Formed in 1702 as the 33rd Regiment of Foot, the title Duke of Wellington's Regiment was granted on 18th June, 1853, on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in the year following the Great Duke's death. In 1881 under Cardwell's wide-ranging armed forces reforms, which included the end of flogging in both the Royal Navy and the Army, the 33rd and 76th Regiments of Foot were linked under the territorial system as the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment.
The 1st Battalion of the Regiment performed with distinction in the Boer War, taking part in the Relief of Kimberley in 1901, which gained them a battle honour. In 1921 the Regiment's title was slightly changed to the present one, becoming The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding).
World War I
The Regiment raised twenty four battalions and, sadly, suffered over 8,000 fatal casualties during WWI. The 2nd Battalion of the Regiment first saw action at the Battle of Mons. It then fought a rearguard action at Le Cateau, a vital action during the retreat from Mons. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the British forces inflicted severe casualties on the Germans. The British soldiers' ability to fire the Lee-Enfield rifle with deadly accuracy and speed was certainly a deciding factor in the engagement. Although it was a victory for the Germans, at least tactically, the brave actions of the British soldiers that fought the rearguard effectively saved the war for the Allies.
The Regular, Territorial Force and Service battalions of the Regiment also fought at the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, the Battle of La Bassée and the brutal first Battle of Ypres. First Ypres began as offensive battle, with the attacking and exposed British infantry taking heavy casualties from German machine guns. The battle soon bogged down into trench warfare. The BEF suffered some 54,100 casualties, astonishing figures that sadly would be eclipsed within two years.
The Regiment's battalions fought at the Battle of Hill 60. The British placed six mines at Hill 60. When the British detonated the mines this blew away much of the hill and caused many casualties. The British then launched a massive bombardment, followed by an assault that lead to vicious hand-to-hand fighting. About 150 Germans were killed in the brutal fighting and the British lost seven. That night the Germans counter-attacked, inflicting numerous casualties on the British defenders, and retook the hill. The Dukes, along with the 2nd Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry assaulted the hill, recapturing it after some fighting. They were subsequently relieved by four regiments, with one in reserve. The Germans counter-attacked two days latter, but were repelled by those regiments, in which an officer from the 1st Surreys won a VC for his actions during the defence of the hill.
The Dukes took part in several of the greatest battles of World War I: Battle of the Somme, Battle of Passchendale, and Battle of Cambrai. If Ypres ripped the heart out of the old Regular army, then the Somme certainly ripped the heart out of Kitchener's New Army. The Battle of Cambrai saw the first large scale use of tanks though, within the week, the Germans had regained nearly all territory that they had earlier lost.
In all, during the course of World War I, the Regiment suffered many casualties, having fought in nearly every theatre of the war.
World War II
In World War II, the 1st Bn of the Regiment was immediately sent to France as part of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division of I corps of the BEF. During the retreat to Dunkirk, the Dukes formed part of the rearguard.
The 'Dukes' next fought in North Africa, fighting with distinction in a number of actions there and gaining several battle honours. They fought at the Battle of Medjez Plain, as well as fighting at the Battle of Djebel bou Aoukaz in 1943, taking the town on 27th April. The town however, was re-taken by German forces on the 30th April, after heavy fighting. On the 5th May, the British forces re-took the town from the Germans.
The 'Dukes' also fought in Italy, taking part in the Anzio Campaign in early 1944 in an attempt to outflank the Gustav Line and force a German retreat from Cassino. The Regiment was involved at the Battle of Campoleone, when two veteran German divisions, one armoured, the other a parachute division, attacked. The British forces defended stoutly, suffering 1,000 casualties in the first day alone. They only withdrew after further heavy fighting took place. The 'Dukes' fought with distinction at the Battle of Monte Ceco in October 1944 where Private Richard Henry Burton, of the 1st Battalion, was awarded a VC for his courageous action in the battle. The regiment also won a battle honour for the engagement.
The 'Dukes' returned to France in 1944, with the 1/6th and 1/7th Battalions landing just after D Day during the Normandy Landings. They fought at Tilly-sur-Seulles, where during the course of the battle from the 14th to the 19th June, the town changed hands between the British and the Germans more than twenty times. Sadly, the fighting reduced the town to a heap of rubble. The Dukes moved on and were soon met the Germans at Fontenay le Pesnil. Heavy fighting ensued, with a number of German units from the elite 12th SS Panzer Division putting up stiff resistance.
