The Royal Corps of Signals: Unit Histories of the Corps (1920-2001) and its Antecedents

By Cliff Lord and Graham Watson

The ability to communicate is a prerequisite for success both in military and civil life. Surprisingly, everyone expects access to communications, but rarely wonders how it is achieved. The purpose of this book is to bring into focus one of the cornerstones of the success of the British Army, and to provide an insight into the complexity and diversity of the Royal Corps of Signals. This is done, not by narrative, but by delving into unit history rather than campaign history, thus offering a different perspective for the historian.

Royal Signals is one of the largest Corps in the British Army, and consists of a body of very highly trained and dedicated personnel to manage, operate, and repair the advanced technology that is theirs to administer. Signals are the Invisible Elite, without them there is no victory. Before the independent Corps of Signals was formed in 1920, Royal Engineers provided communications for much of the Army. Details of their signal units are included.

Reflecting the new technologies as they occur, the reader will see the new signal units being raised to facilitate the exigencies of the time. For example, during the Second World War the Golden Arrow Detachments were created as independent, mobile, high-speed transmitting and receiving stations to provide links to Britain, and thus provide High Command with the information from Commanders in the Field that was desperately needed. These units also passed intercepted enemy signals back to England for the code breakers at Bletchley Park. Other specialist Signal units were created for Air Support, Para Signals, Commandos, Interception, Fixed Communications, Peacekeeping and a multitude of other reasons.

In today's changing world signals continue to get their message through - Swift and Sure. This book is a must for historians, genealogists, and those that served.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Release date: Sep 19, 2003
• ISBN: 9781908916044

Cliff Lord

Cliff Lord served in Britain’s Royal Signals during the 1960s as a cipher operator in England, Germany and on active service in Aden and the East Aden Protectorate. After the Army, Cliff worked in Paris for the Washington Post and later moved to New Zealand working as a computer operator, a communications network controller for Air New Zealand, and Team Leader International Operations for the Southern Cross fibre optics trans pacific cable before retiring. He is Honorary Historian for Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals. Cliff has written nine books on military history and insignia.

Book preview

Part One – Regular Signal Units

Introduction to Regular Units of the

Royal Corps of Signals

Until the latter half of the nineteenth-century, the principal means of communication for a military force on campaign were mounted orderlies, and visual telegraph stations. Lord George Murray invented a semaphore telegraph in 1795, while a contemporary, John Gamble, invented another six-arm semaphore about the same time. The British Army adopted the latter for field use by mounting each station on a cart. The system was used to good effect for the defence of the Lines of Torres Vedras in the Peninsular War. From 1814 Wellington instituted a small telegraph section as an integral part of each divisional headquarters. Equipment used included flags, balls and poles plus a codebook.

The introduction of the Morse code in 1835, and the invention of the electric telegraph in 1837, began the transformation of military communications. Scientific and technical advances opened up opportunities for more responsive and immediate forms of communication which, in turn, required a technical competence not normally found in fighting regiments. The development of telegraph cables for commercial use spilt over into military use during the Crimean War of 1854-1856. By such means Lord Raglan and his French counterpart were able to keep in touch with their governments in London and Paris. Later in New Zealand, Royal Engineer Corporal Alexander Brodie and Second Corporal William Butcher were tasked to oversee the building and operating of an electric telegraph from the military barracks in Auckland to follow the British advance into the Waikato. Brodie planned and supervised the construction and operation, in 1863. The telegraph linked the redoubts that guarded Cameron’s flanks and followed the British advance with new stations. Imperial infantry guarded and built the telegraph using kauri poles to hold up the number eight gauge galvanised wire. By October 1864 the cable had reached south of Auckland to Cambridge and Te Awamutu, a distance of over 100 miles. The cable provided Headquarters with intelligence, ensured efficient movement of supplies and reinforcements, and kept Cameron in touch with Auckland. So successful was this cable, that after the campaign was concluded, it was sold off to the Government.

It was not until 1869 that the British Army began to make formal provision for mechanical means of signalling with the army in the field. Until then, and for a time afterwards, the British Army relied on the civilian system operated by the General Post Office.

In 1869, a Signal Wing was formed at the Royal Engineers’ depot at Chatham to provide instruction in the electric telegraph for the Royal Engineers, and visual signalling for other arms: the latter would retain that ability until 1913. The relationship between the GPO and the Royal Engineers was strengthened by the creation of 22 Company RE in 1870, and 34 Company RE in 1871. Both companies worked closely with their civilian counterparts in the provision of more effective fixed communications for the army. In addition, C Telegraph Troop was formed and added to the Royal Engineer Train. With a strength of 5 officers and 245 soldiers, the troop provided the field army with detachments of telegraphists whilst on campaign. The Troop had 12 wire wagons each with 6 half-mile drums of wire, and 20 drivers trained as mounted signallers. In 1871 the adjutant of C Troop was Lt Herbert Kitchener. When the telephone was invented in 1876 engineer workshops in both Britain and India worked on the manufacture of these instruments for military use.

