Predecessor formations 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot The senior partner in the amalgamated Wiltshire Regiment was the 62nd Regiment of Foot. The 62nd was formed in 1756, originally as the second battalion of the
4th Regiment of Foot. In 1758, the battalion was redesignated as the 62nd Regiment of Foot. Although a regiment of the line, many of its companies were initially deployed as marines, serving with Admiral Boscawen's fleet during the
Siege of Louisbourg in 1758. The balance of the regiment remained in Ireland where they
defended Castle Carrickfergus from a French invasion force in 1758. After its initial baptism, the regiment would go on to see active service in the
American Revolutionary War. Being used as light infantry, the regiment took part in General
John Burgoyne's
doomed campaign, culminating in the
Battles of Saratoga. Twelve years after the end of the American Revolution, the regiment would fight against revolutionary and imperial France. Taking part in campaigns in West Indies, Sicily, and the Peninsula where they won the battle honours "Nive" and "Peninsula". - Depiction of the 62nd Regiment on the second day of the battle by
Henry Martens. 62nd evident by the buff colour of the flag and of the facings of the British regulars shown. The figures in the foreground are likely members of the regiment's light company. Following the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, the 62nd rotated through the expanding British Empire. It would serve as parts of the garrisons in Canada and Ireland before being dispatched to India. While in India, the 62nd became part of
General Sir Gough's army during the
First Sikh War. During the war, although it lost its colours twice to various mishaps, the regiment would earn its proudest honour at the
Battle of Ferozeshah. In tribute to the service of its sergeants, who commanded the regiment when virtually all the officers were killed or incapacitated, the regiment would celebrate every 21 December as Ferozeshah Day. Eventually, the regiment rotated back to the Home Islands in time to be available for the
Crimean War. From 1854 to 1856, the regiment served in the Crimea, mainly as part of the forces besieging the port of
Sevastopol. The 62nd took part in the failed attack on the Great Redan Bastion, suffering heavy casualties. With the end of the Crimean War, the 62nd returned to its task of policing the British Empire. During its last quarter century as an independent regiment, the 62nd would serve in Canada, Ireland, India and as part of Aden garrison. In 1871, as part of
Cardwell reforms, the 62nd was linked with the 99th Regiment of Foot. With the subsequent
Childers reforms, the two regiments were amalgamated into a single regiment, the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment, in 1881.
99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot The 99th Regiment of Foot was raised in 1824 in Edinburgh by Major-General Gage John Hall. It was unrelated to earlier units designated as the 99th Regiment of the British Army, including the
99th Regiment of Foot (Jamaica Regiment) and the 99th Foot which was re-designated as the
100th Regiment of Foot. In 1832, the new 99th Regiment received its county title, becoming the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. During its early years, the 99th spent much of its time in the Pacific. The first detachments of the 99th Regiment arrived in Australia with
convicts transported aboard the transport ship
North Briton, destined for
Tasmania, in 1842. The rest of the 99th arrived with successive shipments of convicts. The 99th rotated through various colonial posts during much of 1842 until being ordered to Sydney, Australia. However, the 99th soon earned an unsavoury reputation, alienating the locals to such an extent that an additional regiment had to be assigned to Sydney. The
11th Regiment of Foot's principal job was keeping the men of the 99th under control. three government soldiers and at least nine
Ngāti Toa were killed. Following the capture of
Te Rauparaha in 1846, the Regiment would depart New Zealand and return to Australia, although detachments would be sent as needed to reinforce the British forces in New Zealand for the next few years to keep the peace. For its service in the
First Maori War, the regiment earned its first battle honour: New Zealand. While at Aldershot, the regiment earned its reputation as an extraordinarily well drilled and well turned out regiment. Following its tour of duty at Aldershot, the regiment rotated to India in 1859. After serving at various Indian stations, the 99th was called to active service to form part of General Sir Hope Grant's force during the Second Opium War. Assigned to the 2nd Division, commanded by Major-General Sir Robert Napier, the 99th took part in the
Third Battle of Taku Forts and the
Battle of Palikao. The regiment also participated in the
Sack of Peking, where among the loot carried off, the regiment took a Pekinese dog that belonged to the Chinese Empress. The dog, named Lootie, was taken back to England where it was presented to
Queen Victoria. From 1865 until 1868, the 99th served in South Africa. While there,
Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, inspected the regiment as part of a tour of the colony. The regiment impressed him so much that he took a continued interest in the regiment for the rest of his life. This culminated in permission being granted to re-title the regiment. In 1874, the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot became the 99th (Duke of Edinburgh's) Regiment. Assigned to
Lord Chelmsford's column, they marched to the relief of British forces under
Colonel Charles Pearson besieged by the Zulu impis. At the
Battle of Gingindlovu, the 99th helped defeat a
Zulu impi that tried to overrun the British while laagered. Although it would not participate in the final battle at
Ulundi, the 99th was honoured for its service in the Anglo-Zulu War, being awarded the battle honour South Africa 1879.
