1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
After a German-backed coup d'état in Iraq in April 1941, the Royal Air Force (RAF) training base at Habbaniya came under siege by Iraqi Nationalist forces. As soon as it arrived in the Middle East, 60th Fd Rgt was sent up to Palestine to join the relief column, known as 'Habforce'. Brigadier 'Joe' Kingstone was sent on ahead with a Flying column named 'Kingcol' to effect a relief of the airbase as soon as possible. The field artillery component of Kingcol was provided by the 25-pounders of 237 Fd Bty.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
Kingcol operated as a self-contained unit with 12 days' rations and five days' water. It moved out from Transjordan following the Amman–Baghdad road and Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline to the fort of Rutba, which had been recaptured by the Arab Legion and 2nd Armoured Car Squadron, RAF, on 10 May. Kingcol moved on from Rutba on 15 May, crossing the desert in exceptionally hot weather, digging the heavy vehicles out when they broke through the surface of the poor tracks, and under attack by German aircraft.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
The direct road to Habbaniya was blocked by Iraqi troops at Ramadi, but engineers from Habbaniya had bridged the canal to the south and Kingcol arrived from that direction on 18 May. 237 Battery went straight into action, firing across floodwaters at the Iraqi positions. Kingcol and the Habbaniya garrison now planned an attack on Fallujah, moving up both sides of the Euphrates (the Battle of Fallujah). A troop of six 25-pounders of 237 Bty accompanied the RAF's Assyrian Levies to advance from the south-west and seize the vital Euphrates bridge.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
On 19 May, the levies advanced over open boggy ground, covered by the fire of the 25-pounders, and crossed and captured the bridge in only half an hour. The Iraqis counter-attacked on 22 May, but the British and Assyrian troops fought back ferociously and the Iraqis withdrew. The British now prepared to advance on Baghdad in two small columns, each accompanied by a troop of 25-pounders. Kingcol advancing on the south side was held up by Iraqi 18-pounders, but these were engaged by 237 Bty, allowing the British troops to work their way forward. Rumour magnified the size of these small forces, and the Iraqis asked for an armistice on 30 May.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
In mid-June, Habforce (including 237 Bty) joined the campaign against Vichy French forces in Syria. Its role was to advance across the desert from Iraq towards Palmyra. F Troop saw action at Oumm Ovalid with the Transjordan Frontier Force. Habforce's advance was continually harried by Vichy Air Force attacks. Meanwhile, 6th Division, which had recently been reformed in Egypt, had been sent up to handle the advance from Palestine toward Damascus, supported by the rest of 60th Fd Rgt. 1st


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Iraq and Syria
Battalion Royal Fusiliers captured Quneitra with 25-pounder support, but the guns had then been withdrawn and the Vichy forces later re-took the town, capturing most of the Fusiliers. A troop of 60th Fd Rgt regiment supported 2nd Battalion, Queen's Regiment of 6th Division in a cross-country movement to retake it once more on 17 June. On 30 June, D Troop broke up an enemy counter-attack and destroyed four armoured vehicles. After the fall of Damascus and Palmyra, the Syria–Lebanon campaign ended on 14 July with the Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
On 20 July 1941, the regiment joined 6th Division, which was being built up but did not yet have a full artillery complement. However, during September the infantry units of 6th Division began to be shipped into the besieged Libyan port of Tobruk (where it was renamed 70th Division as a deception) leaving the artillery behind, and 60th Fd Rgt left the division on 30 September, reverting to being an army field regiment under Eighth Army in Egypt.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
Eighth Army was preparing a new offensive in the Western Desert (Operation Crusader) to drive the Axis forces back from the Egyptian Frontier across Cyrenaica and to relieve Tobruk. For this operation, 60th Fd Rgt was assigned as an additional regiment to 7th Support Group in 7th Armoured Division (a support group at this time was essentially an artillery brigade acting as the pivot group within an armoured division). The operation began at dawn on 18 November 1941, achieving surprise and taking almost all its first day objectives.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
The next day, 7th Armoured Division began exploitation towards Sidi Rezegh, and on 20 November 7th Support Group was ordered up to join the leading armoured brigade at Sidi Rezegh. On 21 November, 7th Armoured Division with its support group advanced northwards to meet 70th Division breaking out of Tobruk, but both Panzer divisions of the Afrika Korps intervened and bitter fighting broke out (the Battle of Sidi Rezegh). 7th Support Group under Brigadier Jock Campbell attacked Sidi Rezegh with tank support, but came under tank and artillery fire from the north and suffered badly.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
At one point, 50 German tanks passed through the 7th Hussars to attack S Company and Battalion HQ of 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade but were driven off by anti-tank guns of J Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and the 25-pounders of 60th Fd Rgt. The RHA detachment fought to the last gun, winning a Victoria Cross (VC) and the Honour title 'Sidi Rezegh' for their battery. Meanwhile, 60th Fd Rgt, deployed round the edge of Sidi Rezegh airfield, were in contact a point-blank range but kept firing despite rising casualties.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
As about 40 panzers advanced directly towards the guns, one Troop of the regiment moved out onto the airfield itself but was overrun. The RA historian records that 'the whole area was filled with blazing hulks, solid shot ran out and anything to hand was fired'. At dawn the following day the defenders of Sidi Rezegh could see a mass of some 80 tanks and support vehicles advancing against them some three miles away.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
60th Field Regiment was very short of men, but Brigadier Campbell himself helped the gunners swing the trails of their guns round to engage these targets, before bringing up a squadron of tanks. This attack was dispersed. Later he stood on the wing of a crashed Italian aircraft to direct the guns of 60th Fd Rgt to scatter another attack. The Afrika Korps then redirected its attack to the east and overran two infantry companies from the rear: once again Campbell helped swing the guns round to face this attack. At the end of the day the regiment was exhausted, but the Germans had never been able to close in. Campbell was later awarded the VC.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
On 23 November, 15th Panzer Division cut through 7th Support Group's positions on its way west, scattering the support group's vehicles. Then the following day General Erwin Rommel disengaged the Afrika Korps and made a 'dash for the [Egyptian] frontier' in Eighth Army's rear. 7th Support Group was able to engage the flank of this column as it passed by, then broke up into small raiding columns to attack the German rear and then prevent the Italian Ariete Division joining in. By now, 60th Fd Rgt only had 14 of its 24 guns left. By 28 November, Rommel was stopped at the frontier and returned westwards, Sidi Rezegh was secured, and the encirclement of Tobruk was broken.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
The confused fighting continued as the returning Afrika Korps attacked again in the Sidi Rezegh area, but 7th Support Group engaged the Ariete Division at Bir el Gubi and prevented its participation (4 December). Rommel decided to retire to Gazala on 7 December and Eighth Army followed up to clear Cyrenaica. While the positions round Gazala and Alem Hamza were attacked on 15 December, 7th Support Group was ordered to deal with any enemy in the open country to the south of Sidi Breghisc.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
The group reached Tengeder on 17 December and then turned north towards Mechili, which convinced Rommel to pull back with all speed to the Tripolitania border before he was cut off by this flanking movement. By 20 December 7th Support Group had reached Charruba and was in contact with the rear of the Ariete and Trieste Divisions, though the going had got rough and petrol was scarce. It struggled forward to a point 15 miles south of Sceleidima by 22 December


