Ливерпульские Стрелки: История полка в Первой мировой войне.

The Liverpool Rifles was a unit of the Territorial Army, part of the British Army, formed in Lancashire as a 'Rifle Volunteer Corps' (RVC) in 1859, becoming a battalion of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) in 1881. It saw action on the Western Front in the First World War and later became a searchlight unit of the Royal Artillery in the Second World War.

When the Volunteer Force was subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion became the 6th Battalion (Rifles) King's Regiment (Liverpool), with its HQ and A to H Companies at Princes Park Barracks, Upper Warwick Street, Liverpool. It formed part of the Liverpool Brigade in the West Lancashire Division of the TF.

When war broke out in August 1914 the Territorial Force had just begun its annual training camps. The 6th Battalion, Kings Regiment immediately returned to Prince's Park Barracks to mobilise. However, the West Lancashire Division did not go to war as a single formation: its infantry battalions volunteered for Foreign Service and went to the Western Front separately as reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Force. These were termed First Line battalions, while Home Service men, recruits and the unfit were transferred to Second Line battalions: the 2/6th King's was formed at Liverpool on 10 September 1914. Later the 2/6th King's was brought up to war readiness in the 2nd Liverpool Brigade of 2nd West Lancashire Division and a Third Line battalion (3/6th) was formed as reserve to provide drafts to the 1/6th and 2/6th.

The battalion moved to Canterbury, Kent in the autumn of 1914. In February 1915 it was sent to France, disembarking at Le Havre on 25 February 1915 and joining 15th Brigade in the Regular 5th Division. Soon after the battalion's arrival, 15th Brigade was temporarily transferred to the Regular 28th Division, but returned to the 5th in time for the fighting around Ypres in April 1915. The 1/6th's first major engagement occurred on 5 May, in a German attack on Hill 60 during the Second Battle of Ypres. Control of Hill 60 had briefly fluctuated after its capture in a British attack on 17 April, but fighting ended with the British in possession. Poison gas was used during the preliminary German attack, facilitating the assault against positions held by the 2nd Duke of Wellington's Regiment. After Hill 60 was lost, companies from the Liverpool Rifles were used successively in support of the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment; "C" Company, heavily engaged, suffered 60 casualties. The Liverpool Rifles collectively sustained nearly 100 casualties between the period of 5 May 6 May, 22 of whom were killed. German control of Hill 60 was consolidated by 7 May. In November the Liverpool Rifles left the 5th Division to become Third Army Troops.

The remaining Home Service men of the TF were separated when the 3rd Line battalions were raised in May 1915, and were formed into Provisional Battalions for home defence. The men of the 6th (Rifle) Bn joined with those from the 5th King's to form 43rd Provisional Battalion in the defences of East Anglia. The Military Service Act 1916 swept away the Home/Foreign service distinction, and all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service. The Provisional Battalions thus became anomalous, and they became numbered battalions of their parent units. On 1 January 1917, 43rd Provisional Battalion became 25th King's. Part of the new role of the former provisional units was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas, and 25th Kings landed at Calais as a 'Garrison Guard' battalion in May 1918. It joined 59th (2nd North Midland) Division and dropped the 'Garrison Guard' title, becoming a fighting battalion. It saw action at the Battle of Albert (21–23 August) and the final advance in Artois and Flanders. 25th King's continued serving after the war, and was finally disbanded in Egypt on 28 March 1920.

In the 1930s the increasing need for anti aircraft (AA) defence for Britain's cities was met by converting TA infantry battalions to that role. On 10 December 1936 the 6th (Rifle) Battalion was converted into a searchlight unit of the Royal Engineers (RE) as 38th (The King's Regiment) Anti Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA), with HQ, 351 and 352 AA Companies at The Drill Hall, Mather Ave, Liverpool, and 350 and 353 AA Companies at Princes Park Barracks. The unit was assigned to 33rd (Western) AA Group (later Brigade) in 2nd AA Division.

The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, with units manning their emergency positions within 24 hours, even though many did not yet have their full complement of men or equipment. The emergency lasted three weeks, and they were stood down on 13 October. In February 1939 the existing AA defences came under the control of a new Anti Aircraft Command. In June a partial mobilisation of TA units was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA and searchlight positions. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, AA Command was fully mobilised at its war stations. 38th AA Battalion was still in 33rd AA Bde based at Woolton, Liverpool, but this was now part of 4th AA Division at Chester. In August 1940 the RE AA Battalions were transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA), when the battalion was redesignated 38th (The Kings Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, RA (TA). The men continued to wear a 'Liverpool Rifles' shoulder title with red lettering on a Rifle green background.

