Operation Telic was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on 22 May 2011. The bulk of the mission ended on 30 April 2009 but around 150 troops, mainly from the Royal Navy, remained in Iraq until 22 May 2011 as part of the Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission. 46,000 troops were deployed at the onset of the invasion and the total cost of war stood at £9.24 billion in 2010.
This is the Operation Telic order of battle, which lists the British forces that took part in Operation Telic, including
The 3rd Division, also known as The Iron Division, is a regular army division of the British Army. It was created in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, for service in the Peninsular War, and was known as the Fighting 3rd under Sir Thomas Picton during the Napoleonic Wars. The division fought at the Battle of Waterloo, as well as during the Crimean War and the Second Boer War. As a result of bitter fighting in 1916, during the First World War, the division became referred to as the 3rd (Iron) Division, or the Iron Division or Ironsides. During the Second World War, the division fought in the Battle of France including a rearguard action during the Dunkirk Evacuation, and played a prominent role in the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. The division was to have been part of a proposed Commonwealth Corps, formed for a planned invasion of Japan in 1945–46, and later served in the British Mandate of Palestine. During the Second World War, the insignia became the "pattern of three" — a black triangle trisected by an inverted red triangle.
The 1st Division is an active division of the British Army that has been formed and disestablished numerous times between 1809 and the present. In its original incarnation as the 1st Division, it took part in the Peninsular War—part of the Coalition Wars of the Napoleonic Wars—and was disbanded in 1814 but was re-formed the following year for service in the War of the Seventh Coalition and fought at the Battle of Waterloo. It remained active as part of the British occupation of France until it was disbanded in 1818, when the British military withdrew. The division was then raised as needed; it served in the Crimean War, the Anglo-Zulu War, and the Second Boer War. In 1902, the British Army formed several permanent divisions, which included the 1st Division, which fought in the First World War, made various deployments during the interwar period, and took part in the Second World War when it known as the 1st Infantry Division.
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq under Rashid Gaylani, who had seized power in the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état with assistance from Germany and Italy. The campaign resulted in the downfall of Gaylani's government, the re-occupation of Iraq by the British, and the return to power of the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, a British ally.
The 7th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army. The brigade is also known as the "Desert Rats", a nickname formerly held by the 7th Armoured Division, of which the brigade formed a part during the Second World War until late 1941.
British Forces Cyprus (BFC) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus and at a number of related 'retained sites' in the Republic of Cyprus. The United Kingdom retains a military presence on the island in order to keep a strategic location at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, for use as a staging point for forces sent to locations in the Middle East and Asia. BFC is a tri-service command, with all three services based on the island reporting to it.
The 1st Cavalry Division was a regular Division of the British Army during the First World War where it fought on the Western Front. During the Second World War it was a first line formation, formed from Yeomanry Regiments. It fought in the Middle East before being converted to the 10th Armoured Division.
The 20th Armoured Brigade Combat Team, previously the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is an armoured infantry brigade formation of the British Army, currently headquartered at Wing Barracks, Bulford, Wiltshire, as part of the 3rd Division.
The 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade is a brigade of the British Army which is intended to train and assist foreign forces. In 2021, under the Future Army changes, the brigade was redesignated, formerly being the 11th Infantry Brigade & HQ South East. Prior to the Army 2020 changes in 2013, the brigade was temporarily activated for deployment to Afghanistan. Originally formed in the Second Boer War, the brigade was engaged during both World Wars.
Below is an estimated list of the major units deployed within the Multi-National Force – Iraq and other United States military units that were operating in Iraq under the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) in 2009, during the Iraq War.
The 5th Infantry Brigade was a regular infantry brigade of the British Army that was in existence since before the First World War, except for a short break in the late 1970s. It was an Airborne Brigade from the early 1980s until amalgamating with 24th Airmobile Brigade, in 1999, to form 16 Air Assault Brigade.
Iraqforce was a British and Commonwealth formation that came together in the Kingdom of Iraq. The formation fought in the Middle East during World War II.
Major General Graham John Binns, is a retired British Army officer. Binns served as General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Armoured Division and then Commandant Joint Services Command and Staff College. He had previously commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade during Operation Telic 1 when the brigade took Basra in southern Iraq. He is the Honorary Colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment.
Lieutenant General (Brevet) Richard C. Nash was the 30th adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, having been appointed to that position by the governor of Minnesota in 2010. Nash had previously served as commanding general of both US Army and multi-national forces including the US Army's 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, the Multi-National Division-South during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Multi-National Brigade-North (SFOR-14) in Bosnia Herzegovina during Operation Joint Forge.
The 793rd Military Police Battalion was a battalion-sized unit in the United States Army stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska. The battalion was responsible for all Regular Army Military Police units and operations in Germany and eventually in the state of Alaska.
Army 2020 was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army in the early and mid-2010s, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. The plan, as its name suggested, was intended to be completed by 2020, though most of its reorganisations were completed by the middle of the decade. It was succeeded by Army 2020 Refine, a series of new changes and refinements of Army 2020's restructuring, conducted in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
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.
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.
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