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Western Desert
On 22 December, 7th Armoured Division was relieved; its Support Group 'was only a shadow of its former self', and 60th Fd Rgt left to refit. It rejoined 70th Division (ex-6th Division) on 31 December 1941. 70th Division moved to Syria for rest on 7 February 1942, but the Fall of Singapore on 15 February led to an urgent call for reinforcements to be sent from Middle East Forces to the Far East. 70th Division was ordered to India on 17 February, and sailed from Egypt on 28 February, arriving at Bombay on 10 March.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
On arrival in India, 70th Division went to Ranchi as part of a mobile reserve for introduction into the Burma Campaign as required. This would not be until after the Monsoon rains ended in late 1942.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
As early as October 1940, it had been planned that field regiments would adopt an organisation of three eight-gun batteries, but shortages meant that in most units this reorganisation was not completed for many months. By November 1942, 60th Fd Rgt had organised 442 Fd Bty.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
70th Division remained at Ranchi during the first part of 1943. It was then decided to break it up to provide Long Range Penetration (LRP or 'Chindit') columns for Maj-Gen Orde Wingate's second jungle penetration mission (Operation Thursday). 70th Division began reorganising on 6 September 1943. The Chindits had no role for conventional artillery, so 60th Fd Rgt joined 23rd Brigade on 22 October 1943 to train as infantry under the designation of 60th Regiment, RA, (North Midland). Each infantry battalion reorganised as two LRP Columns; 60th Rgt provided Columns 60 and 88. 23 Brigade moved to Indias's Central Provinces for intensive training in jungle fighting.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
The CO of 60th Fd Rgt is reported to have resigned in protest at the conversion to infantry, and was replaced by Lt-Col H.G. de J. ('Mike') du Vallon, a specialist in LRP tactics, who trained the regiment and commanded one of the columns in person. The other column was commanded by Major Neil Hotchkin, son of the regiment's Honorary Colonel and a noted first class cricketer, who had first been commissioned into the regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in 237 Bty on 26 September 1936.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
Operation Thursday began on 5 February 1944 with the first LRP brigades moving into Burma to establish bases for the fly-in of the second wave. 23 Brigade was in reserve for later in the operation, but the Japanese U-Go Offensive against Imphal and Kohima changed the situation, and on 8 March the brigade was reassigned to Fourteenth Army. It was moved up to Hailakandi and then Mariani in Assam to be used in a short range penetration role.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
As Operation Thursday began to turn sour, Wingate's replacement as commander of Special Force requested 23 Brigade, but instead the brigade marched into Burma on 3 April 1944 to defend the routes into Assam and cover the northern flank of Fourteenth Army in its counter-offensive towards Kohima. As the brigade advanced, it found elements of the Japanese 124th Regiment covering the flank of the 31st Division. These flank guards, aided by storms, dense jungle, and precipitous mountains, imposed considerable delays on 23 Brigade's advance towards Jessami. After the Relief of Kohima the British continued towards Imphal, still with 23 Brigade as flank guard on the Kharasom–Ukhrul axis, with the task of cutting Japanese communications back to the Chindwin River.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
On 22 April, 60 and 88 columns started out into the Naga Hills. Some of the zig-zag tracks up the mountainsides and across the rivers were so narrow that no vehicles or even pack animals could use them, and the columns relied on Naga porters for transport. The Monsoon rains were exceptionally heavy, and most of the men suffered from 'Naga Hills tummy': dysentery brought on by magnesium sulfate (the laxative known as 'Epsom Salts') in the water. By 13 May, 60 Column had reached Meluri, where they established a firm base and supply-dropping point.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
The following day, 88 Column arrived, and with the porters began building a stronghold named 'Grimsby', and cut a landing-strip for aircraft. Although the tracks the columns had been sent to interdict were not actually being used by the Japanese, they were present at Jessami and Khanjan, which du Vallon decided to raid. After a difficult night approach, three platoons of 60 Column attacked Jessami and the reconnaissance platoons of both columns attacked Khanjan simultaneously at 06.00 on 18 May. Both places were cleared and numerous casualties caused; British wounded were evacuated from Grimsby by light aircraft. A company-strength Japanese position was discovered on 23 May a mile south of Jessami, and two platoons made a probing attack. Later, the Japanese were bombed by Hurricane fighter-bombers and left the area.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
Aerial reconnaissance from Grimsby by du Vallon and Hotchkin identified a suitable site for the next firm base, named 'Grimbsy II' at Nungphung, where four important tracks met. On 24 May, 60 Column began constructing another airstrip two miles from the village, which was occupied by 88 Column. Grimsby II was a vulnerable position, only 6 miles from a Japanese garrison at Kharasom, and the columns had to fight off a determined attack on 31 May.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
After that, they were not troubled, even though the garrisons at Grimsby II were dangerously small when platoons were on offensive operations, possibly because the Nagas fed the Japanese false information about the strength of the columns. Supply drops every three days brought in quantities of barbed wire, flares and explosives with which to defend the positions, as well as ammunition and rations. Over the next three weeks, aggressive patrols by platoons from Grimsby II and Jessami harassed the Japanese communications round Kharasom, suffering minimal casualties, although a significant number of sick had to be evacuated by air.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
On 15 June, the two columns received their orders for the last phase of the operation: the pursuit of the enemy to Ukhrul. They called in all their patrols and their mules and muleteers rejoined. Significant numbers of the men were deemed unfit for the operation and were evacuated from Grimsby II on 22 June. 23 Brigade was ready to take part in a concentric attack by XXXIII Corps against Ukhrul, but this was held up by torrential rain, and did not begin until 27 June.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
The following day, four columns of the brigade began moving eastwards towards Fort Keary and the other four towards Ukhrul. In this part of the encirclement, the main obstacles were climate and terrain. The columns struggled through rain and cloying mud along treacherous mountain tracks, from sub-tropical heat in valley bottoms to cold mists on the mountain tops. The troops often went hungry when air supply drops were impossible, and sickness took hold among the undernourished and exhausted men.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
Organised Japanese resistance ended on 8 July and the columns fanned out along the tracks to the Chindwin, past dead and dying Japanese troops and abandoned equipment. Further pursuit would have exposed the British troops to greater risks of sickness, and so the brigade was gradually withdrawn from the Chindwin. By the end of July, 23 Brigade was on its way back to India.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, World War II, Far East
60th Regiment went to Bangalore for rest and reorganisation. On 29 October 1944, it was broken up, the surviving fit men being posted to 2nd Battalion Queen's Regiment, alongside which it had fought in Syria, and which had returned from Operation Thursday. The RA regiment was placed in suspended animation. 60th (North Midland) Field Regiment was never reformed, and was officially disbanded in 1947.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, Honorary Colonels
The following officers served as Honorary Colonel of the unit:


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, Memorials
There are two memorials to the 46th (North Midland) Division on the battlefield of the Hohenzollern Redoubt: one on the road between Vermelles and Hulluch, marking the jumping-off point of the attack, and one on the site of the redoubt itself, which lists all the units of the division.


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, Memorials
The 46th (North Midland) Division memorial on the road between Vermelles and Hulluch


1st Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers, Memorials
The memorial honouring the casualties of the 46th Division at the Hohenzollern Redoubt


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers
The 1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers was a Scottish unit of Britain's Volunteer Force raised in Linlithgow in 1860. It later became a cyclist battalion of the Royal Scots, which served in Home Defence and saw action in the North Russia Intervention force during World War I. Between the wars it was reduced to company strength, but just before World War II it was converted into an anti-aircraft (AA) regiment of the Royal Artillery (RA). This served in Anti- Aircraft Command during the Blitz and later distinguished itself in the Siege of Tobruk. It fought through the Italian Campaign and its successors continued in the postwar Territorial Army (TA) until 1967.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force
The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. One such unit was the 1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, a company formed at Linlithgow, the county town of West Lothian (or Linlithgowshire), on 19 March 1860 under the command of Captain Robert Stewart. It was soon followed by companies formed in other towns of West Lothian, and they were combined as the 1st Administrative Battalion of Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers with Stewart promoted to Major in command on 21 October 1862:


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force
When the RVCs were consolidated in 1880 the 1st Admin Bn became the 1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers on 16 March and the individual RVCs became lettered companies, the subdivision of the 6th becoming F Company at Addiewell, the rest of the 6th becoming G Company at West Calder. C Company moved to Armadale the following year.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force, Localisation
Under the 'Localisation of Forces' scheme introduced in 1872 by the Cardwell Reforms, the 1st Linlithgowshire was grouped with the 1st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots), the Edinburgh Light Infantry Militia and a number of RVCs from neighbouring counties into Brigade No 62, which was a purely administrative formation. Under the Childers Reforms of 1881, the 1st Linlithgowshire became a Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Scots on 1 July, and was formally redesignated as the 8th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Scots in April 1888.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force, Localisation
The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training. Under this scheme the 8th VB was included in the Forth Brigade. In 1902 the Forth Brigade was split into the 1st and 2nd Lothian Brigades, with the 8th VB in the 2nd Brigade.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force, 2nd Boer War
Thirty-six volunteers from the battalion served in the Second Boer War, principally with the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Service Companies of the Royal Scots, earning the battalion its first Battle honour:  South Africa 1900–02.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Volunteer Force, 2nd Boer War
In 1900 the battalion raised three additional companies: H at South Queensferry, I at Kirkliston, and a Cyclist Company, while F Company moved to Fauldhouse. H Company was disbanded in 1906 and I Company was redesignated H.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the battalion was reorganised to form the 10th (Cyclist) Battalion, Royal Scots of 8 companies with headquarters at Linlithgow. Cyclist battalions did not form part of the TF's divisions but were 'Army Troops' held at Command level; 10th (Cyclist) Bn Royal Scots was under Scottish Command.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, Mobilisation
On the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, the battalion mobilised and was assigned to coastal defence at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Almost immediately, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 31 August, the War Office authorised the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit for each TF unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. They were filled with the volunteers who were coming forward in large numbers – 2/10th Royal Scots was recruited in under a week in September – and 3rd Line training units were formed in 1915.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, Coast Defence
From 7 November 1914 the cyclist battalions formed part of the newly formed Army Cyclist Corps. The 1/10th (Cyclist) Bn Royal Scots was joined at Berwick by the 2/10th in January 1915, and both battalions remained there until April and June 1918, when they were transferred to Ireland. The battalion was finally disembodied at The Curragh on 26 February 1920. A 3/10th Bn was formed in 1915 and then disbanded in March 1916, when its personnel were distributed to the 1/10th, 2/10th and the newly formed Machine Gun Corps.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, North Russia
By 1918, 2/10th Bn had sent many drafts overseas and was now composed mainly of men of B1 medical category. However, the War Office needed troops for a North Russia Intervention force, and after reorganising as an infantry battalion and being brought up to strength with drafts from other units in Ireland, the 2/10th returned to England in July 1918. It was then shipped to Arkhangelsk as part of the force, arriving in late August 1918.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, North Russia
Leaving one company in Arkhangelsk, the battalion operated along a 50 miles (80 km) stretch of the Northern Dvina River, south of its junction with the Vaga River. Movement and observation were hampered by marshes and forests, but supported by the Royal Navy monitor HMS M33 the Royal Scots cleared the triangle between the Dvina and Vaga and took a number of villages and prisoners. The strongly fortified village of Pless could not be attacked frontally, so A Company, less one platoon, attempted a flanking movement through the marshes. The following morning the company reached Kargonin, behind Pless, and the defenders – thinking themselves cut off by a large force – evacuated both villages. The regimental historian describes this as 'a quite remarkable march by predominantly B1 troops'.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, North Russia
By late September, with a body of US Army troops, the battalion had reached Nijne-Toimski, which proved too strong for the lightly-equipped Allied force, who established a defensive line. The monitor then had to withdraw before the Dvina froze, and the force was shelled by Bolsehvik gunboats. It withdrew to a second defensive line for the winter. With the help of a Canadian Field Artillery battery it drove off a number of attacks, culminating in a very heavy assault on 11 November. 2/10th Royal Scots was then reinforced by the company from Archangelsk, which had been engaged at Obozerskaya on the Vologda railway line. The force then settled into billets in villages and log blockhouses, while training and raids were carried out on snowshoes, skis and sledges.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War I, North Russia
The Bolsheviks resumed the offensive early in 1919, and A Company had to be sent to reinforce a heavily pressed force on the Vaga, marching with sledges over 50 miles (80 km) in temperatures 40–60 degrees below freezing. The Bolsheviks now had artillery superiority, there was no anti-Bolshevik rising among the local population, the White Russian troops mutinied in April, and the US troops were withdrawn in May. Nevertheless, the force remained in position; 2/10th Royal Scots was relieved by other British troops. The battalion returned by barge to Archangelsk and sailed for home on 10 June. It arrived at Leith where it was immediately demobilised on 25 June.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Interwar
When the TF was reformed as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1920, the 10th (Cyclist) Bn first formed the 1st (Linlithgow) Light Bridging Company of the Royal Engineers, then in 1921 it became A Company of the 4/5th (Queen's Edinburgh Rifles) Bn, Royal Scots at Edinburgh, with Company HQ remaining at Linlithgow. The 4/5th Bn formed part of 155th (East Scottish) Bde of 52nd (Lowland) Division.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Interwar, 14th (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Rgt
During the 1930s the increasing need for anti-aircraft (AA) defence for Britain's cities was addressed by converting a number of TA infantry battalions into AA units. The 4th/5th Royal Scots was one of the battalions selected, becoming a searchlight (S/L) regiment in 1938. At the same time, the TA was doubled in size following the Munich Crisis, so two regiments were formed, with A Company providing the basis for a new 14th (West Lothian, Royal Scots) Light Anti- Aircraft Regiment of the Royal Artillery (RA). The Linlithgow company formed Regimental HQ (RHQ), 39 (Linlithgow) and 40 (Bathgate) LAA Batteries; 57 LAA Battery was raised at South Queensferry on 17 January 1939 and 58 LAA Bty at Edinburgh on 15 May 1939.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Mobilisation
The regiment formed part of 3 AA Division covering Scotland. In February 1939 the TA's AA defences came under the control of a new Anti- Aircraft Command. In June a partial mobilisation of TA units was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA positions. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, AA Command was fully mobilised at its war stations. 14th (West Lothian) LAA Rgt became part of 51st Light Anti- Aircraft Brigade, which was formed in August 1939 with responsibility for all of 3 AA Division's LAA provision.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Phoney War and Battle of Britain
3 AA Division was frequently in action during the so-called Phoney War that lasted from September 1939 to April 1940. The first action occurred unexpectedly on 16 October 1939, when enemy aircraft suddenly appeared out of cloud and dived on warships off Rosyth Dockyard, close to the Forth Bridge. Other attacks on bases followed, and 3 AA Division was given priority for new Heavy AA (HAA) guns in January 1940, but only 10 Bofors 40 mm guns and some Naval 2-pounders were available for LAA defence; otherwise LAA defence of Vulnerable Points (VPs) relied on AA Light machine guns (AALMGs). From April 1940 the Luftwaffe turned its attention to the campaigns in Norway and France and the Low Countries