Royal Corps of Signals cap badges that have been worn since 1920. In 1946 the cap badge was altered to show Mercury without the Corps title, and in 1954 the Tudor crown was changed to the Edwardian Crown, as shown. (Cliff Lord collection)

On 1 March 1884 22 Company, 34 Company and C Troop were amalgamated into the RE Telegraph Corps, which then became the Telegraph Battalion RE two months later. The Telegraph Battalion was re-organised into two divisions, with C Troop becoming the 1st Division at Aldershot with the continued role of support for the field army. Meanwhile 22 and 34 Companies were merged into the 2nd Division at Newcross, with continued responsibility for fixed communications, and there were subdivisions at Newcross, Aldershot (later Basingstoke), and Exeter. The Telegraph Battalion continued to enjoy a close relationship with the GPO whose employees provided an organised form of reservists, which became especially important after the introduction of wireless telegraphy into British Army Service in 1898.

The first major test for the British Army’s Telegraph organisation came with the war in South Africa in 1899. The field force was designated the 1st Army Corps and departed for South Africa with the 1st Telegraph Division which comprised of 12 officers and 331 men. This was the first occasion in which a specific unit of signallers embarked for overseas service taking with it the number of its ‘parent’ formation. The Division comprised 12 officers and 331 men. During the course of the war, the 2nd and 3rd Telegraph Divisions were formed alongside the 2nd and 3rd Army Corps, in the UK. By 1902 there were 24 officers and 2,424 men in South Africa responsible for maintaining 9,360 miles of cable and operating 1,945 telephones.

Royal Signals officer in a command centre, 1980s. (Royal Signals)

The British Army adopted the army corps organisation common to the major armies of Europe, within which the army corps was the main field force formation, consisting of a number of divisions and brigades under permanent command. This organisation was retained in Britain until 1905-07 when the post South African War reforms began to be implemented. As part of these changes, Britain adopted the division as its principal field formation, with the corps remaining only as a higher level of command, to be formed at the outbreak of hostilities. The link between signals units and formations was strengthened by the reforms of 1904-1908.

In 1905, the Telegraph Battalion RE was broken up and replaced by three telegraph companies, one for each corps, and ‘K’ Telegraph Company for fixed communications. The creation of an expeditionary force in 1907 brought about further changes, and it is from this period that the present units of the Royal Signals could be said to have evolved. Each of the six new infantry divisions was allocated a telegraph company, which bore the divisional number. (One extra divisional company was formed in South Africa). The single cavalry division was provided with a squadron. Two telegraph companies were formed for duties on the Lines of Communication: in 1912 they were amalgamated into K Company. Two airline and two cable companies were provided for army headquarters, and in 1912 were amalgamated into A and B Companies, each with one airline and one cable company. Finally two wireless companies were formed for army and national use. Between 1911 and 1913 the Royal Engineers took over responsibility for all forms of military communications and units were redesignated as ‘Signal Companies RE’. Despite the growth in size and importance of the signal units, in the field they remained subordinate to Royal Engineer commanders who had a wider range of responsibilities. In 1914, for example, divisional engineers comprised two field companies and one signal company under the same RE commander.

At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 the Royal Engineers Signal Service was made up of twelve companies. Those attached to infantry divisions consisted of 5 officers, 157 men, 32 bicycles and 9 motorcycles. Signal personnel totalled 58 officers and 1,978 men out of a total of 1,056 officers and 10,394 men of the regular Corps of Royal Engineers. The regular Signal Companies were supported by a single motorcyclist section of the Special Reserve, and by 29 signal companies of the Territorial Force. The war-time expansion of the Signal Service was due almost entirely to the very considerable increase in the number of divisions and larger formations during the course of the First World War. In 1916 GHQ British Expeditionary Force had a wireless company, a wireless depot and a wireless school under its direct command, together with a messenger dog section. Each of the five Army Headquarters in the BEF had 3 airline sections, 2 cable sections, 1 light railway signal section and 1 signal construction section. By 1918, each of the five Army HQ Signals totalled 168 officers and 4,380 men who handled a daily average of 4,500 messages at each army headquarters, while in addition each corps and each division had its own signal company. The extensive use of artillery produced a further demand for dedicated signal sections, including liaison with spotter aircraft, while the extensive Line of Communication required numerous units to facilitate the movement of men and supplies to the Western Front. By November 1918 the service was made up of 589 companies the majority of which (403 companies) were with the BEF in France and Flanders. There were also 65 units in Palestine and Egypt, 42 in Macedonia and Greece, 17 in Italy and 24 in Mesopotamia, with the balance based in the United Kingdom. Concurrent with this development was the introduction and signal success of electronic warfare with the Wireless Observation Groups, by the work of which Signals Intelligence came into its own.

