Portal:British Army

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The British Army

The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and was controlled by the War Office from London. As of 2006, the British Army includes roughly 107,730 active members and 38,460 Territorial Army members. The professional British Army has also been referred to as the Regular Army since the creation of the Territorial Army. The British Army is deployed in many of the world's war zones as part of a fighting force and in United Nations peacekeeping forces.

In contrast to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, the British Army does not include "Royal" in its title, because of its roots as a collection of disparate units, many of which do bear the "Royal" prefix, such as the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers.

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The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur), also called the Falklands Conflict/Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentinaand the United Kingdomover the disputed Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Falkland Islands consist of two large and many small islandsin the South Atlantic Oceaneast of Argentina; their name and sovereignty over themhave long been disputed.

The war was triggered by the occupation of South Georgia by Argentina on 19 March 1982 followed by the occupation of the Falklands, and ended when Argentina surrendered on 14 June 1982. War was not actually declared by either side. The initial invasion was considered by Argentina as the re-occupation of its own territory, and by Britain as an invasion of a British overseas territory, and the most recent invasion of British territory by a foreign power.

In the period leading up to the war, Argentina was in the midst of a devastating economic crisis and large-scale civil unrest against the military junta that had been governing the country since 1976. The Argentine military government, headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri, sought to maintain power by diverting public attention playing off long-standing feelings of the Argentines towards the islands, although they never thought that the United Kingdom would respond militarily. The ongoing tension between the two countries over the islands increased on 19 March when a group of hired Argentinian scrap metal merchants raised their flag at South Georgia, an act that would later be seen as the first offensive action in the war.

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Selected biography

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC (17 November 1887–24 March 1976), often referred to as "Monty", was a British Army officer. He successfully commanded Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in World War II, and troops under his command were largely responsible for the expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa. He was later a prominent commander in Italy and North-West Europe, where he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord until after the Battle of Normandy.

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WikiProjects

Military history WikiProject • British military history task force • United Kingdom WikiProject • History WikiProject • Biography WikiProject

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Selected unit

The Army Air Corpsis a component of the British Army. There are eight regiments of the AAC as well as five Independent Flights and two Independent Squadrons deployed in support of British Armyoperations across the world. They are located in Britain, Belize, Brunei, Canada, and Germany. The AAC provides the organic offensive air elements of 16th Air Assault Brigade.

The Army first took to the sky when the requirement for observation aircraft was realised during the First World War, with the creation of the Royal Flying Corps.
Between the wars, the Army used RAF co-operation squadrons, though a true army presence did not occur until WWII.
At the beginning of WWII, Royal Artillery officers, with the assistance of RAF technicians, flew Auster observation aircraft under RAF-owned Air Observation Post Squadrons. Twelve such squadrons were raised—three of which belonged to the RCAF—and each performed vital duties in a wide array of missions in many theatres.
In early WWII, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced the establishment of a new branch of army aviation, the Army Air Corps, formed in 1942. The corps initially comprised the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Parachute Battalions (subsequently the Parachute Regiment), and the Air Observation Post Squadrons. In 1944, the re-formed SAS Regiment was added to the Corps.

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Selected equipment

The L118 Light Gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer, originally produced for the British Army in the 1970s and widely exported since, including to the United States, where a modified version is known as the M119A1. The proper name for it is "Gun, 105mm, Field, L118" but it almost always just called "the Light Gun"... Light Gun first entered service with the British Army in 1975. The new weapon was heavier than its predecessor, but new, more capable helicopters such as the Puma and Westland Sea King, which could carry the new weapon, were also entering service at the same time. However, a new vehicle, the Land Rover 101 Forward Control (Land Rover, One Ton) was designed as the prime mover in the field for the Light Gun and the Rapier air-defence missile launcher. Since the end of the 1990s, the British Army has been using Pinzgauer ATVs as their gun tractors. In arctic service, and elsewhere, the gun is towed by the Hägglunds Bv 206 and is fitted with skis when over snow.

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Related portals

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Credit: David Illiff

Pikemen escorting John Stuttard, Lord Mayor of London during the 2006 Lord Mayor's Show. The Pikemen and Musketeers (formed 1925, given a Royal Warrant 1955) are made up of veteran members of the Active Unit they are the personal bodyguard of the Lord Mayor of London and form his Guard on ceremonial occasions.

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