131 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers

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131 Independent Commando Squadron RE (Volunteers) is an Army reserve unit of the British Territorial Army which is affiliated to 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers. It supports 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and is the largest Territorial Army Commando unit.

Mission

"To be ready to provide general engineering support to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines." [131 Independent Commando Squadron official webpage http://www.army.mod.uk/royalengineers/units/853.aspx]

Role

Since 1978 the unit has been on the order of battle of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, providing combat engineer support to the Brigade. This role has seen the Squadron exercise worldwide, often sending small sub-units or individual soldiers to support the Brigade wherever it is training.

The Squadron

First raised in 1947 as an Airborne Engineer Regiment, it once fielded over 1000 trained parachute engineers. Since 1978 the unit has been an Independent Squadron of Commandos providing engineer support to the Royal Marines.

As a Commando unit the majority of personnel have completed the TA All Arms Commando Course, run by the Royal Marines at Lympstone. This demanding course is the foundation for all further training.

As an engineer unit the Squadron trains for a variety of tasks from demolitions to construction. The unit has its own chefs, clerks and mechanics to sustain personnel and equipment alike.

The unit frequently deploys on tasks with, or to support, the Regular Forces in both the UK and abroad. In recent years the Squadron deployed personnel to Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman,USA, Norway, France, Malawi, the Falkland Islands, Romania and Egypt on exercises and training with 3 Commando Brigade units.

131 Squadron has sent teams to the annual Exercise Cambrian Patrol competition held at the Sennybridge Training Area and has won the Courage Trophy competition a record five times (1977, 1978, 1992, 1993 and 1994). Over the last 15 years the unit has also built up a strong cross-country skiing pedigree, winning several races in the UK Land Command and TA Ski Championships.

Organisation

The Squadron consists of four troops in the following locations around the UK:

* Headquarters and Support Troop (Kingsbury in North West London)
* 300 Troop (Plymouth)
* 301 Troop (Sheldon in Birmingham)
* 302 Troop (Bath)

Hull-based 299 Troop, who used to be a part of 131 until 2006, have now gone on to become part of a new Air Assault Engineer Squadron (299 Parachute Squadron, RE(V)).

History

1940s: Airborne Forces Role

With the reformation of the Territorial Army in 1947, the unit was raised as 131 Airborne Engineer Regiment (TA) in support of 16 Airborne Division (TA). The Division, taking its number from the wartime 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions, was commanded by Maj-Gen Roy Urquhart, of Arnhem fame and consisted of three TA parachute brigades, each of three parachute battalions (44, 45 and 46 Parachute Brigades). With all volunteers going through 'P Company' to gain their Red Berets and earning their Parachute Wings at RAF Abingdon, the Regiment provided a squadron of parachute engineers to support each Brigade: 299 Airborne Field Squadron RE (TA) in Hull; 300 Airborne Field Squadron RE (TA) in Liverpool; and 301 Airborne Field Squadron RE (TA) in Croydon. Regimental Headquarters was in Pont Street in Knightsbridge, with 302 Airborne Field Park Squadron RE (TA) based in Hendon. Each Squadron had one or more satellite Troop location, with 300 Squadron moving to Glasgow in the late forties. Manning a Regiment of this size presented no problems, with many recently demobbed WW2 soldiers, including many former paratroopers, willing to swell its ranks. Experienced leadership was in no short supply either - for example, 299 Squadron was raised by Maj George Widdowson RE (TA), previously of the Green Howards, who had fought at Arnhem as Second-in-Command of the decimated 10th Battalion The Parachute Regiment.