The massive war-time effort by a semi-autonomous part of the Royal Engineers produced an independent Corps on 28th June 1920 when the Corps of Signals was formed. On 5th August 1920 the Corps’ title was changed to the Royal Corps of Signals, which now took precedence after the Corps of Royal Engineers. When the Territorial Army was formed on 1st October 1920, its territorial signal units became part of the Royal Corps of Signals. Autonomy within the British Army and a change of title not, however bring about any immediate changes to the role, size and titles of units within the Corps.

Between 1920 and 1939, the principal developments which affected the regular units of the Corps were the establishment and expansion of signal units throughout the British Empire both at company and section level. Greatly aided by Indian Army Signals, which absorbed about one third of the Royal Corps of Signals’ personnel, a network of signal units was established in all major garrisons worldwide. This was matched by the increased establishment of units for static communications within the United Kingdom. The financial constraints of the inter-war period restricted the number and size of field force signal units to those attached to the divisions within the UK, and regular units for corps level and above were almost unknown. Perhaps the most innovative area for regular signal units related to the experimental, and then permanent establishment of armoured forces in Britain. The provision of more specialised signal units remained the province of the Supplementary Reserve and the Territorial Army, which formed and supported units for GHQ troops, lines of communication, air force liaison and, most of all, anti-aircraft units. The principal weakness of the entire British Army Order of Battle remained the lack of Signals units at a corps’ level.

Technician of the Royal Signals at work, 1980s. (Royal Signals)

The Corps’ history during the Second World War was marked by a number of significant developments. Expansion began before the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, with the doubling of the size of the field forces of the Territorial Army and, the massive expansion of the Anti-Aircraft Command. Once war broke out there was a pattern of expansion, similar to that of 1914, with an increase in the number of field formations. This increase was not as marked as that in the earlier conflict because manpower restrictions and the developments in armoured and airborne forces precluded a massive expansion of the infantry on the same scale as before. The reduced number of divisional and corps signal units was balanced by an increase in the size of those units to regimental level. A typical divisional signal unit was increased from the single company of 1914 to a headquarters company and four operational companies. The rapid development of armoured and mechanised forces created a greater need for mobility and adaptability for field force signal units. The war widened the horizons of the Corps by reason of the need to provide communications for innovative forms of warfare: air liaison or air formation; airborne forces, such as jungle warfare, arctic and mountain warfare, naval liaison and commando forces, all of which required units specifically trained, equipped and organised. Another major area of expansion, which first appeared in the First World War, was signals intelligence, which also necessitated a variety of new units. Furthermore, the need for greater inter-service liaison and the need to work with allied armies and their methods of communication complicated and enhanced the organisation of the Corps. As a result of all these new requirements, the Corps expanded from 1,771 officers and 32,551 men in 1939 to a total of 8,518 officers and 142,472 men in 1945, together with 15,000 women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service who were serving in Signal units.

The most important organisational change in the immediate post-1945 period was in the establishment of signal regiments; a recognition of the increased size of field force signal units. The terms ‘regiment’, ‘squadron’ and ‘troop’ were now applied throughout the Corps. In this respect, the change paralleled a similar one in the Corps of Royal Engineers. The period until 1959 was marked by the retention within the Corps of regiments and squadrons whose tasks had either been neglected before 1939 or had been developed during the war. Until the establishment of a substantial armoured force in Germany in 1951-1952 the units allocated to tasks such as headquarters, line of communication, or air formation outnumbered field force units. In 1948, for example, of the 12 operational regiments, only 3 were supported field force divisions. Although the period is characterised by the gradual withdrawal from the empire with its relatively small-scale conflicts, the onset of the Cold War largely determined the Corps roles and deployment. BAOR replaced India as the ‘second home’ of the British Army, while the Korean War (1950-1953) placed further demands on the Corps.

A major consequence of the post-war decolonisation and the break-up of the old British Empire was a reduction in the number and variety of locally recruited units and personnel. From the First World War onwards locally enlisted personnel (LEP) had been employed in a variety of ways serving as members of regular signal units, and in volunteer reserve units. Many of these individuals and units formed the basis of signal corps in the armies of newly independent nations. After the Second World War LEP were incorporated into the Royal Corps of Signals in Malaya and Singapore as an invaluable part of the signal units located there. Hong Kong also had a large number of LEP. A significant exception to this trend has been the establishment and growth of the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, the units of which are treated as if they were a component of Royal Signals. The details of the Gurkha Signals regiment and squadrons will be found in the relevant section of this guide. They represent the short-lived presence in the Corps of signallers from lands far distant from the United Kingdom.

