Battle of the Great Plains

The battle of the Great Plains was fought in 203 BC in modern Tunisia between a Roman army commanded by Publius Cornelius Scipio, and allied Carthaginian and Numidian armies commanded by Hasdrubal Gisco and Syphax respectively. The battle was part of the Second Punic War and resulted in a heavy defeat for Carthage.

In the wake of its defeat in the First Punic War (264–241 BC) Carthage expanded its territory in south-east Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal). When the Second Punic War broke out in 218 BC a Roman army landed in north-east Iberia. After a disastrous Roman setback in 211 BC, Scipio took command in 210 BC and cleared the peninsula of Carthaginians in five years. He returned to Rome determined to carry the war to the Carthaginian homeland in North Africa. Appointed consul in 205 BC Scipio spent a year in Sicily training his army and preparing for the invasion. In 204 BC the Romans landed their army near the Carthaginian port of Utica and besieged it. The Carthaginians and their Numidian allies each set up their own camps about 11 kilometres (7 mi) from the Romans but close to each other. After several months of little activity Scipio launched a surprise night attack on both camps, overrunning them and setting fire to both. Carthaginian and Numidian casualties were heavy.

The Carthaginians reformed their army in an area known as the Great Plains, 120 kilometres (75 mi) from Utica. They were reinforced by 4,000 Iberian warriors to a total of about 30,000 men. Hearing of this, Scipio immediately marched most of his army to the scene. The size of his army is not known, but it was outnumbered by the Carthaginians. After several days of skirmishing, both armies committed to a pitched battle. Upon being charged by the Romans all of those Carthaginians who had been involved in the debacle at Utica turned and fled; morale had not recovered. Only the Iberians stood and fought. They were enveloped by the well-drilled Roman legions and wiped out.

Syphax and his Numidians were pursued, brought to battle at Cirta, and again defeated; Syphax was captured. The Roman ally Masinissa took over his kingdom. Scipio moved his main army to Tunis, within sight of the city of Carthage. Scipio and Carthage entered into peace negotiations, and Carthage recalled armies from Italy commanded by Hannibal and Mago Barca. The Roman Senate ratified a draft treaty, but because of mistrust and a surge in confidence when Hannibal arrived from Italy, Carthage repudiated it. The following year the Carthaginians raised another army, incorporating Hannibal and Mago's recalled veterans. This was also defeated by Scipio, at the battle of Zama. Carthage sued for peace and accepted a humiliating treaty, ending the war.

## Background

### First Punic War

The First Punic War was fought between the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC: Carthage and Rome. The war lasted for 23 years, from 264 to 241 BC, and was fought primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily, its surrounding waters and in North Africa. The Carthaginians were defeated and by the terms of the Treaty of Lutatius evacuated Sicily and paid Rome an indemnity of 3,200 silver talents over ten years. Four years later, Rome seized Sardinia and Corsica on a cynical pretence and imposed a further 1,200 talent indemnity, actions which fuelled Carthaginian resentment. The near-contemporary Greek historian Polybius considered this act of bad faith by the Romans to be the single greatest cause of war with Carthage breaking out again nineteen years later.

From 236 BC Carthage expanded its territory in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal). In 226 BC the Ebro Treaty with Rome established the Ebro River as the northern boundary of the Carthaginian sphere of influence. A little later Rome made a separate treaty of association with the city of Saguntum, well south of the Ebro. In 219 BC Hannibal, the de facto ruler of Carthaginian Iberia, led an army to Saguntum and besieged, captured and sacked it. In early 219 BC Rome declared war on Carthage, starting the Second Punic War.

### Second Punic War

In 218 BC Hannibal led a large Carthaginian army from Iberia through Gaul, over the Alps and invaded mainland Italy. During the next three years Hannibal inflicted heavy defeats on the Romans at the battles of the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae. At the last of these alone, at least 67,500 Romans were killed or captured. The historian Toni Ñaco del Hoyo describes these as "great military calamities", Brian Carey writes that they brought Rome to the brink of collapse. Hannibal's army campaigned in Italy for a further 14 years before the survivors withdrew.

There was also extensive fighting in Iberia, Sicily, Sardinia and North Africa. In 211 BC the Romans suffered a severe reverse at the battle of the Upper Baetis and were penned back by the Carthaginians to the north-east corner of Iberia. In 210 BC Roman reinforcements stabilised the situation; later that year Publius Cornelius Scipio arrived with further Roman reinforcements to take command in Iberia. In a carefully planned assault in 209 BC he captured the centre of Carthaginian power in Iberia, New Carthage. During the following four years Scipio repeatedly defeated the Carthaginians and drove them out of Iberia in 205 BC.

### Opposing forces

#### Roman

Most male Roman citizens were liable for military service and would serve as infantry, a better-off minority providing a cavalry component. Traditionally, when at war the Romans would raise two legions, each of 4,200 infantry – this could be increased to 5,000 in some circumstances, or, rarely, even more. – and 300 cavalry. Approximately 1,200 of the infantry – poorer or younger men unable to afford the armour and equipment of a standard legionary – served as javelin-armed skirmishers known as velites; they each carried several javelins, which would be thrown from a distance, a short sword and a 90-centimetre (3 ft) shield. The balance were equipped as heavy infantry, with body armour, a large shield and short thrusting swords. They were divided into three ranks, of which the front rank, known as hastati, also carried two javelins; the second and third ranks, known as principes and triari respectively, had a thrusting spear instead. Both legionary sub-units and individual legionaries fought in relatively open order.

It was the long-standing Roman procedure to elect two men each year as senior magistrates, known as consuls, who in time of war would each lead an army. An army was usually formed by combining a Roman legion with a similarly sized and equipped legion provided by their Latin allies; allied legions usually had a larger attached complement of cavalry than Roman ones. By this stage of the war, Roman armies were generally larger, typically consisting of four legions, two Roman and two provided by its allies, for a total of approximately 20,000 men. The Roman army which invaded Africa consisted of four legions, each of the Roman pair reinforced to an unprecedented 6,200 infantry and with a more usual 300 cavalry each. Modern historians estimate the army to have totalled 25,000–30,000 men, including perhaps 2,500 cavalry.

#### Carthaginian

Carthaginian citizens only served in their army if there was a direct threat to the city of Carthage. When they did they fought as well-armoured heavy infantry armed with long thrusting spears, although they were notoriously ill-trained and ill-disciplined. In most circumstances Carthage recruited foreigners to make up its army. Many were from North Africa and these were frequently referred to as "Libyans". The region provided several types of fighters, including: close order infantry equipped with large shields, helmets, short swords and long thrusting spears; javelin-armed light infantry skirmishers; close order shock cavalry (also known as "heavy cavalry") carrying spears; and light cavalry skirmishers who threw javelins from a distance and avoided close combat. (The latter were usually Numidians.) The close order African infantry and the citizen-militia both fought in a tightly packed formation known as a phalanx. On occasion some of the infantry would wear captured Roman armour. As well both Iberia and Gaul provided experienced but unarmoured infantry who would charge ferociously, but had a reputation for breaking off if a combat was protracted. Slingers were frequently recruited from the Balearic Islands.

#### Battles

Pitched battles were usually preceded by the two armies camping 2–12 kilometres (1–7 mi) apart for days or weeks; sometimes forming up in battle order each day. If either commander felt at a disadvantage, they might march off without engaging. In such circumstances it was difficult to force a battle if either of the commanders was unwilling to fight. Forming up in battle order was a complicated and premeditated affair, which took several hours. Infantry were usually positioned in the centre of the battle line, with light infantry skirmishers to their front and cavalry on each flank.

## Prelude

In 206 BC Scipio left Iberia and returned to Italy. He was denied the triumph he would normally have expected on the grounds that he had not occupied any of the magistracies of the cursus honorum, the sequential mixture of military and political administrative positions held by aspiring Roman politicians. Aged 31 he was elected to the senior position of consul in early 205 BC, despite not meeting the minimum age for the position of 42. Scipio was already anticipating an invasion of North Africa and while still in Spain had been negotiating with the Numidian leaders Masinissa and Syphax. He failed to win over the latter, but made an ally of the former.

