North Midland (Staffordshire) Royal Garrison Artillery

When the TF was created in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms, each of its infantry divisions included a heavy artillery battery in its establishment. For the North Midland Division, a new unit was raised at Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, under the title of the North Midland (Staffordshire) Heavy Battery, RGA. ==World War I==

The battery, consisting of four 4.7-inch guns, mobilised at the beginning of World War I, and was quartered at Bishop's Stortford with the rest of the North Midland Division. On 31 August 1914, all TF units were authorised to raise 2nd Line units, upon which the parent battery was designated 1/1st North Midland Heavy Battery and the new unit recruiting at Hartshill became the 2/1st Battery. 1/1st North Midland Heavy Battery The battery went to France with the North Midland Division, landing at Le Havre on 1 March 1915. On arrival in France, the division was designated 46th (North Midland) Division. The battery first went into action on 23 March. However, artillery policy in the British Expeditionary Force was to withdraw heavy batteries from the divisions and allocate them to heavy brigades (later Heavy Artillery Reserve Groups (HAGs)). So, on 18 April, the battery left 46th Division and after short attachments to other infantry divisions became part of XIII Heavy Brigade, RGA. The obsolescent 4.7-inch guns were progressively replaced in the BEF by 60-pounders during 1915-16. When the BEF demobilised in 1919, the battery was placed in suspended animation. At midnight, on 12/13 September 1916, the battery was transferred from VI Corps to VII Corps and moved from Arras, first to Humbercamps and then to the Bayencourt/ Hebuterne area. Here, they took part in counter-battery work against German artillery in support of the attacks at Flers-Courcelette, Morval and Thiepval Ridge by Fourth and Reserve Armies. New recruits were initially posted to these units for training before being sent to a battalion at the front. In addition, men aged 17 or 18 who had volunteered for the TF and were serving in Second Line units were too young to be posted overseas and were transferred to Third Line units until they reached the age of 19. Although Third Line Batteries were not common within the RGA, there is evidence that a 3/1st North Midland Heavy Battery briefly existed during 1916 and was engaged in training, probably at Larkhill, in July 1916. This would have been created after 2/1st Battery left for France on 28 May 1916 and would have begun training men as replacements for the two front line batteries. The 3/1st Battery did not serve overseas and appears to have been short-lived as many Third Line units were merged or disbanded from 1916 onwards. ==Interwar==

When the renamed Territorial Army was formed in 1920–2, the former North Midland Heavy Battery was reconstituted as two batteries at Stoke-on-Trent: • 215th (1st Staffordshire) Medium Battery (Howitzers) • 216th (2nd Staffordshire) Medium Battery (Howitzers) Although they remained in the 46th Divisional area, the two Staffordshire batteries were brigaded with a headquarters and two batteries (213 and 214) from the West Riding of Yorkshire (49th Divisional area) in the 9th (West Riding and Staffordshire) Medium Brigade, RGA, which was subsequently redesignated as 54th (West Riding and Staffordshire) Medium Brigade, RGA. This awkward arrangement persisted until 1932 when the brigade was split up, with the two Staffordshire batteries and 204 (Warwickshire) Medium Bty becoming 51st (Midland) Medium Brigade, Royal Artillery. 204 Battery was converted to anti-aircraft (AA) and joined 73rd AA Regiment. Thus the regiment (as brigades were designated from 1938) had the following organisation: • HQ at Stoke • 214th (2nd West Riding) Medium Bty (H) at Huddersfield • 215th (Staffordshire) Medium Bty (H) at Stoke • 216th (Staffordshire) Medium Bty (H) at Stoke • 240th (Shropshire Royal Horse Artillery) Bty (H) at Coleham, Shrewsbury As part of the expansion of the TA shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the regiment was split into two, 215 (Staffordshire) and 240 (Shropshire Horse Artillery) Btys remaining with 51 Medium Regiment, while 214 (2 West Riding) and 216 (Staffordshire) Btys formed a new 63rd Medium Regiment, RA, both being headquartered at Stoke and forming part of the West Lancashire Area of Western Command. ==World War II==

