The Royal Yorkshire Regiment

Origins

This unit was formed in 2006 by amalgamating three Yorkshire regiments – The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, The Green Howards and The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. Each of these became one of the new unit’s three regular battalions. The regiment also raised a 4th (Army Reserve) Battalion from the Territorial units of its predecessors.

Deployments

The regiment’s battalions deployed twice to Iraq (2006-07 and 2008-09) and three times to Afghanistan (2007-08, 2009-10 and 2011-12). 1st Battalion also served in Germany in 2008, while 2nd Battalion deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo in 2006 and Cyprus in 2011.

In late 2013, 1st Battalion was renumbered as 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion was renumbered as 1st Battalion. The soldiers who had previously served in 2nd Battalion were merged into these two new larger units. 

The new 1st Battalion deployed on a training exercise to Kenya soon after these changes. In 2014, a small detachment from the 2nd Battalion was engaged in training Iraqi and Kurdish forces who were opposing Islamic State.

Recent times

In recent years, the regiment’s regular and Army Reserve battalions have trained with Nato forces in Canada, Lithuania and Denmark. In 2022, 2nd Battalion deployed to Cyprus.

The 1st Battalion currently serves in a mechanised infantry role, equipped with Warrior and Boxer armoured fighting vehicles. The 2nd Battalion specialises as an experimental light infantry unit.