Royal Norfolk Regiment

The Royal Norfolk Regiment, originally formed as the Norfolk Regiment, was an infantry regiment of the British Army. The Norfolk Regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as the county regiment of Norfolk. It was formed from the 9th (the East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot (formerly the 9th Regiment of Foot) and covered the local militia and rifle volunteers. It became the Royal Norfolk Regiment on 3 June 1935. The Royal Norfolks were amalgamated in 1959 with their neighbours, the Suffolk Regiment, to become part of the 1st East Anglian Regiment; this in turn became part of the Royal Anglian Regiment, of which "A" company of the first battalion is known as the Royal Norfolk.

Service

1st Bn Royal Norfolk Regiment on parade being inspected by Sir John Anderson, the Governor General of Bengal. Dacca, British India, 1933.

First World War

The Norfolks entered the First World War with two regular, one reserve and three Territorial Force battalions (one of cyclists) but the regiment expanded to nineteen battalions.

The total number of men raised during the war amounted to 32,375 of whom 5,576 were killed

In the East

The 2nd Battalion of the Norfolks fought in the Mesopotamian Campaign. The treatment of prisoners after the fall of Kut al Amara mirrors that that would later befall the Royal Norfolks in the Far East during the Second World War.

The two territorial battalions served in Gallipoli. The 1/5th included the "Sandringham Company" which recruited from the King's estate at Sandringham. On 12 August 1915, the Sandringham company suffered heavy losses at Gallipoli when it became isolated during an attack. A myth grew up after the War that they had advanced into a mist and simply disappeared.^[2]{See also [1]}. A BBC TV drama, All the King's Men (1999), starring David Jason as Captain Frank Beck, was based upon their story.

In the Second Battle of Gaza, the 4th and 5th Territorial battalions suffered 75% casualties, about 1,100 men ^[3]

France

The 8th Battalion as part of the 18th (Eastern) Division was present on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. They got beyond their initial target and had by 5.00pm reached the German trenches known as "Montauban Alley". Over one hundred men and three officers had been killed.

During the war Lt-Col Jack Sherwood Kelly, a Norfolk regiment officer, won a Victoria Cross leading a trench assault by Irish troops during the battle of Cambrai in 1917.

Second World War

Five members of the Royal Norfolks won the Victoria Cross in the Second World War:

• David Auldjo Jamieson
• John Neil Randle at the Battle of Kohima, April 1944
• George Gristock WO II Battle of France 21 May 1940
• Sidney Bates
• George Arthur Knowland

Le Paradis Incident

During the Battle of France as part of the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, members of the Royal Norfolks were victims of a German war crime at Le Paradis in the Pas-de-Calais on May 26.

The 2nd Battalion was one of the units of the 4th Infantry Brigade covering the retreat to Dunkirk. They were holding the line of the La Bassée Canal. Units became separated from each other. Their HQ company had formed a defensive position based at the Duriez farmhouse. they carried on their defence until the afternoon by which point many were injured and the enemy were shelling the farm. Making a last stand in the open they were outnumbered and surrendered to a unit of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the SS 'Totenkopf' (Death's Head) Division. The commander was SS Obersturmfuhrer Fritz Knoechlein. The 99 prisoners were marched to some farm buildings on another farm where they were lined up alongside a barn wall. They were then fired upon by two machine guns. 97 of them were killed and the bodies buried in shallow pit. Privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan had hid in a pig-sty and were discovered later by the farm's owner, Mdme Creton, and her son. The two soldiers were later captured by a Wehrmacht unit and spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war.

The bodies were exhumed in 1942 by the French and reburied in the local churchyard which now forms part of the Le Paradis War Cemetery. The massacre was investigated by the War Crimes Investigation Unit and Knoechlein was traced and arrested. Tried in a court in Hamburg, he was found guilty and hanged on January 28, 1949. A memorial plaque was placed on the barn wall in 1970.

Far East

The 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions served in the Far East, as part of the 18th Infantry Division, in the defence of Singapore and Malaya against the Japanese advance. The battalions ended up as prisoners-of war when Singapore fell in February 1942 . They would remain so until August 1945 during which time they were used as forced labour on projects such as the Death Railway.

Normandy 1944

The 1st Battalion of the Royal Norfolks formed part of the initial landings on D-Day. They were part of the 185th Brigade in the 3rd Infantry Division alongside the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. The battalion landed on Red Queen Beach (on the left flank of Sword Beach) at 07:25. On the 6 August 1944 at Sourdeval, Sidney Bates won his Victoria Cross. The 7th Battalion of the Royal Norfolks was part of the 59th (Staffordshire) Division, one of the follow-up units.

Post War

The Norfolks served in Korea in 1951-2 during the Korean War, and in Cyprus in the fight against EOKA in 1955-56, during the post war period.

In 1959 the Norfolks were amalgamated as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper into a new formation, the 1st East Anglian Regiment, part of the East Anglian Brigade.