Service in the Empire Following the amalgamation of the 62nd and 99th regiments into the Duke of Edinburgh (Wiltshire Regiment) in 1881, the regiment rotated through various posts of the British Empire. The 1st battalion was stationed in the Channel Islands from 1886, then transferred to Ireland in 1887. Back home in England from 1893 to 1895, the battalion was sent to
British India in 1895. It served in
Peshawar until late 1902, when it transferred to
Rawalpindi. The 2nd battalion was posted in India from 1881 to 1895, when the battalion returned. It was on Guernsey at the turn of the century.
Second Boer War along the
Orange River c. 1900. In late 1899 the 2nd Wilts was dispatched to South Africa to take part in the
Second Boer War. Arriving in time to take part in
Lord Roberts' campaign against the Boers. Upon arrival, the 2nd Wilts was brigaded with the 2nd
Bedfordshire Regiment, 1st
Royal Irish Regiment, and 2nd
Worcestershire Regiment to form the 12th Brigade under Major General
Clements. Although initially assigned to Lieutenant General
Kelly-Kenny's Sixth Division, the brigade was used as an independent force. Dispatched to the Colesberg district, they were soon on the defensive against Boer raids once the cavalry under
Major-General French were withdrawn to be used to use in the
relief of Kimberly. Assigned to garrison an exposed position at the town of Rensburg, the 2nd Wilts lost 14 men killed, 57 wounded, and more than a 100 prisoners taken. Although they cleared the Nek, taking 4000 prisoners, the British forces had not been in time to capture De Wet and some his commando, who managed to escape to the mountains. After the capture of Bethlehem, the Boer War was moving from its
second phase and into the
third, guerrilla, phase. The 12th Brigade was broken up and its units sent to other commands. The 2nd Wilts would join Major-General Paget and the
West Riding Regiment in patrolling the areas northeast and northwest of Pretoria. The combination of the blockhouses, sweeper operations and concentration camps proved to be too much for the Boers. In 1902, the war ended as the last of the Boer commandos surrendered and the
Treaty of Vereeniging was signed. With the war over, the 2nd Wiltshires returned to the England in 1903. The
3rd (Royal Wiltshire Militia) Battalion was embodied in January 1900 for garrison duty at
Saint Helena, where a large contingent of Boer prisoners were sent. Following the end of the war in June 1902, most of the officers and men returned home on the
SS Dominion, which arrived in
Southampton in September. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
Territorial Force and the latter the
Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve and one Territorial battalion. These included three additional
Territorial Force battalions (1/4th, 2/4th, and 3/4th Battalions) as well as four service battalions (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th battalions) formed for the
Kitchener's New Army formations.
Regular Army battalions . Upon mobilization and the declaration of war, the 1st Battalion, Wilts deployed to France as part of the
3rd Division's
7th Brigade, landing in France on 14 August 1914, and soon fought in the
Battle of Mons and the
Great Retreat and, in October, in the
First Battle of Ypres, by which time the battalion had lost 26 officers and over 1,000 other ranks. On 21 June 1918, the 1st Wilts joined the 110th Brigade, part of the
21st Division, with which it served for the rest of the war. In December 1915, the 21st Brigade transferred to the
30th Division. In three years of action on the Western Front, the 2nd Wilts took part in most of the major engagements, including the battles of
Neuve Chapelle,
Aubers,
Loos,
Albert,
Arras and
Third Ypres. In March 1918 the 2nd Wilts, like the 1st Wilts, was nearly destroyed during the German Army's Spring Offensive, losing 22 officers and 600 men.