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Phoney War and Battle of Britain
By 11 July 1940, at the start of the Battle of Britain, 3 AA Division had some 119 LAA guns (mainly Bofors) defending VPs. Scotland largely escaped air attack during the Battle of Britain, but in September 1940 the Luftwaffe shifted to night attacks on Britain's cities (The Blitz). However, even while the Blitz was getting under way there was also an urgent need to reinforce the AA defences of the British bases in Egypt following the entry of Italy into the war.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Phoney War and Battle of Britain
14th (West Lothian) LAA Rgt, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Eastwood, arrived in Egypt with 39, 40 and 57 LAA Btys on 3 March 1941 and was sent straight to Libya where it joined 4 AA Bde at Tobruk behind the advancing Western Desert Force. (58 LAA Battery had been transferred on 10 July 1940 to 50th Light Anti- Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery which remained in AA Command.)


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
German intervention in the shape of General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps quickly turned the tide in Libya. A swift breakthrough pushed British forces backwards. The German columns, heading for the Egyptian frontier, bypassed Tobruk, whose garrison prepared to defend the port. This was invested from 11 April, beginning the epic Siege of Tobruk lasting 240 days.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
Brigadier J.N. Slater of 4 AA Bde acted as AA Defence Commander (AADC) for the whole Tobruk area, with RHQ 14th LAA Rgt controlling the AA defences round the perimeter and RHQ 13th LAA Rgt commanding the harbour area. 13th LAA Regiment had previously sent a battery to Greece, so the numbers were balanced by transferring 39 LAA Bty to its command, though in fact batteries were split between the two LAA Rgt HQs for operational convenience rather than strict regimental integrity:


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
while 40/14 LAA Bty (Maj W. McEwan Younger) was in the harbour area under 13th LAA Rgt.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
In April the two LAA regiments and attached independent LAA batteries between them had 18 Bofors 40 mm guns (6 mobile, 12 static) and 42 captured Italian 20mm Breda guns, and all batteries manned a mixture of these weapons.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
Rommel made his first attack on the perimeter before dawn on 14 April but was driven out by a counter-attack. Thereafter there were a number of attacks on the perimeter, but almost constant air attacks, particularly by Junkers Ju 87 Stukas. The LAA gunners had problems against the divebombing Stukas and the low-flying Messerschmitt Bf 109s, against which the guns' predictors were useless. With the gunsites themselves being targeted, the battery drivers, cooks and clerks manned LMGs for local protection. The Official History records that the AA artillery in Tobruk was 'incessantly in action against attacks of all kinds, from all heights, but especially by dive-bombers'.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
Luftwaffe casualties were heavy: 53 aircraft shot down and 43 damaged in April, 45 and 56 in May. After that the Luftwaffe switched to high-level attacks. Whereas there were 21 raids by a total of 386 aircraft in April, by July this had fallen to just four raids by 79 aircraft. 4 AA Brigade recorded that there was a steady decline in numbers of aircraft attacking as the siege went on, with the attackers switching to high-level and night attacks.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
Despite hits on the gun positions and numerous casualties among the gunners, the RAOC workshops kept the guns serviceable and no gun was out of action for more than a few hours. During September and October 1941 most of the Tobruk garrison and some of the AA units were relieved, but RHQ and the three batteries of 14th LAA Rgt saw the whole siege through.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Siege of Tobruk
In November 1941 the British Eighth Army began a new offensive in the Western Desert (Operation Crusader), which succeeded in ending the Siege of Tobruk. The first phase of 'Crusader' lasted until January 1942, when Rommel counter-attacked and Eighth Army fell back and dug in along the Gazala Line. There was then a lull in the fighting while both sides reorganised.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
During the Battle of Gazala, beginning on 26 May, Rommel's Axis forces quickly broke into the British position and began attacking the defensive 'boxes'. After bitter fighting in the Gazala Line and the 'Cauldron', Eighth Army was forced to retreat. The British hoped to defend Tobruk as in the previous siege, but this time the Axis forces reached it before the defences were ready, and 4 AA Bde was among the 33,000 Allied troops who were captured in the fall of Tobruk. However, 14th LAA Rgt was not among them, having been outside the perimeter at the time. It was collected by 12 AA Bde, which had been defending fighter landing grounds for the Desert Air Force (DAF) and now fought a series of rearguard actions as the Eighth Army retreated in confusion beyond the Egyptian frontier. The Axis advance was finally halted at El Alamein