Opinion was divided in Roman political circles as to whether an invasion of North Africa was excessively risky. Hannibal was still on Italian soil; there was the possibility of further Carthaginian invasions, shortly to be realised when Mago Barca landed in Liguria; the practical difficulties of an amphibious invasion and its logistical follow up were considerable; and when the Romans had invaded North Africa in 256 BC during the First Punic War they had been driven out with heavy losses, which had re-energised the Carthaginians. Eventually a compromise was agreed: Scipio was given Sicily as his consular province, which was the best location for the Romans to launch an invasion of the Carthaginian homeland from and then logistically support it, and permission to cross to Africa on his own judgement. But Roman commitment was less than wholehearted: Scipio was not allowed to conscript troops for his consular army, as was usual, but could only call for volunteers.

In 216 BC the survivors of the Roman defeat at Cannae had been formed into two legions and sent to Sicily. They still formed the main part of the garrison of Sicily and Scipio used the many men who volunteered to increase the strength of each of these to an unprecedented 6,500. The total number of men available to Scipio and how many of them travelled to Africa is unclear; the Roman historian Livy, writing 200 years later, gives totals for the invasion force of either 12,200, 17,600 or 35,000. Modern historians estimate a combat strength of 25,000–30,000, of whom more than 90 per cent were infantry. With up to half of the complement of his legions being fresh volunteers, and with no fighting having taken place on Sicily for the past five years, Scipio instigated a rigorous training regime. This extended from drill by individual centuries – the basic Roman army manoeuvre unit of 80 men – to exercises by the full army. This lasted for approximately a year. At the same time Scipio assembled a vast quantity of food and materiel, merchant ships to transport it and his troops, and warships to escort the transports.

Also during 205 BC 30 Roman ships under Scipio's second-in-command, the legate Gaius Laelius, raided North Africa around Hippo Regius, gathering large quantities of loot and many captives. The Carthaginians initially believed this was the anticipated invasion by Scipio and his full invasion force; they hastily strengthened fortifications and raised troops – including some units made up of Carthaginian citizens. Reinforcements were sent to Mago in an attempt to distract the Romans in Italy. Meanwhile a succession war had broken out in Numidia between the Roman-supporting Masinissa and the Carthaginian-inclined Syphax. Laelius re-established contact with Masinissa during his raid. Masinissa expressed dismay regarding how long it was taking the Romans to complete their preparations and land in Africa.

## Invasion

In 204 BC, probably in June or July, the Roman army left Sicily in 400 transport ships, escorted by 40 galleys. Three days later they disembarked at Cape Farina 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the large Carthaginian port of Utica. The locals fled and Carthage's immediate response, a scouting party of 500 cavalry, was defeated with the loss of its commander and the general in overall charge of responding to the invasion. The area was pillaged and 8,000 captives were sent back to Sicily as slaves or hostages. Masinissa joined the Romans with either 200 or 2,000 men, the sources differ. A large fortified camp was established on a rocky peninsula near Ghar el-Melh which was known as Castra Cornelia. Masinissa had been recently defeated by his Numidian rival Syphax, wounded and had his army scattered. Syphax had been persuaded to take firm action in support of Carthage by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal Gisco and by his assertive new wife: Hasdrubal's daughter Sophonisba.

Carthage sent a larger party to probe the Roman position, about 4,000 soldiers under a general called Hanno. His command of mixed Numidians and Carthaginian citizens based itself at Salaeca, 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the Romans, and did little scouting. Following a stratagem agreed with Scipio, Masinissa's cavalry raided Hanno's force who chased them off and then pursued them into a Roman ambush. Hanno died in a sharp conflict during which 1,000 of his men were killed or taken prisoner. The survivors were in turn pursued for 50 kilometres (30 mi), only 1,000 escaped. The Romans pillaged an ever-wider area, sending their loot and prisoners to Sicily in the ships bringing their supplies.

Wanting a more permanent base and a port more resilient to the bad weather to be expected when winter came, Scipio besieged Utica. Despite the Romans being well supplied with siege engines the siege dragged on and a Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal set up a fortified camp 11 kilometres (7 mi) from the Romans with a reported 33,000 men. Syphax joined him, establishing his own camp 3 kilometres (2 mi) away from Hasdrubal's with a reported 60,000 troops. The size of both of these armies as reported by ancient historians has been questioned by their modern counterparts as being infeasibly large. Nevertheless, it is accepted that the Romans were considerably outnumbered, in particular in terms of cavalry. The modern historian Dexter Hoyos suggests a combined Numidian and Carthaginian total of 47,500 men. The Romans pulled back from Utica to Castra Cornelia, where they were themselves now blockaded on the landward side. Being outnumbered, Scipio was reluctant to commit his army to a pitched battle. Hasdrubal in turn was aware that two years earlier an army led by him in Iberia had been heavily defeated by a much smaller Roman army commanded by Scipio at the battle of Ilipa and so was himself reluctant to commit to a battle. He knew that more troops were being recruited in Iberia and was happy to pause hostilities until they joined his army.

Scipio sent emissaries to Syphax to attempt to persuade him to defect. Syphax in turn offered to broker peace terms. A series of exchanges of negotiating parties followed, the sessions lasting several days. With his delegations Scipio sent junior officers disguised as slaves to report back on the layout and construction of the Numidian camp, as well as the size and composition of the Numidian army and the most frequented routes in and out of the camp. The Carthaginian camp was solidly constructed, with earthen ramparts and timber-built barracks, but the Numidian one less so, with no clearly defined perimeter and the accommodation for the soldiers being largely constructed of reeds and roofed with thatch.

### Battle of Utica

As the weather improved Scipio made conspicuous preparations to assault Utica. Instead, he marched his army out late one evening and divided it in two. One part launched a night attack on the Numidian camp, setting fire to their reed barracks. In the ensuing panic and confusion the Numidians were dispersed with heavy casualties. Not realising what was happening, many Carthaginians set off in the dark to help extinguish what they assumed was an accidental blaze in their allies' camp. Scipio attacked them with the remaining Romans, stormed their camp and set fire to many of the Carthaginians' wooden huts. Again the Romans inflicted heavy casualties in the dark.

Hasdrubal fled 40 kilometres (25 mi) to Carthage with 2,500 survivors, pursued by Scipio. Syphax escaped with a few cavalry and regrouped 11 kilometres (7 mi) away. With no Carthaginian field army to threaten them, the Romans pressed their siege of Utica and pillaged an extensive area of North Africa with strong and far-ranging raids. As well as gold and slaves the Romans accumulated large amounts of foodstuffs. This was added to the extensive stocks already built up by shipping grain from Sicily.

## Battle

When word of the defeat reached Carthage there was panic, and some senators wanted to renew the peace negotiations. The Carthaginian Senate also heard demands for Hannibal's army to be recalled. A decision was reached to fight on with locally available resources. A force of 4,000 Iberian warriors finally arrived in Carthage, although their strength was exaggerated to 10,000 to maintain morale. Hasdrubal raised further local troops with whom to reinforce the survivors of Utica. Syphax remained loyal and joined Hasdrubal with what was left of his army. The combined force is estimated at 30,000 and they established a strong camp on a flat plain of the Bagradas River known as the Great Plains. This was near modern Souk el Kremis and about 120 kilometres (75 mi) from Utica. Hasdrubal assembled this substantial force within 30–50 days of the defeat at Utica.

When he heard that the Carthaginians were reassembling their army, Scipio left a force to continue the siege of Utica and led the rest on a rapid march to the Great Plains. His army did not take a baggage train, which suggests that Scipio was intent on bringing the Carthaginians to battle as soon as possible. It is not known how large this army was, but it was smaller than the Carthaginian; the modern historian Brian Carey suggests that it was about 20,000 strong. The Romans established a fortified camp approximately 6 kilometres (4 mi) from that of the Carthaginians. For three days there were skirmishes between the lighter troops of both sides, but their main forces stayed in camp. On the fourth day, nine days after Scipio had left Utica, both commanders formed up their full armies and they advanced towards each other.

Both armies deployed in the usual formation. Hasdrubal placed his newly arrived Iberian infantry in the centre of his line, with the Carthaginian infantry who had survived the battle at Utica on their right, and to their right his Carthaginian cavalry. To the left of the Iberians were Syphax's Numidian infantry and to their left Numidian cavalry. The two Roman legions took position in the centre of their line, deployed in their customary three lines. An allied legion deployed in similar fashion on each side of the Romans. On the Roman right flank were the cavalry attached to the four legions with Laelius in command; the Numidian cavalry under Masinissa were on the left flank.

