Background In 1967, as a result of the
1966 Defence White Paper, the Territorial Army (TA) was completely reorganised with many of the old units with long and distinguished histories reduced to company and platoon sizes and merged into new smaller units. Among the changes was the creation of the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR), which was divided into three categories: TAVR I (The 'Ever-readies', ready for United Nations commitments and would serve to bring the Regular Army to war establishment, replace casualties, and be ready for rapid deployment); TAVR II (these units were to give the Regular Army administrative units not needed in peacetime). They would serve to bring the establishment and to replace losses. This category became known as the 'Volunteers' with units taking the sub-title of '(Volunteers) or (V)'. The third category, TAVR III was the largest of the branches tasked with home defence and were to maintain law and order in the event of nuclear attack and were also available for help in case of civil emergencies; these units had the subtitle of 'Territorial', not to be confused as the 'Territorials', the name for the TAVR as a whole. Lastly, TAVR IV was the smallest of the branch, comprising the University Officers' Training Corps, Regimental and Corps Bands and miscellaneous support units.
Formation As a result of the above changes, on 1 April 1967, the
211th (Wessex) Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) was formed in TAVR II with a 200-bed capacity. The station was organised into a Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) and three squadrons: RHQ and A Squadron based in
Plymouth, B Squadron at
Wyvern Barracks in
Exeter, and C Squadron in
Truro. The station was formed by the amalgamation of the western RAMC territorial units of the 43rd Division/District's area of responsibility:
11th (Southern) Casualty Clearing Station, 23rd (Cornwall) Field Dressing Station, and
128th (Wessex) Field Ambulance. The 11th and 23rd Stations came from
Southern Command, while the 128th Field Ambulance came from the
43rd (Wessex) Division/District. After formation, the new station was assigned to
South West District, previously the 43rd (Wessex) Division/District, though these un-centralised districts became a nuisance and caused issues rather quickly. The 211th was formed alongside the
219th (Wessex) Field Hospital which was formed by merging the eastern units of the 43rd Division/District's area of responsibility. This left the 211th taking the western counties:
Cornwall and
Devonshire, while the 219th took the eastern counties:
City & County of Bristol,
Hampshire,
Oxfordshire, and
Somerset.
Reorganisation On 1 March 1970, the Royal Army Medical Corps went through an internal reorganisation which saw the old medical designations replaced by modern terms. The old casualty clearing stations became field hospitals (a term which will disappear in the British Army in 2022), and the old field dressing stations became field ambulances. The new field hospitals were non-mobile units designed to take care of, run, and maintain rear hospitals, with the 211th capable of a 200-bed hospital, this later being expanded to a 400-bed unit. The field ambulances meanwhile, as the name would suggest, were mobile units equipped with
Land Rover Ambulances which would support units on the battlefield. From this date, the station became
211th (Wessex) Field Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers). After the renaming of RAMC units in 1970, the organisation of these units was also reorganised into the following: headquarters, reception team, four wards of 50 bed blocks each, specialist departments (Medicine, X-ray, Pathology, and Dental provided by the Royal Army Dental Corps), and 4 x surgical teams. If mobilised, section of a blood support unit would be attached. Each field hospital was also supported by 21 officers of
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps and the medical platoon attached to an engineer support & ambulance squadron of the
Royal Corps of Transport. The establishment of the hospital was set at 48 officers and 141 other ranks. In 1984, as a result of the
1981 Defence White Paper, many of the old disbanded territorial brigades were reformed as part of their respective regional districts. These brigades were not like their predecessors however, as with the enhancement of the TA, the brigades became purely administrative headquarters for training. In the hospital's new role, if mobilised the unit would be sent to Germany an join the
3rd Armoured Division.'''''' After the 1984 role change, the hospital was reorganised into eight surgical teams, established with 400 beds and its establishment expanded to 560 officers and other ranks. In October 1993, the unit's annual camp was held in
Picardy,
France and a ceremonial parade, led by the Army Medical Services (Volunteer) Band, was held at Saint Amand-les-Eaux to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the bestowal of the Croix de Guerre. This included the ceremony of 'Trooping the Croix de Guerre'. The structure of the hospital by the time of its merger was as follows: • Regimental Headquarters, in Plymouth • A Squadron, in Truro • B Squadron, at Wyevern Barracks, Exeter • Detachment, in Barnstaple –
raised in 1985 • C Squadron, in Taunton Following the disbandment of the hospital, the regimental banner was laid up in
Exeter Cathedral in
Devon on
Remembrance Sunday on 12 November 1995, after being presented to the Canon in Residence by the Commanding Officer, Colonel John Riddington Young, in a formal ceremony. The current whereabouts of the banner are unknown, and it is said to have been buried within the ground of
Bristol Cathedral. A replica was produced in 2015, and is currently held by its successor, 243rd (The Wessex) Field Hospital. == Further lineage ==