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“ I know this Regiment has been through the whole show and I consider 7th Medium Regiment to have been the backbone…”
Field Marshall Montgomery
WWII Korea Northern Ireland The Gulf War Iraq 2003-06 Afghanistan 2006-
1927-1939: From Portsmouth to India
32 Regiment Royal Artillery was raised as 7 Medium Brigade RA at Clarence Barracks Portsmouth in 1927 with 25 (The Battleaxe Company), 26, 27, and 28 Medium Batteries. Each battery was equipped with four guns, either 60 Pounders or 6” Howitzers. In 1932 The Regiment moved to Muttra, India, and a year later 27 Battery linked with 28 Battery to become 27/28 Battery. The Brigade moved again in 1938 to Ambala, India. And was redesignated 7 Medium Regiment RA. 25 Battery merged with 26 Battery to become 25/26 Battery. This created a Regiment with two eight gun batteries.
1939-1945: The Second World War - The Middle East, Mediterranean and Western Europe
In 1939 the Regiment moved to Palestine and then to Egypt where it carried out security duties. The Regiment was in Alexandria when the Second World War broke out.
The Regiment remained in Alexandria for the rest of 1939 and the first part of 1940. After the Italians entered the war in June 1940, the Regiment moved up to the Libyan Frontier to join the Western Desert Force where it was engaged in harassing fire against the Italians along the Frontier. In December 1940 the Regiment supported the Western Desert Force in the attack on Sidi Barrani. The battle developed into a full scale offensive which drove the Italians out of Libya.
In March 1941 the Regiment was withdrawn from the Desert; the RHQ and 25/26 Bty were sent to Greece. They saw little action, but were forced to abandon the guns before being evacuated to Crete in April. In contrast, the battle for Crete was short and bloody. The Regiment fought as infantry and inflicted heavy casualties on the German paratroops attacking Heraklion airfield. However, Crete had to be abandoned and the Regiment lost many experienced men on the warships sunk by the Luftwaffe during the evacuation to Egypt. 27/28 Bty remained in Libya where it took part in the withdrawal to the Egyptian frontier in the face of Rommel’s counter offensive.
The Rest of 1941 was spent re-equipping with 4.5” guns before moving back to the desert to join what had now become the 8th Army for Operation Battleaxe in November. The Regiment advanced once more to El Agheila and then withdrew in the face of Rommel’s counter attack to the Gazala Line. 27/28 Bty re-equipped with American 155mm Howitzers in April 1942.
Rommel’s attack on the Gazala Line opened at the end of May 1942 and led to bitter fighting around the defensive boxes in the Cauldron where 25/26 Bty (The Battleaxe Company), along with many other infantry and artillery units, was finally overwhelmed by determined German attack, destroying the guns before being taken prisoner. The rest of the Regiment made good their escape back to the Alamein Line where they regrouped.
The Regiment was back in action again at the end of June supporting XXX Corps, concentrating in particular on counter-battery tasks. The guns would be deployed forward of the infantry to get extra range and inflicted considerable damage on the enemy guns. The guns were beginning to show their age and many were out of action for long periods; in July 27/28 Bty were issued with new 4.5” guns to replace the now worn out 155mms and in August 107 Bty joined the Regiment with 5.5” guns, not previously used in the desert. The 5.5” was to remain in service with the Regiment for 24 years. 107 Bty (South Notts Hussars) had been created from the survivors of 107 Field Regiment which had been destroyed at Gazala. The Battery was to remain with the Regiment until its return to England in 1944.
At the end of July The Regiment took part in the First Battle of Alam Halfa, covering the withdrawal of the armour. General Montgomery now planned a major offensive by the 8th Army to drive the Germans out of Egypt for good. The Alamein barrage started at 2140 hrs on 23 October, the Regiment supported 9th Australian Division throughout the battle firing 22,000 rounds in 11 days. The battle ended on 4 November with the successful breach of the German lines.
The Regiment was not to fire again until the advance reached Benghazi in mid-December. Thereafter it supported attacks at Medenine, the Mareth Line and the final battle for Tunisia at Wadi Akirit. The Germans finally surrendered on 9 May 1943.
In February 1943 the Regiment became part of the newly created 5 Army Group Royal Artillery (5 AGRA) under whose command the Regiment was to fight for the rest of the war.
The Regiment next took part in the Campaign in Sicily. After staging in Malta, the Regiment landed in Sicily on 10 July 1943 and after a steady advance fired across the Straits of Messina on to mainland Europe for the first time on 3 September. The Regiment was not, however, involved in the Italian Campaign and in November 1943 were among the battle experienced troops of XXX Corps brought back to the UK by General Montgomery for the invasion of Europe.