Territorial Force and Special Reserve Under the pre-war British Army system, created during the
Haldane Reforms, each regiment, in addition to having two regular battalions would have two reserve formations associated with it. One would be a
Special Reserve (SR) battalion, while the other would be the
Territorial Force units. In the case of the Wiltshire Regiment, the
3rd (Reserve) Battalion was the SR unit. The 3rd Wilts came into active service during 1914. It would remain in the home islands throughout the war. For most of the war, it would act as the depot and training unit for the battalions of the Wiltshire Regiment. In 1917, it moved from the depot at Devizes to join the Portland Garrison in 1915. In 1917, the 3rd Wiltshires would be transferred to the Thames and Medway garrison. The 2/4th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment came into being in October 1914, assigned to the
2/1st South Western Brigade of the
2nd Wessex Division. Like the 1/4th Wilts, it was also dispatched to British India. However, unlike the 1/4th, 2/4th Wilts never saw action in the First World War. Instead, the battalion took over garrison duties, freeing first-line units up for action against the Central Powers. Following the Diyala crossing, the battalion participated in the
fall of Baghdad, and operations north of there. With the signing of the Armistice, the battalion demobilized in 1919.
7th (Service) Battalion Also formed at the Wiltshire Regiment's depot in Devizes in September 1914, the 7th (Service) Battalion was part of the Third New Army (or K3) of Kitchener's scheme. Soon after formation, the battalion became part of the
79th Brigade, assigned to the
26th Division. In September 1915, the division was transferred to France before being reassigned to the Mediterranean as part of the British forces fighting in
Salonika. As part of the division, the battalion was engaged in the
Battle of Horseshoe Hill in 1916, and
First and
Second Battles of Dorian in 1916 and 1917. Following the Great War, the 2nd Battalion was sent to Hong Kong. In 1921, the battalion began nine years as part of Indian Army. The battalion became part of the Shanghai garrison in 1929 before being rotated back to the Home Islands in 1933. The 2nd Battalion was dispatched to join the British Forces policing the
Mandatory Palestine. The battalion served there during the
1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The 1st Battalion, Wiltshires were transferred to the
4th Indian Infantry Brigade, which also included the 3rd Battalion,
9th Gurkha Rifles and 8th Battalion,
8th Punjab Regiment, part of
26th Indian Infantry Division, in October 1943. With the 26th Indian Division, the 1st Wiltshires took part in the
Battle of the Admin Box. Before
General Slim's offensive to recapture Burma, 1st Wiltshires were rotated back to serve along the North-West Frontier. During the
Italian Campaign, the 2nd Wiltshires would win battle honours for its actions, taking part in the
Moro River Campaign and later crossing the
Garigliano river in January 1944. From March until late May, the battalion fought in the
Battle of Anzio, enduring terrible conditions and fighting in
trench warfare, similar to that on
Western Front nearly 30 years before. They later fought in the
breakout from the Anzio beachhead,
Operation Diadem and the subsequent capture of Rome. On 3 June 1944
Sergeant Maurice Albert Windham Rogers was posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross, the first and only to be awarded to the regiment during the Second World War. Eventually the battalion, as well as the rest of the brigade and the 5th Division would be withdrawn from the Italian Campaign and sent to Palestine, where they would remain for the rest of the year, training and absorbing replacements, mainly from anti-aircraft gunners retrained as infantrymen. However, the 5th Division instead joined the
British Second Army, at the time fighting on the
Western Front, to participate in the
final drive into Germany in April 1945. They took part in the Elbe River crossing as well as the encirclement of
Army Group B. When
hostilities ended on 8 May 1945, they were at Lübeck on the Baltic Sea. The Battalion moved to Einbeck on 1 July and settled down to occupation duties. As the official history reads, "
So ended a journey of over 25,000 miles through nearly six years of war."
