How the Woofers came to an end

Under the Future Army Structure, said the Minister, it would become part of the new Mercian Regiment, which would also comprise the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffords.

"Thus by a stroke of a minister's pen," wrote military historian Col Philip Dalbiac, "the regiment, which had maintained the best traditions of the British Army and the Honour of England in four continents, was swept away as if unworthy of a moment's consideration."

That may have been a rather harsh assessment of the situation, because there have always been regimental amalgamations. Indeed "The Woofers" - as the Worcesters and Foresters were known - was itself a military "marriage" dating back to only 1970, but now the old regimental name was to disappear from the first line title for the first time.

The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29/45 Foot) was to be known as the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Worcester and Foresters).

No mention there of the old 29th, a totem among Worcestershire Regiment historians. For that's where it all began way back in 1694. When at the behest of his King William III, Coldstream Guards officer Colonel Thomas Farrington formed a new regiment to help fight the French.

Reflecting the military style of the day, when regiments were named after their colonel, it was known as Farrington's Regiment of Foot. Later, as styles changed, it became the 29th Regiment of Foot and under that title spent most of the latter half of the 18th century on service in North America, where it was involved in two notorious incidents.

The most famous being the "Boston Massacre" of 1770, when, after being attacked by local rioters, the 29th opened fire and became the first British regiment to shed the blood of the colonists. It wasn't exactly a massacre, for only three rioters were killed, and the officers and men of the 29th put on trial for murder were completely exonerated, but it didn't stop the regiment gaining the nickname The Blood Suckers.

The other incident took place much earlier, in 1746, when unarmed officers of the 29th were attacked in their mess by native indians they thought loyal.

This led to the regiment beginning the practice of the Captain of the Week and the Orderly Officer of the Day wearing their swords at mess for protection. A tradition maintained over the centuries by the Worcestershire Regiment.

The 29th's association with Worcestershire started in 1782, when individual regiments began to be associated with English counties. The 29th were linked with Worcestershire to become the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot.

Under that name, it distinguished itself in the Peninsular War against Napoleon and for the first time fought alongside the 36th Foot, with which it was later to amalgamate to form the Worcestershire Regiment.

The 29th continued to add to its battle honours throughout the 19th century, particularly during the Sikh Wars and Indian Mutiny of 1845-1850, until the Cardwell reforms of 1881 brought together the 29th and 36th Regiments of Foot, together with the Militia of Worcestershire and the local volunteer regiments, to create the Worcestershire Regiment, four battalions strong.

The two regular battalions of the new regiment saw service in the Boer War, before the blood bath that was the First World War. The Worcestershire Regiment's strength expanded to 22 battalions and the conflict claimed 9,000 of the 13,000 officers and men who filled its ranks.

Nine Victoria Crosses were won among more than a thousand bravery awards and the Regiment gained some of its greatest battle honours. Specifically at Gheluvelt on October 31, 1914. When, as all around them were retreating, the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion launched a courageous counter attack, pushed the Germans back and plugged a vital gap in the Allied Lines. Thus saving the Channel ports and probably the war.

During the Second World War, the 1st Battalion began in the Sudan and was at Tobruk, while the two territorial battalions went to France in 1940 and were both in the Dunkirk tragedy.

Soon after D-Day in 1944, a re-formed 1st Battalion arrived in France and quickly established itself as a major fighting force.

The 2nd and 7th Battalions fought in South East Asia Command, where the latter distinguished itself at Kohima in north east India, where it helped evict in 36 hours a Japanese force that had been ordered to hold out for 10 days.

The comradeship of the Worcestershire Regiment was never better illustrated when the 2nd Battalion completed one of the greatest of the Burma Campaign's forced marches. It covered 400 miles in six weeks to arrive at Shwebo just after the 7th Battalion, whose soldiers were there waiting for their colleagues with a meal laid out in the open on tables covered with parachutes as table cloths.

In the early 1950s, the regiment played a vital part in the Malayan Emergency, where one of its native trackers Awang Anak Rawang was awarded the George Cross.

As the second half of the 20th century progressed and the strength of the British Army diminished, it was decided to group regiments together in administrative brigades. Then the amalgamations began.

On the bitterly cold day of February 28, 1970, at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster in Wiltshire, the 1st Battalion The Worcestershire Regiment joined together with the 1st Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) to form the 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot).

Now even the old 29th has gone.