20160524-R ANGLIAN News May 2016 · On 12 April The Poachers marched through Harpenden after being granted The Freedom of the Town. The honour was granted in 2013 but overseas commitments

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Regimental Matters

Inauguration of a Memorial Plaque for the Essex Regiment and Essex Yeomanry On Saturday 21 May a commemorative plaque was unveiled in Monchy-le-Preux to remember the fallen

who served in 1st and 9th (Service) Battalions of the Essex Regiment and of the Essex Yeomanry and

also the 2nd and 13th (Service) Battalion (West

Ham) who fell in the battle of Arras. The ceremony was attended by the local Mayor and Baron Petre,

Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Colonel Charles Thomas, County Colonel of Essex and Major Dick Gould.

Dr Ted Bailey, whose Grandfather, Major Frank

Bailey DCM who served in the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment, organised the event and has written a

book, ‘A Major Soldier, a part journey of discovery for the author and part history of the 1st Battalion

The Essex Regiment in World War 1.

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May 2016

| NEWSLETTER

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Promotion The Regiment congratulates Lt Col O C C Brown

on his forthcoming promotion to Colonel

London Gazette Extracts March 2016 Retirement

• Lt Col M A Nicholas Feb 16

IRC

• Capt C M Winterman Nov 15

LS and GCM

• CSgt S A Seaton-Norton

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Diary Dates

June 2016

5 Chapel Sunday17 Regimental Representative Event ARC

Cambridge19 Leicester Parade and 7th Bn Queens

Colour Laying Up26 Salamanca Day Memorial Warley

July 2016

2 Thurrock Armed Forces Day3 Chapel Sunday22 Salamanca Day26 Association Salamanca Day Warley27 Talavera Day30 Northampton Parade and Laying up of 2nd

Bn Regt Colour31 Association Minden Day





1st Battalion (The Vikings)

Skydiving Vikings In build up to a sky diving expedition to California later this year 8 members of the Battalion attended

a sky diving course in Netheravon, Wiltshire. What a fantastic opportunity!

Suffolk Strike 2 B (Suffolk) Company deployed on Exercise SUFFOLK STRIKE 2 to practise section and platoon level operations ahead of assuming the Op ELGIN standby commitment for the Balkans. The week began with

the refreshing of individual skills, using the points brought out from the exercise last month. This was

followed by a day of section attacks, when each rifle section conducted three back-to-back section attacks. Later that same day each platoon then carried out a hasty attack on a dug-in enemy section. On the final

night the platoons recce’d enemy defensive positions by night using night vision and thermal imaging sights, before a platoon deliberate attack at dawn the next morning.

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2nd Battalion (The Poachers)

Harpenden Freedom Parade On 12 April The Poachers marched through Harpenden after being granted The Freedom of the Town. The honour was granted in 2013 but overseas commitments in Afghanistan and Nigeria meant this was the

earliest time the Poachers could conduct the parade.

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Poacher Rugby A hard fought and entertaining win for The Poachers against Bourne Rugby Club. The match is played

annually in memory of Private Adam Morris and Private Joseva Lewaicei, who gave their lives in Basra, Iraq, on the 13th May, 2006.

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3rd Battalion (The Steelbacks)

Steelback Archery Tag Training In a break to the normal training programme, 1 Coy ran an Archery Tag event for the soldiers, recruits and candidates. With over 40 people taking part this meant there were lots of arrows to dodge so the evening

also provided an enjoyable PT session.

The 3 R ANGLIAN Shooting Team won the Brigade Skill At Arms, Falling Plate competition at Thetford

ranges and come third in the overall (reserve units) competition. They now head for the Divisional

Shooting Competition.

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Association News

Chindits Memorial

The Jan 16 edition of Royal Anglian News covered

the project for a memorial at White City to

commemorate the Chindits. Three of our forebear Regiments, The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

Regiment, The Royal Leicestershire Regiment and The Essex Regiment fought with the Chindits, with

distinction. RHQ did some work to support the

project led by Chris Hoare, whose father-in-law was a Chindit, and the Regiments whose forebears

fought with the Chindits contributed to the Memorial – a great team effort. On 17 Mar 16 the

Memorial was dedicated by the Comd of the

recently formed 77 Bde, who have adopted the Chindit Badge and who were on their Battlefield Tour in northern Myanmar. The photographs and the Article were kindly provided by Chris Hoare.