The two armies approached each other and the battle opened when the cavalry on each flank charged. Then either both units of Carthaginian cavalry broke on contact and were routed, or possibly turned and fled without attempting to counter-charge their attackers. The two legions of Latin allies charged the opponents facing them and again the Carthaginian and Numidian infantry put up little or no resistance before turning and fleeing. It is possible that these troops started to flee as soon as their flanking cavalry did, well before the Latin allies contacted them. Many of the men of these units had been involved in the recent debacle of the burning camps at Utica and the memory of having been beaten by the same Roman army reduced their morale to the point that they had no stomach for the fight. The Roman cavalry and the two Latin legions pursued their opponents off the battlefield.

The Iberians however charged home against the hastati in the front rank of the two Roman legions and fought fiercely. Once he saw that his hastati were holding their own Scipio did not follow normal practice, which would have been to feed in men from the second rank of principes to replace casualties and relieve tired fighters. Instead he had the principes and triari of each legion form a column, march parallel to the line of battle and then round to attack the Iberians in the flank and rear. Thus enveloped, the Iberians fought to the death and were wiped out. A large proportion of the rest of the Carthaginian army succeeded in escaping. Most of these deserted rather than rallying to either Hasdrubal or Syphax.

The historian Nigel Bagnall considers it a "foolish decision" by Hasdrubal to fight a battle with an army consisting entirely of men who were either demoralised or new recruits and whose state of training was "deplorably low". He describes the Roman army as "battle-hardened" and as having high morale. He suggests that Scipio's rapid march from Utica forced the Carthaginians into a battle before they were ready.

## Aftermath

Hasdrubal fled to Carthage, where he was demoted and exiled. Syphax and his Numidians were pursued, brought to battle outside his capital, Cirta, and again defeated, Syphax being captured. Cirta surrendered to Masinissa, who took over Syphax's kingdom. Scipio moved his main army to Tunis, within sight of the city of Carthage. Scipio and Carthage entered into peace negotiations, while Carthage recalled both Hannibal and Mago from Italy. The Roman Senate ratified a draft treaty, but because of mistrust and a surge in confidence when Hannibal arrived from Italy, Carthage repudiated it.

Hannibal was placed in command of another army, formed of his and Mago's veterans from Italy and newly raised troops from Africa, with 80 war elephants but few cavalry. The decisive battle of Zama followed in October 202 BC. After a prolonged fight the Carthaginian army collapsed; Hannibal was one of the few to escape the field.

The peace treaty the Romans subsequently imposed on the Carthaginians stripped them of all their overseas territories and some of their African ones. An indemnity of 10,000 silver talents was to be paid over 50 years. Hostages were taken. Carthage was forbidden to possess war elephants and its fleet was restricted to 10 warships. It was prohibited from waging war outside Africa, and in Africa only with Rome's express permission. Many senior Carthaginians wanted to reject it, but Hannibal spoke strongly in its favour and it was accepted in spring 201 BC. Henceforth it was clear Carthage was politically subordinate to Rome. Scipio was awarded a triumph and received the agnomen "Africanus".

## Notes, citations and sources

203 BC battle in the Second Punic War


Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in 1795, although a break in the lineage means that its formation is dated to the Marshfield and Dodington Troop raised in 1830. Six further troops – officered by nobility and gentry, and recruited largely from among landholders and tenant farmers – were subsequently raised in Gloucestershire, and in 1834 they came together to form the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1847, the regiment adopted a hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. Originally intended to counter insurrection and a French invasion that never materialised, the yeomanry's first deployments were ceremonial and as mounted police during times of civil unrest. Three Gloucestershire troops were deployed to Bristol on two separate occasions in the 1830s in support of the civil authorities.

From the mid-19th century, the yeomanry's policing role diminished with the establishment of a civilian police force, and renewed fears of invasion turned its focus to national defence. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars' first battle honour was won in South Africa during the Second Boer War, when a contingent of Gloucestershire yeomanry served as mounted infantry in the Imperial Yeomanry. Before the First World War, all volunteer forces, including the yeomanry, were brought into the Territorial Force. On the outbreak of the war the regiment raised a second-line unit, which remained in the UK and became a cyclist unit in 1916, and a third-line unit, which served as a reserve. The first-line unit saw action as infantry at Gallipoli and as cavalry in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign; in the latter it fought both mounted and dismounted from the Suez Canal to Aleppo in modern-day Syria. Following the war, the regiment was downsized and converted to the 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company.

When the United Kingdom began mobilising again in the late 1930s, the company converted to an armoured regiment and was restored to its former name. On the outbreak of the Second World War, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars once again raised second- and third-line units. The first-line regiment remained in the UK as a training unit, seeing service overseas only after the war as part of the army of occupation in Austria, and the third-line regiment was actually a troop-sized unit acting mainly as a deception designed to disguise British armour strength and disposition. The 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fought in North Africa, initially attached to the 7th Armoured Division (the Desert Rats). The regiment suffered heavy losses during Operation Crusader and the subsequent Battle of Gazala, twice being taken out of the line for refit, and was variously equipped with Crusader, M3 Stuart and M3 Grant tanks. When it lost two commanders killed in action in quick succession, the regiment's individual squadrons were used to reinforce other units, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was disbanded in 1943. Reduced back to a single regiment after the war, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was equipped with armoured cars and given a reconnaissance role. Repeated reorganisation of the Territorial Army in the 1960s reduced the regiment to a squadron assigned to an infantry role. In the 1990s, the squadron returned to an armour role in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, tasked with training replacement crews for the regular army's Challenger 2 tanks.

## Origins

In 1794, fearing insurrection and faced with the threat of invasion during the French Revolutionary Wars, British Prime Minister William Pitt made the first ever recorded mention of yeoman cavalry when he called for an augmentation of the cavalry for internal defence. The government subsequently proposed a plan to all Lord-Lieutenants – the monarch's personal representative in each county – to increase the forces at the nation's disposal. This included the raising of volunteer troops of cavalry consisting of gentlemen and yeomanry. Each troop comprised 50 to 80 men, commanded by the person raising it. Commanders received a temporary rank ranging from Captain to Colonel, depending on the number of troops raised. Officers were generally appointed from among the nobility and gentry, and troops were largely recruited from landholders and tenant farmers. Members provided their own horses and were not paid except when called out. Uniforms were provided by the commanders, and weapons by the government. The yeomanry could only be called out by the Lord-Lieutenant or royal warrant to suppress civil unrest in home or neighbouring counties, or by royal warrant in the event of foreign invasion. The individual troops of the Corps of Gentlemen and Yeomanry, as the force was first called, were initially independent, and only later would they combine to form regiments. Each troop was required to conduct exercises, or 'permanent duty', initially for twelve days each year, reduced to six in 1816.

The first yeomanry troop raised in Gloucestershire was the 60-strong First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentlemen and Yeomanry, formed in 1795 by Powell Snell, a gentleman of means and good position. In total, eight troops had been raised by 1798. Following the 1802 Peace of Amiens, all except the Cheltenham Troop were disbanded, but the following year Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom prompted the re-establishment of several old troops and the formation of new troops; by the end of 1803 there were thirteen troops in Gloucestershire, and in 1813 the county's yeomanry had a strength of 582 men. As well as permanent duty, the yeomanry assembled as required for ceremonial and peace-keeping purposes; the Gloucester Troop provided an escort during the visit of the Prince of Wales to the city in 1807, and in 1810 it was called out to an affray between Irish militia and citizens in a local pub. A general reduction in volunteer forces followed the defeat of Napoleon, and by 1815 all yeomanry troops in Gloucestershire except one were disbanded. Only the Gloucester Troop was retained, as a mounted police force, until it too was disbanded in 1827.

## Formation and early history

New troops of yeomanry were raised in the 1830s in response to the Swing Riots. The first such troop established in Gloucestershire was the Marshfield and Dodington Troop, raised in 1830 by William Codrington, from which the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars dated its formation. The troop comprised three officers, a quartermaster, four non-commissioned officers, a trumpeter and fifty troopers, and was recruited from the tenants of Codrington's estate and those of his neighbours, including that of the Duke of Beaufort. In 1831, six more troops were raised by members of the Gloucestershire gentry in Fairford and Cirencester, Stroudwater, Tetbury, Gloucester, Winterbourne and Stapleton, and Alveston. That same year, the Dodington and Tetbury Troops were sent to Bristol in response to civil unrest following the defeat of the Second Reform Bill in the House of Lords.

