The 2nd Battalion was stationed at Malta from 1882, then moved to India in 1885 and took part in the Hazara Expedition in 1888 and the North-West Frontier campaign 1897–1898.[4] The battalion stayed in India until late 1902, when it returned home after more than 20 years′ foreign service.[6][7]
When the Second Boer War required more troops to reinforce British forces in South Africa, the 1st Battalion was sent there in February 1900, and fought at the Battle of Doornkop in May 1900.[8] A memorial to the fallen of the Second Boer War, incorporating a sculpture by Charles Leonard Hartwell titled "The Bugler", is at Regency Square, Brighton. The Sergeant Bugler sounded the charge of The Royal Sussex that swept The Boers from their formidable position at Doornkop.[9] A smaller bronze casting of The Bugler is held by the National Army Museum.[10] A silver reduction copy is also held by The 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Officers' Mess.[11]
The Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia formed the 3rd Battalion.[2] It was embodied in December 1899 and embarked for South Africa to take part in the Second Boer War in March 1901.[5] Most of the officers and men returned home on the SS Dominion in August 1902, after the war had ended two months earlier.[12] The three Volunteer Battalions contributed to a service company that reinforced the 1st Battalion, and gained them the Battle honour.[13]
Following the end of the war in South Africa, the 1st battalion transferred to India, where they were stationed at Sitapur in Bengal Presidency.[14]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force (TF) and the latter the Special Reserve (SR);[2][15] the regiment now had one Reserve battalion and three Territorial battalions. These were the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion (SR), with the 4th Battalion (TF) at Park Street in Horsham (since demolished), the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion (TF) at Middle Street in Hastings (since demolished) and the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion (TF) at Montpelier Place in Brighton (since demolished)[2][16][13]
The 7th (Service) Battalion was formed in September 1914 by men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies and landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 36th Brigade in the 12th (Eastern) Division in June 1915 for service on the Western Front.[17] The 8th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 54th Brigade in the 18th (Eastern) Division in July 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[17] The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 73rd Brigade in the 24th Division in September 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[17]
The 11th, 12th and 13th (Southdowns) Battalions were all raised in late 1914 as part of the 116th Brigade of the 39th Division. All three battalions landed at Le Havre, France in March 1916 for service on the Western Front.[17] All three battalions took part in the Battle of the Boar's Head in June 1916. After a bombardment of the German trenches the 12th and 13th Battalions went over the top (most for the first time) and, under heavy fire, attacked the enemy trenches, bombing and bayoneting their way in. The 11th Battalion supplied carrying parties. They succeeded in taking the German front line trench, holding it for some four hours, and even briefly took the second line trench for about half an hour, beating off repeated counterattacks, and only withdrew from the shortage of ammunition and mounting casualties.[23] In regimental history this is known as The Day Sussex Died.[24]Edmund Blunden, a second lieutenant in the 11th Battalion, wrote an excellent account of his experiences in his memoirs, Undertones of War (1928).[4]
After the war, St George's Chapel, in Chichester Cathedral, was restored and furnished as a memorial to the fallen of the Royal Sussex Regiment. It now has all their names recorded on the panels that are attached to the chapel walls.[25]
The 2nd Battalion was reraised, after the old one became the 10th Para, and joined the 4th and 5th Battalions in 133rd Brigade of 44th (Home Counties) Division. They were sent to Egypt and fought at the battles of Alam el Hamza and Alamein. Afterwards the brigade was sent to the forgotten theatre of war in Iraq and Persia in 1943 with the 6th Indian Infantry Division where they remained for the rest of the war, the 2nd Battalion joining the 24th Indian Infantry Brigade, and the merged 4th/5th Battalion joining the 27th Indian Infantry Brigade.[32]
Territorial Army
The regiment also raised the 6th and 7th battalions (both 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicates of the 4th and 5th Battalions) which were both in the 37th (Royal Sussex) Infantry Brigade, part of the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division.[33] They also served in France with the BEF in 1940 but suffered heavy casualties during the fighting and were evacuated from Dunkirk. The 12th Division was disbanded in July 1940 due to the heavy number of casualties suffered. The main reason for such heavy casualties was because most of the men had had very little training and few had even fired a rifle. After the return to England, the 6th Battalion served as a home defence unit for the rest of the war and was disbanded after the war in 1946. The 7th Battalion defended Amiens against air raids and the German 1st Panzer Division, which captured the town on 20 May. The battalion was transferred to the Royal Artillery and converted into the 109th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery.[34]
Hostilities-only
The 8th (Home Defence) Battalion was raised in 1939, presumably from the National Defence Companies. The battalion was mainly composed of older and less fit men and remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war. The battalion was redesignated as the 30th Battalion in 1941 and it was disbanded in 1943.[16]
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[16]
From 35th Regiment of Foot: Maida.
Gibraltar 1704–05, Louisburg, Quebec 1759, Martinique 1762, Havannah, St Lucia 1778, Egypt 1882, Abu Klea, Nile 1884–85, South Africa 1900–02.
The Great War (23 battalions): Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Soissonais-Ourcq, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917–18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915–17, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917–18, N.W. Frontier India 1915 1916–17, Murman 1918–19.
Afghanistan 1919.
The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Amiens 1940, St Omer-La Bassée, Forêt de Nieppe, North-West Europe 1940, Karora-Marsa Taclai, Cub Cub, Mescelit Pass, Keren, Mt Engiahat, Massawa, Abyssinia 1941, Omars, Benghazi, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Akarit, Djebel el Meida, Tunis, North Africa 1940–43, Cassino I, Monastery Hill, Gothic Line, Pian di Castello, Monte Reggiano, Italy 1944–45, North Arakan, Pinwe, Shweli, Burma 1943–45.
1963–1966: Brig. John Blackwood Ashworth, CBE, DSO
Honorary Colonel
1941–1965: Col. Sir Winston Churchill, KG, OM, PC, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA
(Honorary Colonel of the 4th/5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment)
Cultural references
In the film Atonement (2007), Robbie Turner's unit during the Battle of France is identified as the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment: in fact, the 1st Battalion never served in France.[44]
From 1942 to 1946 Peter Ustinov served as a private soldier with the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was batman for David Niven and the two became lifelong friends. Ustinov spent most of his service working with the Army Cinema Unit, where he was involved in making recruitment films, wrote plays and appeared in three films as an actor. At that time he co-wrote and acted in The Way Ahead (1944) (aka Immortal Battalion).[45][46]
Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword. ISBN0-85052-696-5.
Joslen, Lt-Col H. F. (2003) [1st pub. HMSO: 1960]. Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield: Naval & Military. ISBN1-84342-474-6.
Kempton, Chris (2003). "Loyalty & Honour", The Indian Army September 1939 – August 1947. Vol. Part III. Milton Keynes: The Military Press. ISBN0-85420-248-X.
Martineau, G. D. (1955). A History of the Royal Sussex Regiment: a history of the Old Belfast regiment and the Regiment of Sussex, 1701–1953. Chichester: Moore & Tillyer.
Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud: Spellmount. ISBN978-1-86227-431-0.
Brian Robson, Crisis on the Frontier: The Third Afghan War and the Campaign in Waziristan 1919–20, Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2004, ISBN978-1-86227-211-8.