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
After a period out of the line, 14th LAA Rgt (39, 40, 57 LAA Btys with 48 Bofors guns) was back in 12 AA Bde for the Second Battle of El Alamein. 12 AA Brigade's role once again was to move up behind Eighth Army's advance and defend the DAF's landing grounds as they came into use. The brigade developed a very efficient system of providing rolling support for the DAF's tactical wings as they made long shifts forwards to maintain contact with the advancing army.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
This involved the Royal Air Force, Royal Engineers' airfield construction teams, and local ground defence units as well as the AA units; all were represented in the joint reconnaissance parties that followed closely behind the leading battalions. They selected new sites for landing strips or renovated old ones, maintaining radio contact through RAF or RA channels with the main body so that movement orders could be passed to the following AA batteries. Movement was usually by 'leap frogging' from previously occupied landing grounds, though sometimes an AA battery was waiting in a hidden concentration area ready to move forward.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
RAF transport aircraft flew ground staff, equipment and battery staffs to the new locations. Within a few hours the fighter squadrons would arrive and the AA positions were manned. 12 AA Brigade had 20–30 separate convoys moving on any given day, and by November it was providing cover for six RAF wings and one US Army Air Force Group. As the advance progressed the retreating Germans took greater pains to make abandoned landing grounds unusable; at one field near 'Marble Arch', 2000 mines had to be lifted by the RA/RE/RAF teams.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
12 AA Brigade followed Eighth Army all the way to Tripoli, which fell on 23 January 1943. By now, 14th LAA Rgt (39, 40, 57 LAA Btys, 36 x Bofors) was at Buerat. The last phase of Eighth Army's operations in North Africa was the advance from Tripoli into Tunisia. 12 AA Brigade continued to conduct airfield defence, against increasing opposition. The typical mobile group allocated to an airfield contained one HAA and two LAA batteries. To avoid detection, the groups moved by night, being allotted special priority for routes.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Gazala to Tunisia
For the Battle of the Mareth Line in late March 1943 12 AA Bde covered nine forward landing grounds for five RAF wings, all within 20 miles (32 km) of enemy positions. The standard procedure was for both HAA and LAA guns to be sited to engage potential attacks by tanks as well as aircraft, and to be tightly integrated with the ground defence units. Air raid engagements could be complicated by the presence of friendly aircraft using the airfield. After Mareth the units of 12 AA Brigade also began to take on responsibility for ports on the Tunisian coast. The advance ended at Enfidaville after seven months and 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of continuous movement, and the AA gunners began a programme of rest and refitting, while contributing to the AA defence of the ports from which the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) was to be launched.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
14th LAA Regiment was not involved in Sicily, but instead sailed with 12 AA Bde direct from Tunisia to the landings on mainland Italy at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) starting on 9 September. The regiment's task was to defend Montecorvino Airfield, but although this was rushed before the Luftwaffe aircraft could fly off, the airfield remained under heavy and accurate enemy bombardment until 13 September and the LAA guns could not be effectively deployed until this ceased.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
The bridgehead was dangerously congested and so the intended AA reinforcements could not be brought in safely; the units already ashore had to meet all demands against multiple air raids delivered simultaneously with little warning. The Germans were finally forced to retire on 16 September. 12 AA Brigade was keen to follow up quickly with a column of mobile AA troops to Naples, but this bold plan was vetoed. The brigade's units began to arrive in Naples by road and sea (having re-embarked in landing craft) on 1 October.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
This deployment only lasted three weeks before they moved on again to the River Volturno, where they were required to provide cover for routes, bridges, landing-grounds and field gun positions for X Corps' assault crossing of the river. The Luftwaffe was very active in trying to prevent the crossings, particularly using Bf 109s and Focke-Wulf Fw 190s as fighter-bombers. During 1943 Lt-Col Eastwood was promoted to command 12 AA Bde.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
Once across the Volturno, operations slowed down as the Allies faced the German Winter Line. 12 AA Brigade's units were deployed around Capua, Cancello and Grazzanise from October to December. Then in January 1944, they moved forward to cover the assembly areas and ferry sites for the crossing of the Garigliano, after which the brigade passed to XIII Corps for the Rapido river crossings and the advance up the Liri Valley (Operation Diadem). Its LAA regiments were committed to bridges, defiles, assembly areas and artillery positions, and enemy aircraft were active in low-level strafing and bombing.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
There were severe problems in getting the AA guns forward along the heavily congested routes. As XIII Corps advanced on a narrow front, 12 AA Bde found itself stretched along 80 miles (130 km) of roads protecting the long 'tail'. After the breakout from the Anzio beachhead and the capture of Rome in early June, 12 AA Bde was deployed in the Tiber plain protecting airfields, river crossings etc.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
In August, 12 AA Bde and its units were transferred to Eighth Army on the Adriatic front. Over the next six months the army advanced only 100 miles (160 km), finally reaching the Gothic Line. During this period the brigade mainly supported I Polish Corps. AA units were hampered by lack of early warning radar, while enemy aircraft were initially very active. However, Luftwaffe activity declined towards the end of the year, and  the Allied forces in Italy were suffering an acute manpower shortage, so surplus AA gunners were transferred to other roles and several units disbanded. Although 14th LAA Rgt remained in the order of battle, in common with other units that had been overseas for a long time it returned from Italy to the UK.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, World War II, Operation Avalanche
In the spring of 1945 14th LAA Rgt joined 5 AA Bde in East Anglia. After VE-day, AA Command was rapidly run down. In the autumn of 1945, 14th LAA Rgt transferred to 40 AA Bde in Scotland. In April 1946, the regiment was placed in suspended animation.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar
When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the TA regiment and its three batteries was placed in suspended animation at Pilton Camp, Edinburgh, where the personnel continued in 14th LAA Rgt as a war-formed unit of the Regular Army, while the TA unit reformed at Linlithgow as 514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Rgt.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 46 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
The war-formed unit was redesignated 46 LAA Regiment on 1 April 1947, with the following changes:


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 46 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
The regiment was reduced to cadre on 26 July 1948 and placed in suspended animation on 16 August. However, RHQ and the three batteries were resuscitated on 15 September that year as 46 (Mixed) Heavy AA Regiment at Carter Barracks, Bulford Camp, Wiltshire. 'Mixed' indicated that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the unit. It was armed with 3.7-inch HAA guns/


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 46 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
This regiment in turn was reduced to cadre on 15 May 1955 at Hobbs Barracks, Lingfield, Surrey, only to be reformed in name on 16 June that year when 75 HAA Rgt (37, 150, 182 HAA Btys) at Milton Barracks, Gravesend, Kent, was redesignated as 46 HAA Rgt (117, 124, 126 HAA Btys).


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 46 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
From July 1957 to August 1958 the regiment served at Paphos in Cyprus, with RHQ, 124 and 126 Btys at Pinefields Camp, and 117 Bty split between St Barbara's Camp and Coral Bay. That regiment finally entered suspended animation on 31 October 1958 (117 Bty being formally disbanded on 1 January 1962).


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Regiment
514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Rgt formed part of 62 AA Bde (the prewar 36 (Scottish) AA Bde).


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Regiment
When AA Command was disbanded on 10 March 1955 there was a major reduction in the number of AA units in the TA. 514th LAA Regiment amalgamated with R Bty of 471 (Forth) HAA Rgt, 519th (Dunedin) LAA Rgt and 587 (Queen's Edinburgh Royal Scots) LAA Rgt to form a new 432 LAA Rgt with the following organisation:


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Postwar, 514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Regiment
A further reduction in 1961 saw 432 LAA Rgt converted to the Royal Engineers as part of 432 (City of Edinburgh) Corps Engineer Regiment, except Q (West Lothian, Royal Scots) Bty, which instead joined 445 (Cameronians) LAA Rgt on 1 May 1961 to form R (West Lothian) Bty in a new 445 (Lowland) LAA Rgt. In 1967 this regiment was disbanded and became concurrently part of 207 (Scottish) Bty in 102 (Ulster and Scottish) Light Air Defence Rgt, and T (Glasgow) Bty in the Lowland Rgt, RA (Territorials).


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Uniform and Insignia
The original uniform worn by the Linlithgowshire RVCs was dark Volunteer grey, a dark grey cap with ball tuft, and brown belts. The 1st RVC had scarlet piping, the other three had scarlet facings. In 1863 the combined battalion adopted Rifle green uniforms with red facings; the headgear was a shako, replaced by a rifle busby with a black-and-red plume and bugle badge in 1872. In 1876 the lower part of the plume was changed to light green, and the tunic cuffs were changed to rifle green with a light green Austrian knot.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Uniform and Insignia
About 1890 the brown belts were replaced by black Slade-Wallace equipment, the facings were changed to red piping on the collar and a red crow's foot on the cuff, and the lower part of the busby plume was changed from green to red. This uniform was replaced in 1903 by a drab service dress with red piping and a Glengarry bonnet with Royal Scots badge, buff belts, and black leggings. In 1908 the battalion adopted the scarlet full dress with blue facings of the Royal Scots.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Honorary Colonel
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (the future Prime Minister) held the position of Honorary Colonel of the battalion from 18 April 1874 until 1920.


1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers, Memorial
A gun captured at Archangel by 2/10th Bn is preserved at Glencorse Barracks, the former depot of the Royal Scots.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment
1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment was a Lithuanian dragoon regiment in service of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was formed in 1717. It was disbanded 202 years later, in 1919. This regiment was one of the eldest in the whole Prussian army. The regiment was recruited almost exclusively from volunteers from its immediate homeland, i.e. Lithuania Minor, and was well reputed in the army at all times for having the best horses and riders. In the memoirs of the inhabitants of Lithuania Minor it is written that they were proud of serving in this regiment.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century
On 19 April 1717, King Frederick William I of Prussia ordered major general Heinrich Jordan von Wuthenau to form a regiment from 780 Saxon cavalrymen and dragoons, which Augustus II the Strong gifted the Prussian King. Already in May, von Wuthenau divided the regiment into eight companies. The uniform consisted of a white coat with light blue embroidering, because of which the regiment was called the "Porcelain regiment". In December, the regiment was ordered to march to Įsrūtis, Tilžė, Ragainė, Geldapė, Stalupėnai and Pilkalnis.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century
In 1718, the whole regiment was assembled in its entirety to a single place for military exercise in Įsrūtis and by the August of that year, the regiment already had ten companies. In 1725, it was established that every company would have 110 dragoons, and each company was renamed to squadrons.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century
When general von Wuthenau died in 1727, the regiment was divided in two regiments, which were that of von Cosel and von Dockum. The regiment von Cosel maintained the same uniform and was assigned all of the same garrisons except Tilžė. The dragoon regiment von Dockum remained in Tilžė with its five squadrons and received white coats with red embroidering. After a year, the regiment received silver timpani. The dragoon regiment von Dockum was later called the 7th Dragoon regiment.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century
In the period between 1734 and 1746, the regiment was often relocated to various places such as Berlin, Magdeburg, Potsdam ir Tilžė. Finally, in 1746, Tilžė was established as the regiment's permanent garrison.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century, First Silesian War (1740-1742)
During the First Silesian War, the regiment fought in the Battle of Chotusitz with the Imperial and Royal von Birkenfeld Cuirassier regiment. The dragoon regiment's Leibstandarte was lost when the enemies grenadiers seized it from the seriously wounded junker  von Roop. The regiment lost four officers and 152 soldiers, with six officers and 71 soldiers being wounded. In addition, three officers and 280 soldiers were made prisoners of war.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 18th century, Second Silesian War (1744–1745)
During the Second Silesian War, adjutant lieutenant von Blankenburg lost the timpani and flag in the skirmish near Niederzehren. However, in the battle of Kesselsdorf, the dragoon regiment attacked the Saxon Karabiniers-garde and mounted grenadiers. The Lithuanian dragoon regiment defeated the Saxon Foot Guard and also the Saxon infatry regiment Niesemeuschel. The victorious regiment took away the flags of both of these regiments. In addition, the regiment seized the flag and silver timpani of the Saxon Karabiniers-garde.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 19th century, Napoleonic wars
After the Treaties of Tilsit and the cabinet's order of 14 September 1808, regiments were no longer named after their commanders. During the Prussian Army's reorganization, the regiment was initially called the East Prussian Dragoon Regiment (Ostpreußisches Dragoner-Regiment), and after the cabinet's order of 14 September 1808, the regiment was called the 3rd Dragoon Regiment. The Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment was at first established in Tilžė and Įsrūtis.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 19th century, Napoleonic wars
Two of the regiment's squadrons were made part of the 1st Mobile Dragoon Regiment, which was part of Yorck's Auxiliary Prussian Corps. This Corps fought on Napoleon's side in the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Later, the regiment fought in Germany and France in 1813 and 1814.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 19th century, After the Napoleonic wars
Circa 1815–1816, the regiment's soldiers were dispersed into other parts of the Prussian Kingdom, i.e. Berlin, Demmin or Tilžė. In between 1860 and 1866, the regiment was garrisoned in different parts of East Prussia, e.g. Įsrūtis or Ragainė. Finally, from 1879, the regiment was located only in Tilžė.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, 20th century, World War I
Even until the end of the First World War, the signs outside the soldiers' barracks were in Lithuanian and German languages.


