Guards and Parachute Division | |
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Active | 2022–present |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Role | Administration and training |
Size | Division |
Garrison/HQ | Wellington Barracks, London |
Arms of the British Army |
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Combat Arms |
Combat Support Arms |
Combat Services |
The Guards and Parachute Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the Parachute Regiment. The division is responsible for providing two battalions for public duties to London District (plus five incremental companies); although the guards are most associated with ceremony, they are nevertheless operational infantry battalions, and as such perform all the various roles of infantry.
As part of the Future Soldier reforms of the Army announced by the government in March 2021, the infantry was to be reorganised, with the intention of bringing all infantry regiments under the administration of a division of infantry. As part of this, the Guards Division, which was the administrative organisation responsible for the regiments of foot guards, was to be expanded to also assume responsibility for the Parachute Regiment, which had previously been an independent formation. The new division, to be named as the Guards and Parachute Division, was stood up on 30 September 2022. [1]
The division as stood up incorporates a total of ten infantry battalions - eight of these are part of the regular army, while the other two form part of the Army Reserve. In addition, there are five incremental companies which form integral parts of their parent regiments, whose primary task is public duties: [2]
Another element of Future Soldier saw the formation of a new unit, The Rangers - as part of its formation, it was announced that each of its four battalions would be assigned to one of the divisions of infantry. [4] This saw the 1st Battalion (formerly the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) assigned to the Guards and Parachute Division. [2]
One of the platoons of 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment is manned exclusively by soldiers drawn from either the foot guards or the Household Cavalry. [5]
Each of the regiments that form part of the Guards and Parachute Division has a regimental band - these come under the control of the Royal Corps of Army Music, but form part of each unit's regimental family.
The Infantry of the British Army comprises 49 infantry battalions, from 19 regiments. Of these, 33 battalions are part of the Regular army and the remaining 16 a part of the Army Reserve. The British Army's Infantry takes on a variety of roles, including armoured, mechanised, air assault and light.
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonial occasions. The Regiment has consistently provided formations on deployments around the world and has fought in the majority of the major conflicts in which the British Army has been engaged.
The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was created in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1941 during the Second World War from elements of the Guards units, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, and the Household Cavalry.
In some militaries, foot guards are senior infantry regiments. Foot guards are commonly responsible for guarding royal families or other state leaders, and they also often perform ceremonial duties accordingly, but at the same time are combat soldiers.
The hackle is a clipped plume or short spray of coloured feathers that is attached to a military headdress, with different colours being associated with particular regiments.
The King's Guard are sentry postings at Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace, organised by the British Army's Household Division. The Household Division also mounts sentry postings at Horse Guards, known as the King's Life Guard.
The Guards Division was an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the London Guards reserve battalion. The Guards Division was responsible for providing two battalions for public duties to London District ; although the guards are most associated with ceremony, they are nevertheless operational infantry battalions, and as such perform all the various roles of infantry. In 2022, the Guards Division was renamed as the Guards and Parachute Division.
London District (LONDIST) is the name given by the British Army to the area of operations encompassing the Greater London area. It was established in 1870 as Home District.
The British Army primarily divides its infantry into regiments, which are subdivided into battalions. However, for various reasons, since the end of the Second World War it has also maintained companies that are intended to provide increments and reinforcements.
The Brigade of Guards was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1856 to 1968. It was commanded by the Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and was responsible for administering the guards regiments.
The British Army is listed according to an order of precedence for the purposes of parading. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being highest. Under ordinary circumstances, the Household Cavalry parades at the extreme right of the line. Militia and Army Reserve units take precedence after Regular units with the exception of The Honourable Artillery Company and The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.
This is the Operation Herrick ground order of battle, which lists any British ground forces that have taken part in the duration of Operation Herrick between 2002 and 2014.
A large regiment is a multi-battalion infantry formation of the British Army. First formed in the 1960s, large regiments are the result of the amalgamation of a number of existing single-battalion regiments, and perpetuate the traditions of each of the predecessor units.
The Guards Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed in the Great War in France in 1915 from battalions of the Guards regiments from the Regular Army. The division served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War. The division's insignia was the "All Seeing Eye".
The London Guards is an administrative formation within the British Army comprising the reserve companies of the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots and Irish Guards. On formation these companies drew their personnel from the London Regiment and it traces its history back to the formation of that regiment in 1908 when 26 separate Volunteer Force battalions were brought together. The London Guards is not a regiment, the companies wear the uniform, and follow the traditions, of their foot guards regiment.
Future Soldier is a reform of the British Army resulting from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021. The aim of the reform is to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force, able to fight and win wars and to operate in the grey-zone between peace and war. Future Soldier was published on 25 November 2021 and deals with the organizational changes of the British Army, with changes to personnel and equipment were set out in the Defence in a Competitive Age paper published on 22 March 2021.
The Union Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of regiments of line infantry.