146th (Pembroke And Cardiganshire) Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery

146th Field Regiment was a Royal Artillery (RA) unit being formed in Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA) on the outbreak of World War II. Spun off from an existing Welsh field artillery unit, it took over two Batteries from Cardiganshire and was later granted its parent's subtitle '(Pembroke & Cardiganshire)'. After serving in Home Defence it was sent to Egypt, where it took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein and then joined 7th Armoured Division for the pursuit across North Africa and the Tunisian campaign. It served briefly in Italy, then was withdrawn to the UK and converted to medium artillery for Operation Overlord. Landing in Normandy in July 1944 it participated in many of the battles of the campaign in North West Europe. It was disbanded after the end of the war.

Mobilisation

With the rapid expansion of the TA after the Munich Crisis, existing units were ordered to form duplicates of themselves. 102nd (Pembroke and Cardiganshire) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (converted from the Pembroke Yeomanry in 1920) comprised two batteries from Pembrokeshire and two from Cardiganshire, and simply split off the latter on 8 July 1939 to form 146th Field Regiment with the following organisation:Frederick, pp. 47–8.Frederick, p. 526.Frederick, pp. 492–4.Frederick, p. 533.Litchfield, p. 30.Western Command, 3 September 1939, at Patriot Files.
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* Regimental HQ at Aberystwyth
* 407 (Cardiganshire) Field Battery at Cardigan
* 408 (Cardiganshire) Field Battery at Aberystwyth

At this time the establishment of an RA field regiment was two batteries, each of three four-gun Troops. The intention was to equip field regiments with 24 of the new 25-pounder gun-howitzers, but prior to the outbreak of war most TA units still had 18-pounder guns and 4.5-inch howitzers of World War I patterns, recently fitted with pneumatic tyres.Sainsbury, pp. 17–20; Appendix 2.

146th (Pembroke & Cardiganshire) Field Regiment

Home defence

When the TA was mobilised on 1 September, just ahead of the outbreak of World War II on 3 September, both regiments were assigned to the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division, the duplicate of the TA's 53rd (Welsh) Division that was being formed in Western Command. This new division became operational on 18 September 1939.Joslen, pp. 65–6. There now followed the period known as the Phoney War. Until 14 July 1940 the division underwent training in south-east Wales in Western Command. Then, after the British Expeditionary Force's evacuation from Dunkirk, III Corps HQ took over field command in Western Command, and 38th (W) Division was stationed around Liverpool. On 16 April 1941 the division moved to IV Corps defending invasion-threatened Sussex. 38th (W) Division was in corps reserve, behind the divisions guarding the coast.

One of the lessons learned from the Battle of France was that the two-battery organisation did not work: field regiments were intended to support an infantry brigade of three battalions. As a result, they were reorganised into three 8-gun batteries, but it was not until late 1940 that the RA had enough trained battery staffs to carry out the reorganisation.Forty, pp. 72–3, 220. 146th Field Rgt accordingly formed 510 Fd Bty on 14 January 1941. By now RA field regiments had standardised on the modern 25-pounder gun in place of the prewar equipment and makeshift guns issued after Dunkirk. When TA duplicate units were authorised to adopt their parent's subtitles on 17 February 1942, the 146th was given the 'Pembroke & Cardigan' title, even though it only had the Cardigan batteries.

On 1 December 1941 38th (W) Division was placed on a lower establishment; this meant that it was not going to be sent overseas for the foreseeable future, and it became a static coast defence formation in Dorset under V Corps. As the invasion threat receded, the lower establishment divisions became sources of units and drafts to reinforce the fighting formations overseas.

Egypt

146th (P&C) Field Rgt left 38th (W) Division on 13 May 1942 and was joined by 282 Anti-Tank Battery from 70th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Anti-Tank Regiment (also from 38th (Welsh)) on 24 May.Frederick, pp. 915, 922, 926. The regiment was then sent by sea to Egypt to reinforce Eighth Army fighting the Western Desert Campaign. It landed at Suez in September 1942, and on arrival, 282 A/T Bty left on 19 September and joined 95th Anti-Tank Rgt.

146th (P&C) Field Rgt joined 8th Armoured Division on 25 September. The skeleton of this division had recently arrived in Egypt, but it was still not complete. For the planned Second Battle of El Alamein it was split up to reinforce other formations, including the HQ 8th Divisional Royal Artillery, which from 18 October constituted 'Hammerforce'. From Hammerforce 146th (P&C) Fd Rgt with its 24 x 25-pounders was directly attached to support 9th Australian Division in the forthcoming attack ('Operation Lightfoot').Joslen, pp. 22, 567. The essence of the plan was that concentrated groups of 25-pdrs could be used to support first one, then another of a series of set-piece attacks, with plenty of ammunition available. The bombardment began at 21.40 on 23 October with 15 minutes of concentrated counter-battery (CB) fire to neutralise as many as possible of the enemy guns. The guns fell silent for 5 minutes before zero (22.00) then the full weight of artillery was brought down on the enemy's forwards positions as the Allied infantry began their advance. Afterwards the fire support began to vary with each attacking division's needs, the whole programme lasting about five and a half hours. One of 9th Australian Division's attacking brigades reached the final objective ('Oxalic') by dawn after some stiff fighting, the other was held up about short. Having broken into the enemy positions, the division began 'crumbling' operations the following night. It carried out another set-piece attack on 25/26 October, with plentiful artillery ammunition, and took Point 29. An Axis counter-attack on Point 29 the following day was broken up by the artillery supporting 9th Australian and by air attacks. The Australians continued attacking over following nights, with a third set-piece on 30/31 October. Eighth army had not yet achieved its hoped-for breakthrough, and a new phase of the attack, ' Operation Supercharge', was launched on 2 November. Next day the Australians found that the enemy in front was beginning to retreat, and Eighth Army began its pursuit.

