Regimental Histories - Year 1960-1985 - Brockbank - Page 0116
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A Short History of the 9thleth Lancers when Mr Mitchell was commissioned to fill the new appoint- ment of Families Officer. Such an appointment had become necessary as a result ofincreasing family problems arising from the turmoil of recent years in Germany as related in an earlier chapter. 198] was, in fact, a quiet (not idle) year with the training season progressing normally, a visit from the Old Comrades Association with the Colonel of the Regiment for Mons/Moy day in June, and the Hohne Polo Tournament in July. A Squadron (Major Crofton) enjoyed an adventure training visit to France and the continuity of events can be gauged by 5 Troop B Squadron declaring that it had been out of barracks for ten weeks during the year. Equitation continued to concentrate on hunter trials and jumping but Lts Boughey and Scott played regular polo although the Regiment could still not produce a team. In England, Major Coghlan won the Llewellyn Palmer Challenge Cup at the United Services Point— to—Point at Larkhill on ”Wish me Luck”. Skiing remained low key but a large number of soldiers enjoyed themselves very cheaply at the Regimental ski hut which was shared with the Royal Hussars. A very interesting and amusing story in the Journal of 1982 is the account by Major Marman of how he formed a regular army battalion from over 1000 cit-Rhodesian guerillas after the end of the civil war. With Majors Hopkinson and Mackaness and Captain Lumsden he spent six months from March 1981 in Zimbabwe with the British Army Training Team. To assist him with his own task he had one British Sergeant Major. “1 had", he writes, “a vague idea of how infantry works but in the main I just applied the way things run in the 9th/12th Lancers”. It was an imaginative policy to detach such numbers of officers for this task. The main ceremonial event of 1982 was the short visit on the 7th July of the Colonel—in-Chief. Before this, though, there had been a number of important changes of appointment. Major-General Abraham handed over the Col- oneley to the author in January. General Abraham, who was the foremost authority on armoured reconnaissance in the Army, had been a most helpful Colonel during his tour. In the same month Lt-Col Nash took command of the Regiment from 112 |
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