Traditions

The Norfolk Regiment held an anniversary on 25 April for the Battle of Almanza which they inherited along with the regimental nickname of the "Holy Boys" from the 9th Regiment of Foot. The story of the nickname is that it was gained it from a misidentification of their cap badge of Britannia by a Spanish soldier for the Virgin Mary.

The history of the Norfolk Regiment and its predecessors and successors is recorded at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum, at the Shirehall, Norwich having moved there from the regiment's former home, Britannia Barracks, now part of Norwich prison and at the Royal Anglian Regiment Museum based at the Land Warfare Hall of the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Battle honours

The following honours were inherited from the 9th Regiment of Foot.

18th Century

• Seven Years War
  • Belleisle, Havannah

• French Revolutionary Wars
  • Martinque 1794

19th Century

• Napoleonic Wars
  • Rolica, Vimiera, Corunna, Busaco, Salamanca Vittoria, San Sebastián, Nive, Peninsula
• First Anglo-Afghan War
  • Cabool 1842, Moodkee
• First Anglo-Sikh War
  • Ferozeshah, Sobraon
• Crimean War
  • Sevastopol
• Second Anglo-Afghan War
  • Kabul 1879, Afghanistan 1879-80

On top of these, the (Royal) Norfolk regiment gained the following battle honours before amalgamation:

20th Century

• Second Boer War:
  • Paardeberg, South Africa (1900-02)

• First World War: (The regiment were permitted to display ten representative honours on the colours: these are indicated in bold text.)
  • Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Oppy, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Lys, Bailleul, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18
  • Italy 1917-18
  • Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill,Gallipoli 1915
  • Egypt 1915-17,
  • Gaza, El Mughar, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Tell 'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1917-18
  • Shaiba, Kut al Amara 1915 '17, Ctesiphon, Defence of Kut al Amara, Mesopotamia 1914-18

• Second World War
  • St Omer-La Bassée, North-West Europe 1940
  • Normandy Landing, Brieux Bridgehead, Venray (Operation Aintree), Rhineland, North-West Europe 1944-45,
  • Singapore Island, Kohima, Aradura (1944 -1945 ), Burma 1944-45

• Korean War (1950-1953)

Uniform and insignia

The dress worn by the Regiment's predecessor units in the late 17th and early 18th centuries included orange and subsequently green facings. In 1733 official permission was given to change from bright green back to light orange facings. By 1747 this unusual shade had evolved into yellow which was retained until 1881 when, in common with all English and Welsh regiments the newly renamed Norfolk Regiment was given white distinctions on its scarlet tunics.^[4] In 1905 the traditional yellow facings were restored for full dress and mess uniforms.^[5] Another distinction of the Norfolk Regiment was the inclusion of a black line in the gold braid of officers' uniforms from 1881 onwards.^[4] When the regiment was redesignated as the "Royal Norfolk Regiment" in 1935 it was specially permitted to retain the yellow facings instead of changing to blue.^[6]

The figure of Britannia was officially recognised in 1799 as part of the insignia of the 9th Regiment of Foot.^{[7] [8]} Regimental tradition claimed that it was granted to the regiment by Queen Anne in 1707 in recognition of its service at the Battle of Almanza. However there is no evidence that it was used before the 1770s, and it was not listed as an authorised device in the royal warrants of 1747, 1751 or 1768.^{[8] [9]} It subsequently became a central part of the badge of the Norfolk Regiment.^[9]

See also

• List of British Army regiments (1881)
• 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot (1782-1881)
• Norfolk Yeomanry
• West Runton War Memorial
• Sheringham War Memorial

References

1. ^ http://www.rnrm.org.uk/history/history_06.html Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum
2. ^ The Vanished Battalion
3. ^ Eastern Daily Press Sunday section, May 5, 2007
4. ^ ^{a b} Carman, W Y; Simkin, Richard; Douglas-Morris, K J (1985). Uniforms of the British Army: The Infantry Regiments. Webb & Bower. ISBN 0863500315. 
5. ^ Hamilton, Eric (1968). "Colours of the Regular Army Infantry of the Line 1st July 1881 to 1958". The Bulletin of the Military Historical Society (Special Issue No.1): 5, 14. 
6. ^ "Honours for the Army". The Times: p. 21. 3 June 1935. "His Majesty has further approved that the following regiments be permitted to retain their present facings:- ...The Royal Norfolk Regiment (yellow)" 
7. ^ Horse Guards Letter dated 30 July 1799: "His Majesty has been pleased to confirm to the 9th Regiment of Foot the distinction and privilege of bearing the figure of Britannia as the badge of the Regiment."
8. ^ ^{a b} Sumner, Ian (2001). British Colours & Standards 1747–1881 (2) Infantry. Oxford: Osprey. p. 5. ISBN 1841762016. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Edwards, T J (1953). Standards, Guidons and Colours of the Commonwealth Forces. Aldershot: Gale & Polden. p. 204. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Royal Norfolk Regiment

• Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum
• Norfolk Museums Service
• Royal Anglian Museum
• Norfolks in the Great War
• WW2 Re-enactment Group
• Sandringham Company history
• Diary extracts relating to Kut 1915
• Britannia and Castle - online regimental journal