THE QUEEN`S REGIMENT 1966

As part of the expansion of the TA in 1984, six new territorial infantry battalions were formed. One of these being the 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Queen's Fusiliers (City of London) which officially formed on Albuhera Day, 16th May 1988 with a parade held at St. John's Hill, Clapham Junction. At this time, the battalion was unique in that although officially part of The Queens Regiment - the 8th Territorial Battalion , it contained rifle companies that were badged either Queen's Regiment or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

Battalion headquarters was established with a small Regular staff at Clapham Junction on 1st April 1986, with HQ (Gazala) Company personnel badged either Queens or RRF depending on individual preference. ‘The first commanding officer was Lt. Col. Nick Brunt RRF. Recruiting was an early priority and there was a strong campaign on Capital Radio, LBC and the local Press. The battalions first recruits attended a cadre run by 6/7 QUEEN’S at Camp on the Isle of Man in the summer of 1987.

A’ (Highwood) Company was also formed at Clapham Junction by the transfer of Number 10 Platoon, ‘D’ Company , 6/7 Queen's until the rebuilding of the new Drill Hall at Flodden Road, Camberwell was completed.

‘B’ (Albuhera) Company was formed by the transfer of the Edgware and Hornsey based company from 6/7 Queens and forming a replacement B Company at Brighton.

‘C’ (City of London Fusiliers) was formed by the transfer of ‘C’ Company, 5 RRF (V) based at Clapham. Both these two companies officially transferred on 16th May 1988.

In time of war, the battalion would have had a role in support of BAOR. This role was also unique as it was to provide the close support and convoy protection battalion for 50th Missile Regiment, Royal Artillery. 50th Missile were based in Dortmund and Menden, West Germany and were equipped with the American designed Lance free-flight rocket carried on the M752 tracked launcher. Lance was the main artillery 'punch' of the British Army as it would be fitted with a nuclear warhead. The nuclear warheads were kept under US Army custody and 50th Missile came under the direct control of HQ 1 (Br) Corps.

The new role saw an issue of the new Land Rover 110 with trailer down to rifle section level, this was due to the role being highly mobile as 50 Missile were likely to change their location every 12 hours in time of war.

This role was practised with the battalions first piece of collective training on 25-26 June 1988 with a weekend exercise involving defence and a 50-mile convoy escort undertaken with 151 Transport Regiment (V). The first annual camp for the new battalion was at Sennybridge in July 1988. The camp was primarily devoted to cadre training, as the battalion was short of a whole range of specialists.

Annual camp in 1989 was held at Stanford and was attended by over 250 volunteers as well as a platoon from 50 Missile Regiment RA. The first week was devoted to sub-unit training, including field firing. The second week saw the battalion conduct a FTX which included the construction of a defensive position, an advance to contact and a night assault river crossing in which 5 QUEEN’S (V) also participated.

On 21st May 1990, the 8th Battalion, The Queen's Fusiliers exercised its privilege of marching through the City of London, with Bayonets fixed and drums beating (alas no colours flying, as these had not been, nor ever were, presented to the battalion). This privilege had been inherited from 2 founder regiments of both the Queen's and Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in the form of the 3rd of Foot - The Buffs and the 7th of Foot - The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). Some 240 of the battalion were on parade in excellent weather, together with the St. George's Band of the RRF and the Corps of Drums of 1 Queen's.

The parade marched from the HAC's Armoury House in the City Road to the Guildhall, at which the whole battalion were treated to a reception by the Lord Mayor and Freemen of the Corporation of London. As a result of this privilege, an arm badge, consisting of a shield of the City of London, was authorised for wear by all members on the left upper arm.

In September 1990, 8 QF (V) deployed to camp in Menden, Germany on exercise "First Chance". The camp was in 2 parts, the first week was a FTX with 50th Missile Regiment RA, the second, a week of field firing on the Vogelsang Training Area near the Belgian border. The exercise with 50th Missile involved ‘B’ (Albuhera) Company under Major Kwame Carter, being detached to come under operational control of the gunners, whilst the remainder of the battalion provided the enemy Fantasian special forces. The enemy's task was to find 50th Missile in a large area, a task made more difficult as they moved into temporary hide locations including a working timbermill and large warehouses.

The exercise allowed 8QF to acquit itself well and many lessons regarding the battalions new war role were learnt. The second week ran less smoothly as the sponsorship and administration of 1 Armoured Division Signal Regiment was lost following their deployment to the Gulf. Nevertheless a full field-firing program was achieved. It is somewhat ironic that at the time the battalion was exercising its new role, the Warsaw Pact was disintegrating, Soviet troops were being withdrawn from Eastern Europe and Germany was being unified following the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Despite the rivalry expected between the two cap-badges, the Officers and Sergeants Messes worked extremely hard together. The fact that the battle honour Albuhera was shared by both regiments certainly helped matters. At the end of the camp, the beginnings of a new regimental spirit could be seen in embryonic stage.

In 1991, a composite company drawn from the battalion with a platoon provided by each of the rifle companies, went to Bloodhound Camp in Cyprus where a varied training programme of military skills and adventure training was undertaken. L/Cpl. Adrian "Sicknote" Mullen was unfortunately bitten by a rare Montpelier snake, which was venomous and was casevacc'ed by helicopter to hospital in Espiskopi.

The final act of training in 1991, was the conversion to the SA-80 small arms system. The 7.62mm Self Loading Rifle and 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun (Light Role) were replace by the 5.56mm Individual Weapon (IW) and 5.56mm Light Support Weapon (LSW) respectively. Drill Hall cadres were run in October and the battalion had its first chance to live fire the SA-80 in December at Pirbright. The weapon was also carried on the annual Lord Mayors Show in London, where the battalion had an opportunity to practise the newly adopted Slope Arms. It was interesting to see the guard detachment provided by 6th/7th Queen's carried the weapon at the shoulder as was the SLR. Apparently since being issued the SA-80, they had not had enough time to practise the new drill movements required with the new weapon.

As a move to further cement unit identity, a common shoulder title "Queen's Fusiliers" was issued to all ranks, and an attractive regimental tie was produced. The final step was that a standard stable belt would be worn, and plans to have colours presented were in hand when unfortunately, another review of the Territorial Army was announced. This was the infamous "Options for Change" which lead to the sad loss of The Queen’s Regiment.