THE 9th BATTALION
ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT

The Shiny Ninth
by
Murray Gillings

9th Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment
1940-1946

The story of a wartime Battalion, raised by Lt. Col. (later Field Marshal) Gerald Templer in the aftermath of Dunkirk. 

Initially on coastal defence in East Anglia, the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment was converted to armour in 1942, following the development of the great tank battles in the Western Desert, only to be reconverted to a Combined Operations role on arrival in India. There were never sufficient amphibious craft for them to sustain this role and it was again as infantry that the Battalion went into action from January 1944 until May 1945, first in the  Arakan and subsequently in North Burma with the 72 Brigade of the 36th. Division, the only British Division in the Far East to serve under American command. At Pinwe and at Shweli River they won the last Battle Honours to be earned by the Regiment. 

After Operation “Zipper’, with 30,000 armed Japanese on the loose and the Chinese communist guerillas threatening to get out of hand, the Battalion virtually took over the whole of North West Malaysia from Penang to the Thai border before the arrival of the British Civil Administration. 

The Battalion was disbanded in March 1946.  

Published by THE P1WWE CLUB - £750 (U.K.)
Capt. F.J. Powell, (Deceased)
‘Sunnycourt”, 631 Southleigh Road, Emsworrh,
 Hants POlO 7TH  

Now the Book Review from the Spring 1987 Issue of the Dekho!

Book Review

THE SHINY NINTH

by Murray Gillings, published by The Pinwe Club. £7.50 plus £1.20, paperback.

Available from Capt. F. J. Powell, Sunnycourt, 631 Southleigh Road, Emsworth, Hants POlO 7TE

This is the story of the 9th Bn Royal Sussex Regt., formed at Ross-on-Wye in July 1940 and disbanded at Butterworth, Malaya, in February 1946. It is very appropriate that it should be reviewed in the first edition of DEKHO EXTRA, because Bill Hart served with the Battalion.

In the black days which followed the Dunkirk evacuation, it was decided to raise sixty new battalions of infantry, and Lt-Col Gerald Templer of the Royal Irish Fusiliers (later to become a famous Field Marshal) was ordered to form the 9th Royal Sussex; he used as his nucleus the remnants of the regiment’s 2nd Battalion, which had been badly knocked about in France. As a CO he certainly did not want for initiative. They were desperately short of everything, including weapons, in the early days, so he organised patrols in cover near country pubs, to loot small arms and ammunition left in Army and RAF vehicles by thirsty but careless occupants; a practice which even at this distance in time is difficult to condone.

There were several vicissitudes in the formative years, including a conversion to tanks as 160th Regt., Royal Armoured Corps, but no sooner had everyone been retrained, as tank driver, gunner or wireless operator, than reconversion back to PBI was the order, and the battalion resumed its place in 72 Brigade alongside the 6th South Wales Borderers and the 10th Glosters. Uniting with 29 Brigade, they became part of 36 Division and fought with no little distinction in Arakan II, and with Northern Combat Area Command.

Former members of the battalion will already have their copies, and ownership will doubtless be compulsory for all other Royal Sussex men, but for the rest of us it is hard to know quite what to say. An infantry battalion is a very close, family affair, with its own traditions, customs, slang and way of life, and whilst reading this book one often seems to be eavesdropping on affairs which are none of one’s business. Certainly, as any body of fighting men must, they had a good opinion of themselves, and it is easy to assume that we were very fortunate that the Royal Sussex was at war with Japan at the same time as the rest of us, otherwise how could we have managed? However, if that remark seems a bit two-edged, this writer would be delighted if there was a book as good as “The Shiny Ninth” about the battalion in which he served.     A.D.M.

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At the last Reunion, the following Royal Sussex men were present:

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Sources of Information:

The Divisional Signs and Information cam from the book

Formation Badges of World War II
Author: Lt. Col. Howard N. Cole O.B.E. T.D. Fr.Hist.S

The Divisional Orders of Battle were supplied by:

Library Section of the Indian High Commission in London

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