162nd (East Africa) Field Regiment, R.A. – 303rd (East Africa) Field/Light Regiment, E.A.A.

The Regimental H.Q., 162nd (East Africa) Field Regiment, R.A. was formed in Ceylon to take command of two batteries already serving there.  On 30th April 1943, the Regiment was redesignated to become the 303rd (East Africa) Field Regiment, E.A.A.  In January 1945, the Regiment was redesignated as light regiment, equipped with the 3.7-inch howitzer.  From 19th July 1945, it reverted to being a field regiment, equipped with 25-pounder guns.

162nd (East Africa) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

The Headquarters, 162nd (East Africa) Field Regiment, R.A. was formed in Ceylon on 20th April 1942.  The Commanding Officer was Major D.B. Anderson.  The Regimental H.Q. was formed to take command of two East African batteries, the 53rd (E.A.), redesignated from the 1st E.A. Light Battery in October 1940, and the 54th (Nyasaland) Field Batteries, formed in August and September 1941.  These were equipped with the 18/25-pounder field gun.[1]

Major Anderson and other Officers arrived at Command H.Q., Colombo, Ceylon, from Kenya on 20th April 1942.  Orders were given that Anderson was to proceed to Kandy and to form a regimental headquarters from personnel already collected there from the disbanded 14th H.A.A. Battery, R.A.  Anderson then went on to Vavuniya to meet the Officers of the 53rd and 54th Batteries and to make arrangements for the reception of personnel.[2]

Both the 53rd and 54th Batteries at Vavuniya were equipped with 25-pounder Mk 2 guns, collected from Kandy on 28th April 1942.  The Regiment moved to practice camp at Mannar on 11th May 1942 and Lt. Colonel A.J.F. Sugden assumed command the next day.  The batteries returned from camp on 16th May and training continued.  From 1st May, the Regiment formed part of the 21st (East Africa) Infantry Brigade Group, serving with the 34th Indian Infantry Division.  During June, the Regiment participated in several exercises with the Brigade.[3]

Lt. Colonel Sugden was posted to the 160th Field Regiment, R.A. in Calcutta on 22nd July 1942.  He was succeeded on command of the 162nd Regiment by Lt. Colonel H.M. Ingledew.  By 1st September, the Regiment was located near Elephant Pass, Mankulam.  From here, the Regiment undertook training and took part in exercises for the remainder of the year and into 1943.[4]

On 30th April 1943 (with effect from 1st April 1943), the Regiment was redesignated as the 303rd (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A.[5]

 

303rd (East Africa) Field Regiment, E.A.A.

The 303rd (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A. remained at Mankulam, Ceylon, as part of the 21st (E.A.) Infantry Brigade Group, with the 53rd and 54th Field Batteries.  On 6th May 1943, one hundred African gunners arrived from East Africa: twenty-three from leave; seventy-seven as reinforcements.  More reinforcements joined later in the month together with the return of a second leave party.  The 58th (E.A.) Field Battery joined the Regiment on 1st July 1943.  The Regiment came under command of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division, as Divisional Troops, on 4th July 1943.[6]

On 11th July 1943, the Regiment moved to Practice Camp at Mannar for training and fire practice.  Returning to Mankulam on 16th August, it then left for Hambantota on 24th August to arrive on 26th August.  A leave draft left Hambantota for East Africa on 29th November, consisting of four Officers, one British Warrant Office and 202 African Ranks.  The Regiment moved to Horana on 21st December.[7]

The 58th Battery left Mankulam to return to the Regiment at Horana on 28th January 1944, arriving the next day; having left on 3rd December to train with the 25th (E.A.) Infantry Brigade.  The Regiment moved to Hambantota for training on 6th February.  During the month, the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division set out its intentions for amending the organisation, equipment and role of the Divisional Artillery to conform to the latest developments on the Burma front; the theatre of war which the Division was earmarked to enter in the future.  The 303rd (E.A.) Field Regiment, at that time equipped with the 25-pounder field gun, would in future operate two Jeep-towed batteries of 3.7-inch howitzers (eight per battery) and one battery equipped with the 3-inch mortar.  The 58th Battery fired the 3-inch mortar for the first time on 4th April and practiced with them again in early May.  Then, at a conference with the H.Q. R.A. of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division on 6th May 1944, it was confirmed that the 302nd and 303rd Regiments were to be 25-pounder regiments with a reduced scale of transport, using 15cwt trucks as tractors.  In the event, however, after arrival in India the Regiment was re-equipped with the 3.7-inch howitzer.  The 3-inch mortar was not to be used, due to a shortage of functioning mortars within the 11th (E.A.) Division.  As a result, the Regiment fielded three 3.7-inch howitzer batteries in the subsequent operation in the Kabaw Valley.[8]

Meanwhile in Ceylon, an African leave party for forty African Ranks left for Kasugoda Rest Camp on 1st March.  Leaving Hambantota on 7th April, the Regiment arrived at the Divisional Concentration Area near Dambulla on 11th April to participate in exercises.  During May, the 58th Battery undertook mortar practice.  The Batteries undertook firing practice in turn at Trincomalee.  Lt. Colonel Ingledew left the Regiment on 25th May to take command of the 4th Field Regiment, R.A.  He was replaced by Lt. Colonel R.F.J. Anderson.[9]