51st (Midland) Medium Regiment After training at Stone, Staffordshire, and Bradford-on-Avon, the regiment went to France with the new British Expeditionary Force in February 1940, forming part of III Corps. The regiment was equipped with the 6-inch howitzer. Battle of France In late April, the regiment was detached from the BEF and went with 51st (Highland) Division to take over part of the French Maginot Line in the Saar sector. German patrols were active, and the artillery of both sides were in action. The Battle of France opened with German attacks further north on 10 May. At 04.00 on 13 May a heavy German barrage came down on 51st Division's positions and was answered by the British artillery firing its designated fire-tasks. Three attacks were beaten off, and the sector remained quiet on 14 and 15 May. Late on 15 May the French ordered 51st Division to withdraw to the reserve line. No further attack were made and the division was relieved in the line on 22/23 May. By now, the German breakthrough (see below) had cut the BEF off from its main bases in Normandy, and 51st Division was unable to rejoin it. While the BEF was evacuated from Dunkirk, there were still 140,000 British troops in France streaming back towards the Normandy coast. 51st Division went into action with the French IX Corps on 4 June in a counter-attack at Mareuil-Caubert intended to recover the Abbeville bridgehead. The attack went in behind an artillery barrage in early morning mist, but despite some successes and good infantry–artillery cooperation, the operation failed in its objectives. The last defenders of Dunkirk surrendered that day, and the following day the Germans renewed their offensive south of the River Somme. The Germans attacked all along 51st Division's front on 5 June, mauling the division badly, and although the division held along the River Besle, Panzer columns broke through to the south, effectively cutting the division off in the Le Havre peninsula. Too late, the French commanders ordered a retreat. By 9 June, 51st Medium Regiment (without its guns) was part of 'Arkforce' sent to form a defensive line outside Le Havre in an attempt to cover the retreat of 51st Division. Arkforce got into position quickly, but most of the Division was cut off and forced to surrender at Saint-Valery-en-Caux on 12 June. Arkforce was successfully evacuated from Le Havre the following night during Operation Cycle. Home Defence During the period of the Battle of Britain and invasion alerts, 51 Medium Regiment was broken up to man coastal defence guns in Western Command, but in December 1940 it assembled at Ellesmere for re-equipping and retraining on the new 5.5-inch gun. The regiment moved to Bedford in July 1941. North Africa In the autumn of 1942, 51 Medium Rgt embarked at Liverpool and arrived in Egypt in October to join Middle East Forces (MEF). In January 1943, it re-equipped with the 4.5-inch gun and moved up to join Eighth Army. As part of 5th Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA) it took part in the battles of the Mareth Line, Wadi Akarit and Enfidaville in March and April 1943. Italy After the end of the Tunisian Campaign, the regiment reverted to the MEF, but on 7 October 1943 it landed at Salerno as part of 2nd AGRA, where it came under the command of the US Fifth Army. It took part in the Battle of the River Volturno and the 1st Battle of Cassino. After a short spell in 1st AGRA with Eighth Army on the East coast of Italy for the opening of the Battle of the Sangro, the regiment reverted to Fifth Army command at Cassino, the River Garigliano, the final battle of Cassino, and the breaking of the Hitler Line and Gustav Line. After a short rest with MEF in Egypt and Palestine in May 1944, After VE Day, the regiment carried out occupation duties in the Dortmund–Bochum area under 76th Anti-Aircraft Brigade. 51 (Midland) Medium Rgt was placed in suspended animation on 1 April 1946. 63rd (Midland) Medium Regiment Battle of France The 63rd Medium Rgt also went to France with the BEF, When the Germans broke through French lines, the Corps was forced to fall back on successive river lines. By 21 May the BEF was on the Escaut with a strong artillery force, but by then artillery ammunition was running low. On 23 May, the BEF fell back to what were known as the 'Canal Line', and the 'Frontier Line'. British troops in these lines were not seriously attacked, but artillery ammunition was now so short that they could not disrupt enemy movements towards the Belgians. Soon afterwards the Belgians surrendered and German pressure forced the BEF back towards Dunkirk. 5th Division of GHQ Reserve, supported by I Corps' artillery, took up a defensive position on the canals around Ypres on 27 May. A counter-attack that evening supported by I Corps' medium regiments succeeded in steadying the line. The following day the line was held by desperate fighting, of which the Official History says 'The artillery deserve a large share of the credit for holding the German attack. Not only the field regiments but I Corps artillery fired almost continuously till their ammunition was in the end exhausted'. Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Brooke, commander of II Corps wrote in his diary that 5th Division and the Corps artillery 'had been fighting a life and death struggle all day', and noted that I Corps had fired 5000 rounds of medium artillery ammunition in 36 hours. 'There is no doubt that the 5th Division in its fight on the Ypres-Comines Canal saved the II Corps and the B.E.F.' The position was held for three days until the bulk of the BEF had got inside the Dunkirk perimeter. Then the artillery destroyed their guns and took their place in the evacuation from Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo). Home Defence Back in the UK, 63 Medium Rgt served in home defence with Southern Command until 1944. The regiment served throughout the North West Europe campaign in support of various operations. For example, 8 AGRA supported VIII Corps during Operation Jupiter (the recapture of Hill 112 on 10 July 1944), 15th (Scottish) Division in Operation Guildford (the capture of Blerick on 2 December 1944), and XII Corps during Operation Plunder (the crossing of the Rhine on 23 March 1945). 63 (Midland) Medium Rgt was placed in suspended animation in 1945 and disbanded in 1947. ==Postwar==

When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the Shropshire RHA battery joined 639 Heavy Regiment RA, while the Staffordshire part of 51st Medium Rgt became 351st Medium Regiment RA (Midland) based at Stoke. It formed part of 87 (Field) AGRA. However, the regiment was short-lived, being placed in suspended animation in 1950 and subsequently disbanded. ==Honorary Colonel==

• William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, MC, TD, a former officer in the 10th Hussars and Staffordshire Yeomanry, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the regiment on 9 October 1933. ==See also==