King's Shropshire Light Infantry

The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (53rd and 85th)

Men of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry queue for their rations at a rest camp in Holland, 26 October 1944.
Active 1881–1968
Country  United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Infantry
Role Light Infantry
Part of Light Infantry Brigade (1948 to 1968)
Garrison/HQ Copthorne Barracks, Shrewsbury
Motto Aucto Splendore Resurgo ("I rise again with increased splendour")
Colors burgundy, gold, dark blue and dark green
March Quick : 1st Bn : "Old Towler" - 2de Bn : "The daughter of the regiment"
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Lt-Gen Sir Charles Edmond Knox
Maj-Gen Raymond Northland Revell Reade

The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. The KSLI was amalgamated with three other English county light infantry regiments in 1968 to became part of The Light Infantry. In February 2007 The Light Infantry itself became part of the new large regiment, The Rifles.

Formation

The King's Light Infantry (Shropshire Regiment) was formed on July 1, 1881, as the county regiment of Herefordshire and Shropshire as part of the Childers Reforms. It was renamed as The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry) in March 1882.

The regiment was an amalgamation of the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot and the 85th (King's Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot, which became the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions. The 1881 reforms also redesignated the militia and rifle volunteers units within the regimental district as battalions of the regiment. Accordingly the Shropshire Militia and Royal Herefordshire Militia became the 3rd and 4th (Militia) Battalions respectively, and the 1st and 2nd Shropshire Rifle Volunteer Corps became the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions. The 1st Herefordshire (Herefordshire and Radnorshire) Rifle Volunteer Corps was also affiliated as a volunteer battalion, without change of title.[1][2]

The KSLI served with distinction in Egypt in 1882, the Eastern Sudan, 1885–86 and the Second Boer War.

In 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, the two militia battalions were merged to form the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion and the 1st and 2nd VBs were merged to form the 4th Battalion Territorial Force. At the same time, the Herefordshire RVC became independent as the Herefordshire Regiment (TF).[1]

First World War

Officers of the 2nd King's Shropshire Light Infantry with skulls excavated during the construction of trenches and dugouts at the ancient Greek site of Amphipolis, 1916.

During the First World War, the KSLI fielded the following battalions:[1][3]

In 1921 the regiment was renamed as The King's Shropshire Light Infantry.[1]

Second World War

The KSLI provided the following battalions in the Second World War:[1][4]

Operations

It was a member of the KSLI who was recorded as the first British Army casualty of the Second World War, killed in France during the "Phoney War" - Corporal Thomas Priday was killed by friendly fire near Metz on 9 December 1939 when the 1st Battalion was based near the Maginot Line as part of the original British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France at the outbreak of war.[8] Remarkably, it was also members of the KSLI who were part of the operation to arrest Grand-Admiral Karl Dönitz, successor to Adolf Hitler, at the very end of the war.

Regular Army

The 1st Battalion would serve with the 3rd Infantry Brigade, part of 1st Infantry Division for the entire war. They fought in the Battle of Dunkirk, the Tunisia Campaign and the Italian Campaign including one of the most controversial battles of the whole war, the Battle of Anzio which saw some of the fiercest fighting of the campaign and endured fighting similar to that of the Great War.

The 2nd Battalion began the war in Jamaica, with a company detached to the Bermuda Garrison. The battalion eventually would join the 185th Infantry Brigade, including the 1st Royal Norfolks and 2nd Royal Warwicks. The brigade was originally assigned to the 79th Armoured Division but then was transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division in April 1943, when the division was preparing to invade Sicily until it was replaced by the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. The battalion took part in the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord, where they suffered 114 casualties on D-Day alone, or 14% of their total strength, near Lebisey Wood and failed to capture the D-Day objective of Caen due to the presence of 21st Panzer Division. The 2nd Battalion fought in the Normandy Campaign, Operation Market Garden and the rest of the North West Europe Campaign with the British Second Army. In March 1945 Sergeant James Stokes, a Scotsman, of the 2nd Battalion was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Territorial Army

The 4th Battalion was a 1st Line Territorial Army unit assigned to the 159th Infantry Brigade, part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. However, in October 1943, the 4th KSLI, along with the brigade, were transferred to the become the motorised infantry element of the 11th Armoured Division. They spent many months training in preparation for Operation Overlord and the 4th KSLI, like the 2nd Battalion, also served with distinction in the North West Europe Campaign. In October 1944 Sergeant George Harold Eardley of the 4th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in knocking out multiple enemy machine guns.

The 5th Battalion was a 2nd Line TA duplicate of the 4th Battalion formed in 1939 on the doubling of the Territorial Army as, by this time, another European conflict seemed inevitable. The battalion was assigned to the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division, a 2nd Line duplicate of the 53rd (Welsh) Division which the 4th Battalion was originally assigned. The battalion never saw active service and remained in the United Kingdom for the war and served as a training unit.

Hostilities-only

A hostilities-only unit, 6th Battalion was converted into 181st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1942. At the time there was a shortage of insignia, so the troops were ordered to cut off the 'KING'S' and 'L.I.' from the ends of their cloth shoulder titles, leaving 'SHROPSHIRE', which led to the regiment's nickname 'the Shropshire Gunners'. This regiment served with 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, wearing Scottish Tam o' Shanter caps and Royal Artillery badges, but still with a regimental badge of a gold light infantry bugle horn embroidered on a green background.[6][9] The Shropshire Gunners supported 15th (Scottish) throughout the North West Europe Campaign from Normandy to Germany, being the first field artillery regiment across both the Rhine and the Elbe.

The 7th and 8th Battalions were, like the 6th Battalion, raised in 1940. The 7th Battalion was converted to the 99th Anti-Tank Regiment in 1941 but was disbanded in 1943. The 8th (Home Defence) Battalion was raised specifically for home defence duties until it became a training unit until 1943 when it was disbanded.

Postwar

In 1948 the KSLI was reduced to one regular battalion and became part of the Light Infantry Brigade, and in 1968 the four regiments of the Brigade (the KSLI, Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Durham Light Infantry) amalgamated to form The Light Infantry, with the 1st KSLI being redesignated as the 3rd Battalion of the new regiment.[1]

Battle honours

As well as inheriting the battle honours of the 53rd and 85th Foot the KSLI bore the following honours on their colours:[10]

Colonels

The following served as Colonel of the regiment:[11]

Notable soldiers

Depot and museum

The KSLI were based at Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury: this is now the HQ of the 143 West Midlands Brigade, along with TA, cadet and support units. Its regimental museum has been located in Shrewsbury Castle since 1985 and combines the collections of the 53rd, the 85th, the KSLI to 1968, the local Militia, Rifle Volunteers and Territorials, as well as those of other county regiments - the Shropshire Yeomanry and the Shropshire Artillery.[12] The museum was attacked by the IRA in 1992 and extensive damage to the collection and to some of the Castle resulted. It re-opened in 1995.

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to King's Shropshire Light Infantry.