Blank looks are the common response from most of today’s Gunners when in answer to a question “in which regiments have you served” the reply is 6th  Field Regiment, 12th  Field Regiment, 4th Field Regiment, 8/12 Medium Regiment and 28 ANZUK Field Regiment. It is the last-28th ANZUK-that elicits the blank looks. It is the forgotten Regiment since only two Australian artillery batteries served as part of it; 108 Field Battery served for less than two months and 106 Field Battery from January 1972 until January 1974.

Until 1971 the British Commonwealth maintained a presence in Malaysia in the form of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade. In 1971 it was announced that a new arrangement would see Australian, New Zealand and British troops remain in Singapore and Malaysia under an Australian commander of two star rank. The troops were to operate under the Five Power Defence Arrangements  which stated that Singapore and Malaysia were to be responsible for their own defence with Australia, New Zealand and the UK committed to “immediately consult” with the Malaysian and Singaporean Governments should any attack or threat of attack be made against them. The creation of an ANZUK Force on 1 November 1971 provided the tangible military commitment to the Arrangements.

The ANZUK Force consisted of 7,500 uniformed personnel from the three services as well as 4.750 locally employed civilians. The Force was tri-service and structured as follows:

Naval Component based in Singapore-two Royal Navy (RN) Frigates, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN)frigates and a submarine drawn from either the RN or RAN.
Army Component based in Singapore- 28th ANZUK Brigade:

• Infantry - 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment,  1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers
  
  
• Artillery – 28th Field Regiment comprising an Australian field battery, a British field battery and a combined Australian/British HQ Battery
  
  
• Engineers-28th Field Squadron
  
  
• Army Aviation Squadron
  
  
• Brigade Signals Squadron

Air Force – mainly concentrated in Butterworth, Malaysia.  No 3 and No 75 Squadrons Royal Australian Air Force (Mirages). Based at Tengah were Royal Air Force Shackletons and Whirlwind helicopters as well as Royal New Zealand Air Force Bristol freighters and 41 Squadron Iroquois helicopters.

ANZUK Support Group comprised 24 integrated units (UK, NZ and Australian service personnel) and provided all logistic support to the Force.

ANZUK Force Units consisted of9 ANZUK Signal Regiment, ANZUK Traffic and Management Agency, ANZUK Intelligence and Security Unit and 65 Ground Liaison Section. All integrated units.

The Gunners

The Regiment

The 28th ANZUK Field Regiment had been raised officially on 1st August 1971 with an Australian battery (108 based at Selarang) and a British battery (1st Light) and an integrated Headquarters based at Nee Soon Barracks. The arrival of 106 Field Battery RAA in Singapore in January 1972 to join 1st Light Battery RA “The Blazers” in Nee Soon Barracks marked the formation proper of 28th ANZUK  Field Regiment The Commanding Officer was a British scholar and gentleman Lieutenant Colonel Trefor Jones-not a misspelling; his name was Trefor.  His Second-in –Command an Australian Gunner of reputation, Major Noel Delahunty, MC with Major Bill Hills RA commanding 1st Light Battery and the loquacious Major Jim Townley commanding 106 Field Battery RAA. HQ Battery was a polyglot of Brits, Australians and the odd Kiwi.

The first order of business, as in all Armies, was to sort out the standards of dress for the Regiment. Brits wore stable belts, Aussies didn’t-solution –all wear stable belts in walking out dress. The Aussies wore decoration ribbons on walking out dress the Brits didn’t. Brits wore berets, Aussies slouch hats. Major Delahunty suggested that both nationalities should wear their ribbons and that to provide a lead to the Regiment the Commanding Officer should begin to wear ribbons. Lieutenant Colonel Jones thought it a splendid idea but raised a minor technical issue in leading from the front; “Noel, I don’t have any decorations”.

The Officers Mess

Dress sorted, the intellectual capabilities of the officers were focussed upon the Officers Mess which was to be shared with the Royal Highland Fusiliers (RHF).  The Mess reflected the era of the British Raj and was littered with infantry memorabilia collected over the hundreds of years that the RHF claimed as its lineage. The RHF traced its heritage back to 1689 and the Battle of Walcourt  in the Spanish Netherlands and from that time  changed designations and names until in 1959 it became known as The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret’s Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment).

