page_title: West Somerset Yeomanry
section_title: 55th (Wessex) Field Regiment, RA
hierarchical_section_title: West Somerset Yeomanry / History / World War II / 55th (Wessex) Field Regiment, RA
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: 25-pdrs of 430th Battery, 55th Field Regiment, near Hechtel in Belgium, firing in support of Guards Armoured Division in the bridgehead over the Maas-Schelde (Meuse-Escaut) Canal.
context_page_description: The West Somerset Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1794, it participated in the Second Boer War and World War I before being converted to an artillery regiment. It served in World War II. Post-war it was gradually reduced in strength until the yeomanry lineage of the successor unit was discontinued on 9 November 1988.
context_section_description: 55th (Wessex) Field Regiment served in the Home Forces for most of the war, taking part in the North West Europe Campaign from June 1944.
  At the outbreak of the war, 55th Field Regiment was part of 45th Division. Initially commanding two batteries – 373 (West Somerset Yeomanry) from Taunton and 374 (West Somerset Yeomanry) from Shepton Mallet – the third battery (439) was formed in the regiment at Barnsley on 15 November 1940.
  In June 1942, it transferred to the Guards Armoured Division, landing with the division in Normandy on D-Day plus 21.  It fought throughout the North West Europe Campaign with the division until the end of the war.
caption: 25 pounders of 55th Field Regiment, near Hechtel in Belgium, firing in support of Guards Armoured Division in the bridgehead over the Maas-Schelde (Meuse-Escaut) Canal, 16 September 1944
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