131st (Lowland – City of Glasgow) Field Regiment was a Royal Artillery (RA) unit of Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA) created just before World War II. It was formed from part of 80th (Lowland – City of Glasgow) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, itself descended from the 1st Lanarkshire Artillery Volunteers, first raised in Glasgow, Scotland in 1859. After serving in home defence the regiment fought in Normandy (Operation Overlord) and through the campaign in North West Europe, distinguishing itself in the action at Asten. It was disbanded after the end of the war.
Mobilisation
The TA was doubled in size after the Munich Crisis of 1938, and most regiments split to form duplicates. Part of the reorganisation was that field artillery regiments changed from four six-gun batteries to an establishment of two batteries, each of three four-gun troops. For the 80th (Lowland – City of Glasgow) Fd Rgt this resulted in the following organisation from 31 March 1939:Litchfield, pp. 287–8.Frederick, pp. 491-3, 521, 531.Farndale, p. 9.Farndale, Annex M.Sainsbury, pp. 17–20; Appendix 2.
80th (Lowland – City of Glasgow) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) at Glasgow 317 (1st City of Glasgow) Field Bty at Glasgow 318 (2nd City of Glasgow) Field Bty at Maryhill
131st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery RHQ at Glasgow 319 (3rd City of Glasgow) Field Bty at Glasgow 320 (4th City of Glasgow) Field Bty at Townhead
On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, 131st Field Regiment mobilised in 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division (the duplicate of the TA's established 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division).Joslen, pp. 58–9.Martin, pp. 1–4; Appendix C.
World War II Home defence Upon mobilisation, 15th (S) Division moved into the Scottish Borders to begin its training, with the artillery at Selkirk and Jedburgh. After three months it returned to winter quarters, which were chosen to meet the defence requirements of the Firth of Clyde and Firth of Forth: in the case of 131st Fd Rgt, this was to billets in the southwestern suburbs of Glasgow. The division marched out to the Borders to resume training in April 1940, with 131st Fd Rgt at Annan, attached to 46th (Highland) Brigade at Dumfries. The division was now one of those assigned to the 'Julius Caesar' defence plan, even though it still had virtually no equipment.Martin, pp. 4–6.Collier, Chapter, V; Map 5.
At the beginning of May the division was suddenly ordered to vacate its camps, which were required to house the troops being evacuated from the failed Norwegian campaign. It moved south to the area of Wiltshire and Berkshire under Southern Command. The German invasion of the Low Countries followed on 10 May, and four days later 15th (S) Division began moving again, this time by successive brigade groups to take up defensive positions on the south-east Essex coast under Eastern Command. 45th Brigade and the divisional troops first moved to Hertford, then from 26 May the complete division was positioned along the Essex coast under the command of XI Corps. The divisional artillery had the task of covering the whole divisional front from Southend-on-Sea to Harwich () from static positions with a very small number of guns. On 31 May the three field artillery regiments between them had six 18-pounder guns and twelve 4.5-inch howitzers, all of World War I vintage. After the Dunkirk evacuation this was the front line of Britain's defences.Collier, p. 125, Map 6.Martin, pp. 6–10.
The division remained in its positions through the autumn and into the winter of 1940-41. As the danger of invasion receded, training was stepped up with divisional exercises. In February 1941 the division moved north to take over defence of the Suffolk coast. By now 131st Fd Rgt possessed four modern Mk II 25-pounder guns, but it was not until September that the whole divisional artillery was equipped with 25-pdrs and Quad gun tractors.Collier, Maps 17 & 20.Farndale, p. 95; Annex D.Martin, pp. 10–1. 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. The regiment formed its third battery, 495 Fd Bty, on 27 February 1941, when it was stationed at Martlesham.Farndale, pp. 99–100.
In November 1941 15th (S) Division moved to Northumberland under IX Corps, but it was placed on a lower establishment, recognising that it was not going to be deployed overseas in the short term. Instead, it became a feeder of men and units for other formations. 131st Field Rgt was the only field artillery regiment that remained with the division at this time. It was stationed with 46th (H) Bde around Alnwick.Martin, pp. 12–4. The regiment was authorised to use its parent regiment's 'Lowland – City of Glasgow' subtitle on 17 February 1942.
Overlord training In March 1943 the division was restored to full establishment, initially as a 'Mixed' division including an armoured brigade, then from September 1943 as a conventional infantry division as part of Second Army in 21st Army Group preparing for the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord). In that month, 15th (S) Division moved from Northumberland to a training area in the West Riding of Yorkshire and began a series of training exercises through the winter. 131st Field Rgt was paired with the new 227th (Highland) Bde for training and future operations. In mid-February the whole division participated in a 12-day training exercise (Exercise Eagle) in the Yorkshire Wolds along with the other divisions assigned to VIII Corps. In April 1944 the division moved to its concentration area in Sussex to prepare for embarkation.Martin, pp. 16–27.