1st Lithuanian Dragoon Regiment, Legacy
A statue commemorating the regiment's fallen soldiers was built after World War I.


1st Lithuanian Vanguard Regiment
The 1st Lithuanian Vanguard Regiment (Lithuanian: 1-as priešakinės sargybos J. K. D. D. L. Kunigaikštijos pulkas; Polish: 1 Pułk Litewski Przedniej Straży) was a military unit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The full name was 1st Advance Guard Regiment of HM the Grand Duke of Lithuania.


1st Lithuanian Vanguard Regiment, History, Origins
Formed in 1776 as light ulans from light cavalry banners and was called an uhlan regiment.


1st Lithuanian Vanguard Regiment, History, Great Sejm 1788-1792
The regiment was stationed in Anykščiai & Rechytsa (1789), Khalopyenichy (1790), Vidžiai (1792).


1st Lithuanian Vanguard Regiment, After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
After the Kościuszko Uprising, the regiment was transferred into Russian army as Lithuanian-Tatar Regiment.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division
The 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division (Polish: 1. Dywizja Litewsko-Białoruska, 1.DL-B; Belarusian: 1-ая Літоўска-Беларуская дывізія; Lithuanian: 1-oji Lietuvos-Baltarusijos divizija) was a volunteer unit of the Polish Army formed around December 1918 and January 1919 during the Polish–Soviet War. It was created out of several dozen smaller units of self-defence forces composed of local volunteers in what is now Lithuania and Belarus, amidst a growing series of territorial disputes between the Second Polish Republic, the Russian SFSR, and several other local provisional governments. The Division took part in several key battles of the war. Around 15-18% of the division were ethnic Lithuanians.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History
With the end of the World War I in the West, a growing series of territorial disputes between Poland, Soviet Russia and several other local provisional governments erupted in a series of wars in Central and Eastern Europe, the most prominent of these being the Polish–Soviet War. Starting in the last years of the First World War, many smaller units of self-defence forces were created out of local volunteers in those areas, among them likely the best known being the Lithuanian and Belarusian Self-Defence ('Samoobrona Litwy i Białorusi').


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History
Self-Defence units were organized in the areas of the Kresy region with Polish majorities or significant minorities – usually urbanized areas like the cities of Vilnius, Minsk, Hrodna, Lida and Kaunas, or towns like Ašmiany, Wilejka, Nemenčinė, Świr and Panevėžys; until December 1918 those units had no central command or organization and many of them were named after the local cities or regions (like 'Samoobrona Lidy'). The first task of those units was curbing the crime wave by German deserters, and later, defence from the pro-Bolshevik groups. Despite its name, most of the members of that organization were either Poles or polonized, and therefore supported the cause of attaching those territories with the newly recreated Polish state.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History, Operational history
The initial core of the division was formed in December 1918 in Minsk, where a group of roughly 1,500 Poles and Belarusians rose to arms to defend the city against the advancing forces of Soviet Russia. In June 1919, the Bolsheviks deployed the Jewish First Guard Battalion from Minsk (at the insistence of its own members) against the Polish Army which included the First and the Second Lithuanian–Belarusian Divisions. The pro-communist Jews had won the first skirmish, forcing the Poles and Belorussians to retreat several kilometers. On August 8, 1919, Polish troops recaptured Minsk from the Bolsheviks.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History, Operational history
The main attack was in the direction of Maladzechna, Minsk, and Polatsk along the railroad lines. However, due to Russian numerical superiority and lack of support from the side of the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic, the group withdrew towards central Poland. Other such self-defence groups, resistance organizations, and veterans of the Green Army of the Russian Civil War also reached Poland, where they were reformed into a single unit under the command of general Władysław Wejtko formerly from the Imperial Russian Army.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History, Operational history
Another large group of volunteers to join the division were the remnants of roughly 2,500 men strong force created in Vilnius to defend it against the Reds in January 1919. In the effect of four-day-long fights for the city and the area of Nowa Wilejka, the Polish forces were pushed back and the city had to be abandoned. The newly formed division took part in the Battle of Brześć Litewski of January 8 of that year, one of the first battles of the Polish–Soviet War.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History, Operational history
The division, commanded by Gen. Jan Rządkowski, took part in many of the largest battles of that conflict. Among others, it played a major role in the Battle of Radzymin, a part of the Battle of Warsaw, the decisive struggle of the war. It also took part in the Battle of the Niemen, where it suffered heavy losses. Finally, two days prior to the cease-fire ending the war, the units of the division – then commanded by Gen. Lucjan Żeligowski – took over Vilnius Region from the Lithuanian forces and formed the core of the armed forces of the disputed Republic of Central Lithuania.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, History, Operational history
Following the elections held in Wilno and the state merger with Poland in 1923, the division was partially demobilized, while its remnants were incorporated into the Polish 19th Infantry Division stationed in Wilno.


1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division, 2nd Lithuanian–Belarusian Division
Parts of the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division (1.DL-B) were transferred, in July 1919, to form the parallel 2nd Lithuanian–Belarusian Division (Polish: 2. Dywizja Litewsko-Białoruska, 2.DL-B) of the Polish Army. The division suffered heavy casualties during the Soviet invasion in summer 1920; some soldiers were forced to retreat into Lithuanian territory where they were interned by the Bolsheviks. The division was soon reinforced and renamed as the 20th Infantry Division. It temporarily returned to the old name of the 2nd Division after Żeligowski's Mutiny, when it became part of the Republic of Central Lithuania military.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era
1st Live Tour ~Brand New Era~ (stylized as Lead 1st live tour ～BRAND NEW ERA～) is the first concert video release by the Japanese hip-hop group Lead. It was released on both DVD and VHS on November 17, 2004. It managed to peak in the top ten on Oricon at No. 9.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era
Despite corresponding with their second studio album Brand New Era, most of the songs performed where from their debut album Life On Da Beat.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era, Information
Lead 1st live tour ~Brand New Era~ is the first concert released on video by the Japanese hip-hop group Lead. It was released on both DVD and VHS. It broke into the top ten on the Oricon DVD charts at No. 9.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era, Information
Although the tour was to correspond with their second studio album, Brand New Era, most of the songs performed were from their debut album Life On Da Beat. They also performed the tour-exclusive song "Tribal Party" (stylized as TRIBAL PARTY), which would never be released on an album or single.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era, Information
The performance utilized for the video was their finale at Nakano Sun Plaza in Nakano, Tokyo on August 25, 2004.


1st Live Tour: Brand New Era, Information
This would be their only concert to be released on VHS, whereas the VHS format was on the decline, while the optical disc, such as the DVD, was on the rise.


1st Logistics Brigade (Romania)
The 1st Logistics Brigade "Prahova" (Brigada 1 Logistică "Prahova") is a logistics brigade currently belonging to the Romanian Land Forces and it is subordinated to the 1st Infantry Division. It was formed on 1 February 2001 and its headquarters are located in Ploieşti.


1st Lok Sabha
The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. The First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952.


1st Lok Sabha
Total Lok Sabha seats were 489 and total eligible voters were 17.3 crores. The Indian National Congress (INC) won 364 seats. They were followed by Independents, winning a total of 37 seats. The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Socialist Party (India) followed with 16 and 12 seats respectively. Indian National Congress got 45% of the total votes in this election and won 76% of the 479 contested seats.


1st Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha officers
As per Article 93 of Constitution of India, the Lok Sabha must have elected and non-elected officers. The elected members are Speaker and the Deputy Speaker whereas the non-elected members are the Secretariat staff. Following were the 1st Lok Sabha officers and other important members.


1st Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha officers
a. (Not Officially Declared) The position of Leader of the Opposition only got recognition in 1977 post Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act.


