page_title: 1st Forfarshire Artillery Volunteers
section_title: North Africa
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Forfarshire Artillery Volunteers / World War II / 127th (Highland) Field Regiment / North Africa
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Tunisia 1943 A 25-pdr field gun in action at night during the assault on the Mareth line, 30 March 1943.
context_page_description: The 1st Forfarshire Artillery Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery founded in Forfarshire in Scotland in 1859. It served with 51st Division through many of the major battles on the Western Front during World War I. In World War II its regiments saw action in the Battle of France, in the campaigns in North Africa and Sicily, and in North West Europe from D-Day to VE Day. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1975.
context_section_description: The division's first action was the Second Battle of El Alamein. it moved up during the preceding nights, occupying gun positions and dumping ammunition, and remaining concealed during daylight. For the first time in the Western Desert Campaign, the British Eighth Army had enough 25-pounders to allow them to be concentrated and switched from one set-piece target to another. Almost every gun was used to neutralise enemy batteries. The bombardment began at 21.40 on 23 October and lasted for 15 minutes; then after 5 minutes silence they opened again on the enemy's forward positions and the infantry began to advance. After a further 7 minutes the guns began firing concentrations at a succession of specific locations. The whole artillery programme lasted for 5 hours 30 minutes. 51st (H) Division ran into several centres of resistance and only on the extreme left did it reach its final objective; however, the 'break-in' phase of the battle had started well.
  On the second night of the battle, 51st (H) Division's guns fired a similar succession of CB tasks, concentrations and then a barrage to support 1st Armoured Division's attack. On the night of 25/26 October 51st (H) Division made progress towards its own objective as the 'dog-fight' phase continued. The 'break-out' phase began on the night of 1/2 November with Operation Supercharge, preceded by another powerful barrage. In the early hours of 4 November 51st (H) Division broke through to the Rahman Track, and the Axis forces began to retreat.
  51st (H) Division then took part in the pursuit to El Agheila and Tripoli in January 1943. 491 Field Bty claimed that four of its guns were the first Eighth Army guns in the deserted city, having used all of the regiment's available petrol to get there. The regiment took part in the victory parade in the city. By 25 February it was past Medenine in Tunisia and facing the Mareth Line. The Axis force made a spoiling attack on 6 March (the Battle of Medenine) but there was plenty of warning and the advance was easily repulsed. 51st (H) Division had already moved most of its artillery south in waiting for the attack, leaving three Troops to move and fire between various positions to simulate the whole divisional artillery remaining in its old positions. 127th Fd Rgt fired one full regimental task against a group of Axis infantry but was otherwise hardly engaged. Thereafter it was on harassing fire (HF) tasks.
  The Battle of the Mareth Line began on the night of 16/17 March when 51st (H) Division took the outpost line against negligible opposition, though the Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) of 127th Fd Rgt going forward with the sappers came under heavy shellfire. The main attack followed on 20/21 March with another massive night barrage, 127th Fd Rgt's guns firing an average of 430 rounds each. But little progress was made over the Wadi Zigzaou for the first two days and the line held until it was outflanked by other forces in the south. The Axis defence collapsed on 28 March and the following day 51st (H) Division was on its way to Gabès.
  The next Axis defence line was along Wadi Akarit. The barrage for 51st (H) Division's assault began at 04.15 on 6 April, followed by four other barrages over five hours, one involving a difficult change of direction, and the division's attack, in the words of the Official History, 'went like clockwork'. Axis troops then began counter-attacks and the Highlanders had to fight hard to hold their gains. The pursuit was resumed the following day, through Sfax. By 22 April the regiment was in action near Enfidaville, with the OPs in the hills. This lasted until the fall of Tunis and the end of the campaign on 15 May.
caption: 25-pounder gun in action at night during the assault on the Mareth Line.
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