Territorial and war service battalions In addition to the two regular army battalions, the Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's) raised four as the 2nd Line duplicate of the 4th Battalion as part of the expansion of the Territorials in throughout 1939 when another European conflict seemed increasingly likely. From 1939 to 1944, both units remained in England training, both attached to
129th Infantry Brigade, alongside the 4th
Somerset Light Infantry, part of the excellent
43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. Although the 5th Battalion was a 2nd Line Territorial unit, it was assigned to a 1st Line brigade and division. This was because the 43rd Division and its 2nd Line duplicate, the
45th, was not formed as an exact mirror duplicate as most were, but was instead split on a geographical basis, with all the units from
Wiltshire,
Hampshire and
Dorset being assigned to the 43rd, whereas those from
Devonshire,
Somerset and
Cornwall assigned to the 45th. As part of the 129th Brigade, both the 4th and 5th Wiltshires participated in the
Battle of Normandy,
landing in France on 24 June 1944. On arrival in theatre, the division became part of
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O'Connor's
VIII Corps. Both battalions would be heavily engaged in many battles during the campaign across North-West France, the low countries, and Germany. During the Normandy Campaign, this included the
Battle of Odom, the fight for
Hill 112 (Operation Jupiter), and the
capture of Mont Picon. After the breakout from Normandy, the 5th Wiltshires would be one of the first two British battalions to force a crossing of the Seine River. On 25 August 1944, it, along with the 4th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, crossed the Seine in paddled assault boats. Once across, the 5th Wiltshires had to hold-off a counter-attack from the German forces including three Tiger tanks. Because of an error in landing on an island in the Seine, rather than the far shore, by the other battalion, the 4th Somerset Light Infantry, the 5th Wilts found themselves cutoff initially. Despite the heavy counter-attack from the German defenders, the 5th Wiltshires were able to hold and extend the beachhead enough to allow reinforcements to be brought over. Eventually, by daybreak on 26 August 1944, the Somersets were reembarked and brought to the right landing site. The 4th Wilts were ferried over while elements of the
214th Infantry Brigade, also a part of 43rd (Wessex) Division, managed to cross at a damaged bridge in order to relieve the 5th Wilts. at Vernon, France, 25 August 1944. During
Operation Market Garden, the 4th and 5th Wiltshires formed part of the relief force that tried to reach the
airborne troops of the US
82nd and
101st Airborne Divisions, as well as the
British 1st Airborne Division fighting at Arnhem. After the failure of Market Garden and the
defeat of the German counter offensive, both battalions participated in the
Geilenkirchen Offensive in October 1944. Both battalions also played a significant part in the 43rd division's fighting in the
Roer Salient, as well as the capture of Bremen. By
VE-Day and the end of the war in Europe both battalions had suffered heavy casualties; 4th Wilts had suffered 19 officers and 213 other ranks killed in action and the 5th Wilts had 334 killed in action, including 21 officers, with a further 1,277 wounded or missing. "The final attritional scenes" of
From the City, From the Plough by
Alexander Baron (1948, republished by the
Imperial War Museum in 2019) describe the 5th Wiltshire's near annihilation at Mont Pincon, represented by the fictitious 5th Battalion, Wessex Regiment. The 6th (
Home Defence) Battalion was formed after the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. In 1941, the battalion was redesignated as the 30th Battalion; however, it remained in the United Kingdom in the home defence role. The 50th (Holding) Battalion was formed in 1940. However, later that year, it was redesignated as the 7th Battalion and was assigned to the
214th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). Although it was a war service battalion, the 7th Wiltshires remained in Great Britain as part of the home defence forces. Initially assigned to the 214th Infantry Brigade, formed with other war-raised units, it would be transferred to
135th Infantry Brigade,
45th Infantry Division in 1942. The 7th Wiltshires would not see active service during the war and remained in the United Kingdom, supplying the front-line units with trained infantrymen and was apparently disbanded in August 1944, sending a huge draft of replacements to the 4th and 5th battalions.
Post-war and amalgamation As part of Britain's post-war reduction, each infantry regiment was required to reduce its strength by one battalion. In the case of the Wiltshire Regiment, this meant amalgamating the 1st and 2nd battalions. This was done on 10 January 1949, while the regiment was part of the
British Army of the Rhine. For the remainder of its existence, the Wiltshires would remain a one battalion regiment. After the end of the Second World War, the Wiltshire regiment would add one more campaign to its list. Although initially earmarked to be sent to Malaya during the
Emergency, the Wilt's orders were changed en route and they joined the Hong Kong garrison in 1950. After returning home to Britain in 1953, the Wilts were ready for foreign service once more. The Wiltshire Regiment would be amalgamated with
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) to form
The Duke Of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) on 9 June 1959. The ceremony took place at
Albany Barracks, Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight. ==Regimental museum==