Tunisia

Hammerforce was broken up on 3 November and 8th Armoured Division was never reconstituted: 146th (P&C) Fd Rgt officially left it on 6 November. On 10 December the regiment joined 7th Armoured Division during a pause in the pursuit.Joslen, pp. 19–21.

Eighth Army entered Tripoli on 23 January 1943 and pushed on towards Tunisia. The Axis forces counter-attacked at the Battle of Medenine on 6 March, but 7th Armoured Division was in a well-prepared position with plenty of 25-pdrs and ample ammunition. The attack was quickly broken up. 7th Armoured then took part in the set-piece Battles of the Mareth Line (16–23 March) and Wadi Akarit (6–7 April), after which it pursued the enemy up the coast to the Enfidaville position. The division was then switched to First Army for the final push to capture Tunis (Operations Vulcan and Strike 22 April–5 May).Joslen, pp. 19–21.

Italy

After the end of the Tunisian campaign, 7th Armoured Division re-equipped and trained for the forthcoming Italian campaign (it was not required for Sicily). The Allied landing at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) was launched on 9 September 1943 and the division began landing on 15 September. It completed its concentration on 30 September, the leading elements having begun moving out of the beachhead two days earlier, and entered Naples on 1 October. It continued advancing against rearguards as far as the Volturno. On 12 October the division made a diversionary attack across the river while the main crossing was forced by X Corps and US troops. 7th Armoured Division forded the river near Capua at the end of the month and on 1/2 November debouched through Mondragone into the plain of the Garigliano.

7th Armoured Division was now withdrawn from the fighting to return to the UK to prepare for the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord). 146th (P&C) Field Rgt left the division on 6 November when it joined 2nd Army Group Royal Artillery (2nd AGRA) to support the attack on Monte Camino, in which 201st Guards Brigade stormed 'Bare Arse Ridge'.

146th (Pembroke & Cardiganshire) Medium Regiment

146th (P&C) Field Rgt had been selected for conversion to medium artillery for Overlord. It was withdrawn to North Africa where it was redesignated 146th (Pembroke & Cardiganshire) Medium Regiment on 16 December. The establishment of a medium regiment was two batteries of 8 guns each; it consisted of 407 and 408 (Cardiganshire) Med Btys, and 510 Fd Bty was disbanded. The regiment then returned to the UK to prepare for Overlord.Frederick, p. 724.Frederick, p. 741.Townend & Baldwin, Appendix A. The RA's standard medium gun by now was the 5.5-inch gun.

Normandy

After retraining the regiment joined 8th AGRA, which began landing in Normandy in June 1944 to support VIII Corps. However, landings fell behind schedule and 146th (P&C) Med Rgt did not arrive until 15 July, when it deployed at Le Mesnil-Patry F.A. Bibra. It was in time to participate in the fireplan for Operation Goodwood (18 July). Goodwood was to be an armoured drive southwards from east of the River Orne, supported by massed artillery and bombers. The medium regiments had forward observation officers (FOOs) advancing with the armoured brigades. After the bombers had completed their early morning tasks, the artillery opened up at 06.05, with 8th AGRA carrying out a CB programme. Then, as most of the artillery fired a creeping barrage in front of the attack, selected units including 146th (P&C) Med Rgt carried out further CB tasks, directed by 652 Air Observation Post (AOP) Squadron, Royal Air Force. In Phases 4 and 5 of the attack, the whole of 8th AGRA switched to firing concentrations in support of the armour. 11th Armoured Division led off, followed in turn by Guards Armoured Division and 7th Armoured Division. The Germans were stunned by the bombing and initial bombardments, but recovered quickly and the attack was held up short of Bourguébus Ridge. 8th AGRA fired an additional fireplan on Bourguébus at 16.30, and at 20.55 146th (P&C) and 107th (South Notts Hussars) Medium Rgts fired again to help 11th Armoured's brigades as they withdrew to 'harbour' for the night.

8th AGRA was moved across the River Orne and loaned to II Canadian Corps for the diversionary Operation Spring on 25 July, firing a large programme of harassing fire (HF) tasks to assist the advance towards Verrières Ridge and Tilly-la-Campagne