Normandy The assault formations of 21st Army Group landed on D Day (6 June). Although parts of 15th (S) Division had begun landing on 13 June, the weather deteriorated and some units were not complete until 23 June. The guns then moved up into 'hides' during 24 June before the division was committed to its first action in the Battle of the Odon (Operation Epsom) at 07.30 on 26 June. It attacked on a two-brigade front behind a Creeping barrage fired by 344 divisional and corps field and medium guns. The objective was to force crossings of the Rivers Orne and Odon. The infantry fought their way into the villages of Cheux and St Manvieu but the Odon bridges were still away at the end of the first day. The following day the Scots captured the vital bridge over the Odon, by the end of which 15th (S) Division had created a deep salient into the German positions (known as 'Scottish Corridor') without reaching the Orne. Over following days the Germans made repeated attempts to overwhelm the corridor. Ultimately the Germans could not take the pounding from concentrated Allied firepower and had to stop their attacks. However, Operation Epsom caused a quarter of all the casualties suffered by 15th (S) Division in the North West Europe campaign.Buckley, pp. 77–82.Ellis, Normandy, pp. 277–80.Keegan, pp. 166–81.Martin, pp. 27, 30–57.Martin, Appendix A.McKee, pp. 154–78.Neal, pp. 16–8.Saunders, Epsom, pp. 23–31, 37–87, 93–100, 112–20, 163–76.Stacey, pp. 147–9.
For the next month the division fought its way slowly through the Bocage country, capturing Éterville, retaking Gavrus and advancing to Évrecy in Operations Jupiter and Greenline. During the latter operation a German counter-attack with tanks and infantry threatened Battalion HQ of 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders: while the battalion's anti-tank gun platoon knocked out the tanks at point-blank range, 131st Fd Rgt dispersed the infantry.Ellis, Normandy, p. 334.Martin, pp. 62–78.
The division was then quickly switched west for Operation Bluecoat, the attack on Caumont-sur-Orne, beginning on 30 July. This allowed the artillery little time to plan, and to preserve secrecy there was no preliminary bombardment. 15th (Scottish) Division's artillery, including 131st Fd Rgt married up with 227th (H) Bde, were tasked with firing concentrations in support of the attacking troops in Phase I. The field regiments also had observation posts (OPs) in tanks with the supporting 6th Guards Tank Brigade. For Phase II a 110 minute slow barrage was fired. Three-quarters of the 25-pdr rounds were fuzed to Air burst, which was effective over bocage and allowed the tanks to keep close to the barrage in safety. The division's objective was Point 309 ('Quarry Hill') to protect the flank of the attack. Launched on 30 July the attack made good progress, with 15th (S) Division getting onto the Estry and Perrier Ridges to support the advancing armour. Heavy fighting ensued for several days, 15th (S) Division supporting 43rd (Wessex) Division's seizure of Mont Pinçon on 6 August. On 13 August the Germans began to withdraw and 15th (S) Division was relieved and went to rest.Anon, Bluecoat, p. 26.Buckley, pp. 153, 160–5.Daglish, pp. 25–6, 29–54, 170–1.Ellis, Normandy, pp. 388–91, 402, 409.Martin, pp. 78–106.McKee, pp. 332–3.Neal, p. 19.
Low Countries After its rest, the regiment joined XII Corps and was engaged in rapid movements as 21st Army Group advanced to the River Seine. 15th (S) Division made an assault crossing of the river against limited opposition, and the Royal Engineers soon erected bridges to allow the supporting units to cross. The division pressed on to Les Andelys, finding the Germans already gone. The armoured divisions then passed through, and after four days 15th (S) Division followed them into Belgium, taking over a small bridgehead across the Albert Canal near Geel. On 13 September the division's task was to push on to the Junction Canal: 227th (H) Bde came into the bridgehead and began extending it northeastwards. 131st Field Rgt was following the advanced guard of 10th Battalion Highland Light Infantry (HLI) when a call for fire came at 16.00. The leading battery, 319, unlimbered and got its first round off in two minutes. The whole regiment was ready, with its survey done, within a quarter of an hour, and was soon responding to divisional calls to support the other brigades. By the time 10th HLI got to Mol the Germans had gone and blown the canal bridge beyond.Martin, pp. 110–32.Neal, pp. 20–1.
On the night of 14/15 September the division struggled to seize a bridgehead over the canal at Aart and then defend it against a succession of counter-attacks. Ammunition shortage restricted the divisional artillery to urgent defensive fire (DF) tasks only. One attack on the evening of 16 September was held off by small arms fire, while the guns hit the enemy troops in the rear, then caught another counter-attack as it was forming up. The fire was directed by an OP high in a factory building, manned first by 181st Fd Rgt, later relieved by 131st Fd Rgt. Operation Market Garden was launched on 17 September, with XXX Corps breaking out of its own canal bridgehead. Given the fierce resistance at Aart, XII Corps HQ decided to cross elsewhere, while 15th (S) Division merely improved its position and bridged the Junction Canal. The divisional artillery continued its DF tasks to break up counter-attacks.Martin, pp. 132–47.Neal, pp. 21–2.
15th (Scottish) Division next went into action at Best on 21 September in an attempt to widen XXX Corps' narrow corridor. The divisional artillery OP parties took up position in the Bata Shoe Factory. On 26 September the division put in a set-piece attack on the cement factory with 46th (H) Bde, supported by the whole of the divisional artillery. Although Operation Market Garden had ended in failure, fighting continued round Best until 1 October, when the division was finally relieved for rest.Martin, pp. 156–70.