Queen's Lancashire Regiment

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The Queen's Lancashire Regiment
Queen's Lancashire Regiment.gif
Cap badge of The Queen's Lancashire Regiment
Active 1970–2006
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Branch  British Army
Type Line Infantry
Role 1st Battalion - Mechanised
4th Battalion - TA Reserve
Size One battalion
Part of King's Division
Garrison/HQ RHQ - Fulwood Barracks, Preston
1st Battalion - Osnabrück, Germany
Motto Loyally I Serve
March Quick - L'Attaque/The Red Rose
Slow - Long Live Elizabeth
Anniversaries Waterloo(18 June)
Quebec(13 September)
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash 100px

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (30th, 40th, 47th, 59th, 81st and 82nd Regiments of Foot) (QLR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was formed on 25 March 1970 at Connaught Barracks in Dover through the amalgamation of the two remaining Lancashire infantry regiments, the Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) and the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire).

History

Since formation, the Queen's Lancashires have served on operations in Northern Ireland in 1970, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76 (resident), 1977, 1980–81, 1987, 1990–92, 1997–99 (resident) and 2001 during the course of which eight soldiers were killed in action.

The 1st Battalion undertook two tours with BAOR in the mechanised role. The first of which was with 12 Mechanised Brigade in Osnabrück from 1970 to 1974. The second was with 33 Armoured Brigade in Paderborn from 1984 to 1990. The 1st Battalion also had the honour of being the last British battalion to serve in Berlin prior to the final withdrawal in 1994.[1]

Overseas service saw the 1st Battalion posted to Cyprus from 1978 to 1980 as the Western Sovereign Base Area Resident Battalion, and again in 1983, where they saw service with the United Nations. A company was dispatched to the Falkland Islands in the aftermath of the 1982 war.[2] The 1st Battalion returned to Cyprus as the Eastern Sovereign Base Area Resident Battalion from 2004 to 2005.[2]

In 1996 the 1st Battalion served as part of IFOR in Bosnia operating in the area known as "The Anvil".[1]

The regiment's 1st Battalion saw service in Iraq in the months immediately following Operation Telic, from June to November 2003. Given responsibility for Iraq's second city, Basra, it gained much praise for its efforts to restore security and civil order.[1]

On 16 December 2004, it was announced that the Queen's Lancashire Regiment would be merged with the King's Regiment and the King's Own Royal Border Regiment into the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border). On 1 July 2006, the 1st Battalion, Queen's Lancashire Regiment became the 1st Battalion, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.[3]

Territorials

As well as the regular 1st Battalion, the regiment also had a Territorial Army 4th Battalion, which was formed on 1 April 1975, with headquarters at Kimberley Barracks, Preston and companies at various times in Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Burnley and Bury. The battalion had a NATO role and trained overseas in Germany, France, Gibraltar and the United States. The battalion also provided reinforcements for the 1st Battalion.

Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers

As part of the Strategic Defence Review, the 4th Battalion merged with the 4th Battalion The King's Own Royal Border Regiment to create the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers. This new unit had two Queen's Lancashire rifle companies, one at Preston with a detachment at Blackpool, the other at Blackburn with a Royal Regiment of Fusiliers detachment at Bury. The headquarters was still at Preston but was multi-capbadged.

Members of the LCV have seen extensive operational service. In June 2002, the LCV were tasked to provide the first all TA platoon which was to be mobilised to go to Afghanistan and provide the protection force for Headquarters British Forces in Kabul. In the following weeks, a total of 39 soldiers were selected, trained and mobilised for this task. They went into theatre on 2 September and left Kabul on 6 December 2002.

In 2003, 10 personnel were mobilised for service in Iraq on Operation Telic 1. Later in the year a further 97 personnel were mobilised to serve with the 1st Battalion on Op Telic 2 from May to December. Further personnel were mobilised for subsequent operations.

Members of the LCV have also served on other operations in areas such as the Balkans.

Abuses In Iraq

Some months after returning from Iraq the battalion was at the centre of the first serious accusations of abuse against Iraqi prisoners levelled at British soldiers. These accusations were illustrated on the front pages of the Daily Mirror by photographs which the Regiment immediately denounced as staged fakes. The Regiment then ran a successful campaign, believed to be unique for an active unit of the British Armed Forces, to prove that the pictures were false. After two weeks, the Mirror was forced to admit that it had found "sufficient evidence to suggest that these pictures are fakes and that the Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax." Editor Piers Morgan was forced to resign when he refused to apologise. During the controversy, one senior officer of the Regiment was quoted as saying that "it is time to measure the ego of one tabloid editor against the lives of British soldiers (still serving in Iraq)" Another was reported by the BBC as saying 'this Regiment has taken on Louis XIV, Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler. I don't think Piers Morgan will detain us long'.

There has however been at least one case of true abuse; Corporal Donald Payne became Britain's first convicted war criminal after pleading guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees, which resulted in the death of one detainee Baha Mousa.[4] Six other soldiers were cleared of any wrongdoing. The presiding judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, stated that "none of those soldiers has been charged with any offence, simply because there is no evidence against them as a result of a more or less obvious closing of ranks." The report from a 2011 inquiry into the killing stated that 19 soldiers had assaulted Mousa and nine other Iraqi detainees and that many other soldiers, including officers, must have known what was happening.[5]

Battle honours

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment carried 204 Battle Honours. Six are unique in the British Army, and two (Canton and Fiesole) are unique in the world. There are very few campaigns in the history of the British Army in which some predecessor unit of the Regiment did not take part.

Alliances

Freedom Towns

See also

Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum

References

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