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204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery

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204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery
Active1967–Present
CountryUnited Kingdom
Branch British Army
RolePrecision fire
Part of101st (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery
Garrison/HQKingston Park, Newcastle upon Tyne
EquipmentM270 Multiple Launch Rocket System

204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery is part of 101st (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery, an artillery regiment of the British Army.

History[edit]

The battery was formed from 324th (Northumbrian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery which was formed after the Second World War and equipped with the Thunderbird missile system.[1] After the war the TA was reconstituted formally on 1 January 1947, and recruitment began on 1 May 1947.[2][3][4] 324 Regiment had been based at the drill hall opposite the Gosforth Greyhound Stadium on the North Road in Gosforth.[5][6][7][a]

Following the defence cuts implemented in 1967,[10] the TA was reorganised as the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) and 324 Regiment in Gosforth was reduced to a single battery viz. 204 Battery, becoming part of the newly-formed 101 (Northumbrian) Medium Regiment RA (V).[11] 204 Medium Battery was initially equipped with the BL 5.5-inch medium gun but remained at the drill hall on the North Road in Gosforth. In 1974, the battery took on its Tyneside Scottish designation, recalling the Pals battalion which had served in the First World War.[12][13] Since then, the battery has maintained its Tyneside Scottish traditions by wearing the tam o'shanter headdress with a red hackle as part of its uniform.[14][15]

The battery converted to the 105mm Light Gun in 1980, shortly before it moved to the drill hall in Church Street in Walker in 1981.[16] After briefly converting to the FH-70 Howitzer in 1993, and then moving to the Army Reserve Centre on Beaminster Way East in Kingston Park in 1994, the battery took on a support role providing elements to HQ 1 Artillery Brigade in 1998 and then converted to a surveillance and target acquisition role in 2004.[17] The battery also established a troop at Dare Wilson Barracks in Hexham.[18] Members of the battery were deployed to Camp Bastion and other places in Afghanistan, as part of Operation Herrick 15 in November 2011 and as part of Operation Herrick 16 in May 2012 during the War in Afghanistan.[19][20]

Under Army 2020, the battery re-roled to the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System.[21] The conversion to the new weapon system started in spring 2014.[22]

In January 2024, members of 204 Battery took part in a 35 mile march to commemorate a march undertaken by their predecessors, the Tyneside Scottish, from Newcastle upon Tyne to Alnwick in January 1915, prior to their deployment to the Western Front, during the First World War.[23][24][25]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The drill hall on the North Road, which was specially equipped with garaging for an artillery regiment, was commissioned in February 1939.[8][9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Associated units". 36 Regiment RA. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Territorial Army – Royal Artillery". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  3. ^ "United Kingdom 1944 – 1947: Territorial Army Formations (1947)". British Military History. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Territorial Army". UK Parliament. 26 March 1947. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Support our troops: Blyth residents asked to take to streets to celebrate Northumberland regiment". Chronicle Live. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  6. ^ "101 (Northumbrian) Regiment". Ogilby Trust. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  7. ^ Hewitson 2006, p. 162.
  8. ^ "The Garden Village through the years". Gosforth Garden Village Association. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  9. ^ Drill halls. Vol. 56. St. George's Gazette. p. 176. Gosforth is now well under way
  10. ^ "Defence Review". UK Parliament. 22 February 1966. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  11. ^ "101st (Northumbrian) Regiment". Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Would-be army recruits sought for long-standing Tyneside regiment". Chronicle Live. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  13. ^ "Newcastle welcomes specially-designed train's moving memorial to war dead". Chronicle Live. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  14. ^ "The Tyneside Scottish" (PDF). The Red Hackle. 1 May 2012. p. 49. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  15. ^ "204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery" (PDF). The Red Hackle. 1 May 2018. p. 45. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  16. ^ Hewitson 2006, p. 179.
  17. ^ "101 Regiment Batteries". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Army Reserve Centre". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Hero soldier Bruno back home for Christmas after saving colleagues from suicide bomber". Chronicle Live. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  20. ^ "The Tyneside Scottish" (PDF). The Red Hackle. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  21. ^ "Army 2020 Report" (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2014.
  22. ^ "Tyneside Scottish" (PDF). The Red Hackle. 1 May 2014. p. 71. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  23. ^ "Soldiers march 35 miles from Newcastle to Alnwick to commemorate World War One anniversary: 204 Battery March". Northumberland Gazette. 29 January 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  24. ^ "Soldiers recreate histroric march through Alnwick". Alnwick Town Council. 28 January 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  25. ^ "204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery" (PDF). The Red Hackle. 1 November 2016. p. 56. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

Sources[edit]

  • Hewitson, T. L. (2006). Weekend Warriors from Tyne to Tweed. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0752437569.

Further reading[edit]

  • Litchfield, Norman E. H. (1992). The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988. Nottingham: The Sherwood Press. ISBN 978-0950820521.
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