In 1834, all of the Gloucestershire yeomanry captains met in the hamlet of Petty France in south Gloucestershire and agreed to combine their troops into a single regiment, to be named the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. Its first commanding officer was the Marquis of Worcester, who became the 7th Duke of Beaufort in 1835, thus beginning the regiment's long association with the Beaufort family. The new regiment was ranked 24th in the yeomanry order of precedence and comprised seven troops with a total strength of 26 officers and 382 other ranks. Adopting the uniform of light dragoons, each man was armed with sword and pistol, and twelve skirmishers in each troop were armed with muzzle-loading carbines. The regiment's first deployment came in 1838, when the Dodington and Winterbourne Troops helped police a Chartist rally in Bristol. The 'Royal' prefix was granted in 1841, and in 1847 the regiment adopted a blue hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The authority of the Duke of Beaufort is evident in his order, in 1846, that all members should grow moustaches "in the form of a carving knife", an instruction that was derided in the pages of Punch magazine at the time, and his insistence the next year that the regiment wear the second jacket over the back, Hungarian style, instead of the usual English-style over the shoulder.

The influence of the social order on the composition of the regiment at this time can be observed from an incident in 1847. It involved a disagreement between Lord FitzHardinge, Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, and his brother, Grantley Berkeley, a member of parliament and captain of the Berkeley Troop, which had joined the regiment in 1840. In pursuing his grievance against his brother, FitzHardinge pressured his tenants into resigning from the troop and threatened some with the loss of their farms if they did not. Further insight into the regiment's strong ties to the farming community can be found in the records of the annual exercises. In 1865, the permanent duty was deferred until the autumn due to an early harvest, and participation in a major 14-day exercise in 1871 was cancelled due to a late harvest. Attendance at the annual assemblies dropped below 300 men in the late 1870s and early 1880s, compared to 445 in 1875, due to a succession of bad harvests. In 1890, the regiment boasted four Masters of Hounds and a large number of fox hunters in its membership, both officers and other ranks, and that year it adopted an old hunting song, D'ye ken John Peel, as its regimental march.

The establishment of a civilian police force and renewed fears of invasion in the mid-19th century turned the yeomanry's focus to national defence. In 1871, Westley Richards breech-loading carbines replaced the muzzle-loading carbines and were issued to all troopers rather than just the skirmishers, and three years later responsibility for the yeomanry was transferred from the Lord-Lieutenants to district military commanders of the War Office. In 1867, the regiment's annual inspection had involved drill, but from 1875 the regiment was practising outpost duties, reconnaissance, and rear-guard exercises in the local hills. As the years passed, old troops were disbanded, renamed or amalgamated and new troops raised, and in 1893 the troops then existing were formally organised by order of the army into squadrons:

- A Squadron – Gloucester and Berkeley Troops
- B Squadron – Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Troops
- C Squadron – Monmouth and Chepstow Troops
- D Squadron – Badminton and Dodington Troops

The order also allocated the yeomanry regiments to brigades and required them to train at brigade level every three years. Accordingly, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars joined the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry in the 3rd Yeomanry Brigade, and the two regiments conducted their first joint permanent duty in 1895.

In 1899, the British government created the Imperial Yeomanry to reinforce the regular army during the Second Boer War, and the existing Yeomanry Cavalry regiments were asked to provide volunteers. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars contributed a contingent of 125 men, around half of whom were existing members, the remainder being recruited into the regiment when they enlisted for service in South Africa. They were folded into the Imperial Yeomanry as 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, which arrived in South Africa in 1900 and saw its first action on 5 May at Thaba 'Nchu. It served for 18 months, as mounted rifles rather than cavalry, and came under fire 65 times, though more men were lost to sickness than enemy action. On their return to the UK in July 1901, the men of the 1st Battalion were absorbed back into their parent regiments, and the veterans of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars endowed the regiment with its first battle honour, "South Africa 1900–01".

In April 1901, the domestic Yeomanry Cavalry was renamed to the Imperial Yeomanry. The reorganisation set an established regimental strength of 593 (later reduced to 476) all ranks – organised as before into four squadrons, but with the addition of a machine-gun section – replaced carbines and swords with Lee–Enfield rifles and bayonets, and introduced a standard khaki uniform. The Imperial Yeomanry's mounted rifles role in South Africa and the reorganisation, along with the new uniforms and equipment, led to fears that the yeomanry was being relegated from cavalry to infantry. The regiment petitioned the King for permission to retain the sword on parade, and by 1913 the weapon had been re-introduced in place of the bayonet for general use. The Imperial Yeomanry as an organisation lasted only until 1908, when the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 came into effect and brought all volunteer forces, including the yeomanry, together into the Territorial Force. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars conducted its first annual training under the new scheme between 19 May and 2 June 1909, when the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade, of which the regiment was now part, assembled with the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade for exercises on Salisbury Plain.

## First World War

Following the outbreak of the First World War, the regiment mobilised on 4 August 1914 and joined the rest of the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade at Warwick eight days later. By the end of the month, the brigade had assembled on the Berkshire Downs with the rest of the 2nd Mounted Division, which was subsequently stationed on home defence duties on the east coast of England. As a territorial regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was not obliged to serve overseas but could volunteer to do so, and when it did, a second-line regiment was formed in September 1914 to take its place on home defence duties. A third regiment was raised in 1915 as a reserve and to provide replacements for the first two. The regiments were numbered the 1/1st, 2/1st and 3/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars.

The second-line regiment spent most of the war stationed at various locations in England, initially as part of the 2/1st South Midland Mounted Brigade (subsequently renamed the 10th Mounted Brigade) in the 2/2nd Mounted Division (subsequently renamed the 3rd Mounted Division). In July 1916, the regiment swapped horses for bicycles and joined the 8th Cyclist Brigade in the 2nd Cyclist Division. In November, the regiment was merged with the 2/1st Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars to form the 12th (Gloucestershire and Worcestershire) Yeomanry Cyclist Regiment in the 4th Cyclist Brigade, but resumed its original identity as the 2/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars in March 1917. Around April 1918, the regiment moved to Ireland and was stationed at Dublin, where it remained, still in the 4th Cyclist Brigade, until the end of the war. The third-line regiment became part of the Cavalry Reserve at Tidworth, initially affiliated to the 4th Reserve Cavalry Regiment and subsequently to the 5th Reserve Cavalry Regiment.

### Gallipoli

In April 1915, the 2nd Mounted Division sailed to Egypt, and the 1/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, less C Squadron, disembarked at Alexandria on 24 April. On 14 August, the regiment embarked without its horses for Gallipoli and arrived at Suvla Bay three days later. It fought as infantry at Chocolate Hill on 21 August, supporting the attack of the 29th Division in the Battle of Scimitar Hill, during which the regiment suffered 61 casualties. It remained in the area until the end of October, serving periods of duty in reserve and in the support and front-line trenches. During this time it continued to lose men to sickness and enemy shelling, and of the original contingent of 361 all ranks that had landed over two months previously, only some 100 men were still fit for duty when the regiment departed Gallipoli on 31 October.

### Egypt

After a short spell on Lemnos, the regiment arrived back in Egypt in November 1915. It returned to the cavalry role and was brought back up to strength, numbering 370 all ranks in January 1916. The same month, the 2nd Mounted Division was disbanded, and the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade – renamed the 5th Mounted Brigade in April – became corps troops for the XV Corps, stationed in the Suez Canal area. In late March, the regiment was patrolling the Sinai, and at the end of the month it assembled at Romani (modern day Rommana), some 21 miles (34 km) east of the canal.

