In 1881 The 37th North
Hampshire Regiment & The 67th South Hampshire Regiment
where united to form the 1st & 2nd Battalions The
Hampshire Regiment. The 37th to be known as the 1st
Battalion and the 67th to be the 2nd
Battalion. Below is a time line of The Hampshire Regiment
from 1885-1946 It shows the Date, Campaign, and Battles,
some have pictures. Click on the blue links to read about
the Battle itself, see the pictures, and the role the
Regiment played. I am trying to research all the battles
and as I do I will be updating the Information I have.
For WW1
I have created a special section it is not complete but
contains alot of information.
Turkey. 1920-21
On march the 30th the
1st Battalion went to Turkey to implement the Treaty
of Sevres. The Battalion arrived in Istanbul on the
9th of April with fixed bayonets they marched through
Galata to their quarters, at Halidji-Oglu. The 1st Bn.
Became part of the 83rd Infantry Brigade in the 28th
Division There mission was to keep the peace and support
the treaty in an area of civil unrest. On December 16th
1921 The Bn. Sailed for Egypt.
Egypt. 1921-24
The 1st Bn. Left Turkey
and headed for Egypt on December 16th 'C' Company disembarked
at Cyprus on attachment for two years. The rest of the
1st Bn. Landed at Alexandria on December 21st and headed
for Sidi Bishr where they relieved the 1/76th Punjabis
and served next to the 2nd Sherwood Foresters in the
Alexandria Brigade. In November 26th 1923 The 1st Bn.
Moved back from Alexandria to Cairo and 'C' Company
returned to the 1st Bn. From Cyprus. On the 17th of
January the 1st Battalion left Egypt and headed for
India.
India 1924-
1st Battalion The
Hampshire Regt. WW II
When World War II began
The 1st Battalion was in Egypt, and were then sent to
Malta which came under siege and gained the Island the
George Cross. After Malta they again went back to Egypt
in March of 1942. They became part of the Spearhead
units for the invasion of Sicily. Eighteen months later
the 1st Battalion returned home to England and started
intensive training for the invasion of North West Europe
Operation Overlord.
D-Day.
On
June 6th 1944 The Hampshire's, The Devons, and The
Dorsets, formed one of the Spearheads that was to
land on the Arromanches Beach. They were to be preceded
by amphibious and fail tanks to clear mines, and artillery
support. Things did not go as planned the tanks bogged
down on the beach and were hit by heavy defensive fire.
The Hampshire's hit the beach on time 0725 and were
the first British Infantry to land in France. By the
end of the day they had cleared Arromanches itself
two miles east of there landing point having forced
the enemy to retreat inland, even though they lacked
much of the expected support. Near two hundred officers
and men had been lost, and the Germans never took a
Hampshire prisoner.
On the 1st of August
1944 Minden Day two months after landing The Hampshire's
helped force the enemy's surrender of Villers Bocage.
The Corps Commander, General Horrocks, congratulated
the Hampshire's when they were withdrawn with the rest
of the 50th Division from the front line on August 4th.
Only four days later they were back in action in the
climactic battle of Normandy to close the Falaise
Gap, through which the enemy was withdrawing.
The sweep across France
began, and a few days later the allies were in Belgium,
'C' Company 1st Hampshire's being the first British
Infantry to enter. There were still great battles to
come Arnham, Ardennes, the Reuchswald Forest.
By the end of the War two thousand and ninety-four men
of the Regiment had given there life for there country.
The
7th Hampshire
The 7th Hampshire landed
near Le Hamel France sixteen days after D-Day. Commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel D.W.G. Ray Second-in-Command Major
J.R.C. Mallock. The 7th was Brigaded with the 4th and
5th Battalions the Dorsetshire Regiments in the 130th
Brigade, in the 43rd (Wessex) Division. By June 24th
the Division was concentrated in the Bayeux area, where
they took over various sectors of the line. They moved
forward to a defensive position on the Bayeux-Caen road
near Bretteville L'Orgueilleuse.
After a few days they
went forward to act as a counter attack battalion on
Cheux this was where Private Hayes was killed, the first
of the 7th to die in action in the North-West Europe.
From Cheux the battalion moved up to the line at Baron,
south west of Caen on July 5th. During this moved they
where heavily mortared and lost a number of men. Out
of necessity the 130th Brigade had been kept in reserve,
their first battle being on the 10th of July. July 10th
the battalion was tasked with capturing and holding
the village of Maltot. Maltot was the third and last
objective in a brigade operation, in itself part of
a divisional operation. The 130th brigades task was
to capture part of a ridge including the Chateau de
Fontaine to the west of Hill 112. The 5th Dorset on
the right and the 4th on the left achieved this. The
7th Hampshire were task to exploit this and take Maltot
and the woods beyond it. At 8:15 am a heavy barrage
stopped and the Hampshire moved forward supported with
tanks of the 44th R.T.R Dew to the terrain and the amount
of enemy armour 44th R.T.R suffered very heavy casualties.
The 7th advanced on and
met strong opposition and sustained severe losses. Part
of the battalion did reach Maltot and attempted to set
up a defensive position only to find that they had superimposed
themselves onto a strong enemy defended locality, with
many tiger tanks dug in on the outskirts of the village.
The enemy counter-attacked with a strong force, and
a few companies held out but the situation was near
hopeless. The 4th Dorsets were ordered to reinforce
the Hampshire but this turned out to be impossible due
to the strong defences of the crack troops of the S.S.
Divisions. Later the battalions withdrew, and the Hampshire
reorganized into three rifle companies. The losses of
the 7th Hampshire were 18 officers 208 men killed, wounded
or missing.
ROYAL
In 1945-46 The Hampshire's received
the freedoms of Aldershot, Bournemouth, Southampton,
and Winchester. Then in 1946 an order dated 28th November
gave the Hampshire's its highest accolade. The battalions
did not wear the Cap badge with the Kings Royal crown
upon it until sometime after 1946.
The Citation Read.
"In Recognition of past services
His Majesty. The King has been graciously pleased to
approve that the following Regiments shall in future
enjoy the distinction "ROYAL."
The regimental honours list was short
and the Hampshire's were one of them. Meredith's had
finally been crowned.
After Demobilization the 37th and
67th went back to its two regular Battalions 1st and
2nd, and in 1949 they were amalgamated, numerically,
the
1st Battalion The Royal
Hampshire Regiment.