In the Far East, the 2nd Battalion took part in the rearguard action at the Battle of Sittang Bridge in February 1942 and in the Battle of Paungde in March that year. The plan was to advance and occupy Paungde. The strike force advanced on the 29th March, but had to fight Japanese forces just north-east of their objective in the area of Padigon. The force made some progress in the Paungde area before meeting stiff resistance. Due to their orders not to be cut off, the 2nd 'Dukes' and the 7th Hussars withdrew. A Japanese regiment had crossed the west bank of the Irawaddy River, digging in at Shwedaung, just behind the British strike force. An engagement ensued, with the Indian 17th Infantry Division attacking, the Japanese held the town. The British force suffered heavy casualties in fighting their way through Shwedaung to rejoin the 17th Indian Division.
They were trained as Chindits but, as part of the 23rd Brigade, did not join in Wingate's second expedition in March 1944 sent by General Slim to operate behind Japanese lines, who were at that time attacking India.
They were, however, later formed into two columns, the 33rd and 76th to operate behind the Japanese lines during the fierce battles for Imphal and Kohima.
Korean War
The 1st Battalion was deployed to Korea in 1952, two years after the Korean War had broken out. They were part of the 1st Commonwealth Division. In 1953, the 1st Dukes relieved the Black Watch, who had been defending a position known as The Hook, a crescent shaped ridge, which was of tactical importance in the Commonwealth sector. From the 10th May to the 28th, the 1st Battalion suffered some fifty eight casualties from artillery and mortar fire.
The 28th May was the beginning of the third Battle for the Hook. An initial bombardment of the British positions took place, with the Chinese forces charging the forward British positions once the bombardment ceased. The fighting that ensued was bloody and more akin to the battles that the 'Dukes' had fought in WWI. Shells were now raining down on the Hook from artillery and mortars, from both the Chinese and UN forces. The Chinese launched a second attack but were cut down by heavy fire from the Commonwealth forces. Further attacks occurred on the 28th but all were defeated in heavy fighting.
Just 30 minutes into the 29th, the Chinese forces launched another attack but, as before, they were were beaten back. The 'Dukes' then began advancing up the line of the original trenches to dislodge the remaining Chinese forces in the forward trenches. The 'Dukes' secured the Hook at 3:30am. The battle cost the Dukes 28 dead and 121 wounded. The Chinese had about 250 killed, with over 800 being wounded. The Dukes embarked for Gibraltar on the 13th of November, where they arrived on the 10th of December.
For their action the Regiment was awarded the Battle Honour 'The Hook 1953'. Later the 1st Battalion's Headquarter Company was renamed 'Hook Company'
In May 1954, During a visit to Gibraltar by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Commanding Officer of 'The Dukes' Lieutenant Colonel FR St P Bunbury and a further 10 officers and other ranks received decorations for their actions in Korea.
General Franco of Spain objected to the queen visiting 'The Rock' and promptly closed the Spanish/Gibraltar Border, thus confining the 'Dukes' to Gibraltar until September 1955 when they left to return to the UK. The border did not reopen until 1985, when the 'Dukes' were again stationed in Gibraltar.
Post-Korean War
Garrison duties awaited the Dukes after those bloody encounters in the Korean War. The 'Dukes' were first deployed to Gibraltar, then to Cyprus in 1956, where they particpated in anti-terrorist operations against EOKA. The following year, the 'Dukes' deployed to Northern Ireland. They moved to the mainland in 1959, where they joined the new UK Strategic Reserve, becoming part of 19 Infantry Brigade.
In 1960, the Dukes deployed to Kenya at the request of the Governor. In 1968, the Dukes deployed to Hong Kong for internal security duties, just a year after the riots there, when young followers of Chairman Mao besieged Government House. Thousands of bombs were planted during the riots, which sadly killed fifteen people in that terror campaign. The 'Dukes' though, thankfully, had a more quiet deployment than the units that had confronted the rioters.
