravery. He fired on the group, delaying the attackers enough to allow the rest of his patrol to cross the clearing. While doing this brave act, Corporal Mills shot the leader of the group, with them scattering due to that action. He returned to his patrol safely after that action.
The Distinguished Service Order was awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel David Santa-Olalla for his inspirational leadership and courage during the Dukes deployment to Bosnia. He personally arranged for the mutual withdrawal of Serbian and Muslim forces from fighting in the beseiged town of Gorazde, just as the Genava talks were being held on the town. He was a truly competent leader during the Bosnia deployment, being first on the scene whenever an incident occured.
In March 1995, the Dukes were deployed to Northern Ireland, a tour of duty that would last two years. In March 1997, a company from the Dukes deployed to the Falkland Islands. In 1998, C company deployed for a tour of duty in South Amargh. In February 2001, a company from the Dukes deployed to Kosovo, with the objective of preventing arms and munitions being transported from Albania to Kosovo, then onto FYROM. The deployment ended in July that year.
In 2003, the Dukes were part of Operation Telic, the invasion of Iraq, as part of 1(UK) Armoured Division.
On a more lighter note, the Dukes have a proud rugby tradition, indeed they have had in their history, three players for the British and Irish Lions squad, seven English internationals, three Scottish internationals and one Irish international. The Dukes themselves have a fearsome reputation on the field as well, winning the Army Cup an astonishing fourteen times, as well as being runners-up eight times.
Battle honours
Dettingen, Hindoostan, Mysore, Seringapatam, Ally Ghur, Delhi 1803, Leswaree, Deig, Corunna, Nive, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Abyssinia, Relief of Kimberley, South Africa 1900-02
First World War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 and 1918, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915 and 1917, Nonne Bosschen, Hill 60, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Aubers, Somme 1916 and 1918, Albert 1916 and 1918, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Poziéres, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Arras 1917 and 1918, Scarpe 1917 and 1918, Arleux, Bullecort, Messines 1917 and 1918, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendale, Cambrai 1917 and 1918, St Quentin, Ancre 1918, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Kemmel, Bethune, Scherpenberg, Tardenois, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917-18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Egypt 1916
Afghanistan 1919
Second World War: Dunkirk 1940, St. Valery-en-Caux, Tilly sur Seulles, Odon, Fontenay Le Pesnil, North-West Europe 1940 and 1944-45, Banana Ridge, Medjez Plain, Gueriat el Atach Ridge, Tunis, Djebel Bou Aoukaz 1943, North Africa 1943, Anzio, Campoleone, Rome, Monte Ceco, Italy 1943-45, Sittang 1942, Paungde, Kohima, Chindits 1944, Burma 1942-44
The Hook 1953, Korea 1952-53
Other information
Victoria Cross winners (external links)
Referenced By
33rd Regiment of Foot | 76th Regiment of Foot | Battle of Ally Ghur | British Army/Structure | Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) | Duke of Wellington's Regiment | Structure of the British Army | The Duke of Wellington's Regiment
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