1950s

By the time the first round of post-war Territorial Army reorganistions took place in 1956, 131 Regiment was already sufficiently well established to ensure that it was retained in size despite the fact that 16 Airborne Division was disbanded and replaced by a single TA Parachute Brigade (44 Independent Parachute Brigade Group (TA)). The unit title changed at this time to 131 Parachute Engineer Regiment (TA), with all squadron titles replacing the term 'Airborne' with 'Parachute'. RHQ moved half a mile down the road to the Duke of Yorks' Headquarters in the Kings' Road, co-located with Brigade HQ. Troop locations evolved through the 1950s too, with 301 Squadron moving to Guildford and gaining a Birmingham-based troop as a result of the demise of 18 Para. The Liverpool-based troop also went on to become part of 299 Squadron, whilst 300 Squadron, gained troops in Edinburgh and Falkirk to become wholly Scottish. One final change saw 302 Squadron move from Hendon to nearby Kingsbury, with its Luton-based Plant Troop also relocating to Kingsbury, in the 1959.

By the early 1960s 131 was the biggest unit in the British Army. It fielded over 1,000 trained parachute engineers and was believed to have the largest amount of men earning their annual bounty in the whole of the Territorial Army. Many of the unit's members were also members of the Emergency Reserve (or 'Ever-Readies'), giving them a higher call-out obligation (and higher bounty!). Basic training was only just having to be introduced because, up until this time, all unit members were either ex-regulars, ex-WW2 volunteers or ex-National Servicemen. Throughout the period of the Regiment's existence, squadron-sized detachments served their annual camps in many overseas theatres, carrying out close support and construction engineer tasks as well as parachuting with United States, Canadian, French and Italian forces. A popular event on the Regimental calendar was Exercise Sea Splash, where its soldiers would parachute into the harbour in St Peter Port in Guernsey, awaited by a fleet of small boats and cheering islanders. 131's first Honorary Colonel, Lt-Gen Sir Philip Neame VC, KBE, CB, DSO, had initiated the Regiment's involvement with the island when he served as its governor after the War, and the parachute foray was always treated as a celebration of the liberation from German control in 1945.

1960s

In 1964, the bulk of the Regiment carried out its Annual Camp in Aden Protectorate and in 1965 and 1966 elements of the Regiment deployed to the country again. During the 1965 camp, on the night of 12 April, 300 Parachute Squadron was attacked by guerrillas whilst working with 24 Field Squadron on the construction of the Dhala Road at Al-Milah near the Yemen frontier. Squadron Sergeant Major John Lonergan of 300 Squadron and Sgt Atfield, the Pay Sgt of 24 Field Squadron, were both killed during the action and are buried at the Ma-Allah Cemetery, now within the Republic of Yemen. The Regimental Medical Officer, who risked his life to attend to those who had been wounded and to rescue two badly injured men caught out in the open, was awarded the MBE for gallantry. He was recommended for the award of the Military Cross but that award could not be made, as the Regiment had not been mobilised for active service.

The second major post-war reorganistation of the TA in 1967 saw the Regiment reduced to a single independent squadron in 1967. 131 Independent Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers (Volunteers) maintained its role in support of the three parachute battalions of 44 Independent Parachute Brigade Group (Volunteers). Squadron Headquarters and the Support Troop was based in Kingsbury in London, with Troops in Birmingham, Hull and Grangemouth. Troops took the names of the Squadrons they had replaced, with 299 Troop in Hull, 300 Troop in Grangemouth, 301 Troop in Birmingham and 302 Troop (Support Troop to the whole Sqn) in Kingsbury. The remaining locations, ranging from Guildford to Glasgow, were lost along with a significant portion of the unit's manpower.

1970s

The three field troops continued to support a TA parachute battalion each, with 299 Troop linked to the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion The Parachute Regiment, 300 Troop to the 15th (Scottish Volunteer) Battalion and 301 Troop to the 10th (Volunteer) Battalion. Travel far and wide, with associated opportunities for engineer support, construction and parachuting continued as ever. At times Troops would carry out annual camps in direct support of their battalions, such as 299's 1972 camp with 4 Para in Jamaica, whilst on other occasions the Squadron would exercise as a whole. Probably the most ambitious camp of this period was the 1973 Exercise Sacristan in the United Arab Emirates, which saw 180 members of the Squadron deploy for between 2 and 6 weeks, carrying out a variety of construction tasks and desert training exercises. Close ties with 9 Independent Parachute Squadron RE, then based at Church Crookham, also continued throughout the period.