The regiment served through the early part of The Blitz in the autumn of 1940. By now the regiment was back in 2 AA Division, split between 32 AA Bde covering the East Midlands and 50th AA Bde based at Derby. Then, while 352 S/L Bty remained attached to 2nd AA Division, the rest of the regiment went to Orkney, where it joined 59th AA Bde in the Orkney and Shetland Defences (OSDEF), protecting the Home Fleet's base at Scapa Flow. Meanwhile, in the Midlands where 352 S/L Bty was deployed, the searchlight layout was reorganised in 1941, so that any hostile raid approaching the Gun Defended Areas (GDA) around the towns must cross more than one searchlight belt, and then within the GDAs the concentration of lights was increased. Increasing numbers of Searchlight Control (SLC) radar sets also became available. The regiment returned to the mainland UK by mid November 1941 and was reunited with 352 S/L Bty in 68th AA Bde in 11th AA Division (later 4 AA Group) covering the West Midlands. It remained here for over two years.

Intelligence indicated that the Germans could start launching V 1 flying bombs against London at any time from January 1944 onwards, and AA Command began bring S/L units south to thicken up the defences as part of Operation Diver. The regiment moved to join 27th AA Bde controlling S/Ls over South Eastern England for 2 AA Group. Between 21 January and 14 March 1944 the Luftwaffe carried out 11 conventional night raids on London in the so called 'Baby Blitz'. These raids were met by intense AA fire and Royal Air Force night fighters, which scored an impressive number of 'kills' in conjunction with radar controlled S/Ls. AA Command was now being forced to release manpower for the planned Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), and all Home Defence searchlight regiments were reduced by one battery. 353 Battery commenced disbandment on 7 February 1944, completing by 28 February. AA Command also had the task of protecting the Overlord assembly areas and ports: in May and June 1944, while the build up for Overlord was at its height, 38th S/L Rgt was transferred to the command of 38th AA Bde in 2 AA Group (covering the Thames Estuary), but returned a month later. The beginning of the V 1 campaign against London came on 13 June, a week after Overlord was launched on D Day, and Operation Diver was put into effect. The S/L positions had been established at intervals to cooperate with RAF night fighters, and each position also had a Bofors 40 mm light AA gun. After a poor start the guns and fighters began to gain a measure of control over the flying bombs, and by the end of the first phase of the operation, after 21st Army Group had overrun the launch sites in Northern France in September, 1800 night fighter interceptions had been achieved, of which 142 were due to S/L illumination. In the autumn the focus switched to East Anglia when the Luftwaffe began air launching V 1s over the North Sea.

By January 1945 21st Army Group fighting in North West Europe was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry. At the same time the German Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the UK could be discounted. In January 1945 the War Office began to reorganise surplus AA units in the UK into infantry battalions, primarily for line of communication and occupation duties, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service. 27th AA Brigade was one formation chosen for this conversion, becoming 303 Brigade, in which 38th S/L Rgt became 635 (King's Regiment) Infantry Regiment RA on 23 January 1945. After infantry training, including a short period attached to 61st Infantry Division, 303 Bde was sent to Norway in June 1945 following the liberation of that country (Operation Doomsday). On 10 March 1955, Anti Aircraft Command was disbanded, and 573 HAA Regiment was merged into 287 (1st West Lancashire) Medium Regiment, becoming Q (King's) Battery. After another regiment was absorbed the battery became R (King's) Battery on 31 October 1956. It was amalgamated into Q (1st West Lancashire) Battery on 1 May 1961. 573 HAA Regiment, and later R (King's) Battery of 287 Regiment, wore an arm badge of a black rose over a strung bugle horn on a red rectangle, based on the Liverpool Rifles cap badge. In the 1967 reduction of the TA into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR), B Troop (The Liverpool Rifles) was formed from 287 Regiment in the new West Lancashire Regiment RA, but this in turn was reduced to a cadre in 1969 and absorbed into 208 (3rd West Lancashire Artillery) Battery of 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment Royal Artillery in 1973. The regiment is currently B Troop, 208 (3rd West Lancs) Battery, 103 Regiment RA.

Lt Col E. J. Harrison, TD, appointed 22 April 1922.