Early on 23 April, A Squadron was stationed at Qatia (or Katia), some 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Romani. At 09:15 it came under attack by a Turkish force of between 1,000 and 1,500 infantry, supported by cavalry and a battery of mountain guns, which had already overwhelmed two squadrons of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars and a party of Royal Engineers further east at Oghratina. The squadron was reinforced by a squadron of Worcesters, and the regiment's own B and D Squadrons moved out of Romani in support. The defenders at Qatia held out until mid-afternoon before being overwhelmed, and B and D Squadrons, which had been heavily engaged in the attempt to reach Qatia, retired back to Romani. The Battle of Katia cost the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 98 casualties, most of them being taken prisoner, and only nine men of A Squadron evaded death or captivity. The squadron was criticised for advancing too far, and an Australian soldier who visited Qatia labelled the yeomen "country bumpkins led by privileged toffs". When Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode unveiled the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars war memorial in 1922, he countered the "very wrong criticism", saying that "there was nothing to be ashamed of, but everything to make them proud of their regiment".

While A Squadron was being rebuilt, B and D Squadrons joined a squadron from the Worcestershire Hussars to form a composite regiment within the 5th Mounted Brigade. On 4 August, D Squadron, detached to the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division, played a conspicuous role in the Battle of Romani when it plugged and held for three hours a dangerous gap on the initiative of its commander, Major Charles Turner, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). The squadron rejoined the composite regiment after the 5th Mounted Brigade arrived in support, and when the Anzac and British mounted brigades counter-attacked in the afternoon, the regiment took a ridge at the gallop and subsequently captured 500 prisoners, a battery of four guns and two machine guns. For the rest of the battle, the 5th Mounted Brigade came under command of the ANZAC Mounted Division and took part in the capture of Qatia and the pursuit of the enemy to Bir el Abd. British Empire forces continued to advance across the Sinai, and the regiment was next in action on 9 January 1917, in the Battle of Rafa, during which it fought dismounted, suffering 46 casualties.

### Palestine

Following the Battle of Rafa, the 5th Mounted Brigade transferred from corps troops to the Imperial Mounted Division (renamed in June to the Australian Mounted Division) in the Desert Column (reorganised in August as the Desert Mounted Corps). On 26 March, the mounted divisions, less the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, invested Gaza from the east and north in the First Battle of Gaza. The regiment, attached to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, was deployed along the coast, covering the division's left flank as it attacked Gaza from the south. The attempt to capture Gaza suffered from delays caused by fog, and the attack was called off in the late afternoon. The Second Battle of Gaza in April, during which the regiment fought with the rest of the cavalry as mounted infantry on the right flank of the main infantry attack, fared no better, and the opposing sides settled into a period of inaction.

In June, General Edmund Allenby was appointed commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and at the end of October he resumed the British Empire offensive in southern Palestine. The regiment was in corps reserve during the Battle of Beersheba, but saw action on 4 November in the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, during which it suffered 14 casualties. The regiment supported, but did not participate in, the Charge at Huj, and fought a defensive action on 12 November, immediately before the Battle of Mughar Ridge, when a Turkish counter-attack pushed the 5th Mounted Brigade back from Balin at a cost to the regiment of 21 casualties. In the early hours of 1 December, the regiment helped defeat a Turkish counter-attack against the high ground north and north-east of Jaffa, and for the rest of the month it was employed in guard duties, reconnaissance, fortification works and as divisional reserve.

The regiment remained in reserve while Allenby secured his right flank with the occupation of the Jordan valley in early 1918, and when not on duty the men entertained themselves with fox hunts, a steeplechase, and periods of leave in Jaffa and Jerusalem. At the end of April, the regiment travelled a biblical route through Jerusalem, Calvary, the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Jericho, Mount Nebo, the alleged site of the inn of the Good Samaritan and across the Jordan valley. It fought dismounted in the Second Action of Es Salt at the beginning of May, and when that operation ended in defeat, it retired with the British Empire forces back into the valley. The regiment remained until August in the "valley of death", where temperatures peaked above 54 °C (129 °F) and malaria was a constant problem, with only brief periods of relief. It suffered more from sickness in the inhospitable environment than from enemy action; in May alone the regiment suffered 16 casualties in battle, while 116 men were hospitalised due to illness.

In August, the 5th Mounted Brigade became the 13th Cavalry Brigade and was transferred to the 5th Cavalry Division, which moved to the coastal sector in preparation for the next phase of the offensive. On 19 September, the division led the exploitation of a breach made in the enemy lines by the infantry in the Battle of Sharon, and after an advance of over 50 miles (80 km) the regiment, acting in the traditional cavalry role, entered Nazareth with swords drawn early the next day. Although it was ordered to withdraw later that morning, it returned and completed the capture of the town on 21 September. By the end of September the regiment had reached Damascus, and on 27 October, shortly before the Armistice of Mudros ended hostilities, it entered Aleppo. During the march, the regiment recovered the sword of Captain Lloyd-Baker, commander of A Squadron, over two years after it was taken by the Turks following his death at Qatia, and on 21 November the regiment entertained nine of its own recently released prisoners of war who had been captured at Qatia.

## Between the wars

The regiment remained in Palestine immediately after the war and was demobilised in stages. The first party returned to the UK in January 1919, only two squadrons remained by March, and those not yet eligible for demobilisation were transferred to the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in June. The remaining cadre of 28 men began their journey home at the end of June and arrived in Gloucester on 15 August. The names of the 28 officers and 200 other ranks of the regiment killed in the war are recorded on the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars war memorial, unveiled on 29 April 1922 in the grounds of Gloucester Cathedral.

The Territorial Force was reconstituted in 1920 and renamed the Territorial Army (TA) shortly afterwards, and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars began to recruit new members. On 21 October, its strength was 10 officers and 37 other ranks, rising to 16 officers and 208 other ranks by August 1921. The same year, the War Office ruled that only the fourteen most senior yeomanry regiments would be retained as cavalry, and offered the remainder the choice of converting to units of the Royal Field Artillery or reducing in size and converting to armoured car companies. On 25 November, the regiment chose the latter to become the 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company (TA) in the Royal Tank Corps (renamed in 1939 to the Royal Tank Regiment). The company comprised a headquarters (HQ) and four sections, each section equipped with four Peerless armoured cars, replaced in 1928–1929 by Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars.

As war loomed again in Europe, the UK expanded its armed forces. The 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company was converted to a full armoured regiment and, on 30 April 1939, regained its original title as the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The TA was doubled in size, with each regiment creating a duplicate, and in the summer of 1939 the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was recruiting in Gloucester, Cirencester and Bristol, while the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was recruiting in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and Tetbury. Attendance at the annual camp in July 1939 was about 1,000 yeomen, compared to some 300 the previous year.

## Second World War

On the outbreak of Second World War, the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was equipped with Vickers Mk. IV and Mk. VI light tanks and initially served in home defence as part of the 20th Light Armoured Brigade. It was later re-equipped with Valentine tanks and earmarked for service in North Africa as part of the 6th Armoured Division, but a last minute change resulted in the unit remaining in the UK as a training regiment which, by the war's end, had trained over 5,000 officers and men. As the war was nearing its conclusion the regiment was equipped with Churchill tanks and prepared for service in the Far East, but following VJ Day it was re-equipped with Sherman tanks and Greyhound armoured cars and sent instead to Austria as part of the army of occupation in December 1945. The 3rd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was actually a troop of one officer and 30 men. It served variously as a training regiment, trials unit and decoy, constructing dummy tanks to deceive the enemy about the disposition and strength of British armour.

After completing its training in the UK, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars deployed to Egypt in October 1941. By the middle of November it had assembled 76 miles (122 km) south-west of Mersa Matruh, close to the Libyan border, as part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade attached to the 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats. At this stage the regiment comprised 43 officers and 585 other ranks organised into three tank squadrons – F, G and H – with a regimental HQ and a rear echelon component responsible for supply. It was equipped with 52 Crusader tanks, 10 scout vehicles and 112 wheeled vehicles.

### Operation Crusader

In Operation Crusader, the 7th Armoured Division was tasked with locating and destroying the Axis armour, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was the lead element of the 22nd Armoured Brigade's advance. On 19 November, the brigade encountered the Italian Ariete Division, and in the ensuing action at Bir el Gubi it lost 40 tanks. Of the brigade's three regiments, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fared the worst. The regiment overran some Italian anti-tank positions, but without infantry support it could not take their surrender. The Italians subsequently returned to their guns and caught the regiment's tanks in a crossfire. The Crusader's armour could be defeated at ranges of 1,500 yards (1,400 m) while its gun was ineffective at ranges greater than 800 yards (730 m), and at one stage the regiment was outnumbered five or six to one. The day's fighting cost the regiment 30 tanks and some 50 casualties. Among the wounded was the regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Birley, who, after suffering a broken arm when his tank was disabled, sat exposed on another and directed the regiment until it withdrew at the end of the day, for which action he was awarded the DSO.