The Regiment went to Colombo on 17th June 1944 to embark for India, sailing on 20th June, having handed in its 25-pounder guns and limbers prior to leaving camp.  The men disembarked at Chittagong on 27th June and the next day moved to Dohazari.  The Regiment moved to the Imphal area between 2nd and 9th August, the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division now part of the XXXIII Indian Corps.  Upon arrival at Kaching, near Palel on 10th August, the Regiment was surprised to learn that it would now be equipped with the 3.7-inch howitzer.  The Regiment settled into camp at Kaching and the vehicles and guns arrived in stages; sixteen 3.7-inch howitzers arriving on 11th August and the remaining eight on 16th August.  However, the Regiment continued to be designated a field regiment  until January 1945.[10]

The 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division was now ordered to pursue the retreating Japanese down the Palel-Tamu Road to the Chindwin, and down the Kabaw Valley which runs North-South parallel to the Chindwin to the East.  The 303rd Regiment began leaving Kaching on 11th September 1944 to reach Tamu by 26th September.  The Regiment moved to Moreh on 2nd October.  One troop of the 53rd Battery was airdropped at Khampat, near Yazagyo, with five guns being dropped from Dakotas on 6th and 7th October; the personnel arriving by road.  The Regiment moved to Yazagyo, leaving Khampat on 12th October and arriving on 14th October, with the 54th Battery arriving on 16th October.  The Regiment now came into action in support of the infantry of the 25th and 26th (E.A.) Infantry Brigades.  The advance was desperately slow given the difficulties in bringing up men, equipment and ammunition under the appalling weather.[11]

On 31st October 1944, the Regiment moved forward, with the 58th Battery coming into action just North of Nanhannwe.  The R.H.Q. with the 53rd Battery arrived there the next day and on 2nd November, the 53rd and 58th Batteries moved to the Honnaing area where they were soon joined by the 54th Battery.  There was a Japanese air raid on the area on 8th November during which three British and four African Other Ranks were seriously injured.  On 9th November, the Regiment switched to support the attack on Indainggyi.  This was followed by the capture of Kalemyo on 14th November and the Regiment moved to Indainggyi on 21st November and on to the Kalemyo-Kalewa road.  Moving along the road, the Regiment came into action at Natkyigon on 24th November as it continued to support the advance on Kalewa, reaching Chaunggyin on 30th November and Thitchauk on 4th December.  The infantry entered Kalewa later that day and on 7th December the 58th Battery ferried itself across the Chindwin into the bridgehead on the East bank, with the R.H.Q. and other batteries supporting from the West bank at Kalewa.[12] 

The Regiment was inspected by the Supreme Command, Lord Mountbatten on 15th December 1944.  The Regiment now began preparing to withdraw with the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division into 14th Army reserve and left Kalewa on 19th December.  The rest camp at Bokajan, near Dimapur, was reached on 23rd December.[13]

 

303rd (East Africa) Light Regiment, E.A.A.

At Bokajan on 14th January 1945, the title of the Regiment was amended and it became the 303rd (E.A.) Light Regiment, E.A.A., with effect from 1st January.[14]

In February 1945, the Regiment was made aware of the introduction of a repatriation plan for African soldiers who had served without home leave for two years and four months; it was estimated that around 100 gunners from the Regiment would be affected.  The first of these men to qualify under this scheme, twenty-four in number, left for Africa on 24th February.  Other African gunners went on local leave.  On 9th April, the Regiment left Bokajan for Chas by rail, arriving on 13th April.  The Regiment handed over forty-five Jeeps to other units of the 11th (E.A.) Division on 28th April, receiving a smaller number of 15cwt trucks to replace them.  A further thirty-nine African Other Ranks left on leave to East Africa on 2nd May.[15]

The Regiment left Chas in May 1945, with the majority of personnel going by route march leaving on 23rd May to arrive at the new camp at Dhipatoli, near Ranchi, in motor transport the next day.  There was a visit by African Chiefs on 1st July, complete with a film unit to record the event.  The effect of the repatriation of British and African personnel meant that there was sufficient manpower for only one regiment out of the 302nd and 303rd to be able to return to operations.  It was decided to retain the 303rd Regiment and to post surplus personnel from the 302nd to make up the required numbers in the 303rd.  On 19th July, the 55th (E.A.) Field Battery became part of the 303rd Regiment, being exchanged with the 58th Battery, which became a light battery of the 302nd Regiment. The 302nd was now a holding unit for men awaiting shipping to return to Africa, and others who were surplus and awaiting posting to other units of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division.[16]

 

303rd (East Africa) Field Regiment, E.A.A.

In addition to the exchange of batteries and personnel, on 19th July 1945 the 303rd Regiment was redesignated as a field regiment, equipped with 25-pounder guns.  The 302nd Regiment’s 25-pounder guns arrived on 23rd July and the 303rd Regiment’s 3.7-inch howitzers were despatched to the ordnance depot two days later.  Throughout this period, the Regiment continued to train and take part in exercises.[17]

The Regiment moved to Chas on 2nd September 1945.  On 23rd September, the Regiment celebrated the sixth anniversary of the formation of the 53rd Battery.  Lt. Colonel Anderson left for East Africa on 7th October, Major H.B. Folliott assuming temporary command in his absence.  The Regiment moved to Kojatoli Camp on 20th October.  Lt. Colonel Anderson returned on 21st November.  On 27th November, a talk was given to all British personnel and those Africans who spoke English by the G.O.C. Eastern Command, Lt. General Smith.[18]

The Regiment left for Bombay for embarkation to East Africa on 9th January 1946.  Arriving on 13th January, the men went to a transit camp at Kalyan before embarking on a ship on 21st January and sailing later that day.  The men disembarked at Mombasa on 29th January and entrained for Athi River, arriving the next day.  During February, the African Other Ranks were released from service and Lt. Colonel Anderson left for the United Kingdom on 5th March.  The Regiment was disbanded on 31st March 1946.[19]

16 March 2025