In 1959 the biggest shake-up in the nomenclature of the Corps’ units took place. In that year, the Royal Corps of Signals followed the examples set by the Royal Regiment of Artillery and the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1947, and adopted a uniform army-wide system of numbering for the signal regiments, squadrons and troops. Prior to 1959, regiments were numbered according to the formation with which each regiment served, and resulted in the simultaneous use of the same number for different signal regiments. Between 1947 and 1959, five regiments bore the number 1 (they were 1st Infantry, 1st Corps, 1st Wireless, 1st War Office and 1st Training), and there were five ‘2s’, three ‘3s’, four ‘4s’, three ‘5s’, two ‘6s’, two ‘7s’ and two ‘19s’! Similar confusion was to be found in the squadron titles, which were either numerical or geographic. The problem was addressed on 1st September 1959, from which date all regiments were numbered in a single series from 1st to 30th, all squadrons were given numbers in the range 200-299 and all independent troops were given numbers in the range 600-699. The only remaining source of confusion was in the allocation of squadron numbers. Initially, the above range applied to independent squadrons. Squadrons within regiments continued to be designated 1-4 but at various times since 1959 they have been given numbers in the 200 series and then reverted back to the older system. The 1959 numbering system has applied to regular units of the Corps since that date.

Several major developments have affected the regular signal units since 1959. The Corps’ ability to maintain, if not enhance, its strength within a much-reduced Regular Army has been encouraged by the integration of field force headquarters and their signal units. Until the 1960s, a formation’s signallers worked closely with, but were administratively separate from, the headquarters of that division or brigade. Since then, they have been integrated with the Corps, having prime responsibility for the operational and administrative effectiveness of each formation’s headquarters. After 1967, single function signal brigades have emerged to command a mix of regular and reserve signal units, which has been part of a trend to establish single-corps brigades the function of which is to ensure that training and readiness standards are met by the units under command. Relations between regular and reserve units have become closer, and more complementary, with the regulars providing a wide range of units for field force tasks and the reserves for line of communications and home defence duties. The range of signalling tasks, established during World War Two, has remained, but the balance in terms of numbers of units allocated and their status as regular or reserve has changed over the decades.

Concurrent with the reorganisations of the military balance was the introduction of computers and new tactical communication systems to replace the old methods of signalling. The technology revolution saw the introduction of Bruin, a mobile tropospheric scatter network based on a grid of communication centres over the I British Corps’ area. This, in turn, was replaced by Ptarmigan, a battlefield trunk communication system based on trunk nodes across the entire corps area. High speed digital and satellite communications have provided flexibility for both strategic and tactical communications. Many new systems have been introduced, and others like Falcon, a replacement for Ptarmigan, are in the planning stage.

The current responsibilities of the Corps include Command Control Communications and Information Systems (C3IS) for the commanders of the battle, and the provision of a Command and Control Warfare (C2W) capability. C2W is the offensive capability by which the enemy is denied the ability to command and co-ordinate his forces. This task is carried out in close co-operation with the Intelligence Corps.

United Nations peacekeeping roles have increased for the British Army and the Corps has been ready to provide specialist signal units to suit the occasion. A major development, which has been particularly evident since the end of the Cold War, is the provision of units trained for world-wide mobile operations. The Corps provides regular units with the most up-to-date and sophisticated equipment for a wide range of tasks, and from its order of battle, those units and individual signallers deemed suited to that particular operation are chosen. Signal units have had to become more flexible in attitude and training, and more ready to adapt to new equipment, to meet the challenges of an ‘expeditionary military force’ in the 21st Century, with the new challenges of the computer era suggesting an increased role for Britain’s signallers. Throughout the whole existence of Royal Signals technical developments have influenced the development of the Corps, and will no doubt continue to do so. This study suggests that the Corps’ ability to adapt to a changing military environment, yet retain its deep-rooted traditions and esprit-de-corps, will be met, as it has done in the past, by the formation, re-titling, and reorganisation of the units which make up the Royal Corps of Signals.

Regular Signal Regiments 1st to 30th

1st (UK) Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1885 – Telegraph Battalion RE

1905 – 1st Division, Telegraph Battalion RE

5.1907 – 1st Divisional Telegraph Company RE

1910 – 1st Divisional Signal Company RE

1921 – 1st Divisional HQ

1922 – 1st Divisional Signals

7.1946 – 1st Infantry Divisional Signal Regiment

9.1959 – 1st Signal Regiment (Divisional)

5.1960 – 1st Signal Regiment

1.1965 – 1st Division HQ & Signal Regiment

4.1978 – 1st Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment

4.1993 – Lower Saxony Signal Regiment

10.1993 – 1st (UK) Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment

After the war in South Africa (1899-1902) the British government embarked upon a series of reforms of the Army, one of which was the establishment of an expeditionary force for operations on the continent of Europe. This involved the replacement of the rather unwieldy three army corps with a force of six infantry divisions and one cavalry division. Each infantry division was allocated one telegraph company of 5 officers and 157 men. The new divisional telegraph companies were formed by the break-up of the 1st Division of the Telegraph Battalion, which had provided for the whole field force since 1905. Formed at Aldershot in 1907, the 1st Division was one of two which would constitute I Corps, the first echelon of the expeditionary force. From 1912, the Signal Company included three infantry brigade signal sections and began to use motorcycles for its despatch riders.