The Squadron's saddest day occurred on 28 September 1975 during Exercise Trent Chase, its annual watermanship-based section competition on the River Trent in Nottinghamshire. During a freak storm on the Saturday night, and with low-light levels made worse by downed power lines, an assault boat containing eleven Sappers of 300 Troop was swept over the Cromwell Weir near Newark. Ten of the eleven men were drowned, including two brothers, Sprs Stuart and Peter Evenden. After the military funerals, which took place in various parishes around Scotland, a memorial service was held at the site of the accident, and a stone of Scottish granite bearing the names of those killed was laid in a small commemorative garden close to the lock. Another memorial was established near Grangemouth, at Falkirk Cemetery, and the men are also commemorated at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

1978: Commando Role

In 1977 drastic reductions in regular and TA Airborne Forces were announced and on 31 March 1978 44 Independent Parachute Brigade Group (Volunteers) was disbanded in a parade at Altcar Ranges, near Liverpool. Though the three parachute battalions were retained, support arms and services were to be slashed. The volunteer traditions of 131, forged through its arduous selection procedure, were such that the only cap badge its members would wear was that of the Royal Engineers, and this on a beret which had to be 'earned'. It was a great honour for the Squadron that the Royal Marines accepted it into the order of battle of 3 Commando Brigade on 1 April 1978. Following the Airborne Engineers Commando Conversion Course in July 1978, the Squadron, now in Green Berets but retaining a significant parachute capability, did not have to move from its four locations.

1980s and 1990s

In 1982 it was decided to raise a Troop in Plymouth to capitalise on the significant amount of ex-regular Commandos living in the area and the fact that 131's new sister-Squadron, 59 Independent Commando Squadron RE, was based within the town at Crownhill Fort. This sub-unit was to become the new 300 Troop, but whilst Grangemouth and Plymouth were both on the Squadron's order of battle, Plymouth temporarily used the old Support Troop number, 302. Recruiting at Plymouth was buoyant, and the then-PSI, SSgt Dave Quinn, was awarded the BEM for his efforts in helping to establish the new Troop. Finally, in 1983 at a ceremony in Grangemouth, the Scottish 300 Troop was re-roled as a Royal Marines Reserve Assault Engineer Troop, and Plymouth took on the 300 Troop title. 36 years of the Scottish sub-unit had seen it as consistently the best recruited and the best attending and, whilst all were happy to see the birth of a new Troop in the South West, the loss of those North of the Border, with their idiosyncrasies such as 'Para-Grog', was a keen blow.

The 1980s and 1990s saw 131 more and more closely involved with 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and with its regular sister-Squadron. Many members of the unit had been ex-regular Commandos, the majority of them with 59, but always with a smattering of former Royal Marines and Commando Gunners (from 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery), plus the odd Commando 'Loggie' or Craftsman, within its ranks. Arctic Warfare Training in Norway and amphibious training were added to the skills which had to be absorbed by the Commando Engineer volunteers of the Squadron, whilst parachute training, now taught at RAF Brize Norton, was still open to those suitably qualified. In the mid-nineties, diving was added to the Squadron's capabilities and LCpl Arnold from 131 became the first TA soldier to attend and pass the Army's basic diving course for many years in 1995.

21st Century: Front Line Operations

In January 2003 the Squadron was compulsorily mobilised and deployed in Iraq as part of Operation TELIC 1. Returning to the UK in May 2003, the Squadron was mobilised for a second time in Autumn 2006 for service in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. This deployment ended in Spring 2007. Smaller-scale deployments have seen sub-units and individuals deploy to Cyprus (UN) and the Balkans during the 1990s, to Afghanistan on Operation JACANA in 2002, to Iraq on Operation TELIC 4 in 2004/5, to Pakistan during earthquake-relief operations in 2005 and, once again to Helmand, in Autumn 2008.

ee also

*British Army
*Royal Engineers
*3 Commando Brigade

External links

* [http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_engineer.htm#cdo Royal Engineers Museum] - Military Engineering Histories (Commando)