The 'Dukes' returned to the UK in 1970. Then deployed to Northern Ireland a number of times during the bloodiest years of 'The Troubles'. Their first deployment was in 1971, during one of the bloodiest times in NI in which 43 British soldiers were killed. Many civilians and terrorists also died in that year. They also saw tours in 1973, 1976, 1977 and 1979. The 'Dukes' lost one officer and four soldiers during these deployments.
In 1985, the 'Dukes' deployed to Belize for a six-month tour of duty there. In March 1994, the 'Dukes' deployed to Bosnia, with its area of responsibility including Bugojno, Vitez, Travnik and the besieged enclave of Gorazde. The latter was under siege for much of the war. It was declared a UN Safe Zone in that year. The 'Dukes' were one of the first units to enter the town. The Regiment pushed the Bosnian-Serb Army from their positions around the town to a distance of over one mile. Their objective in doing this was to create a safe zone for the town. While at Gorazde, Private Shaun Taylor of C Company was killed during an engagement with Bosnian-Serb forces while manning an observation post. The engagement lasted fifteen minutes, with over 2,000 rounds of ammunition being expended by the 'Dukes'. Seven of the Bosnian-Serb soldiers were killed in the fire-fight. Gorazde remained a safe zone, being held by British troops from 1994-95, indeed it was the only safe zone to survive the war and avoided the tragedies that occurred in other UN safe zones such as Srebrenica and Zepa.
Corporal Wayne Mills of the 1st Battalion became the first recipient of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross. On 29th April 1994, a patrol led by Corporal Mills came under heavy small-arms fire from a group of Bosnian-Serbs. The patrol returned fire, killing two of the attackers. The patrol then withdrew, but the attackers persisted, carrying on firing on the patrol. The patrol soon reached an open clearing, where it was obvious they would be highly vulnerable to fire from the attackers. Corporal Mills performed an astonishing feat of bravery. He fired on the group, delaying the attackers enough to allow the rest of his patrol to cross the clearing. While doing this brave act, Corporal Mills shot the leader of the group, with the rest scattering due to that action. He returned to his patrol safely.
Lieutenant-Colonel David Santa-Olalla received the Distinguished Service Order for his inspirational leadership and courage during the 'Dukes' deployment to Bosnia. He personally arranged for the mutual withdrawal of Serbian and Muslim forces from the besieged town of Gorazde, just as the Geneva talks were being held on the town. He was a truly competent leader during the Bosnia deployment, being first on the scene whenever an incident occurred.
In March 1995, the 'Dukes' again deployed to Northern Ireland, a tour of duty that would last two years. In March 1997, a composite company from the 1st Battalion deployed to the Falkland Islands. In 1998, C Company deployed for a tour of duty in South Amargh. In February 2001, a company from the 'Dukes' deployed to Kosovo, with the objective of preventing arms and munitions being transported from Albania to Kosovo, then onto FYROM. The deployment ended in July that year.
In 2003, the Dukes were part of Operation Telic, the invasion of Iraq, as part of 1 (United Kingdom) Armoured Division. Also that year, in Osnabruck, Germany, where the 'Dukes' are based, the Regiment celebrated its 300th year in existence. Over 2000 past and present members converged at Osnabruck to take part in the celebrations. The 'Dukes' were presented with new Colours by HM the Queen, represented by The Colonel of The Regiment, due to the ill health of the Queen's representative, the Duke of Wellington.
File:Dukes 2004.jpg1ST BATTALION THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S REGIMENT (WEST RIDING) Front Line Armoured Infantry Battalion
Of note, the 'Dukes' have a proud rugby tradition. They have had in their history three players for the British and Irish Lions squad, seven English internationals, three Scottish internationals and one Irish international. The Dukes themselves have a fearsome reputation on the field as well, winning the Army Cup no less than fourteen times, as well as being runners-up eight times.
Private Tandey was awarded his VC during his service with 'The Dukes' and donated his medals to the Regimental Museum in Halifax, West Yorkshire. On Special Occasions he would sign them out to wear. Regretfully, the last time he signed them out he passed away. Unknowingly, the medals were sold and a private collector subsequently presented the medals to the Regimental Museum of The Green Howards, a regiment in which he had earlier served. Where they are now on display.
