Mobilisation The TA was doubled in size after the
Munich Crisis of 1938, and most regiments split to form duplicates. Part of the reorganisation was that field regiments changed from four six-gun batteries to an establishment of two batteries, each of three four-gun
troops. For the 78th (Lowland) Fd Rgt this resulted in the following organisation from 12 June 1939:
78th (Lowland) Field Regiment, RA • RHQ at Edinburgh • 309 (1st City of Edinburgh) Field Bty at Edinburgh • 310 (2nd City of Edinburgh) Field Bty at Edinburgh
129th Field Regiment, RA • RHQ at Edinburgh • 311 (Midlothian) Field Bty at Edinburgh • 312 (5th City of Glasgow) Field Bty at Glasgow 78th Field Rgt remained part of 52nd (L) Division, while 129th joined its duplicate, the
15th (Scottish) Division, formed on 2 September 1939.
78th (Lowland) Field Regiment After the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been
evacuated from Dunkirk, 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division was sent to
Cherbourg to form part of a reformed '2nd BEF', arriving on 10 June. However, the situation of the French armies was hopeless and the division was evacuated again after only a week. As one of the few formations that still had its guns and equipment, the division became part of Home Forces' mobile reserve around London. Its field regiments had an almost complete establishment of modern
Mk II 25-pounders. 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division returned to Scottish Command in November 1940. 78th (L) Field Rgt accordingly formed 456 Fd Bty by March 1941. It arrived in time to take part in the
Second Battle of El Alamein in October. The regiment was officially attached to
1st Armoured Division, but actually three Troops (12 x 25-pounders) were with 51st Highland Division, and the other three with
2nd New Zealand Division. After the pursuit across
North Africa, the regiment was involved in the fighting in
Tunisia. For the final advance on
Tunis (
Operation Vulcan) it formed part of a battle group of
4th Armoured Brigade (30 April to 21 May 1943).
Italy The regiment served in
5th Army Group Royal Artillery (5 AGRA) in the
Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky). It then landed in
Italy under Eighth Army's command in September 1943. In January 1944 it formed part of
2 AGRA supporting
56th (London) Infantry Division in its
assault crossing of the Garigliano on 17 January. It was then switched to the
Anzio beachhead, where it supported
1st Infantry Division, firing to disrupt German preparations for a counter-offensive that was finally launched on 7 February and defeated by 12 February.
178th (Lowland) Medium Regiment In April 1944 the regiment was re-equipped to serve in the medium artillery role. Because there was already a
78th Medium Regiment, the new regiment took the designation
178th (Lowland) Medium Regiment in May. Medium regiments consisted of two batteries, each equipped with eight
5.5-inch guns; 309 and 310 Btys continued with the regiment. At various times in the latter part of the Italian Campaign the regiment was in
7 AGRA and
10 AGRA serving with
Fifth US Army. 178th (Lowland) Medium Regiment was placed in suspended animation on 15 January 1946. As the threat of invasion receded, the division was able to concentrate on mobile training in 1941. 129th Field Rgt formed its third battery, 493 Fd Bty, on 1 March 1941 when the regiment was stationed at
Great Baddow in
Essex. In September the field regiments finally got their full complement of 25-pounders. However, in November the division was placed on a lower establishment and became purely a mobile coastal defence formation in
Northumberland, with 44th (L) Bde and 129th Fd Rgt around
Wooler. It was used to supply drafts and complete units for service overseas. 129th (Lowland) Field Rgt was authorised to use its parent's 'Lowland' subtitle on 17 February 1942. Since September the 14th Indian Division had been advancing into the
Arakan through difficult terrain and appalling weather, road-building as it went. Its objective was Akyab, but only part of its strength could be supported at the front and 129th Fd Rgt was withdrawn on 10 January 1943 without coming into action. It moved to
Imphal, on the India/Assam border, where it came under the command of
17th Indian Infantry Division, which had been refitting as a 'light' division designed for jungle fighting. 17th Indian Division was covering the construction of the Imphal–
Tiddim road. 129th Field Rgt moved up to the base at
Shillong on 8 May, but guns could not be moved up the single
Jeep track to the advanced posts at
Fort White and
Kennedy Peak in the
Chin Hills, where skirmishing with the Japanese went on through the
Monsoon.
129th Jungle Field Regiment The problem of operating artillery in jungle terrain was tackled by converting field regiments into 'Jungle Field Regiments' equipped with jeep-towed
3.7-inch mountain howitzers and
3-inch mortars. 129th (Lowland) was the first unit to convert and build up experience with this equipment. However, neither weapon had sufficient range or weight of shell, but the regimental fitters under
Sergeant Farrell and
Bombardier Clifford Jones worked out that they could fit a jeep axle and wheels to a 25-pounder, reducing the weight and width of the whole assembly. The regiment tried it out on the Tiddim Road and found that with very few modifications to the gun carriage and trail it remained stable even when firing the highest charges. The CO, Lt-Col Younger, reported the success in October 1943 and the regiment received a gun converted to this 'jury axle' format for trials the following month. By January 1944 the gun had proved its worth and jeep-towed
Jury axle 25-pounders began to be issued to one field regiment in each light division. In really rough terrain the whole gun could be broken down into jeep-sized loads like a mountain gun.