The Regiment arrived back in England on 9 December 1943, eleven years to the day since departing for India in 1932. During the pre-invasion training in England 107 Bty left the Regiment to 16 Medium Regiment which became the new 107 Medium Regiment and 126 Bty of 16 Medium Regiment joined the Regiment to become the new 25/26 Bt, together with a number of members of the Battleaxe Company who had escaped from Italian PW camps. 25/26 Bty now had the 5.5” gun and 27/28 Bty the 4.5”.
Recce parties from the Regiment landed in Normandy on D-Day and the Regiment was soon in the thick of fierce fighting around Caen supporting 50 Div in operations to break out of the Normandy bridgehead. The Regiment was in the van of the pursuit across France and Belgium, and fired in support of 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. After operations to clear the Scheldt Estuary the Regiment was moved at short notice in December 1944 to counter the German offensive against the Americans in the Ardennes. In February and March 1945 the Regiment supported operations to clear the West bank of the Rhine and the Rhine crossing. The Regiment ended the war supporting the Canadian attack on Leer on the Dutch border.
1945-1955: 74 Bty in Korea
After the German surrender the Regiment moved to the Hamburg area then in July 1945 to Bochum in the Ruhr where it settled down to peacetime garrison duties. On 1 April 1947, along with the rest of the Royal Artillery, the Regiment was renumbered 32 Medium Regiment. 25/26 Bty became 74 Bty (The Battleaxe Company) and 27/28 Bty became 98 Bty.
In 1948 the Regiment returned to the United Kingdom where it was stationed at the Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, but then moved in 1952 to Gun Club Barracks, Hong Kong. The Regiment remained in Hong Kong during the Korean war, but both 74 and 98 Btys went to Korea to served with the Commonwealth Division. 74 Bty arrived in Korea in 1952 and took part in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war on the Hook in May 1953; 98 Bty relieved them after the Armistice in 1954.
The Regiment returned to the United Kingdom in 1955, first to Barnard Castle then Carlisle.
1956-1970: Hong Kong and Germany
In 1956 the Regiment was mobilized for Operation MUSKETEER, the Suez operation, but got no further than Malta. In 1958 98 Bty was placed in suspended animation and 46 (Talavera) Bty and 50 (Queen Mary) Bty joined from the disbanded 44 HAA and 23 Field Regiment respectively. Later that year the Regiment returned to Hong Kong.
In 1961 the Regiment moved to Dortmund where it handed in the guns and became a nuclear transport regiment for the Army missile regiments. 50 Bty was placed in suspended animation. This experiment did not last long and the Regiment returned to Barton Stacey in the United Kingdom where 50 Bty was revived and the guns re-issued.
In 1965 the Regiment was on the move again, this time to Hildesheim, where, in 1966 it re-equipped with the American M107 175mm SP gun and joined 1st Artillery Brigade in a new role as 32 Heavy Regiment. About this time the Regiment was allocated an area for recruiting, Cheshire and Merseyside, and quickly acquired a distinctive Scouse character.
1971-1981: Northern Ireland
A period of settled routine BAOR soldiering ended in 1971 when the Regiment carried out its first Op BANNER tour in Northern Ireland. In February 1971 Gunner Robert Curtis, attached from 94 Locating Regiment was shot dead in Belfast, becoming the first British soldier to be killed during the troubles in Ulster.
In 1972 the Regiment moved to Wing Barracks, Bulford and re-equipped with the 105mm Pack Howitzer as 32 Light Regiment. 171 (The Broken Wheel) Bty from 39 Regiment replaced 50 Bty which returned to suspended animation. Two more tours in Northern Ireland followed, at the Maze Prison in 1973 and in Belfast in 1974-5. In 1976 12 (Minden) Bty from the disbanded 20 Light Regiment became the Regiment’s fourth battery, joining in time for another tour in Belfast in 1976-77. In 1977 the Regiment assisted the Civil Authorities as firemen in Manchester during the firemen’s strike.
The next major change for the Regiment came in 1978 when another reorganisation of the Army gave the anti-tank role back to the Royal Artillery. The Regiment was equipped with the Swingfire anti-tank missile and the Blowpipe anti-aircraft missile systems as 32 Guided Weapons Regiment, first with mixed batteries, but later the Blowpipe were grouped in 46 (Talavera) Bty as an air defence battery.
171 Bty carried out a tour in County Armagh with 16 Regiment in 1979-80 and the Regiment provided 35 men for the Commonwealth Monitoring Force which supervised the elections in Rhodesia in 1979-80. In 1981 43 Bty (Lloyds Company), the air defence battery of 2 Field Regiment, swapped with 46 (Talavera) Bty.
