Thiepval Barracks is a British Army barracks and headquarters in Lisburn, County Antrim. It is also the site of the stone frigate HMS Hibernia, Headquarters of the Royal Naval Reserve in Northern Ireland.
From 1954, the barracks contained the operational headquarters of No 31 Belfast Group Royal Observer Corps (ROC) who operated from a protected nuclear bunker on Knox Road within Thiepval Barracks. Converted from a 1940s anti-aircraft operations room (AAOR), the bunker would support over one hundred ROC volunteers and a ten-man United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation warning team, responsible for the famous four-minute warning in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK. The ROC would also detect radioactive fallout from the nuclear bursts and warn the public of approaching fallout. The two organisations were stood down at the end of the Cold War.[3]
In early 1970, the barracks also became home to 39 Infantry Brigade[4] and provided the headquarters for the Ulster Defence Regiment.[5] The brigade, as 39 Airportable Brigade, was involved in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, eventually taking on responsibility under HQ Northern Ireland for an area including Belfast and the eastern side of the province, but excluding the South Armagh border region. For most of the conflict, signals support for the brigade was provided by 213 Signal Squadron.[6] From September 1970, the brigade was commanded by (then) BrigadierFrank Kitson.[7]
On 7 October 1996 the Provisional Irish Republican Army penetrated the heavily fortified base to detonate two car bombs. The first detonated at 15:35 GMT followed by the second around ten minutes later close to the base's medical facilities where victims were gathering. Warrant Officer James Bradwell (43) was killed and 21 soldiers and 10 civilians were injured. This bombing was the first major attack on a military base in Northern Ireland since the ending of the IRA's ceasefire with the 1996 Docklands bombing.[8][9]
HMS Hibernia is the name given to a stone frigate of the Royal Navy, which serves as the headquarters of the Royal Naval Reserve in Northern Ireland and is Northern Ireland's only Royal Navy stone frigate. It was commissioned in 2009 to replace the C-class cruiserHMSCaroline as the training establishment for the RNR in Northern Ireland,[11]Hibernia is located within Thiepval Barracks.[12] The unit numbers approximately 100 officers and ratings and is also home to University Royal Naval Unit (URNU) Belfast.[13][14]
Potter, John (2001). A testimony to courage: the regimental history of the Ulster Defence Regiment. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN978-0-85052-819-0. OCLC854583867.
The Royal Irish Regiment is a light infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was founded in 1992 through the amalgamation of the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their oldest predecessor, the 27th Regiment of Foot, was first raised in June 1689 to fight in the Williamite War in Ireland. Other notable regiments in their lineage include the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rifles and the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
British Forces Overseas Hong Kong comprised the elements of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force stationed in British Hong Kong. The Governor of Hong Kong also assumed the position of the commander-in-chief of the forces and the Commander British Forces in Hong Kong took charge of the daily deployment of the troops. Much of the British military left prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The present article focuses mainly on the British garrison in Hong Kong in the post Second World War era. For more information concerning the British garrison during the Second World War and earlier, see the Battle of Hong Kong.
The Royal Irish Rifles was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd Regiment of Foot and the 86th Regiment of Foot. The regiment saw service in the Second Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War.
The 38th (Irish) Brigade, is a brigade formation of the British Army that served in the Second World War. It was composed of North Irish line infantry regiments and served with distinction in the Tunisian and Italian Campaigns. Following the end of the war, the brigade was disbanded, but was reformed in sixty years later in 2007 and remains the regional formation for Northern Ireland.
The 11th Brigade is a brigade of the British Army which is transitioning to the tactical recce-strike role. The brigade was formerly the 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade, providing training and guidance for foreign militaries.
The 19th Brigade is an Army Reserve formation of the British Army. As the 19th Infantry Brigade, it fought in the First and Second World War.
The 8th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and the Second World Wars, before being disbanded and reactivated in the 1960s. The brigade was finally being disbanded in 2006. It was formed before the First World War as part of the 3rd Division. As part of that division it spent the entire war on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918 in the First World War. The brigade was also active during the Second World War.
The 39th Infantry Brigade was a military formation of the British Army that was first established during the First World War and reformed in the 1950s.
HQ Northern Ireland was the formation responsible for the British Army in and around Northern Ireland. It was established in 1922 and disbanded, replaced by a brigade-level Army Reserve formation, 38 (Irish) Brigade, in 2009.
HMS Eaglet is a Royal Navy Reserve unit based in Liverpool. She is the main occupant of the Royal Navy Regional Headquarters in Liverpool, Merseyside. The base is also the home to a number of units, including: Royal Marines Reserve Merseyside, Naval Regional Command Northern England, Liverpool URNU, HMS Biter, HMS Charger, Sea Cadet Corps, and the Liverpool Royal Navy and Royal Marines Careers Office.
On 15 June 1988 an unmarked military van carrying six British Army soldiers was blown up by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) at Market Place in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The explosion took place at the end of a charity marathon run in which the soldiers had participated. All six soldiers were killed in the attack – four outright, one on his way to hospital and another later on in hospital.
Shackleton Barracks is a former British military installation at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
In 1989 the Royal Navy was under the direction of the Navy Department in the UK Ministry of Defence. It had two main commands, CINCFLEET and Naval Home Command.
The following is a hierarchical outline for the structure of the British Army in 1989. The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence, Master Order of Battle, and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990.
The 15th Signal Regiment is military communications unit of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals.
Equipment Support, Theatre Troops was an ad-hoc group of maintenance and equipment support units of the British Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
The 1st Regiment, Royal Military Police is a military policing unit of the British Army which was formed during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, but disbanded in 1985 following cuts to the RMP in the region. The regiment was then reformed in 1996 following the Options for Change, and since 2014 has been an integral part of the 1st Military Police Brigade and just one of the two remaining RMP regiments since 2019.
The Armed forces in Wales are the military bases and organisation in Wales or associated with Wales. This includes servicemen and women from Wales and Welsh regiments and brigades of the British Armed Forces.
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