1st Lok Sabha, Members
List of members as published by the Election Commission of India and Parliament of India:


1st Lok Sabha, Members
Members by political party in 1st Lok Sabha are given below:


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers
The 1st London Field Company, Royal Engineers (Territorial Force) was a Territorial engineer unit of the British Army active during World War I. Formed in 1908, it was based in Bethnal Green in East London.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, Origin
When the former Volunteer Force was subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908 under the Haldane Reforms, the East London (Tower Hamlets) Royal Engineers (Volunteers) became the divisional engineers for the TF's 1st London Division, forming the 1st London Field Company and 2nd London Field Company as well as the Divisional Signals Company. All three sub-units were based at the drill hall at Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, that the East London Engineers had built in 1896.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, Mobilisation
The 1st London Division left by railway from Waterloo station on Sunday 2 August 1914 for its annual training camp, which was to be held at Wareham, Dorset. No sooner had it reached camp than it received orders to return to London for mobilisation. This process had been carefully planned, so that before war was declared on 4 August the units were already at their war stations, such as guarding vital railway lines, while the rear details at the drill halls completed mobilisation and began recruiting.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, Mobilisation
On 15 August the TF was ordered to separate men who had volunteered for overseas service from the Home Service men, and on 31 August it was authorised to begin forming Reserve or 2nd Line units composed of Home Service men and recruits. These were distinguished by the prefix '2/', so that the 1st London Field Company became the 1/1st, and its second line was the 2/1st London Field Company in 2/1st London Division. Later, the 2nd Line were made ready for overseas service and new Reserve or 3rd Line units were formed to continue to process of training. The 1st London Reserve Field Company was later numbered 516th Company before being absorbed into the central training organisation.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, Mobilisation
During the autumn of 1914, 1st London Division was progressively broken up to provide reinforcements for formations serving overseas. 1/1st London Field Company joined the Regular 6th Division in France on 23 December 1914 and remained with that formation throughout the war. When RE field companies were renumbered on 1 February 1917 it became 509th (London) Field Company.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, 6th Division
6th Division served on the Western Front throughout World War I, taking part in the following operations:


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, 6th Division
On 9 August 1915 the 6th Division attacked and recaptured the chateau at Hooge. Number 4 Section of the company joined in the attack alongside the 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry, and the company suffered its highest casualties in a single day. The work of the company in fortifying the newly captured position with barbed wire received special mention in the report by GHQ. Sapper Berry received the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in the attack.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, 6th Division
By February 1918 the 6th Division was manning the Lagnicourt Sector and was there on 22 March when the Germans launched their Spring Offensive which drove the division back and caused 3,900 casualties out of its 5000 infantry. The divisional history records that 'The field companies suffered heavily, and rendered good service as infantry'. The company war diary for March 1918 stops after the 20th.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, 6th Division
In November 1918 its commanding officer was Major H. G. Bambridge, M.C., R.E.(S. ).


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, Last survivor
In August 2002 William Burnett, probably the last surviving member of the company, was awarded the French Legion of Honour.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, World War I, 2/1st London Field Company
2/1st London Field Company served at home with the 2/1st London Division (now numbered the 58th (2/1st London) Division) until February 1916, when the 58th Divisional Engineers left to join 1st London Division (by now numbered 56th (1/1st London) Division), which was reforming in France. It served with that formation for the remainder of the war. From February 1917 it was numbered 512th (London) Field Company.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, Later history
56th (London) Division reformed in 1920 as part of the reorganised Territorial Army (TA). The field companies of the Divisional Engineers were all labelled (1st London), the senior being numbered 216th.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, Later history
In 1935 the two London divisions were merged into a single formation, and 56th Divisional Engineers became surplus. It was converted into a Corps Troops RE unit (originally 56th CTRE, later 1st London CTRE) at Bethnal Green. On the outbreak of war in 1939,1st London CTRE's companies were dispersed and assigned to other HQs. 216th (1st London) Field Company joined General Headquarters (GHQ) with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. After the Dunkirk evacuation, it went to the Middle East with III CTRE, which was disbanded in April 1942.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, Later history
When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the former 56th Divisional Engineers was reformed at Bethnal Green as 114 (1st London) Army Engineer Regiment with 216–8 Field Squadrons and 219 Field Park Squadron. In 1956 it was redesignated as a Field Engineer Regiment, and again in 1961 as a Corps Engineer Regiment, when 216 Sqn was disbanded.


1st London Field Company Royal Engineers, Memorials
There are several memorial plaques to members of the East London Engineers in the church of St John on Bethnal Green, close to the former drill hall in Victoria Square. One is a brass plate dedicated to the 675 officers, NCOs and men of the 1st London Divisional Engineers who died in World War I.


1st Look
1st Look is a weekly American travel and lifestyle television program that is broadcast on NBC. Produced by LXTV, it highlights top travel destinations around the country, with a focus on cuisine and nightlife. The program has had 11 different hosts to date, beginning with original hosts Gardner Loulan and Angela Sun. Audrina Patridge was a former host of 1st Look, having joined the program in January 2014. On October 6, 2015, Ashley Roberts was named as Patridge's successor as host, taking over the role beginning with the January 9, 2016 episode. On July 12, 2018, it was announced that MTV personality Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio would take over from Roberts as host beginning in September of that year.


1st Look
Originally airing exclusively on NBC's owned-and-operated stations, the half-hour program airs in most markets on Saturday late-nights (usually immediately following Saturday Night Live) as part of NBC's overnight lineup of LXTV-produced programs, with an encore presentation on Friday late-nights; however, its timeslot may vary depending on the market due to commitments by affiliate to air local, syndicated or paid programming, while the program is pre-empted by some NBC affiliates (most notably, those owned by Graham Media Group).


1st Look, Format
The program looks at various travel destinations around the United States, with occasional episodes also filmed in international locales. Each episode spotlights trendy and noteworthy restaurants, tourist attractions and nightlife in each location, with some segments featuring the host participating in diverse activities. Illustrations of local cuisine are the most common segments on 1st Look, with certain entire episodes featuring tours of restaurants in one or more regions and accordingly, a look at the making of some of the eatery's signature dishes. The program sometimes deviates from its normal format to feature behind-the-scenes aspects of special events (such as the Golden Globe Awards).


1st Look, Format
From 2011 to 2012, the program (through a partnership between LXTV and the lifestyle website Daily Candy) showcased special deals for home viewers involving locations featured on that week's episode.


1st Louisiana Battery Light Artillery (African Descent)
The 1st Louisiana Battery Light Artillery (African Descent) was organized at Hebron's Plantation, Missouri, November 6, 1863. Attached to 1st Brigade, U.S. Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, to April, 1864. On duty at Goodrich Landing and Vicksburg till April, 1864. Designation of Battery changed to Battery "C", 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery, April 26, 1864.


1st Louisiana Battery Light Artillery (African Descent)
Organized from 1st Louisiana Battery, African Descent. Designated Battery "A" March 11, 1864, and Batter "C", April 26, 1864. Attached to Post Goodrich Landing, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to May, 1864. Post of Louisiana, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to December 1864. Reserve Artillery, Post of Vicksburg, Mississippi, District of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to December, 1865. Post and garrison duty at Goodrich Landing, Vicksburg, and Milliken's Bend and in the Department of Mississippi till December, 1865. Mustered out December 28, 1865.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Confederate)
The 1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment, also known as Scott's Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment from Louisiana that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Raised in 1861 it served all over the Western Theater until the surrender in 1865.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union)
The 1st Louisiana Regiment Cavalry was a cavalry unit in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was one of several organized in New Orleans in August 1862 by order of Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and recruited from among "white Unionists, and pro-Northern refugees" in the city; it consisted primarily of foreigners and men of Northern birth.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
The unit was assigned in 1863 to the Union XIX Corps of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks in the Department of the Gulf.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
They participated in operations in Western Louisiana: Fort Bisland, Irish Bend, and Vermillion Bayou in April, 1863 and in the Siege of Port Hudson from May to July. The regiment participated in the Red River Campaign from March to May, 1864.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
The unit left Louisiana and moved to Fort Barrancas, Florida in February 1865. It joined the campaign against Mobile, Alabama. The regiment then marched to Blakely, across the Mobile River, taking control of its Fort Blakely, a major fort during the war. This completed Confederate defeat in the area.


1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment (Union), 2nd Louisiana Regiment Cavalry
The 2nd Louisiana Regiment Cavalry was originally organized as the 3rd Louisiana Infantry in New Orleans on November 25, 1863. After serving at the defenses of  Brashear City, Baton Rouge and Port Hudson, the unit was consolidated with 1st Louisiana Cavalry on September 7, 1864.


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion
The 1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, officially known as the 1st Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers and often referred to as the Dreux-Rightor Battalion to distinguish it from units with similar designations, was an infantry battalion from Louisiana that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, History
The five original companies of the battalion, the first volunteer companies to respond to the state's call for volunteers to serve in the Confederate army, were sent to Pensacola, Florida in mid-April 1861 to bring the 1st Louisiana Regulars, who had not finished their organization, up to strength. The New Orleans companies included some of the city's most prominent gentlemen. After the remainder of the 1st Louisiana Regulars companies arrived at Pensacola in late May, the five companies that became those of the battalion were sent to Virginia, where they arrived on 30 May. The companies were organized as the 1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion at Richmond on 11 June, with Orleans Cadets captain Charles Didier Dreux elected lieutenant colonel. The five companies were designated as follows:


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, History
The battalion was soon sent to join the Yorktown garrison. On 5 July, Dreux led a detachment composed of twenty picked men from each company to ambush Union soldiers near Newport News. In the resulting short skirmish, he and another man were killed, making Dreux the first Louisiana officer, and likely the first Confederate officer killed in the war. After Dreux's death, Major Nicholas H. Rightor succeeded to command and became lieutenant colonel.


