1st Field Artillery Regiment (Belgium)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=1st Field Artillery Regiment
dates=February 21, 1836
country=flagicon|Belgium Belgium
branch=Land Component
type=Artillery
command_structure=7th Brigade
role=Field artillery
garrison=Bastogne
motto="Ubique primus"
equipment=Mortier 120 RT
equipment_label=Mortar
battles=Battle of Normandy
battles_label=Battles
commander1=Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Denis

The 1st Field Artillery Regiment ( _nl. 1ste Regiment Veldartillerie, _fr. 1 Régiment d'Artillerie de Campagne) is an artillery regiment in the Land Component of the Belgian Armed Forces. The regiment is the field artillery regiment of the 7th Brigade.

The unit is stationed in Bastogne and uses the Mortier 12O RT heavy mortar.

History

The 1st Field Artillery Regiment was established on 21 February 1836, when the Regiment of Artillery was split up into three new regiments. The regiment participated in both World Wars. During the Second World War, it remained active after the Eighteen Days' Campaign, the campaign of the Belgian army in May 1940 when Belgium was invaded by Germany. The First Belgian Battery, which was created in the United Kingdom in February 1941, participated as part of the Brigade "Piron" in the Battle of Normandy and in fights in Belgian and Dutch Limburg during the liberation of Western Europe. For this reason, the regiment's first battery, A Battery, is known as "Batterie Libération" (French for "Liberation Battery").

Alliances

*FRA - 1er Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine (1er RAMa)

External links

* [http://www.mil.be/armycomp/units/index.asp?LAN=fr&FILE=&ID=618&MENU=0&PAGE=1 Section of the website of the Belgian Ministry of Defence about the 1st Field Artillery Regiment] - Only available in French and Dutch