WHITE CITY, MAWLU

77th Brigade The new 77th Brigade was formed in 2014 and is named after 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, which was commanded by Orde Wingate in Burma in 1943 and also formed part of a much larger Chindit operation

the following year. The new Brigade has adopted the column structure and operational traditions of the

old 77th Brigade and also the flash of the chinthe, the leogryphs that protect Burmese temples, which inspired Orde Wingate to give the Chindits their name. With the nature of warfare constantly changing –

and the enemy ever harder to identify – special techniques have had to be developed. As cyber warfare, intelligence gathering and subterfuge move centre stage, so 77th Brigade has a key role to play. It was

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therefore very fortunate and appropriate that Brigadier Alastair Aitken and the party from 77th Brigade,

who were on a Battlefield Study tour of Burma (now Myanmar), were able to hold a brief ceremony of

dedication of the new Chindits Memorial. This is an edited extract from a trip report by Jeremy Archer, formerly of The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, a military historian, author and Trustee of the Burma

Star Association, who was with the 77th Brigade party.

“We arrived in Mandalay on Tuesday 15th March and the following evening boarded a chartered private train – nicknamed the Chinthe Express – for our two-stage journey north, far from the usual tourist trail.

On arrival at Mawlu Station we were met by the members of the Mawlu Heritage Trust, their friends and

their families. These included twenty delightful schoolchildren, the first of whom held a fine bouquet of roses, which she thrust into the welcoming – and rather surprised – arms of the Brigadier, while their

proud parents kept them in order from the second rank. From the station, where there were almost as many armed guards as members of our party, we were escorted to a hall, in which there was an excellent

Chindit exhibition, complete with specially printed posters, audio visual aids and many original items,

including an aluminium glider pilot’s seat. It was all rather overwhelming. We learned later that much of the credit rests with Win Shwe (aka Ko Chake), his close friend, Nyo Ko Naing, an authority on George

Orwell in Burma, and the nascent Mawlu Heritage Trust. There are now realistic hopes that 77th Brigade will support the Mawlu Heritage Trust in its endeavours to honour White City and the Chindits with a

Chindit section in their proposed historical and cultural museum, thus encouraging tourists to visit

relatively remote Mawlu

“From Mawlu, we were taken in a convoy of SPVs to Henu, the site of the White City stronghold, so called

because of the parachutes that festooned the surrounding trees in the spring of 1944. White City was established by Brigadier Mike Calvert and his 77th Indian Infantry Brigade after a furious hand-to-hand

battle on Pagoda Hill, where Lieutenant George Cairns earned a posthumous Victoria Cross. We had a

remarkable view of the crucial railway line, the light aircraft strip, from where the Stinson L-5 Sentinels evacuated casualties, and the Douglas C-47 Dakota strip, where supplies and heavy equipment were

brought in. In this instance, sitting astride the main Japanese logistical artery, while dominating the ground of tactical importance, made eminent sense to the strategists in our party. Turning paddy fields into

airfields, often through the use of sympathetic local labour, was a practical and logical strategy, after which

bulldozers, anti-aircraft guns and artillery could be flown in, thus bringing the White City stronghold to fruition. 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, 3rd West African (Nigerian) Brigade and 14th British Infantry Brigade

all fought valiantly to defend this hard-won territory.

“It is always humbling to visit places where great bravery has been demonstrated – by both sides –

particularly when the ground has scarcely changed in the intervening period, as at White City. The Mawlu

Heritage Trust and local dignitaries were present in impressive numbers when a brief service of dedication and commemoration took placed on O.P. Hill. This small hill is just across the road from Pagoda Hill and

both were within the perimeter of White City. Brigadier Alastair Aitken unveiled a ‘faux’ Chindit plaque on a memorial on which the cement had set only that very morning. Sadly, the bronze plaque itself, which

was specially cast in England, had been detained by Customs in Yangon, so the resourceful Nyo Ko, a

graphic designer and member of the Mawlu Heritage Trust, printed and mounted a photograph of the plaque which saved the day! I understand that all has since been resolved and that the plaque is now in

place.

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“After a brief but very welcome visit to a tea-house in Henu, we returned by vehicle to Mawlu and re-

boarded the Chinthe Express for our onward journey north to Namkhwin, the site of the Blackpool

stronghold, before visiting Mogaung and Myitkyina, from where we flew to Yangon and thence home.”

Montsaye Academy Combined Cadet Force – School Staff Instructor A vacancy has arisen for an SSI in Montsave Academy, it would be ideal for an ex SNCO. Full details are

available at, www.montsaye.northants.sch/uk/page or potential applicants who wish to visit the Academy can contact the Contingent Commander (Des) Lt Peter Leaver on 01536 714035.

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http://www.montsaye.northants.sch/uk/page


Documents

20160524-R ANGLIAN News May 2016 · On 12 April The Poachers marched through Harpenden after being granted The Freedom of the Town. The honour was granted in 2013 but overseas commitments