Retreat from Tiddim The regiment moved to the
Manipur Road with 17th Indian Light Division on 13 November 1943, but by 8 December it was with
5th Indian Infantry Division at
Kohima and
Imphal. From January it was back with 17th Indian Division, with which it remained for the rest of the war. 17th Division was still skirmishing from Kennedy Peak towards Fort White with a battery of 129th Jungle Fd Rgt supporting
48th Indian Infantry Brigade. 493 Field Battery was deployed with its jury axle guns at a height of , within of the crest of Kennedy Peak, claiming to be the highest guns in the world. The guns were constantly in action supporting infantry patrols, but enemy strength in the area began to increase in February as a prelude to the forthcoming Japanese offensive (
Operation U-Go). 17th Division switched over to a defensive posture, with administrative units in the Imphal Plain grouped into self-contained defensive boxes. U-Go was launched in March, with the aim of cutting off 17th Indian Division. The decision to withdraw the division from Tiddim came too late, and although it successfully disengaged from Kennedy Peak it was cut off by a series of roadblocks. On 15 March it was stopped at the Taitum Saddle. Lieutenant-Colonel Younger organised a fireplan with 393 Bty firing from the north and 311 and 312 from the south, which gave the Japanese no reverse slope for protection. The first attack on the block failed, but next day, reinforced by mountain and anti-tank guns, and one 25-pounder firing directly into enemy bunkers, the position was taken on 16 March and the following day the regiment provided Defensive Fire (DF) tasks to prevent it being recaptured. Suffering heavy casualties from the artillery fire, the Japanese suddenly fell back and opened the way to the bridge over the
Manipur River. For the final stage of the retreat the division had to clear a block and recapture a supply dump at Milestone 109. A first attack on 22 March failed, but the following day with 311 and 312 Batterys firing in support, the enemy was driven off their positions. The regiment's forward observation officers (FOOs) were able to range their guns onto the objective when their own advancing infantry were only away from it. By now ammunition was down to five rounds per gun (the regiment had fired 6900 in three weeks), and attempts to air-drop supplies had failed, but on 4 April the regiment marched into Imphal where it met 5th Indian Division, which had been flown in.
Kohima–Imphal The whole of
IV Corps was now dug in on the Imphal Plain with 17th Indian Division at Imphal in Corps reserve. While the emphasis was on IV Corps' efforts to relieve the besieged base at
Kohima in the north, 17th Indian Division at
Bishenpur on the Tiddim Road was still under pressure from the south. The divisional artillery was disposed in two 'boxes', most in the north, but with RHQ and three troops of 129th Fd Rgt in the southern box. The gunners themselves had to defend their boxes against attacks by Japanese infantry, as well as firing in support of troops fighting to clear the hills and to counter thrusts by Japanese columns. On 23 June the
siege of Imphal was broken, and the position of the Japanese troops at Bishenpur became precarious as IV Corps went over to the offensive. By 31 July 17th Indian Division was withdrawn for rest. From the retreat from Tiddim to the end of July 129th Fd Rgt was in action for 244 days in which it fired 121,253 rounds. On 4 September 1944 the regiment left Burma with 17th Indian Division and returned to Ranchi for extended rest and preparation for the 1945 offensive. For example, on 26 October 1944 311 Fd Bty carried out trials on firing 25-pounders from landing craft, which would be necessary for future river crossings and coastal landings. 17th Indian Division was now organised with two brigades motorised and one air-transportable. On 31 January 1945 it completed its retraining and the regiment returned to the front on 6 February.
Meiktila The division was to cross the
Irrawaddy River and then act as a fast striking force towards
Meiktila. It was ferried across the river on 18 February and drove towards Meiktila in a series of short actions. During this fighting a FOO of 129th Fd Rgt was killed; his observation post assistant ('OP Ack') was Lance Bombardier G.C. Huntley, who made his own fire plan to neutralise the enemy, then organised a stretcher party to bring out a wounded officer and the body of his FOO. Huntly was awarded a
Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) but was killed a few weeks later. 17th Indian Division reached Meiktila by 1 March, but the Japanese cut the road behind the division, which then had to rely on air supply. Nevertheless, the guns came into action and the town was cleared by 4 March where the division prepared to meet the expected Japanese counter-offensive (the
Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay). There was bitter fighting around the perimeter during March as the Japanese tried to retake the airfield. The gunners used
Airburst rounds to dislodge enemy snipers from treetops, and once again had to defend their own gun positions, but the airfield was held and the division's air-transportable brigade was successfully flown in. At the end of the month the road was opened, and reinforcements arrived on 1 April. The regiment had fired 11,721 rounds in March. The
Battle of the Sittang Bend carried on through the Monsoon, with 129th Fd Rgt very active in the fighting as Japanese thrusts were stopped and pockets of resistance mopped up. The next phase of the offensive was due to be an amphibious assault on Malaya (
Operation Zipper), but this was forestalled by the end of the war in mid-August. After a period with the Burma garrison, 129th (Lowland) Field Regiment was placed in suspended animation in 1946, completing the process on 1 March. ==Postwar==