165th Field Regiment R.A

[David W]

Does anyone have an accurate date of arrival in N.Africa for this unit?

I have July 1942. But nothing more precise.

Plus confirmation of 3 x Bty; 8 x 25Pdr please.

[daveh]

165th Field Regiment RA

25-5-42 formed in Persia from:

RHQ 83rd AT Regt
224 AT Battery
463 Battery from 87th Field Regiment R.A
486 Battery from 121st Field Regiment R.A

Under the command of 26th Indian Infantry Brigade Group, 6th Indian Infantry Division

7-6-42 re designated 165th Field Regiment R.A

13-7-42 arrived Egypt with 26th Indian Infantry Brigade Group.

Unfortunately Joslen does not give the equipment for this unit. However he does note that the 224 AT Battery rejoined the 83rd AT Regt on 17-8-42.

Does this mean the 224 battery was equipped with AT guns before, during and after its time with 165th Field Regiment R.A?

[David W]

Thanks for the D.o.A daveh.
I would imagine that just the personel from the A/T battery were included, not the guns.
But I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[JonS]

c.f. my comments re: 121 Fd here (incl specific reference to 83 AT Regt). Cross attaching AT Btys to Fd Regts was trialled in Persia, but apparently didn't work as well in practice as it did in theory.

Having been proved wrong about 121 having three btys, I'll nevertheless go out on almost the same limb and say that by mid-1942 a fd regt would have 3 x 8 25-pr, especially if it was coming from England. Somewhat less certain about that if it was coming from elsewhere (eg, India, or 9th or 10th Army, etc).

Jon

[David W]

Jon.

It would seem that for every rule, there is an exception!

[JonS]

Well, it always pays to remember that this is the British Army being discussed The only thing that was standard was the general lack of standardisation