With the outbreak of War in August 1914, the 1st Division embarked for France and was soon heavily-committed to the defence of Belgium and northern France against the Germans. The division’s participation at Mons was peripheral and was followed by the retreat southwards to the Marne. After the battles on the Marne and Aisne, 1st Division went into action around Ypres. The division spent the rest of the war in the trenches of the Western Front. It took part in the battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915, the latter stages of the struggle on the Somme in 1916, and returned to Flanders for 3rd Ypres in 1917. It helped defend the Ypres Salient against the German spring offensive in 1918, before switching to the advance from Arras up to, and then through, the Hindenburg Line in the autumn of 1918. Throughout these operations the division’s signallers had to struggle to provide the reliable communications without which commanders could not control the battle which developed once the infantry ‘went over the top’.

Capt Kelvin Kent with members of Gurkha Signals in Brunei during 1964. (Royal Signals)

After the November 1918 armistice, the Signal Company was stationed in Bonn as part of the Allied occupation force, from which duty it returned to Aldershot in 1920. Until 1922, the division’s presence in Aldershot was weakened by the need to send troops to Ireland, and then to Turkey. The extent to which the division’s signals was involved in such deployments is not known. In 1922, 1st Divisional Signals was re-organised into three companies. Apart from the despatch of signallers to support the international supervisors of the Saar plebiscite in 1935, the division’s base remained at Aldershot until the outbreak of war in 1939. As with other British based formations, the division sent detachments to Palestine for internal security duties from 1936. The division’s signallers helped to establish Palestine Signals.

In 1939, 1st Infantry Division, under Major General Harold Alexander, embarked for France once more. After the German attack on 10th May 1940, the division moved into Belgium as part of the BEF’s attempt to defend Belgium on the line of the Wavre. German success further south brought about a steady retreat to the beaches of Dunkirk. The division remained in the UK, at Branston, Brandon, and Troon, until March 1943 when it joined 1st Army in Tunisia. After the surrender of the Axis forces in May 1943, the division remained in North Africa until committed to the landings at Anzio in January 1944. During that hard-fought battle for the beachhead, 1st Infantry Division was commanded by Major General Ronald Penney, the only signaller to be given a divisional command in battle in the war in Europe. After a year in Italy, the division was transferred to Palestine. It remained there, on difficult internal security duties, until the final British withdrawal in May 1948.

In 1948, the divisional headquarters moved to Tripoli, and then to Fayid, Egypt, in 1951 to provide security to the Suez Canal Zone and other British interests in the Middle East. The Regiment included G and H Troops, which were attached to regiments of field artillery stationed in the Canal Zone. In the autumn of 1955 the division returned to the UK to become part of the strategic reserve. As part of this transfer, 1st Infantry Divisional Signal Regiment provided 300 men for the formation of Cyprus District Signal Regiment (q.v. 29 Signal Regiment), and left behind 100 men for the newly-reformed 10th Armoured Divisional Signal Regiment in Tripoli. The division’s stay in the UK was relatively brief. The divisional HQ moved from Winterbourne to Bulford in September 1956. With only 2 officers and 60 men left in 1955 the division’s signal regiment was not brought up to full strength until 1958. Similarly, the demands of overseas commitments, and the massive series of regimental disbandments and amalgamations which began in 1958, meant that the division never achieved full strength.

In June 1960 the division was disbanded, and its number allocated to the British Army of the Rhine. On 30th June 1960, 5th Division at Verden was retitled 1st Division, and 5th Signal Regiment became 1st Signal Regiment. The regiment was organised into a HQ Squadron, 1 Squadron and 2 Squadron. The division has remained in Germany for the past 40 years, during which time it has undergone several changes of organisation, title and headquarters. On 1st January 1965, the divisional HQ was taken over by 1st Signal Regiment to become a combined HQ and Signal Regiment, and Royal Signals were given responsibility for the administration and defence of the divisional HQ. On 1st April 1978, as part of a wider reorganisation of BAOR which also witnessed the temporary abolition of brigade headquarters, the regiment was retitled as 1st Armoured Division Headquarters and Signal Regiment. The original three squadrons were joined by 4 (Task Force) Squadron, which had two thirds of the manpower of a brigade signal squadron, but nevertheless had to provide communications for the equivalent of two brigades. To assist in this process, 4 Squadron was divided into Alpha Troop (formerly 7 Armoured Brigade Signal Squadron), and Bravo Troop (formerly 6 Squadron, 7 Signal Regiment). Brigades were restored in 1983, and the burden on the division’s signallers reduced. The division provided the core of the signals element in the Gulf War (1990-1991), when an ad hoc regiment of eleven squadrons, drawn from a variety of signal units in BAOR and the UK, was built up around RHQ 1st Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment.