The regiment, down to a single composite squadron of 19 tanks, was in action again on 22 and 23 November at Sidi Rezegh. The 7th Armoured Division was badly mauled by the German 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions before the German armour broke contact and pushed on towards the Egyptian border. In the respite, the regiment, which at one stage had been reduced to just four Crusaders, was reinforced with five M3 Stuarts – named Honey by the British – five Crusaders, and a squadron of Cruiser Mk IVs from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. The regiment fought next in the Sidi Rezegh area on 27 and 28 November, finding itself once again outgunned by enemy armour returning from its raid on the Egyptian border. After the battle, the regiment was withdrawn and re-equipped with 52 Honies which had already seen battle with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars. As well as materiel losses, the fighting to date had cost the regiment 16 officers and 70 other ranks. Major W. A. B. Trevor, who had assumed command of the regiment after Birley was wounded, was awarded the DSO for his handling of the regiment.

In December, the regiment fought at various times under command of the 7th Armoured Division's Support Group and the 4th Armoured Brigade. It rejoined the 22nd Armoured Brigade in the last week of December and completed a long march across the desert as the British and Commonwealth forces pushed the Axis forces out of Cyrenaica. As Operation Crusader drew to a close, the regiment saw action around Chor es Sufan on 28 and 30 December, after which the 7th Armoured Division was relieved by the 1st Armoured Division. In total, the regiment had suffered 169 casualties.

### Battle of Gazala

Birley, his arm in a sling, resumed command of the regiment on 13 January 1942, and when a German Africa Corps counter-attack pushed the British and Commonwealth forces back to Gazala later that month, he commanded Birley Force, a composite regiment to which the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars contributed the HQ and a squadron of tanks. The regiment was re-equipped in the first week of February; F Squadron with the new M3 Grant tanks, and G and H Squadrons with Crusaders, and in May its strength was 36 officers, 563 other ranks and 48 tanks. At the end of May, with the 22nd Armoured Brigade now returned to its parent unit, the 1st Armoured Division, the regiment saw action in the Battle of Gazala. It fought in the areas of Bir el Harmat and 'Knightsbridge', a defensive box held by the 201st Guards Motor Brigade some 20 miles (32 km) south-west of Tobruk. At the start of the battle, F Squadron lost all but one of its Grants, and the regiment was quickly reduced to 16 Crusaders and two Honies. These were formed into a composite squadron under command of the 3rd County of London Yeomanry. On 1 June the regiment handed over its remaining Crusaders to the 4th County of London Yeomanry and was taken out of the line for a refit the next day.

The regiment returned to the line on 4 June with Honies and Grants taken over from the 4th Queen's Own Hussars; 14 tanks each in G and H Squadrons, 4 in the regimental HQ and 12 Grants in F Squadron. The next day it participated in a failed attack at Bir el Aslagh in the 'Cauldron', a German salient behind the original British and Commonwealth lines. It then retired east to Knightsbridge where, on 6 June, the command tank was hit, killing Birley and the regiment's adjutant. The regiment was by this stage down to a strength of 17 Honies and two Grants, and for the next two days, with Trevor once again in command, it acted as a patrol squadron for 22nd Armoured Brigade. On 10 June, H Squadron was attached to the 7th Motor Brigade (the former Support Group) fighting around Bir Hacheim. It remained with that brigade until the end of the month, while the remainder of the regiment was withdrawn from the line. In addition to the losses in materiel, the Battle of Gazala had cost the regiment 82 casualties, and on 12 June another was added to the list when Trevor was killed in an airstrike. Over the next few days the remaining senior officers appealed to brigade, division and corps commanders to prevent the regiment from being split up and used as replacements.

### Dispersal and disbandment

Following defeat in the Battle of Gazala, the British and Commonwealth forces halted the Axis advance in the First Battle of El Alamein, in which G Squadron fought while attached at various times to the 1st Armoured Division Tank Delivery Regiment, the 4th County of London Yeomanry and the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. Meanwhile, F and H Squadrons became infantry in the 10th Armoured Division and, armed with Italian anti-tank rifles, grenades and molotov cocktails, manned defences in the Delta. At the end of July, H Squadron took over the Crusaders of A Squadron, 5th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), and relieved them in the El Alamein line, and F Squadron similarly replaced 5RTR's C Squadron on 17 August. The same month, G Squadron was given Crusaders and allocated to Army reserve at El Amiriya, serving at various times under the command of the 8th Hussars, an Indian brigade, the 9th Australian Division and finally the 10th Royal Hussars. The regiment's rear echelon and some of its HQ troops guarded bridges over the Nile in the Delta.

During the Battle of Alam el Halfa, the regiment's F and H Squadrons fought as units of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, and G Squadron was part of an abortive 9th Australian Division attack along the coast. The three squadrons were reunited in Alexandria on 20 September, but any hopes that the regiment would fight again under its own command were dashed when F, G and H Squadrons were transferred to the 4th Hussars, the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and the 8th Hussars respectively. HQ Squadron was divided between the 5th Royal Tank Regiment and the 3rd The King's Own Hussars, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was disbanded on 15 January 1943. During its brief career the regiment had lost 72 men killed, 100 wounded and 85 taken prisoner of war, and was awarded two DSOs, seven Military Crosses, a Distinguished Conduct Medal and fourteen Military Medals.

## Post war

The regiment was reconstituted in the reconnaissance role in 1947, equipped initially with Daimler Armoured Cars which were later replaced by Ferret scout vehicles. On 27 May 1962, a new Guidon was presented on behalf of the Queen by Colonel the Duke of Beaufort at Badminton House, and in 1963 the regiment was granted the Freedom of Gloucester. In 1967, following a reorganisation of the TA, the regiment was reduced to a squadron and combined with elements of the North Somerset and Bristol Yeomanry, the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment and the Gloucestershire Volunteer Artillery to form the Wessex Volunteers. A further reorganisation in 1969 reduced the squadron to a cadre of eight men, but it was expanded two years later to provide the regimental HQ and two squadrons in the infantry-roled Wessex Yeomanry, which in 1979 became the Royal Wessex Yeomanry. In 1983, the new yeomanry regiment was equipped with stripped-down Land Rovers and took on the reconnaissance role. It was further reorganised and re-purposed as an armoured reserve regiment in the 1990s, tasked with the provision of replacement crews for the regular army's Challenger 2 tanks. The Gloucestershire yeomanry lineage is maintained in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry by C (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Squadron.

## Battle honours

The battle honours earned by the regiment were:

## Honorary Regimental Colonels

Honorary colonels were:

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

- 1904– Col. Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort, TD, DL, JP, ADC
- 1926– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC
- 1967– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]
- 1969– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]

C (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Squadron, Royal Wessex Yeomanry (1971)

- 1972– Col. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort, KG, GCVO, PC [reappointed]
- 1984– Lt. (Hon. Col.) David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort
- 1994– Col. John Evelyn Baring Hills, TD, DL
- 1999– Lt-Col. David R. Ayshford-Sanford, TD

## See also

- List of Yeomanry Regiments 1908
- British yeomanry during the First World War
- Second line yeomanry regiments of the British Army

Unit of the British Army

Military units and formations established in 1795

Military units and formations in Gloucestershire

Regiments of the British Army in World War II

Yeomanry regiments of the British Army in World War I


Tokyo Babylon

Tokyo Babylon (東京BABYLON), also known as Tokyo Babylon: A Save Tokyo City Story, is a Japanese manga series created by mangaka group Clamp. The series follows Subaru Sumeragi, the head of the Sumeragi clan, and his sister Hokuto, as they work to protect Tokyo from a myriad of supernatural perils while living with a man named Seishiro Sakurazuka. Shinshokan serialized it in South and Wings shōjo manga magazines from 1990 to 1993, and it was collected in seven tankōbon volumes. Tokyopop first distributed the English-language version of the manga; this is now handled by Yen Press.

