Royal Yeomanry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Royal Yeomanry | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1 April 1967- |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Territorial Army |
| Type | Yeomanry |
| Role | Formation CBRN Reconnaissance |
| Size | One regiment |
| Part of | Royal Armoured Corps |
| Garrison/HQ | Swindon, Leicester, Croydon, Nottingham, London |
| March | Farmer's Boy |
| Battles/wars | Iraq 2003 |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Lt Col Angus Brown |
| Royal Honorary Colonel | HRH Princess Alexandra |
| Honorary Colonel | Lt-General Sir Robert John Hayman-Joyce, KCB, CBE, DL |
| Insignia | |
| Tactical Recognition Flash |  |
The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is an armoured regiment of the Territorial Army consisting of five squadrons and a military band, each of which bears the cap badge of an old yeomanry regiment:
- A (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron (Swindon)
- B (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron (Leicester)
- C (Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry) Squadron (Croydon)
- S (Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry) Squadron (Nottingham)
- W (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron (London)
- The Royal Yeomanry Band (Inns of Court and City Yeomanry) (London)
The Royal Yeomanry's role is to provide Chemical Biological Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) Reconnaissance as part of the British Army's combat arm.
History
The Royal Yeomanry was formed in 1967 during the reforms of the TA, as a medium reconnaissance regiment equipped with armoured cars. It continued in this role until 1996, when it became the British Army's NBC defence regiment. It served exclusively in this role until 1999, when the Joint NBC Regiment was formed. Two of the Royal Yeomanry's squadrons, A Squadron and the W Squadron, were retained in the NBC role to provide reserves for front line NBC troops. The remaining three converted to the Challenger 2 to serve as reserves for armoured regiments.
Under the restructuring of the Territorial Army announced in March 2006, all five squadrons of the Royal Yeomanry have adopted the role of CBRN reconnaissance and the regiment's established strength has increased to 561 personnel.
Operational Service
Members of the Royal Yeomanry have served as individual replacements on operations in Kuwait and the Former Yugoslavia. The regiment's most significant deployments have been to Iraq.
In January 2003, W Squadron and A Squadron were mobilised for Operation TELIC, the war in Iraq. The two squadrons were amalgamated with a number of augmentees from the other three squadrons and from the Royal Logistic Corps to form a much-enlarged "Y" Squadron of the Joint NBC Regiment.
This was the first deployment of a formed TA unit (TA soldiers under TA command) for combat operations since the Suez crisis in 1956. During the war, officers and soldiers of the Royal Yeomanry found themselves serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade, 7 Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) and 3 Commando Brigade as NBC specialists, before switching roles to infantry “peace support” operations once Saddam Hussein’s regime had collapsed.
The Royal Yeomanry has maintained a constant presence in Iraq since March 2003. The regiment's soldiers have been mobilised for each of the subsequent TELICs. Of these, the largest deployment was for TELIC 4 in 2004, when soldiers and officers from B, C and S Squadrons were despatched to augment the Queen's Royal Lancers and 1st Battalion the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, serving principally as infantry but also in the armoured role.
Battle Honours
- Iraq 2003
As a result of the regiment's initial service during the war, in 2005, the Royal Yeomanry was awarded the theatre honour "Iraq 2003", the first battle honour the regiment has won since its formation, and the first - so far the only - battle honour awarded to a Territorial Army regiment since the Second World War. The award of this honour will see the Royal Yeomanry receive its own guidon, with the result that it will cease to be a multi cap-badge regiment. The regiment's new cap badge will see the royal cypher of HRH Princess Alexandra surmounted by a naval crown, with the name of the regiment in a ribbon underneath.
The squadrons forming the Royal Yeomanry also hold a large number of Battle Honours won by their predecessor regiments and retain the right to parade their respective Guidon.
