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- londonderry 79
1978 – 1983 Osnabruck – West Germany
The battalion moved to Osnabruck in August 1978 taking up its role as a mechanized battalion with the 12th Armoured Brigade of the 2nd Armoured Division.
They were based at Mercer Barracks and grouped with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. Once in place they embarked on an extensive training programme in order to get into shape as a NATO roled unit.
Training took place at Bergen-Hohne, Sennelager, Haltern, Munsterlager, and Vogelsang, with more advanced training taking place in Canada on Exercise MEDICINE MAN. Whilst in Osnabruck the battalion twice went to the Suffield training area in Alberta Canada, with ‘A’ company visiting for a third time.
They were not immune to the events in Northern Ireland and they were later deployed once again to Londonderry. T
hey took part in major exercises such as CRUSADER 80 and QUARTER FINAL
The battalion returned to England in January 1983 where they were to be based at Canterbury. Before they arrived they were aware that another tour of Northern Ireland was planned.
The following Regimental Journals were published whilst the 1st Battalion was in Osnabruck
The Regiment lost the following Farmer's Boys whilst in Osnabruck
| Lance Corporal | MARGINSON D C | 17 January 1982 | BAOR |
| Private | WELLFAIR | 02 July 1982 | UK |
| Private | DE-BURGH S A | 07 August 1982 | BAOR |
| Sergeant | JONES B A | 10 August 1982 | UK |
Whilst the battalion were in Northern Ireland the band in addition to carrying out some rear party duties were also very active in carrying out band engagements.
One such engagement was in Brussels where they were involved in a major IRA terrorist bombing incident in the Grande Place.
On that occasion the stage on which they had been performing was bombed, causing a number of casualties and the loss of most of the bands instruments, which were destroyed by the explosion.
Two bandsmen and eleven tourists were wounded. Within minutes of the blast the Mayor of Brussels, Pierre Halterman, received a call from the IRA claiming responsibility.
To the particular credit of all the regimental bandsmen, the recovered quickly from that attack and continued their programme of engagements without a break.
On the 9th July 1979 the battalion took over the responsibility for the area west of the Foyle area of Londonderry. They took over at 10.00 hours and by 1400 hours they were involved in their first incident.
A small patrol from ‘A’ Company came under fire, and in the ensuing follow up operation a rifle and ammunition were recovered. The following day two bombs and a pistol were recovered nearby.
The main feature of this tour was riot control with all the rifle companies experiencing various levels of ‘aggro’. The 9th, 10th and 11th August, the marching season saw them constantly dealing with problems of this type.
Several marches happened at the same time, the ‘Troops out’ and ‘Apprentice Boys march’ were two such events.
The tour involved all the normal tactics of a Northern Ireland tour, with Vehicle check points to be manned, observations points and patrolling both day and night.
On the 8th November the battalion handed over its area of responsibility to the 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
On their return from Northern Ireland the battalion set about honing its mechanized infantry skills. They were fortunate in as much as many of the senior NCOs had served in Minden ten years before in the same role.
