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The Royal Anglian Regiment

Battalions 1st Battalion (Vikings) 2nd Battalion (Poachers) 3rd Battalion (Steelbacks)

The Royal Anglian Regiment's regular battalions are based in Bulford (Wiltshire) and Cottesmore (Rutland) with very strong links to the counties that they represent. The reserve battalion has a presence in all the recruited counties, from Lincolnshire to Hertfordshire. The Regiment is one of the most operationally experienced regiments in the Army today, but retains a close link with the counties that it represents. His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester is the Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Anglian Regiment.

The Royal Anglian Regiment is the County Infantry Regiment of the ten counties of East Anglia and the East Midlands. It was formed in 1964 from the Regiments of the East Anglian Brigade, which themselves had been formed through a series of amalgamations of the former County Regiments between 1958-60.

The move of other brigades towards a similar organisation struck at the whole root of the infantry regimental system. For centuries, men have taken great pride in their regiments, their corps and their ships — in fact in any unit to which they have belonged. In World War II it was difficult for a time to put people into their county regiments. County regiments meant a great deal to a great many people. Later on the Army was able to do it, and to issue such things as shoulder titles showing the unit to which a man belonged.

In accordance with the policy laid down in the 1957 Defence White Paper, the Army was reduced to about half its previous size. This reduction involved major changes in the organisation, structure and order of battle of the Army. It will also mean a major reduction in the number of units and, where the infantry and the cavalry were concerned, in the number of regiments. There are some counties which had no direct association with the Army other than through their Territorial regiments. East Anglia had two counties which would never agree on anything, no matter how long one may try to get them to do so - Norfolk and Suffolk. The Territorial Regiment of Cambridgeshire had some association with the Suffolk Regiment.

The policy of the Army Board was to move towards the Large Regiment as the basis of infantry organisation. The first such regiment, the Royal Anglian Regiment, was formed in September, 1964, and the Royal Green-jacket Regiment came into being in January 1965. These Large Regiments have been formed as a result of voluntary action. The Infantry of the Line was then grouped into thirteen Brigades or Large Regiments and the Parachute Regiment. Each contains either three or four battalions. It had become clear that the present groupings were too small to meet the needs of the future.

For more than 40 years the British Army stood in the front line in Europe with our NATO allies. For more than 40 years we have had to maintain, even in peacetime, very substantial force levels on the continent of Europe, against the risk of a massive surprise attack across a wide front by the huge military strength of the Warsaw pact. But suddenly, after all those years of confrontation, the Warsaw pact has collapsed; East Germany is no more; and Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and others all seek closer links with the west.

As of 1991 the present infantry strength was 50 United Kingdom and five Gurkha infantry battalions. The following year they were reduced to 46 and four respectively, and progressively thereafter, until by 1997 there would be a total of 38 battalions. In accordance with precedent, the second battalion of each of the Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards will be placed in suspended animation. The Irish and Welsh Guards are not affected. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the Royal Anglian Regiment, the Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets will all reduce from three battalions to two. The Queen's Regiment will amalgamate with The Royal Hampshire Regiment and form a regiment of two battalions. The 5th, 6th and 7th volunteer battalions of the Royal Anglian Regiment would continue.

Royal Anglian regiment performed valiantly in Northern Ireland. In late 1992 an exceptional problem arose: although 2 Battalion, which was due to deploy in Northern Ireland in December, would not have been in Northern Ireland for some two and a half years, there were 153 members of the former 3 Battalion who, because of the amalgamation in August 1992, would return to Northern Ireland far sooner than would normally be expected. That exceptional problem had arisen because of the amalgamation.