United Kingdom Land Forces

United Kingdom Land Forces was a command of the British Army responsible for generating and preparing forces for current and contingency operations. The commander of the forces was known as Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces, who in turn reported to the Chief of the General Staff.

United Kingdom Land Forces
Active1 April 1972 – 1 April 1995
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
HeadquartersErskine Barracks, Wilton

On 1 April 1972, HQ Army Strategic Command amalgamated with the three existing geographical commands (Northern Command, Southern Command and Western Command) to form HQ UK Land Forces.[1] It had eight districts plus HQ Scotland and HQ Northern Ireland under its direction:

North West District headquarters shifted to Fulwood Barracks, Preston, in 1977. In the early 1980s West Midlands District became HQ Western District.[3]

In 1995, HQ UK Land Forces at Wilton assumed control of troops in Germany and most other places. The remaining British Army troops in Germany (including the core of Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps, HQ ARRC) were placed under its command after the disbandment of Headquarters British Army of the Rhine. It became HQ Land Command, and assumed control of almost all British Army combat and combat support units on 1 April 1995.[4] When it was formed it included 69,200 regular troops (6,400 officers and 62,800 other ranks), 59,700 reservists and 14,200 civil servants.[5]

Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces (1971–1995)

Holders of the post have been:[6]

Footnotes
  1. "Army Command Structure (United Kingdom) - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk.
  2. Paxton, J. (1972). The Statesman's Year-Book 1972-73: The Encyclopaedia for the Businessman-of-The-World. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-230-27101-2.
  3. Army List 1981
  4. "Land Command Shapes Up", Jane's Defence Weekly, 15 July 1995.
  5. "UK Defence Statistics" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. 1 April 1995. pp. 19, 21, 32. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  6. "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.