The reduction of BAOR to a single armoured division in 1993 brought about a move from Verden to Herford, where the Regiment took over premises previously occupied by the now-disbanded 4th Armoured Divisional HQ & Signal Regiment. The Regiment remains at Herford to date.

Component Squadrons since 1993:

201 Signal Squadron

208 Signal Squadron (disbanded 2000)

211 Signal Squadron

212 Signal Squadron

Links:

Panzer Grenadier Division Signal Regiment Fernmeldebataillon 1, at Hanover

1st Canadian Signal Regiment

Freedom of Verden 1980

Heraldry & Ceremonial:

In the First World War the division’s sign was adapted from the naval signal for ‘One’ –namely a blue triangular flag, edged in white, with a white spot in the centre. The flag was attached to a black flagpole.

In World War Two the divisional sign was a simple red triangle. From 1965 until 1978, the regimental sign was a red triangle with a white centre and the motto ‘PRIMUS INTER PARES’. The motto was deleted in 1978.

The current unit emblem is a black triangle with red edges with a charging white rhino in the centre.

1st Armoured Division Signals

1907 – 1st Signal Troop RE (based at Aldershot)

(Also 2nd Signal Troop, [Tidworth], 3rd Signal Troop, [Curragh], 4th Signal Troop, [Canterbury])

1912 – 1st Signal Squadron, Cavalry Division

1914 – 1st Cavalry Division Signals

1920 – Cavalry Division Signals

1937 – Mobile Division Signals

1939 – 1st Armoured Division Signals – Disbanded 1944

A cavalry division was included in the organisation of the new expeditionary force in 1907. In 1912, the signal troops of its component brigades were combined into a single signal squadron. The division crossed to France in August 1914, and soon expanded into the Cavalry Corps of three divisions, which fought on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.

The Cavalry Division was reconstituted in 1920, and ten years later one of its squadrons, based at Tidworth, was combined with four tank battalion signal sections to form Armoured Fighting Vehicles Signals. The rest of the cavalry brigade was mechanised in 1937, when 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigade Signals joined 1st Tank Brigade Signals, (formed in 1935), as Mobile Division Signals. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the division was designated as 1st Armoured Division.

After Dunkirk, as part of an attempt to reconstitute the BEF, the division arrived in France to fight along the line of the Somme and in Normandy. It was withdrawn when the French capitulated. The division joined 8th Army in the Western Desert in November 1941, and fought there until the Axis defeat in May 1943. In May 1944 the division arrived in Italy, but was broken up into its component brigades, as the nature of the terrain precluded the large-scale employment of armour. One of the unit’s signal squadrons continued to operate as a LofC unit and the rest were absorbed into 6th Armoured Division Signals.

1st Armoured Division Signal Regiment 1946-47

q.v. 6th Signal Regiment

2nd Signal Regiment

1885 – Telegraph Battalion RE

1905 – 1st Division, Telegraph Battalion RE

5.1907 – 2nd Divisional Telegraph Company RE

1910 – 2nd Divisional Signal Company RE

1922 – 2nd Divisional Signals

1946 – 2nd Infantry Divisional Signal Regiment

1959 – 2nd Signal Regiment (Divisional)

1960 – 2nd Signal Regiment

1965 – 2nd Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1976 – 2nd Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1982 – 2nd Infantry Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1995 – 2nd Signal Regiment (C3)

1999 – 2nd Signal Regiment

The 2nd Division’s telegraph company was formed at Aldershot, as part of I Corps, in 1907. This was this first permanent peacetime division with that number. Earlier second divisions had been ad hoc formations formed for service in the Peninsula War (1809-1814), in the Crimea (1854-56) and in South Africa (1899-1902). The 2nd Division Telegraph Company RE was one of several divisional companies formed from the 1st Division of the Telegraph Battalion. By 1914, the division’s signal company was made up an airline section, a cable section, and a wireless section, with a total strength of 5 officers and 157 men.

The division embarked for France in August 1914, and swiftly moved up to the Belgian frontier to meet the advancing German armies. It played a minor role in the Battle of Mons, and then participated in the retreat to the Marne. The BEF then helped the French to push the Germans northwards to the Chemin des Dames, north of the river Aisne. The division was rushed to Flanders in October 1914, and took part in the first Battle of Ypres. Its next major role was to take part in the attack on Loos in September 1915. The division participated in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and played a major role in the battles around Arras in the spring of 1917. The division took part in the Battle of Cambrai – the first major tank offensive – in 1917, and was operational in the Somme area for most of 1918. Its last action was to assist in the successful attacks on the Hindenburg Line in the autumn of 1918.