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, History
On 16 July, the battalion was increased to six companies by the transfer of Company C of the Louisiana Guards, who became Company C of the battalion, from the 1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment. The battalion remained on picket duty in the Virginia Peninsula until April 1862, when the Union Army of the Potomac launched the Peninsula campaign. The 1st Louisiana Battalion participated in a skirmish near the junction of the Warwick and Yorktown roads on 5 April.


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, History
Except for Company D, the one-year terms of service of the companies of the battalion expired during the campaign, but they agreed to remain in service until the conclusion of the campaign. The 1st Battalion was disbanded on 1 May, just before the army retreated to Richmond after the Battle of Yorktown.


1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion, History
Most men of the battalion reenlisted in a battery formed by Captain Charles E. Fenner of Company A. Company D was assigned to the 1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment. During its service, a total of 545 men served in the battalion. Besides Dreux and the other man killed on 5 July 1861, sixteen members of the battalion died of disease.


1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment (Union)
The 1st Louisiana Regiment Infantry was a regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The unit was organized at New Orleans, Louisiana, on  July 30, 1862, and remained on duty there until January, 1863. They then moved to Baton Rouge where they remained until March, after which they participated in operations against Port Hudson, and in the Siege of Port Hudson culminating in the surrender on  July 9, 1863.


1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment participated in the Red River Campaign from March to May, 1864.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was a Confederate Louisianan militia that consisted of free blacks. Formed in 1861 in New Orleans, Louisiana, it was disbanded on April 25, 1862. Some of the unit's members joined the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, which later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry of the United States Colored Troops.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Confederate Louisiana militia
Shortly after Louisiana's secession, Governor Thomas Overton Moore issued pleas for troops on April 17 and April 21, 1861. In response to the governor's request, a committee of ten prominent New Orleans free blacks called a meeting at the Catholic Institute on April 22. About two thousand people attended the meeting where muster lists were opened, with about 1,500 free blacks signing up. Governor Moore accepted the services of these men as part of the state's militia.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Confederate Louisiana militia
The new militia regiment was formed during May 1861, consisting mostly of free persons of color, Creole Francophones (gens de couleur). While some members of the new regiment came from wealthy prominent free-black families, a majority of the men were clerks, artisans, and skilled laborers. At that time, an estimated 25,000 African American residents of Louisiana and New Orleans had gained their freedom.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Confederate Louisiana militia
On May 29, 1861, Governor Moore appointed three white officers as commanders of the regiment, and company commanders were appointed from among the free blacks of the regiment. The militia unit was the first of any in North America to have African-American officers, preceding the United States Colored Troops. This regiment was called the Louisiana Native Guard. Though ten per cent of its members would later join the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, the two were separate military units.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Activities
The Native Guards were volunteers, and as such supplied their own arms and uniforms. These were displayed in a grand review of troops in New Orleans on November 23, 1861, and again on January 8, 1862. They offered their services to escort Union prisoners (captured at the First Battle of Bull Run) through New Orleans. Confederate General David Twiggs declined the offer, but thanked them for the "promptness with which they answered the call." The Louisiana State Legislature passed a law in January 1862 that reorganized the militia into only “...free white males capable of bearing arms… ”


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Activities
The Native Guards regiment was affected by this law. It was forced to disband on February 15, 1862, when the new law took effect. "Their demise was only temporary, however, for Governor Moore reinstated the Native Guards on March 24 after the U.S. Navy under Admiral David G. Farragut entered the Mississippi River." As the regular Confederate forces under Major General Mansfield Lovell abandoned New Orleans, the militia units were left to fend for themselves. The Native Guards were again, and in finality, ordered to disband by General John L. Lewis, of the Louisiana Militia, on April 25, 1862, as Federal ships arrived opposite the city. General Lewis cautioned them to hide their arms and uniforms before returning home.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate), Companies
Companies of the Confederate 1st Louisiana Native Guard prior to disbanding in 1862:


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union)
The 1st Louisiana Native Guard (French: Corps d'Afrique), later the 73rd Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops, was one of the first all-black regiments to fight in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and played a prominent role in the Siege of Port Hudson. Its members included a minority of free men of color from New Orleans; most were African-American former slaves who had escaped to join the Union cause and gain freedom.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union)
A predecessor regiment by the same name, 1st Louisiana Native Guard (CSA), had served in the militia of Confederate Louisiana. It was made up entirely of free men of color.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Union regiment formed
After New Orleans fell to Admiral David Farragut in April 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler headquartered his 12,000-man Army of the Gulf in New Orleans. On September 27, 1862, Butler organized the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment, some of whose members had served in the previous Confederate Native Guard regiment. Free men of color had served with the militia since the French colonial period. But the regiment's initial strength was 1,000 men, and it was composed mostly of African-American former slaves who had escaped to freedom.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Union regiment formed
The Union commissioned several African-American line officers of the Guard. Former Confederate Lt. Andre Cailloux, a Creole of color (free man of color) in New Orleans, was named captain of Company E. P. B. S. Pinchback, also a free man of color, was appointed as captain of Company A, and later was reassigned as company commander of the 2nd Regiment. (He later served as governor of the state, as a US Representative and Senator.)


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Union regiment formed
James Lewis, a mixed-race, former steward on the Confederate river-steamer De Soto, was commissioned as captain of company K. During this period, some slaves who escaped from nearby plantations joined the regiment, but the Union Army's official policy discouraged such enrollments. In November 1862, the number of escaped slaves seeking to enlist became so great that the Union organized a second regiment and, a month later, a third regiment.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Union regiment formed
The field-grade officers of these regiments (colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors) were white men, with the notable exception of Major Francois (Francis) Ernest Dumas of the 2nd Regiment, a Creole of color. Colonel Spencer Stafford, formerly Butler's military "mayor" of New Orleans, was the original white commander of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Banks purges black line officers
After General Nathaniel P. Banks replaced Butler as Commander of the Department of the Gulf, he began a systematic campaign to purge all the black or colored line officers from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard. He secured the resignations of all the black line officers in the 2nd Regiment in February 1863, but most of the black line officers in the 1st Regiment and 3rd Regiment remained.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Siege of Port Hudson
From its formation in September 1862 until early May 1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard largely performed fatigue duty–chopping wood, gathering supplies, and digging earthworks. From January 1863 to May 1863, the regiment also guarded the railway depots along the rail line between Algiers (south of the Mississippi River, now part of New Orleans) to Brashear City (now called Morgan City). By this time, the Guard's numbers had diminished to 500. Troops of the Native Guards were assigned guard duty at Fort Macomb, Fort Pike, Fort Massachusetts (Mississippi), Fort St. Philip, and Fort Jackson.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Siege of Port Hudson
In mid-1863, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, along with the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard, had its first chance at combat. These units participated in the first assault at Milliken's Bend in the Siege of Port Hudson on May 27, as well as the second assault on June 14. Captain Andre Cailloux died heroically in the first assault.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Siege of Port Hudson
"Quiet reigned over the battlefield throughout much of May 28. Banks had requested the truce to carry off the wounded and bury the dead. Yet, inexplicably, the Federals left untouched the area where the Native Guards had charged the previous day--in stark contrast to their actions elsewhere on the battlefield. The hot sun putrefied the bodies until the stench forced Confederate Colonel Shelby to ask Bank's permission to bury the dead in front of his lines. Banks refused, claiming that he had no dead in that area."


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Siege of Port Hudson
Cailloux's body, as well as those of the other members of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard who fell with him that day, was left on the field of battle until the surrender of Port Hudson on July 9, 1863. News of his heroism reached New Orleans, and Cailloux received a hero's funeral in the city with a large procession and thousands of attendees along the route on July 29.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Redesignation and legacy
In June 1863, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Louisiana Native Guard Regiments were redesignated as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Corps d'Afrique. Perhaps 200 to 300 of the original 1,000 members of the 1st Louisiana Native Guard made this transition.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Redesignation and legacy
Poor treatment by white soldiers and difficult field conditions resulted in many black officers resigning and enlisted soldiers deserting the Corps. In April 1864 the Corps d'Afrique was dissolved, and its members joined the newly organized 73rd and 74th Regiments of the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army. By the end of the war, about 175,000 African Americans had served in the 170 regiments of the United States Colored Troops. In contrast to the 1st Louisiana Native Guards organization, all field and line officers of the United States Colored Troops were white. At the war's end, approximately 100 of the original 1,000 members of the First Louisiana Native Guard still remained in uniform in either the 73rd or 74th Regiments.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Redesignation and legacy
The Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard regiment in September 1862 was not made up only of men from the Confederate Guard. Of the nearly 1,000 enlisted soldiers of the Confederate Native Guards, only 107 were recorded as enlisting in the Union "Native Guard", and only ten of the 36 officers served the Union. The free men of color had varying reasons for volunteering to serve with the Confederacy, in part to preserve their own standing in the society, just as others did.


