Military of Wales

Andrew Dawes is commander of the 160th Welsh Brigade and Head of the army in Wales.[2][3][4]

Motto: Gwell Angau na Chywilydd / Better Death than Dishonour[5]

The Royal Welsh is a large infantry regiment that was formed on St David's Day 2006 by merging The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) and The Royal Welch Fusiliers. The regiment was composed of two battalions, one armoured infantry and one light infantry, as well as a reserve battalion. The regiment has a famous goat mascot, which is sometimes referred to as a ranking soldier. In April 2014, the 2nd Battalion was merged into the 1st Battalion to form a single armoured infantry battalion. The 3rd Battalion now serves as light infantry in the Army Reserve.[6]

• April 2006: 1st Bn (Battalion) deployed to Cyprus.
• October 2007–April 2008: 1st Bn deployed to Afghanistan.
• October 2009–April 2012: 1st Bn deployed to Afghanistan for operational tours.
• May 2007–November 2007: 2nd Bn deployed to Iraq during Operation Telic.
• Between 2009 and 2011: 2nd Bn sent individual companies to Helmand in Afghanistan[6]

Since 2011, the Armoured Infantry Battalion has been deployed in operations and training exercises in: Somalia, Estonia, Ukraine, Germany, Kenya, Canada and the United States.[6]

The regiment is Light Cavalry. It was founded in 1685, and has been described as having a distinguished history of over 300 years. The 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards is the Cavalry Regiment of Wales and the border counties, and is commmonly known as The Welsh Cavalry; it is currently based in Robertson Barracks, Norfolk. The regiment specialises in reconnaissance and fights enemy forces for information about the enemy and the environment. The Welsh Cavalry uses Jackal 2 high mobility vehicles and also moves on foot, making the regiment very versatile and adaptable to various environments. Soldiers and officers in the cavalry also train foreign military personnel.[7]

On 9 December 2021, it was announced that the Welsh Cavalry would move to a revamped Barracks in Caerwent, near Newport in Wales in 2028.[8]

• 1991 The Cavalry breaches the Iraqi defensive line in the Gulf War
• 2003-7 Three operational tours in Iraq
• 2008-14 Three operational tours in Afghanistan
• 2018-19 Two tours of Operation Cabrit in Poland[7]

The Welsh Guards in Lashkar Gar, Helmand.

The Welsh Guards were formed in 1915 and have taken part in almost every British army campaign since World War I. The Welsh Guards are a Light Role Infantry, as a mobile and agile attack force. The Welsh Guards also have a ceremonial role in prominent English ceremonies and buildings. The Welsh Guards are particularly famous for thei red tunics and bearskin hats.[9]

• The 1st Battalion is deployed to the Falklands War also winning battle honours.
• The 1st Battalion plays a leading role in Operation Panchai Palang in Afghanistan.[9]

Formation sign of the 160th (Wales) Brigade, based on the 53rd (Welsh) Division sign from the Second World War.

The Welsh Brigade was founded in 1908, and served in both World Wars as part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. Welsh Brigade is responsible for field operations rather than regimental operations. The brigade is also known for Exercise Cambrian Patrol. The headquarters of the brigade is the 160th (Welsh) Brigade/Brigâd 160 (Cymru) is the headquarters responsible for the delivery of UK Ops within Wales.[1]

Located in Wales, wiithin the Brigade:

• 1st Battalion The Rifles
• 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh
• 14 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare)
• 104 Regiment Royal Artillery
• 157 (Welsh) Regiment RLC
• 203 Field Hospital
• Infantry Battle School
• The Royal Monmouthshire RE (Militia)
• Wales UOTC[10]

Royal Air Force Valley, or more simply RAF Valley (Welsh: Llu Awyr Brenhinol Y Fali) is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Ynys Môn/Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both Basic and Advanced fast-jet training using the Texan T1 and Hawk T2 and provides mountain and maritime training for aircrew using the Jupiter T1 helicopter.

MOD St Athan is a large Ministry of Defence site in the Vale of Glamorgan. The RAF’s non-aircraft, ground engineering technicians are trained here.

MOD St Athan is the base for No 4 School of Technical Training, which provides training to personnel from the three branches of the armed forces as well as MOD civilian staff. St Athan is also the base of the University of Wales Air Squadron.[11]

HMS Cambria is the lead Royal Naval Reserve unit in Wales. It is based at Sully near the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

HMS Cambria base, Cardiff.

HMS Cambria was established as the Royal Naval Reserve unit for South Wales in July 1947 and originally occupied buildings in Cardiff Docks. Cambria remained in Cardiff until 1980, when the redevelopment of the docks there precipitated a move to the former service married couples' accommodation at Sully, Vale of Glamorgan. The unit was granted Freedom of the Vale in 2012, but was due to move to Cardiff Bay during 2020.[12]

Over the years Cambria, like many other RNR units, operated a number of seagoing ships; a motor minesweeper – the unit's first tender – was replaced in 1954 by the wooden-hulled minesweeper Brereton, which gave way in turn to Crichton (1961–76); all of these were rechristened HMS St David. In 1978 the unit acquired a converted trawler, which was again renamed St David. The ship's final vessel, acquired in 1984, was the new minesweeper Waveney, which was not renamed. Waveney remained with HMS Cambria until 1994, when a reorganisation of the RNR led to the abandonment of seagoing tenders.[13]

Cambria is one of only three RNR units to have a satellite unit. The Swansea-Tawe Division, based at Swansea, began its life as a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Wireless unit in 1932. Having originally begun life with just one recruit, the unit had expanded to 48 members by 1970. The unit was briefly commissioned as the stone frigate HMS Dragon from 1984 to 1994, but was subsequently made subordinate to Cambria and rechristened to its current name.