The division returned to Aldershot in 1919, and provided many units for internal security duties in Ireland until 1922. During 1922 and 1923 it provided detachments for 28th Divisional Signal Company in Turkey, where Britain was responding to the Chanak crisis. In that same year, the divisional signals were reorganised into three companies. The division remained at Aldershot until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1939 the 2nd Infantry Division returned to France as part of a new BEF under Lord Gort VC. The division moved into Belgium after the German attack began on 10th May 1940, but was soon forced to retreat back to the beaches of Dunkirk. After two years in the UK, the division landed in India in June 1942. After training for jungle warfare it became the only purely British division in General Slim’s 14th Army in Burma. It served in Burma for 12 months from April 1944, before returning to India to prepare for the invasion of Malaya which was scheduled for September 1945. The division instead moved to Singapore upon conclusion of hostilities in August 1945, amalgamated with 36th Divisional Signals, and was run down gradually during 1946.

In 1947 the 53rd (Welsh) Divisional Signal Regiment at Lubbecke in the British Occupation Zone of Germany was renumbered 2nd Infantry Division.

The division was to spend the next 35 years in Germany. At first the division was involved in occupational duties, but the onset of the Cold War, and the establishment of NATO, brought an upgrading to full infantry division status in 1951. Divisional Signals were located at Dusseldorf, and later moved to Bunde. The designation ‘infantry’ was dropped in 1958, when all BAOR divisions delegated extra responsibility to subordinate brigade groups. In return, in 1965 the divisional signals regiment took over responsibility for the division’s headquarters.

On 9 December 1976 the regiment became 2nd Armoured Division Signal Regiment. The constituent brigades were abolished. A new 4 (Task Force) Squadron was formed from 4 Guards Brigade Signal Squadron, and it was divided into Charlie and Delta Troops, to provide communications for the ad hoc task groups which had replaced the brigades. The task forces became 4th and 12th Armoured Brigades on 1 January 1982.

As part of a further re-organisation of BAOR, the division and its signal regiment returned to the UK and reformed at York in January 1983. 656 Signal Troop remained at Lippstadt to provide a forward link for the Division. The Division remained part of BAOR, but was unique in its structure, since it commanded one regular brigade-24th at Catterick, and two TA brigades-15th at York and 49th at Nottingham. At the same time, the division assumed responsibility for North-East District. Its area of command was extended southward in 1992, when Eastern District was absorbed. On 1 April 2000 the Division HQ moved to Edinburgh when Scotland and 2nd Division amalgamated into a new 2nd Division. Before this last event, 2nd Signal Regiment, which was still at York, severed its connection with the parent division and took on a new role. It became part of 11 Signal Brigade, whose task was to provide extra regular and TA signals units in support of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. In April 1999, the Regiment became part of the Joint Rapid Deployment Force, providing that force with Ptarmigan communications facilities.

Component squadrons since 1993:

214 Signal Squadron

217 Signal Squadron – disbanded 2000

219 Signal Squadron

246 Gurkha Signal Squadron (reformed at York 1.4.2000 and joined Regiment 12.2001)

Links:

Freedom of Lubbecke 11.9.1977

Freedom of York 2001

Affiliated with Leeds University OTC and Sheffield University OTC

Heraldry & Ceremonial:

During the First World War the divisional sign consisted of three eight-pointed stars on a black background. The red middle star represented the First Corps, and the two adjacent white stars the Second Division.

The 2nd Division sign of crossed keys on a black background was introduced in 1940 by the GOC Major General Charles Loyd –a Coldstream Guardsman – whose earlier command of a guard’s brigade with a single key provided the basis for his divisional sign.

2nd Armoured Divisional Signals 1939-1941

(q.v. 47 Signal Squadron)

3rd (UK) Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1885 – Telegraph Battalion RE

1903 – 3rd Division, Telegraph Battalion RE

1903 – 2nd Division, Telegraph Battalion RE

1905 – 3rd Telegraph Company RE

1907 – 3rd Divisional Telegraph Company RE

1910 – 3rd Divisional Signal Company RE

1922 – 3rd Divisional Signals

1946 – 3rd Infantry Divisional Signal Regiment (disbanded 6.1947)

12.1950 – 3rd Infantry Divisional Signal Regiment

1959 – 3rd Division Signal Regiment

1960 – 3rd Signal Regiment

1962 – 3rd Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1977 – 3rd Armoured Division HQ & Signal Regiment

1993 – 3rd (UK) Division HQ & Signal Regiment

As part of the formation of an expeditionary force, 3rd Division was formed in Southern Command in 1907 with brigades at Tidworth, Plymouth and Portsmouth. Temporary, 3rd Divisions had earlier fought with Wellington in the Peninsula, in the Crimea and, more recently, in South Africa. The division’s telegraph company had been formed as 3rd Telegraph Division at Aldershot in 1903. Allocated to the 3rd Division, it moved to Bulford in 1908.

