Brief Extracts.

                        Parent Units (Post War)

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Parent Units              Sister Battery's                         Transferred To

Links to our Sister Battery's Sites are listed on our Contacts & Links Page

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• THIRD MAHARATTA WAR      1817 -18       Army of India Medal with Bars

• FIRST AFGHAN WAR              1839 - 40      Ghunzee Medal

• PERSIAN WAR               1856 - 57  Recommended for the V.C. Capt Worgans

• BOER WAR           1899 - 1902

Distinguished Service Order           Lt JGP Wickham , Sgt Pilkington.

Distinguished Conduct Medal          Dvr Hester, Gnr Frost, Gnr Davis.

Mentioned in Despatches               Maj GG Simpson,Capt HR Gotto,
                                                    Capt AH Devenish, BSM Rinham.

• THE GREAT WAR          1914 - 1918

• WORLD WAR TWO        1939 - 1945

Medal Of St George 1st Class
Russian Decoration                   WOII (BSM) WJ Baker. 

• KOREAN WAR

Mentioned in Despatches
Bronze Oak Leaf.                       Maj LVF Fawkes OBE DSO MC RA

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Brigadier Guy Fawkes, who died in October 2003 aged 90, was awarded an MC in an action in front of the Gazala Line, North Africa, in 1942 and a DSO in an attack on the Mareth Line the next year.
On April 9 1942, Fawkes, then a major in command of a battery of 74 Field Regiment RA, was operating with a mixed column of tanks, artillery and infantry forward of the Gazala Line. The column was heavily shelled and attacked by tanks, but he set a fine example by his coolness under fire at one of his troop positions.
When three guns had been put out of action and the entire detachment of the fourth had been killed or wounded, Fawkes continued to fire the remaining gun until all his ammunition was exhausted.
He was the last to leave and, after making sure that his other troop had withdrawn safely, he went back to try to recover the gun sights, although it was almost certain that the position was in enemy hands. He was awarded an immediate MC.

Lindsay Valentine Francis Fawkes was born in South Africa on May 6 1913. Parachuting held a fascination for him from an early age and, as a child, he used to experiment in jumping from the roof of a house using bed sheets.
Fawkes went to Cheltenham College before attending the Royal Military Academy Woolwich. Known as "Guy" from his early days in the Army, he was posted to India in 1934 and served as second-in-command of 79 Field Battery at Fyzabad, Lucknow and Mhow. He transferred to 74 Field Regiment RA in 1941 and served as a troop commander in Cyprus and Iraq before taking command of his battery in North Africa.

On the night of March 20 1943, Fawkes's battery had the task of providing fire support to the 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry in the attack on the heavily-defended Mareth line. When the battalion commander of the Durhams was killed and the second-in-command wounded, Fawkes encouraged the men to get forward while he crossed the Wadi Zigzaou under heavy machine-gun fire and dug himself an observation post which he occupied throughout the next day.
Fawkes sent back vital information, and when the battalion withdrew and his post came under tank fire, he continued to direct his battery on the advancing armour and infantry. His actions at a critical time were recognised by the award of the DSO.

Fawkes fought in Sicily with 74 Field Regiment RA before attending Staff College at Haifa. After a staff appointment at Algiers and Caserta, he served as Brigade Major RA at 8th Indian Division in Italy again.In 1950, after a number of staff and regimental appointments, Fawkes took command of 11 (Sphinx) LAA Battery in 27th Independent Infantry Brigade in Korea and was mentioned in dispatches.
In 1955, he commanded 33 Parachute Field Regiment and saw active service in Cyprus in operations against Eoka terrorists and in Egypt during the Suez crisis. He was appointed OBE in 1957.

In the second of two postings to Far East Land Forces in Singapore, Fawkes was appointed Commander RA of the 17th Gurkha Division; he was responsible for advising the C-in-C on artillery support for operations in North Borneo to counter Indonesian incursions across the border.

Fawkes was ADC to the Queen from 1966 to 1968, when he retired from the Army.

He moved to a village near Farnham, Surrey, and embarked on a second career as a stockbroker in London. He enjoyed fishing, shooting and gardening, and would climb apple trees to gather the fruit until he was well into his eighties.

He married, in 1945, Susan Kemble, who predeceased him. He is survived by a son and a daughter.

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        In 1950, full-scale war broke out in Korea, when the North, supplied and backed by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. America responded to a call for help in repelling Communist aggression. The successful intervention of American troops then brought China into the War in support of the North Koreans. Attempts by the United Nations to solve the issue peaceably failed through the Soviet use of its Veto powers, and a large Multi-National force was formed by the UN under American overall command, to which two British Brigades were sent. In July 1951 these expanded to a full Commonwealth Division, with Artillery support, heavily engaged in bitter close fighting.

        Although the Chinese operated Air Attacks, by modern Mig 15 fighters and with Soviet assistance, the combined Allied UN Air Force exercised superiority in tactics and numbers, so that the main air battles were fought in air-to-air combat over and beyond the front line.

        Anti Aircraft defence was not a critical factor in the campaign and the three British LAA Batteries sent to Korea were largely committed to other ground role tasks.

         The three were 11th (SPHINX) arriving in November 1950, 120th in October 1951 and 42nd a month later. There was a great demand for firepower in the ground role to deal with massed Chinese Infantry attacks. All three Batteries were therefore reorganised to contain one large 40mm Gun Troop and three Troops equipped with Mortars. 

          Some LAA Troops had a rather dull time in AA Defence of Brigades and HQs, but the remainder were heavily engaged in Bombardment, Harassing, Counter-Battery and “Bunker Busting” tasks.

           11th (SPHINX) LAA Battery, for example, had a series of very close actions in support of 29th Infantry Brigade in April 1952, in the struggle to hold Hills 257 and 398 against strong Chinese Attacks, in which Enemy Infantry penetrated the UN Field Artillery Area. The Battery drove the Chinese out with sustained 40mm fire and mounted a Counter-Attack to force them back across the Imjin River, gaining a respite for 45th Field Regiment to be pulled back into more secure positions.

         More close fighting followed.

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