101st Airborne Division

The 101st Airborne Division ("Screaming Eagles") is a modular light infantry division of the United States Army trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord (the D-Day landings and airborne landings on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France), Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands and, perhaps most famously, its action during the Battle of the Bulge around the city of Bastogne, Belgium. During the Vietnam War, the 101st Airborne Division fought in several major campaigns and battles including the fight for Hamburger Hill in May 1969.

In mid-1968 it was reorganized and redesignated as an airmobile division, then in 1974 as an air assault division. These titles reflect the division's shift from airplanes as the primary method of delivering troops into combat, to the use of helicopters. Many current members of the 101st are graduates of the U.S. Army Air Assault School. Division headquarters is at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. In recent years, the division has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The division is one of the most highly decorated units in the United States Army and has been featured prominently in military fiction.

101st (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery

101st (Northumbrian) Medium Regiment Royal Artillery is part of the Army Reserve and has sub units throughout Northumbria. It is equipped with M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).

History

In April 1967 272 Field Regiment (formed in 1916, known as 72 Field Regiment until 1947 and based at Barrack Road in Newcastle upon Tyne), 274 Field Regiment (formed in 1938, known as 74 Field Regiment until 1947 and based at South Shields), 324 Heavy Air Defence Regiment (raised in 1947 and based in Gosforth) and 439 Light Air Defence Regiment (formed in 1955 and based in Tynemouth) were amalgamated to form 101st (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery.

The new regiment was equipped with BL 5.5-inch Medium Gun and had its headquarters at the Army Reserve centre at Barrack Road in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1976 it was redesignated as a Field Regiment and re-equipped with the 105mm light gun. In around 1990 the regimental headquarters moved to Gateshead. In 2006 269 (West Riding) Battery Royal Artillery was transferred from 106th (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery to this regiment.