HMS Dragon (D35) is the fourth ship of the Type 45 or Daring-class air-defence destroyers built for the Royal Navy. She was launched in November 2008 and commissioned on 20 April 2012.[14] The warship is based in Portsmouth and also has affiliations with Cardiff, Wales.[15] The original red dragons on the bows of the ship were provately funded and were removed during a refit. An appeal by the ship to its supporters in Cardiff and the British Warships Association (BWA), headquartered in Wales, received immediate response and support, and the Welsh dragons were reintroduced to the bows of the ship.[16]

The Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon in the English-French channel with a red Welsh dragon on its bow.

• April 2014: Dragon was deployed to waters north of Scotland, after sailing from Portsmouth to track the Russian warship Vice-Admiral Kulakov.[17] She was part of the Royal Navy's Atlantic Patrol Tasking in late 2014, visiting places such as the South Georgia Islands, the Falkland Islands, and a transit through the Panama Canal.[18]
• October 2016: Dragon tracked two Russian corvettes in the Atlantic Ocean and Bay of Biscay during a major deployment of Russian naval forces near the United Kingdom.[19]
• 11 February 2017: Dragon rescued the fourteen crew of the dismasted and adrift British yacht Clyde Challenger in the Atlantic Ocean 610 nautical miles (1,130 km) south west of Land's End, Cornwall.[20] Clyde Challenger was subsequently scuttled.[21]
• 26 November 2018: press release claimed Dragon discovered a suspicious boat while on operation in the Middle East. Sailors and Royal Marines boarded the vessel, and found 148 bags containing 3,048 kg of hashish.[22]
• 15 March 2019, Dragon made its seventh drug seizure: 224 kg of heroin from a fishing vessel in the Arabian Sea.[23] During her time in the Arabian Sea, Dragon made eight drug busts and seized over eighteen tons of narcotics, a record for the number of successful busts and the total weight of drugs seized by a Royal Navy ship in the Middle East.

The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was formed in 1969 by the amalgamation of the South Wales Borderers and the Welch Regiment. The 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) had a short existence in military terms, just over 36 years. Within two months of amalgamation, the battalion was one of the first units to be deployed to Northern Ireland.

On 1 March 2006 it was announced that, as part of the reorganisation of the infantry, the Royal Welch Fusiliers and the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) would amalgamate to form the Royal Welsh. This occurred on 1 March 2006, St David's Day, the national day of Wales.[24]

Statue of Held Wyn, Welsh poet from Trawfynydd who famously served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in World War I, and posthumously winning the Eisteddfod Chair for his poetry.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers (Welsh: Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, founded in 1689 shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and became The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers; the prefix "Royal" was added in 1713, then confirmed in 1714 when George I named it The Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers. After the 1751 reforms that standardised the naming and numbering of regiments, it became the 23rd Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers).

It retained the archaic spelling of Welch, instead of Welsh, and Fuzileers for Fusiliers; these were engraved on swords carried by regimental officers during the Napoleonic Wars.[25] After the 1881 Childers Reforms, its official title was The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but "Welch" continued to be used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56.

It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, a different unit (formed in 1881 from the 41st and 69th) which recruited in South and West, rather than North Wales, and became part of the Royal Regiment of Wales or RRW in 1969.[26]

One of the few regiments to retain its original title, in March 2006 the Royal Welch Fusiliers was amalgamated with the RRW and became 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh, with RRW as the 2nd Battalion.

Plaque commemorating the liberation of a bridge in Normandy on D-Day by the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers.

The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years.

It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In 1782, it became the 24th Regiment of Foot, and had its depot in Warwickshire.

Based at Brecon from 1873, the regiment recruited from the border counties of Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, and Herefordshire. It was not called the South Wales Borderers until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in a great many conflicts, including the American War of Independence, various conflicts in India, the Zulu War, Second Boer War, and World War I and World War II. In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the Welch Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Wales.

The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot and 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Welsh Regiment, by which it was known until 1920 when it was renamed the Welch Regiment. In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the South Wales Borderers to form the Royal Regiment of Wales.

The 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought in both the First and Second World Wars. Originally raised in 1908 as the Welsh Division, part of the Territorial Force (TF), the division saw service in First World War, being designated 53rd (Welsh) Division in mid-1915, and fought in the Gallipoli Campaign and in the Middle East. Remaining active in the Territorial Army (TA) during the interwar period as a peacetime formation, the division again saw action in Second World War, fighting in North-western Europe from June 1944 until May 1945.

The 53rd Division was temporarily disbanded at the end of the war, but was reactivated in 1947 when the Territorial Army was reformed and reorganised. In 1968 the division was finally deactivated, but its 160th Brigade remains in service today. As the name suggests, the division recruited mainly in Wales, but also in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire.

These were formations of the Territorial Force of the British Army, organised in 1908. After home defence service, they were posted to Egypt, where they were absorbed into the 4th Dismounted Brigade in March 1916.

HMS Daedalus II had a base in Pembrokeshire for a year. In 1942 an outstation of the Sandbanks base was opened at RNAS Lawrenny Ferry in Pembrokeshire and 764 NAS was moved there as an operational conversion unit. 764 NAS remained at Lawrenny Ferry until October 1943 when the squadron was disbanded and the base reduced to care and maintenance status.[27][28]

There are several former air bases in Wales.

For a full list of Royal Air Force stations in Wales see: Category: Royal Air Force stations in Wales