Staffordshire Regiment

The Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales') (or simply "Staffords" for short) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The regiment was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of The South Staffordshire Regiment and The North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's). The Staffords can trace their history back to 1705 when a regiment known as the 38th Foot was raised at Lichfield by Colonel Luke Lillingstone.

Africa
After the creation of the regiment, its first overseas posting was a six month exercise in Kenya, followed by a year in Colchester and then a return to Kenya for a further two years. On the tour the regiment had to deal with a mutiny by the Ugandan Army. Returning home the regiment was the last unit of the British Army to serve in East Africa. A home tour in Dover followed, then came a two year posting to Berlin followed by tours in Bahrain and Sharjah in the Persian Gulf where the regiment again recorded a 'last unit' distinction being the last unit to serve in Sharjah.

Northern Ireland
Five tours in Northern Ireland were undertaken between 1972 and 1984. For the rest of the 1980s the regiment served in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Gulf War
In October 1990 The Staffordshire Regiment was deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of 7th Armoured Brigade (referred to as the 'Desert Rats'). The deployment was in response to the dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of the sovereign territory of Kuwait, claiming it to rightfully belong to Iraq. The Staffords comprised 45 Warrior APCs, with a company from the Grenadier Guards and the 1st Battalion, The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire being attached to the regiment. They were involved in fierce fighting with Iraqi forces from the beginning of land operations to the end. They covered an astonishing 290 km/180 miles in just 100 hours.

Iraq War
Following a first deployment in Iraq in 2005 at the end of October 2006 the Staffordshire Regiment commenced its final overseas deployment with a second deployment in Iraq.

Amalgamation
Under Options for Change it was announced that the Regiment would amalgamate with the Cheshire Regiment to form a single battalion regiment called the Cheshire and Staffordshire Regiment. This amalgamation was suspended in 1994.

As part of the reorganisation of the infantry announced in 2004, it was announced that the Staffordshire Regiment would merge with the Cheshire Regiment and the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment into a new three-battalion regiment to be called the Mercian Regiment. On 1 September 2007 the Staffordshire Regiment became the 3rd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Staffords), and will operate permanently in the armoured infantry role. Initially based at Tidworth, the battalion moved to Bad Fallingbostel, Germany in August 2009, where it is now permanently based as part of 7th Armoured Brigade (The Desert Rats).

On 5 July 2012, the UK Ministry of Defence announced that 3rd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Staffords), would be withdrawn from the British Army's Order of Battle as part of a large-scale reduction in the size of the UK's Armed Forces. The officers and soldiers of 3 MERCIAN will be subsumed into 1 MERCIAN and 2 MERCIAN by 2014, after 3 MERCIAN completes a final operational deployment to Afghanistan.

Battle honours

 * Pre-WWI: Guadeloupe 1759, Martinique 1794, Hafir, South Africa 1878-79, Egypt 1882, Kirbekan, Nile 1884-85, South Africa 1900-02
 * World War I:
 * France and Flanders: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914-18, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914-17, Langemarck 1914-17, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915 Loos, Somme 1916-18, Albert 1916-18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Bapaume 1917-18, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Bullecourt, Hill 70, Messines 1917-18, Ypres1917-18, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917-18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Bailleul, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Kortrijk, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18
 * Gallipoli: Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Sari Bair, Gallipoli 1915-16
 * Mesopotamia: Egypt 1916, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Bagdhad, Mesopotamia 1916-18
 * Italy: Piave, Vittorio Veneto 1918
 * North West Frontier India: Baku, Persia 1918, North West Frontier India 1915
 * Inter-War: Afghanistan 1919
 * World War II:
 * North West Europe: Dyle, Defence of the Scheldt, Ypres-Comines Canal, Caen, Orne, Noyers, Mont Picton, Brieux Bridgehead, Falaise, Arnhem 1944, North West Europe 1940 -1944
 * North Africa: Sidi Barrani, Djebel Kesskiss, Medjez Plain, Gueriat el Atch Ridge, Gab Gab Gap, North Africa 1943
 * Italy: Landing in Sicily, Sicily 1943 Anzio, Carroceto, Rome, Advance to Tiber, Gothic Line, Marradi, Italy 1943 and Italy 1944-45,
 * Burma: Chindits 1944, Burma 1943-1944
 * Post-WWII: Gulf 1991, Wadi al Batin

Alliances

 * 🇨🇦 - 4e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment (Châteauguay)
 * 🇦🇺 - The Royal Victoria Regiment
 * 🇦🇬 - The Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force
 * 🇯🇲 - The Jamaica Regiment
 * 🇵🇰 - 7th Battalion, The Baloch Regiment

Regimental museum
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum is located next to Whittington Barracks. The exhibits focus on the history of the regiment and its forebears, and include photographs, uniforms, weapons, medals, artifacts, memorabilia and regimental regalia. Outdoors is a replica trench from World War I, and several armoured fighting vehicles.