1982: Air Defence in the Falklands
43 Bty took part in Op CORPORATE, the Falklands war in 1982, deploying troops to Gibraltar, at sea with the task force and on land with the Commandos, Para and Guards battalions. They shot down several Argentinian aircraft during the intense air raids on the amphibious shipping in San Carlos Water. Also in 1982, 5 (Gibraltar 1779-1783) Bty joined from 25 Field Regiment, equipped with the 105mm light gun in support of the ACE Mobile Force (Land).
1985-1989: A Heavy Regiment in Germany
In 1985, as part of another reorganisation of the Army, the Regiment returned to Germany, once again as a heavy regiment, in 1st Artillery Brigade now in Dortmund. This time the Regiment had two M107 batteries; 18 (Quebec) Bty from 5 Heavy Regiment and 74 Bty, and its own locating battery, 57 (Bhurtpore) Bty from 94 Locating Regiment, equipped with drone, sound ranging and meteorological systems. A period of relative stability followed. The Regiment stayed in Dortmund for eight years, interrupted in 1987 with a Northern Ireland tour for 74 Bty in the Maze Prison and in 1988 a tour for the whole Regiment in Londonderry.
1990: The M110 and the Gulf War
In 1990, following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the Regiment was deployed at very short notice to Saudi Arabia on Op GRANBY as part of 1 Armoured Division, the British contribution to the UN coalition to restore Kuwait to its legitimate government. Re-equipped with M110 8” guns, the Regiment fired the first rounds of the ground offensive and played an important part in the whirlwind 1000 hour campaign which decisively defeated the Iraqis.
1992-1998: MLRS, 22 Bty and the return of 46 Bty
On returning from the Middle East in 1991, the Regiment converted back to M107, then in 1992-93 carried out a major re-equipment with the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), one of a new range of improved artillery weapon systems. In 1992 the Regiment was re-designated 32 Regiment RA. In 1993 the Regiment moved to Larkhill as part of the major redeployment of the Army following the end of the Cold War. 57 (Bhurtpore) Bty remained in Germany with 39 Regiment, 22 Bty, already in Larkhill, joined from the disbanded 94 Regt and in 1994 46 Bty returned to the Regiment from the disbanded 2 Regt as Headquarter Battery. No sooner had the Regiment settled down in Larkhill as the depth fire Regiment for 3 (UK) Division than the Regiment deployed in 1994 on its sixth tour of Northern Ireland, in County Armagh. In 1996 the Regiment deployed to Cyprus on Op TOSCA.
1998-2003: The beginnings of a UAV Regiment, Foot and Mouth disease and a Fire Strike
In 1998, 22 Bty were equipped with Phoenix, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In 1999 the Regiment, less for 22 Bty, deployed to Belfast again. In 2000, 22 Bty deployed to Macedonia and Kosovo on Op AGRICOLA, and a year later on Ex SAIF SAREEA in the Oman. 2001 saw the Regiment engaged in Military aid to the Civil Authorities, when Foot and Mouth disease spread across the United Kingdom. This was swiftly followed later that year by another tour of Cyprus.
In 2003 the Regiment again found itself deployed in aid to the Civilian Authorities to cover the firemen’s strike.
2003-Present Day: The Liberation of Iraq and the formation of a UAV Regiment
In March 2003 the Regiment took part in the war fighting phase of operations in Iraq. The Regiment was composed of 18 (newly converted to Phoenix from MLRS) and 22 Btys, as well as the Regtl Tac Pty, echelon and K Battery (with counter-battery radar) from 5 Regt RA. The Regiment support operations with 7 Armoured Brigade, 3 Commando Brigade and 16 Air Assault Brigade.
In 2004, as part of the Future Army Structures, 42 (Alem Hamza) Bty joined the Regiment, and re-equipped with Phoenix to make a total of 4 UAV Btys.
After the war fighting phase ended, the Regiment was committed to Iraq in the form of a single Battery deployment. 57 Bty in 2003, 22 Bty in spring 2004, 18 Bty in October 2004, 42 Bty in March 2005. 57 Bty deployed in summer 2005, but with a flight troop held in reserve in the United Kingdom, as did 22 Bty in February 2006. The Regt drew down from Iraq in August 2006 and is now preparing to re-deploy again with 22 Bty.
In May 2006 18 Bty deployed on Operation HERRICK (with a new tactical UAV, Desert Hawk) to southern Afghanistan, in support of 3 PARA Battlegroup and the Helmand Province Task Force. In October 2006 they were replaced by 42 Bty .
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