The series is based on a self-written work, dōjinshi, writer Nanase Ohkawa created. Clamp decided to add dark social themes to the serialization because of the chapters' lengths. Clamp found it difficult to write the manga because it was being serialized alongside their first work, RG Veda. Between 1992 and 1994, Madhouse studio adapted Tokyo Babylon into a two-part original video animation series focused on the original storylines. PDS also produced a live-action feature film sequel, Tokyo Babylon 1999, which was released on August 21, 1993, which is set after the events of the manga. A full anime television series adaptation, Tokyo Babylon 2021, was announced in 2020, but was cancelled in the wake of accusations of plagiarism.

The series has been well received for its focus on occultism and social themes. It is also famous in the West for including one of the first homosexual relationships portrayed in a manga as explored through the characters of Subaru and Seishiro. The writers' heavy focus on Subaru's character development stood out alongside the art produced by Clamp. However, the manga was criticized for its earlier comical style and expositions. The manga is notorious for its open and tragic ending which is followed in Clamp's next work, X.

## Plot

Sixteen-year-old Subaru Sumeragi is a very powerful Japanese magician, often referred as a modern onmyōji. He is the thirteenth head of the foremost family of onmyōji in Japan, which has served the Emperor for centuries. As a result, he is called upon to solve various occult mysteries. He sometimes stumbles on people his kind nature compels him to help. He lives in Tokyo with his twin sister Hokuto, an exuberant girl, whose chief occupations are designing eccentric clothing for herself and her brother, and their mutual friend Seishiro Sakurazuka, a kindly, 25-year-old veterinarian, who often declares his love for Subaru.

There are early hints of Seishiro's true nature. Hokuto jokes about him being a member of the family of Sakurazukamori, a clan of assassins who use onmyōjitsu to kill and are said to be the Sumeragis' opposite. Seishiro met Subaru as a kid and was impressed with the child's purity. Rather than killing him, Seishiro made a bet with him instead: He would meet Subaru again, and would spend one year with him, protecting him and trying to love him. If, at the end of that year, he felt something for Subaru which distinguished him from a thing he could easily destroy (as he could not with any other person), then he would not kill him. To recognize him, he marked him with inverted pentagrams on both hands, the sign of the Sakurazukamori's prey.

When Seishiro loses an eye protecting Subaru, the teenager realizes he is in love with him. As the year is over, Seishiro declares himself the winner of the bet. He breaks Subaru's arm and tortures him, but fails to kill him, as Subaru's grandmother breaks his spell - an action which leaves her crippled. Subaru's shock leaves him in a catatonic state. Hokuto feels guilty for promoting Seishiro, whom she knew to be dangerous, but believed to be the only one who might touch Subaru's heart. As a result, Hokuto asks Seishiro to kill her instead to protect her brother. Seeing her in a dream, Subaru is shocked out of his catatonia by her action. He vows to find Seishiro and take revenge for his sister's death, abandoning his present life. The manga ends with an adult and distant Subaru still searching for Seishiro.

## Characters

Subaru Sumeragi (皇昴流, Sumeragi Subaru)
The 13th Head of the Sumeragi clan, a family of onmyōji. He tends to be rather shy, but is extremely kindhearted. He constantly wears gloves over his hands for reasons known only to his grandmother.

Sumeragi Hokuto (皇北都)
Subaru's eccentric twin sister. She is quick-witted, bold and impulsive, the polar opposite of Subaru. While she lacks most of Subaru's strong spiritual abilities, she is still able to cast unique spells. She always means well and acts in Subaru's best interests. Hokuto designs the outrageous outfits she and Subaru often don.

Seishiro Sakurazuka (桜塚星史郎, Sakurazuka Seishirō)
A veterinarian who claims to be romantically interested in Subaru. He is secretly the Sakurazukamori, a murderous onmyōji who first met the teenager seven years ago.

## Production

Tokyo Babylon is based on a one-shot that Clamp head writer Nanase Ohkawa wrote for a magazine that featured dōjinshi. After Clamp got to illustrate the cover of the same magazine, Wings, with Subaru and Hokuto, the magazine proposed Clamp turn it into a series for their special edition South. Initially, the series was going to be called "Tokyo" but Clamp wanted to change it to give a more modern tone with the inclusion of Babylon according to them; The series was titled Tokyo Babylon reflecting how the city of Babylon resembled Tokyo, according to Clamp. The one-shot's characters, most notably Seishiro, were changed slightly when the series began.

Subaru and his twin sister Hokuto, and Seishiro, were conceived by the series' creator Ohkawa for a dōjinshi novel about an onmyōji who hunts elves. Only its beginning remains. The characters were drawn twice for covers, and when South asked Clamp to create a new series for them, these characters were used. Originally, the twins were conceived more as mascots, with Subaru being a penguin called Leone, named after the Subaru Leone car. Both Subaru and Hokuto were modified from the original art, whereas Seishiro was completely redesigned. Ohkawa remembers having trouble writing Subaru as she was not used to writing kind-hearted characters. Like Kero from their other manga Cardcaptor Sakura, the staff thought about drawing a pet, with Subaru and Hokuto originally being considered as one. Since Subaru and Hokuto were the protagonists, whenever the magazines required an image for Tokyo Babylon, both Subaru and Hokuto were used together.

When Tokyo Babylon's serialization began, Clamp was also writing RG Veda for the monthly magazine Wings. While the authors found this complicated, the series' quarterly publication of sixty pages resulted in the authors making several changes. The length of each chapter led the authors to write a darker story rather than a soft one as originally planned. Based on their experience in Tokyo, Clamp incorporated dark social themes, making the series realistic despite its focus on occultism. This also gave each chapter its own theme. Ohkawa believes their young age when writing the manga also influenced most of the series' negative messages. Although when the series began, the ending was already planned, it was not until the Tokyo Tower chapter that Clamp set the general atmosphere, with the pilot being perceived as a comedy. The next chapter involving Subaru's past meeting with a man, later revealed to be Seishiro, then sets the stage for the series' future. Since his introduction, Seishiro was written with the idea of him having a different agenda in contrast to his actions and dialog with the other leads. Seishiro was the easiest cast member to write while Subaru was the most challenging based on his good nature. In retrospect, Ohkawa believes that while RG Veda was their first series, Tokyo Babylon was their most original first work as they did not use other people's materials for this manga and it was influenced by their way of living. Though a 1990s manga, the narrative was influenced by the 1980s.

In creating the art, colored weft and light colors were used for the main illustrations. This proved to be difficult for the authors. Ohkawa believes the art was influenced by the years when the manga was published. This is reflected in how Clamp's artwork changed, particularly the clothing and, most notably, Hokuto's dresses. Mokona's works have been drawn with increasingly thicker lines across the serialzation of the manga. The character's faces have much thicker lines in the third volume of Tokyo Babylon compared to when the story first got serialized in South. This was made because the story had a serious, heavy theme, fine lines simply cannot bring out enough power to convince readers of the gravitas, so we make thicker lines when it fits the work. Such work caused Mokona to rely more on her stamina to properly draw the series.

## Themes

The series focuses on several social themes, such as faith, organ donation and the treatment of middle-aged men. However, the main philosophy seen across the storyline is individualism, the stance that emphasizes the moral worth of an individual. Subaru and Hokuto believe that nobody can fully understand another person's suffering. Despite his belief in this philosophy, Subaru is a resigned individual who worries more about others than himself. Subaru believes he can hurt others because he will never understand them. The same problem comes from Subaru and Hokuto being twins and trying to see each other as different people. Across the plot, Subaru develops as an individual. Seishiro deems his actions as arrogant for assuming the guilt. In addition, Subaru begins to take actions he believes are immoral, despite his good intentions, such as lying to a mother about her daughter's wish to stop her from taking revenge. Zona Negativa stated that despite the series being a shōjo manga aimed at young women, Subaru's hero journey felt more like that of a manga aimed at young men, shōnen manga, due to the many types of enemies he faces while finding his foes' deep nature.

