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‘B’ Company by Maj Osborn


OC: Maj A Osborn CSM: WO2 (CSM) N Redgrift


After recovering from Iraq and having taken a long period of well-deserved leave over the summer, B Company returned to work at the end of August. It was a very different Company to that which had existed only 3 months before, having lost many of its more experienced soldiers to the re-formed Support Company. It was also starting work in a new environment, the Battalion having moved about 6 miles down the road from Alma to Marne Barracks. Nonetheless, the soldiers quickly got back into the swing of individual training and fitness with the distant yet mind-focusing target of their next operational deployment to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010.


Having recently returned from Operations, it took a little while to readjust to the utter chaos that is Battalion life in barracks. Sections were sent to Germany to support 20 Brigade’s Iraq training, individuals were tasked to instruct or take part in


career courses and the Company took part in a number of Freedom and Remembrance Parades back in Cheshire. Despite this activity and the seeming absence of about a third of the men at any one time, B Company began to make progress with basic skills such as map reading, first aid, low-level tactics and shooting. It was whilst conducting Transition to Live Firing Tactical Training in mid-October that the Company received some very sad news. The Mercian Regiment was suffering from under-manning and the decision had been taken to allocate a Gurkha Reinforcement Company (GRC) to the 1st Battalion. The Commanding Officer had decided that B Company would be placed into suspended animation to make space in the ORBAT for the Gurkhas and the change would be completed by Christmas.


B Company and Malta


Although the 1st Battalion doesn’t go in for Company battle honours and names, B Company has had an association with Malta which dates back to World War II. Since B Company will be absent from these pages for at least the next couple of years, this small part of our Regimental history bears re-telling.


Malta’s Importance B Company in Iraq


In 1941-3, British and German forces fought a highly significant campaign in North Africa. This involved some of the finest troops available to either side: Germany’s Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, and the British Eighth Army, the Desert Rats. The region was of great strategic importance, firstly because it controlled the Suez Canal and secondly because control of Africa raised the possibility of an Allied invasion of Europe via Yugoslavia or Italy. Throughout the North African campaign, Malta was crucial as the prime British strike and supply base in the


General David Petraeus says farewell to Maj Osborn and B Company command team The Mercian Eagle October 2009 15


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