Oldest regiment hails a great victory

Kyt · Nov 3, 2008

Britain's oldest regiment hails a great Italian victory 90 years on - Times Online

When the pikemen and musketeers of the London-based Honourable Artillery Company parade before the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, in the town square of Vittorio Veneto in northeastern Italy today they will do so as a grateful acknowledgement by the Italian authorities of a remarkable British contribution to Italy’s final victory over the forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War.

Parading with units of the Italian Army, a detachment of 25 pikemen and musketeers commanded by Ensign Richard Ward, will represent Britain’s oldest regiment, dating back to Tudor times, in a commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918, and the HAC’s role in spearheading an assault across the River Piave in the hours of darkness, while it was in full flood.

Under a heavy Austrian artillery barrage the HAC’s 2nd Battalion, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Richard O’Connor led a force of Italians, Americans and British over the river, compelling the garrison of the strategic island of Papadopoli in the main channel to surrender. Thereafter, the Italian and Allied pursuit of the enemy continued for ten days, ending in the complete rout of the Austrians; an armistice came into effect on November 4, 1918. The upshot was the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

For this remarkable feat of arms the HAC was awarded two Distinguished Service Orders, five Military Crosses, three Distinguished Conduct Medals and 29 Military Medals. And to show their appreciation of the British contribution the Italian authorities awarded each member of the 2nd Battalion HAC a special medallion generally awarded only to Italian units. O’Connor, who was awarded a Bar to his DSO, went on to distinguish himself as a general in the Second World War in which, ironically, he spent some time as a prisoner of the Italians against whom he fought in the Western Desert.

Today the HAC’s pikemen and musketeers, whose colourful uniforms, morions, breastplates and waving plumes, are based on those of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army of the 1640s, are a familiar sight to Londoners for their contribution to many ceremonials, ranging from the Lord Mayor’s Show to firing salutes at the Tower of London to mark the sovereign’s birthday. What is perhaps less generally known is its proud history as a fighting regiment since its formation in the reign of Henry VIII in 1537 for “the better increase of the Defence of this our realm and maintenance of the Science and Feat of Shooting Long Bows, Cross Bows and Hand Guns”.

It won its first battle honour in the Boer War and its members fought in both world wars, in France, Flanders, Italy, the Middle East, the Netherlands and Germany. It is currently a unit of the Territorial Army, based in London, and provides the British Army with a dedicated surveillance regiment. As such it undertakes the important role of mounting covert reconnaissance patrols to gather intelligence and target information for the deep-strike systems — multiple rocket launchers and aircraft — of the British Army and Nato forces. Over the past dozen years its soldiers have served alongside their regular army counterparts, either as individuals or as sub-units, in a wide variety of roles in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Battle of Vittorio Veneto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Oldest regiment hails a great victory

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