Over the period 1972 to end 1973 there were a large number of Exercises mainly conducted in Malaysia. There were Brigade, Regimental, Battalion and Battery exercise. Movement to the exercise areas was generally by road then internal movement a combination of helicopter and Land Rover gun tractor. For long road moves the guns were carried on the Mark 5 trucks. The photograph below shows 106 Field Battery unloading its guns at Asahan Hutted Camp in January 1972.

Then there were the live firing exercises. Most were conducted at Asahan but the final 106 Battery shoot occurred on the Southern Islands, which as their name suggest were south of Singapore. The gun position was on one island and the impact area on another.

The Commanding Officer was central to the military precision and pomp of the mounted parade. Under Trefor Jones the clear, concise, clipped commands would ring out over the parade ground;

“Regiment-attention shun! Regiment Mount! Regiment Start Up” and finally “Regiment Drive Past!”

On the first order the assembled troops would come to attention and officers would salute. On the “mount “order the officers would come down from the salute, and all would smartly move to their vehicles  with officers  and Gun Sergeants standing and left arm braced on the windshield. On “Start Up” the drivers would start their engines and when each vehicle was turning over the vehicle commander would raise his right arm to signify the vehicle was ready to move. On the order “Drive Past” the vehicles, by batteries, would move forward in turn. It was a delight to behold.

The first parade with the new commanding officer in January 1973 things did not” go according to Hoyle”.  The troops, vehicles and guns were positioned by the RSM; the officers posted by the Adjutant, the parade handed over to the Second-in Command and finally to Lieutenant Colonel Delahunty, lord of us all. The Colonel took a deep breath and roared out “RRREGIMENT ARRRGH”.

1st Light Battery RA came to attention, half the officers saluted, the other half climbed into their vehicles. 106th Field Battery RAA did not move at all, at least not until the Battery Commander  saluted then gazed around-saw that some Brits had climbed into their vehicles and did likewise. Half the battery followed. Half of Headquarter Battery saluted, climbed in their vehicles, started them and began to move.  The Commanding Officer stared in disbelief at the events he had put in train, about turned and marched off the parade ground.

A few minutes of general milling occurred before the Second-in-Command plucked up the courage to scamper of the parade ground to seek further guidance. He reappeared from the Headquarter building to call for the Adjutant who scurried off merely to quickly appear again and order “Fall Out the Officers”! We gathered behind the building to be told that regardless of what the Commanding Officer appeared to order on any given parade we were to:

Come to attention-pause two three

Salute –pause two three-Mount up-pause two three-Start up-pause two three

Wait for the Commanding Officer to mount his vehicle then Drive Off in order.

The final”combined activity”-a parade-of 28 ANZUK Brigade took place on 23 October 1973 at Kangaw. All ANZUK units were on parade and, as usual the Regiment was mounted.

Sport

Sport there was aplenty. The batteries played the Kiwi infantry, the Aussie Infantry, the Scots infantry, the transport unit, the signallers Uncle Tom Cobley and all. When they ran out of external competition the batteries had each other in almost all disciplines. To name but a few there was soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis, sailing, hockey, swimming, golf, athletics, tug of war and basket ball. Exercises were looked upon as a holiday!

The Humour

As should be expected the amalgamations of Poms, Aussies and Kiwis gave rise to great moments in humour. Luckily, ANZUK Force had its captive cartoonist, a serving soldier, who saw the funny side of all the ANZUK elements. Below are a few of his well aimed shots at the Gunners.

The End

In 1973 the Whitlam Government signalled an end to “Forward Defence” and the Australian component of ANZUK was warned for Return to Australia. Two years of Commonwealth Gunner integration had come to an end. 28th ANZUK Field Regiment had its moment in the sun and shone. The ultimate compliment was paid to the Regt when, the three second-in –commands of the ANZUK infantry battalions were discussing the success of ANZUK. One offered the opinion that the three nationalities involved in ANZUK had worked well together. A second commented that there were really four nationalities:

“The Brits, the Aussies, the Kiwis and the bloody Gunners!”