Due to the dark nature Seishiro hides from Subaru, the two can be regarded as the yin and yang as the former contrasts his the latter's kind self even when interacting about his job. Subaru's hidden romantic feelings towards Seishiro become obvious as the manga progresses as he becomes astonished when Seishiro keep professing his love towards him. The character's relationship with Seishiro led novelist Yoshiki Tanaka to call it tragic and striking, despite his early thoughts it was a typical use of a relationship to appeal to female readers. When Subaru realizes his feelings towards him, his state can be compared to that the one of a hatched bird egg as a result of the maturity he shows in the process. Anime Feminist claims that while Subaru's characterization heavily relies on empathy, Clamp appears to send a message to the readers using Subaru as an audience surrogate that it is important for everybody to value themselves too although empathy on itself does not qualify as a negative trait. Manga Bookshelf focused more on how Subaru lost part of his identity as he saw Hokuto as another part of him leading to his lonely finale persona.

## Media

### Manga

The Tokyo Babylon manga was published by Shinshokan in South and Wings magazines from 1990 to 1993 on a quarterly basis. Its chapters were collected in a total of seven tankōbon volumes. The series has been re-released in two different formats; five volumes in bunkoban format by Shinshokan and three volumes in aizōban format by Kadokawa Shoten. A Clamp Premium Collection release was released in 2022 by Kadokawa Shoten. A manga artbook entitled Tokyo Babylon Photographs was released on April 25, 1995. (Shinshokan: ).

Tokyopop announced they had licensed the series for a North American release in September 2003. They published the series in North America between May 11, 2004 and May 10, 2005. The manga was re-released in omnibus format by Dark Horse Comics in 2011.

During their Sakura-Con 2023 panel, Yen Press announced that they licensed the Clamp Premium Edition of the manga.

### Anime

#### Original video animation

The original video animations (OVA) series are two episodes with original stories animated by Madhouse. They are written by Tatsuhiko Urahata and directed by Koichi Chigira, with characters designed by Kumiko Takahashi. The first episode has Subaru investigating the meaning behind several accidents in the construction of a building, while in the second he meets another onmyōji who is helping the police find a serial killer. Producer Yumiko Masujima remembers how difficult it was to recreate the manga's atmosphere in the OVAs. While originally released on VHS, the OVAs were re-released in Japan in DVD format on June 21, 2000. Central Park Media distributed the OVAs in Australia, the UK and France.

US Manga Corps released the two OVA episodes on April 4 and July 11, 1995.

#### TV series

On October 25, 2020 at 15:00 UTC (October 26, 2020, at midnight Japan Standard Time), a trailer was released for a new anime adaptation of Tokyo Babylon. The series, titled Tokyo Babylon 2021, was to have been produced by GoHands, and was originally scheduled to premiere in April 2021. On November 19, it was confirmed that Shingo Suzuki and Susumu Kudo would have directed the series, Jun Kumagai would have overseen the series' scripts, Makoto Furuta would have designed the characters while serving as chief animation director with Keiji Tani, and Noriyuki Asakura would have composed the series' music at King Records. Shouta Aoi would have performed the series' opening theme song, while Nana Mizuki would have performed the series' closing theme song. On the same day, however, the anime production was accused of plagiarizing outfit designs for Subaru and Hokuto. After an investigation, on December 4, 2020, the anime producer apologized on their official website and announced that they would be changing the designs. Due to the necessary changes to be made, on December 24, 2020, the anime production committee announced that the series was delayed to an unspecified date. After more cases of plagiarism surfaced through an internal investigation, on March 29, 2021, the production committee announced that the current TV series would be canceled, while a new anime production would be produced by a different studio.

On August 3, 2021, it was reported that GoHands was suing King Records for for failing to pay the expenses they previously agreed to pay. In the lawsuit, it was revealed the GoHands series was planned to have run for 21 episodes. According to the same lawsuit, the first 13 episodes were completed by November 2020.

### Feature film

A psychological thriller live-action film called Tokyo Babylon/1999 was based on the series. It takes place five years after the end of the manga and its plot is based on the Tokyo Babylon story "Call.A" in volume three. Director George Iida requested the help of the OVA producer Yumiko Masujima in casting the main characters. The film is famous for being the first live-action production based on a Clamp series and the film's director, George Iida, expressed his satisfaction with the positive fan response. Following the end of the production of Tokyo Babylon, Iida asked Clamp to help with a sequel movie. The main idea was for Subaru and Seishiro to clash again. For this live-action sequel, Tokyo Babylon/1999, Toshihide Tonesaku played Subaru, his first role as a leading man.

The plot has Subaru investigating the death of a former enemy of the Sumeragi clan, Kaneyama. Before his death, Kaneyama had undertaken a new project: teaching seven teenage girls how to use dark magic to take revenge on those they deem "guilty," beginning with an abusive teacher. One of the girls, Kurumi, starts to feel remorse; however, she is convinced by the others to continue with their plans. When Subaru attempts to stop them, they declare him to be their enemy and attack him. Subaru learns that his former friend-turned-enemy, assassin Seishiro, was the one who killed Kaneyama, and he has now turned his sights on the girls. The girls grow increasingly sick as a result of using the spells, and Subaru tries once more to save them. Seishiro appears, claiming that none of the girls can be saved. Subaru and Seishiro fight, only to be stopped by the appearance of the ghost of Hokuto, who asks them to stop for her sake. Seishiro leaves, and the fight is unresolved.

### Other media

Subaru and Seishirō return in Clamp's apocalyptic manga X. The story, set nine years following the end of Tokyo Babylon, has the two onmyōji on opposite sides during the final battle for humanity's future. Despite having no relation to Tokyo Babylon, Clamp's manga xxxHolic is also focused on social pathologies but with a different approach. Alternative versions of Subaru and Seishiro also appear in the crossover manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, with Subaru appearing as a vampire and Seishiro as a vampire hunter pursuing him.

## Reception

The Tokyo Babylon manga has been popular, with its English releases often appearing on Diamond Comic Distributors' lists of best-selling comics. It received generally positive critical response with the writers from Manga Bookshelf and Mania Entertainment referring to it as one of Clamp's best works based on the social themes reflected in the main cast whose traits, while found stereotypical at first, are developed across the story. Besides its focus on supernatural events, the series is famous for exploring young homosexual romance, shonen ai, seen in the interactions between Subaru and Seishiro. In Manga: The Complete Guide, Jason Thompson commented the manga is well known in the West for being one of the most famous and first portrayals of a homosexual relationship. Comic Book Resources regarded Tokyo Babylon as one of Clamp's most famous works despite lacking an anime. They also cited the tragic relationship between Subaru and Seishiro as one of its biggest strengths.

When the series was reaching its climax, Wings editor Miki Ishikawa remembers receiving several letters from fans asking for a happy ending. Once the series ended, more letters expressed sadness and shock over the tragic ending; fans wanted more explanations of Hokuto's fate. Regarding this character, Ishikawa considered her popularity an exception, considering most readers tend to be more attracted to the series' male characters. The writers from Manga Book Shelf noted that the series' open ending has also been a subject of criticism with fans, but Seishiro's dark revelation, despite how obvious it seems, had a major impact on the reader. The tragic ending portrayed in the ending made Anime News Network comment that Subaru is, "treated like absolute crap despite being one of the purest boys in anime and manga". Regarding Subaru's darker characterization in the finale, Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network says he "became" Seishiro. Silverman commented that this change is paralleled in their next work, xxxHolic, where its lead character Kimihiro Watanuki, began to act like his former boss Yuko Ichihara.

The artwork was praised for its appeal despite Publishers Weekly reviewing it nearly twenty years after its original release. Most of the reviewer's compliments referred to the landscapes and the atmosphere, while Mania Entertainment also praised its simple state created by Mokona. Anime News Network liked the clothing the cast wears. Jason Thompson enjoyed the background details. The city of Tokyo is well illustrated, giving it a realistic look. Manga News, however, felt the artwork lacked the appeal of other Clamp series, most notably RG Veda, even though both series were published at the same time. Nevertheless, the characters designs were praised for their uniqueness. In another overview of the series, Manga News felt that while the artwork felt dated, there was charm in the way it was executed through the storyline's style such as how different the secondary characters are from the main characters .

The OVAs were the subject of positive response thanks to its animation, which has been called "stunning" though critics were divided on its dark images. They have been recommended to X fans for Subaru's appearances as well as to female viewers. Although the story has been described as "nothing complex" or "ingenious," it has been praised for its focus on horror even though the violent imagery may bother viewers.

Japanese manga series by Clamp

Japanese LGBT-related animated television series