Under the command of Major-General Hamilton (who was later killed in action) the division arrived in France in 1914 in time to play a major role in the Battle of Mons. It fought at Le Cateau, and retreated to the Marne, and was in the vanguard of the BEF’s advance from the Marne to the Aisne. Thereafter, the division fought at Ypres between October 1914 and 1916, when it transferred to Picardy. After the spring offensive around Arras in 1917, the division returned to the Ypres Salient for the battle of Passchendaele. It took part in the battle of Cambrai at the end of 1917, and spent 1918 stemming the German offensive in Picardy and Flanders before moving back across the old Somme battlefields to attack the Hindenburg Line in 1918. After the November 1918 armistice, the division took part in the occupation of the Rhineland, where some of its men became the signal company for the Northern Division of the British Army of the Rhine.

A cadre of signallers returned to Bulford in 1919 to reform 3rd Divisional Signal Company which remained there until 1939. As with the other divisional signals, it was reorganised into three companies in 1922. The steady routine of garrison duties was broken by the use of the division’s 7th Brigade as part of the experimental armoured force formed on Salisbury Plain in 1927. Out of that force would come Mobile Division (UK) in 1937, and 1st Armoured Division in 1939 (q.v. 1st Signal Regiment). Mechanisation of divisional signals was a prolonged business thanks to the financial stringencies of the period. It began in 1928 and was completed in 1935. The deterioration in internal security in Palestine led to the temporary deployment of the division’s units, including signals personnel, between 1935 and 1939. As its regular strength drained away to Palestine, the remaining part of the regiment had to rely on support from 43rd (Wessex) Divisional Signals in order to maintain some degree of effectiveness. The 3rd Divisional Signals were hurriedly reconstituted in the summer of 1939 as war threatened.

In 1939, the division, under Major-General B. L. Montgomery, embarked for France once more. In May 1940, the division moved up to the line of the Wavre in Belgium in an abortive attempt to save Belgium from the Nazis, and instead the division was forced to retreat to the beaches of Dunkirk. Stationed at first at Frome, and later at Dumfries, the 3rd Infantry Division remained in the UK until 1944. The division, now under Major-General Tom Rennie (later killed in action), was the assault division on Sword beach as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6th June 1944. Thereafter, it played a major role in the defence of the eastern end of the allied beachhead. With the rest of 21st Army Group it assisted in the liberation of Western Europe, and the invasion and defeat of Nazi Germany.

Earmarked for service against Japan, the division was instead sent to Palestine on internal security duties in November 1945. It remained there until April 1946, and then returned to the UK, only to be disbanded on 30 June 1947.

(Nb one source puts Div HQ and 61 Brigade in Palestine until February 1948)

The requirements of the Cold War, especially a hot conflict such as the Korean War, brought about the reformation of 3rd Division at Colchester on 14th December 1950. The purpose of the division was to provide a divisional-sized, UK-based strategic reserve, to supplement the existing 16th Airborne Brigade at Aldershot. The division and its signal regiment remained in this role until September 1976.

The division was called upon to perform several tasks. It sponsored the formation of the Commonwealth Divisional Signal Regiment, when that unit was formed at Harwich, in April 1951, for service in Korea. The division itself was despatched to the Suez Canal Zone in November of the same year, and remained on internal security duties in Egypt for the next three years. It returned to Colchester in December 1954. Subsequently it provided units and elements of its signals regiment for several overseas deployments.

The Regiment sent C Cable Troop to Cyprus in March 1955 as the EOKA terrorist movement began its abortive campaign for union with Greece. The Suez crisis brought about the mobilisation and despatch of divisional headquarters for the occupation of Port Said in November 1956. In August 1960, 3rd Signal Regiment formed and despatched 634 Signal Troop to help 1st Bn King’s Own Royal Border Regiment provide aid to the civil authorities in the Cameroons during the plebiscite then being held in that part of West Africa. On 18-19 April 1959 the division headquarters and its signal regiment moved from Colchester where it was first based to Bulford. 606 Medium Troop was absorbed into the Regiment in 1960. In 1961, elements were sent out to Kuwait in response to Iraqi threats to the stability of the region, and also to Kenya.

In February 1964, the divisional headquarters and several units deployed to Cyprus in anticipation of the subsequent establishment of a UN peacekeeping force on the island. The signallers provided communications for the UN force until it became self-sufficient in August 1964. The Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, brought about a subsequent emergency deployment of the division.

In August 1962, the first amalgamation of a divisional signal regiment and its superior HQ took place when 3rd Division HQ and 3rd Signal Regiment were merged. The new organisation was tested in extensive exercises in Libya in 1963. Amongst the tasks tested was the air-portable role, which became the normal method of deployment for the division’s units from the mid-1960s.

As a result of the 1975 Defence Review, the British government decided to abandon a division-size strategic reserve in the United Kingdom. With the simultaneous re-organisation of BAOR, which included the