1st Louisiana Native Guard (Union), Redesignation and legacy
P.B.S. Pinchback, who came from the North to serve here, and others like him were free men of color who joined the Union militia for the first time and distinctly for that cause. Most of the Guard soldiers were African Americans who had escaped from slavery and joined the Union effort. Some historians think the legend of continuity of the regiments was a propaganda ploy by Union General Benjamin F. Butler.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment
The 1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, often referred to as the 1st Louisiana Infantry Regiment, was an infantry regiment from Louisiana that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment
Raised in early 1861 in New Orleans, the regiment was sent to Pensacola and served there as cannoneers for the Confederate batteries. Transferred to the Army of Mississippi in March 1862, the 1st Louisiana Regulars suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Shiloh. After participating in the Siege of Corinth and the Confederate Heartland Offensive later that year, the regiment became part of the Army of Tennessee when the Army of Mississippi was renamed in November.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment
After further losses at the Battle of Stones River, the regiment was placed on provost duty, being briefly consolidated with the 8th Arkansas Infantry Regiment to fight in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. In early 1864 the 1st Louisiana Regulars were attached to Randall Gibson's brigade, which they served with for the rest of the war, fighting in the Atlanta campaign, the Battle of Nashville, and the Battle of Spanish Fort before they surrendered at the end of the war.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Origins
Following the victory of Lincoln in the 1860 election, Louisiana Governor Thomas O. Moore moved rapidly to assure the secession of his state from the union. In early December, he called a special session of the state legislature, which arranged for the election of delegates to a secession convention and acceded to his request to create a special military board responsible for arms purchasing and distribution in addition to authorizing the funding of volunteer companies, at least one for each parish. Among the members of the military board were sugar planter and former army officer Braxton Bragg, a veteran of the Mexican–American War, and lawyer and cotton broker Daniel W. Adams, who had no military experience.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Origins
After South Carolina became the first state to secede on 20 December, Moore ordered the seizure by militia of the Federal Baton Rouge Arsenal and Barracks, Forts Jackson, St. Philip, and Pike, as well as the army barracks below New Orleans on 8 January. The forts were quickly handed over by the lone ordnance sergeants in charge of them on 10 January and Bragg forced the surrender of the outnumbered arsenal garrison on the same day.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Origins
Meanwhile, militia officers Charles MacPherson Bradford, a district attorney, and John A. Jaquess (sometimes spelled Jacques), a police officer and former filibuster, each raised companies that were initially known known as the 1st and 2nd Companies of the Louisiana Infantry. These companies were officially authorized under a plan to raise 500 regulars for four-month terms of service on the next day. Bradford and Jaquess had both served as junior officers in the Mexican–American War.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Origins
Bradford took control of the New Orleans Marine Hospital at the New Orleans army barracks on 12 January and had its patients removed to another hospital in order to free space for newly mustered in regulars, an action much sensationalized in Northern newspapers. Moore authorized the enlistment of Bradford and Jaquess' companies as Companies A and B, respectively, of what was designated as the 1st Regiment, Louisiana Infantry, which also contained three other newly organized companies, by 25 January. These companies relieved the militiamen in their occupation of the forts and the Baton Rouge Arsenal and Barracks.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Origins
The state convention officially voted to secede on 26 January, although Moore's actions had already essentially taken the state out of the Union, and Louisiana almost immediately joined the Confederate States of America. In response to the secession vote, Moore ordered the seizure of the only remaining unoccupied Federal post, Fort Macomb, which was carried out on 28 January by a Captain Henry A. Clinch's Company C of the 1st Louisiana.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
The 1st Louisiana Regulars were organized on 5 February 1861 in accordance with an ordinance passed at the state secession convention to establish the Louisiana State Army, a standing army under Bragg's command consisting of an infantry and an artillery regiment modeled on the United States Regular Army, subject to the same discipline as a regular unit. The ordinance stipulated that the infantry regiment would include eight companies with ninety privates each in addition to officers and sergeants.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
The men of the regiment enlisted for three years of service rather than the single year of the volunteers, and unlike the latter, could not elect their own officers. Instead, Adley H. Gladden was appointed colonel, Adams lieutenant colonel, and Bradford major. Gladden had commanded a regiment in combat during the Mexican–American War. Recruited in New Orleans, the regiment included a large number of immigrants, and was described by one soldier of the 19th Louisiana as being "composed exclusively of Irish". Immigrants joining the Louisiana Regulars were often unskilled laborers in civilian life, which placed them at the bottom of the social hierarchy, resulting in economic motivations for enlistment and willingness to enlist for long service terms, in contrast to volunteers.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
With a strength of roughly 860 men, the regiment transferred to the Provisional Army of the Confederate States on 13 March. During this period the men who enlisted in January were discharged, including those of Jaquess' company, and new companies raised to replace them. By April, prospective recruits were enticed by the reduction of the enlistment term to one year, standard for volunteer units, and a $10 bounty.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
In early April, the regiment was ordered to Pensacola on the Florida Gulf Coast where the Confederates were blockading Union-held Fort Pickens, after the latter received reinforcements, breaking an understanding between the garrison and the Confederates that the garrison would not accept reinforcements if they were not attacked. Due to these movements, the strengths of the Union garrison and the Confederate forces under the command of Bragg at Pensacola were nearly equivalent, resulting in demands from the Confederate government for troops to augment Bragg's force.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
The dispatch of the regiment was initially opposed by Moore due to his fears that the Union would attack New Orleans, but Confederate Secretary of War LeRoy Pope Walker's insistence that the threat was nonexistent prevailed. As only Companies A, B, and C had finished recruiting, Moore appealed to volunteer units to complete the regiment. The three complete companies departed for Pensacola on 11 April, followed a week later by the five volunteer companies that responded, the recruitment being aided by a surge in enlistments after the Confederate firing on Fort Sumter began the war in earnest.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Formation
The companies spent the next several weeks drilling after their arrival in Florida. The remaining seven companies of the 1st Regulars arrived at Pensacola by late May, the regiment having been expanded to ten companies in keeping with standard Confederate practice, and the volunteers were transferred to Virginia as the 1st Louisiana Infantry Battalion.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
As 1861 turned to summer and then fall, the 1st Louisiana Regulars continued drilling while serving as cannoneers for the heavy artillery batteries at Pensacola in rotations. Bragg took care to avoid provoking military action, ensuring that Pensacola remained a quiet sector during this period. A series of command changes began when Bradford resigned on 23 July, resulting in the promotion of Company D commander Jaquess to major. Gladden was promoted to brigade command on 10 September and succeeded by Adams, allowing Jaquess to move up to lieutenant colonel and Company A commander Frederick H. Farrar to major.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
After the privateer schooner Judah was burned in a Union raid on the night of 13 to 14 September, Bragg launched a retaliatory sortie against the Union troops on Santa Rosa Island on the night of 8 October. Companies A and B of the 1st Louisiana formed the 400-man 2nd Battalion of the thousand-man force commanded by Brigadier General Richard H. Anderson together with three companies from the 7th Alabama and two from the 1st Florida.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
The battalion, led by Colonel James Patton Anderson, landed from a steamer along with the rest of the force on a beach four miles east of Fort Pickens. Patton Anderson was directed to advance south through the waist of the island and then turn west when he reached the south beach. This movement aimed to capture the Union pickets and isolate Fort Pickens from the camp a mile east of the fort where half of the 6th New York Infantry were located.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
After a picket discovered the Confederate approach early in the morning of 9 October, the camp was charged by Colonel John K. Jackson's battalion and its occupants fled. Patton Anderson's troops joined Jackson's in looting the abandoned tents, while Union forces from Fort Pickens responded. To avoid being cut off, the Confederates retreated back to the beach to depart, but were delayed by a jammed propeller on one of the transports, allowing the Union pursuit to catch up. Crowded onto the decks of the transports, the Confederates were subjected to a withering fire, which they returned, and were able to get out of range after the propeller was freed. Company B lost one man killed, one died of wounds, and one severely wounded.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
The Union commander struck back with a bombardment against the Confederate positions on 22 and 23 November. Companies G and H and a detachment of the regiment, all under the command of Jaquess, manned the batteries at the Navy Yard and opened up a return fire, but did not inflict much damage on Fort Pickens due to lack of gunnery practice caused by shell shortages. Adams held the troops not needed to serve the guns in readiness to repulse a possible Union landing. Fort McRee suffered severe damage, but the Navy Yard batteries were relatively untouched.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Pensacola
Pensacola remained quiet for the next few weeks until 1 January 1862, when a steamer docking at the Navy Yard drew Union fire, causing the inebriated Richard Anderson, in command while Bragg was away on inspection, to order a return bombardment. When Bragg returned he reprimanded Anderson, who had apparently forgotten about the inferiority of the Confederate artillery exposed in the November exchange, for wasting ammunition.


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Shiloh, Movement to Corinth and scouting
After the fall of Fort Donelson on 16 February, the Tennessee River was opened up for a Union advance against the critical rail junction of the Memphis and Charleston and the Mobile and Ohio Railroads at Corinth, Mississippi. To prevent the capture of Corinth, which linked the Atlantic and the Mississippi River, the Confederate forces at Pensacola were ordered to be pulled out and sent to Corinth, where the Army of Mississippi was to concentrate under Albert Sidney Johnston. Delayed by heavy rains that washed out bridges, the 1st


1st Louisiana Regulars Infantry Regiment, Shiloh, Movement to Corinth and scouting
Louisiana Regulars entrained aboard the Mobile and Ohio on 27 February, together with the 18th and 22nd Alabama. The regiment arrived at Corinth by 9 March, when they were assigned with the 18th and 22nd Alabama to a brigade under the command of Adams as Gladden was given command of the division composed of the troops from Pensacola. At Corinth many of its men got drunk after boring holes in the floors of saloons to get at whiskey barrels and made mayhem, being punished by bucking and gagging.