The regiment then sailed to the Middle East and took part in the Western Desert campaign, including the Siege of Tobruk and Operation Crusader.

The Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry[a] (WCY) was a cavalry unit of the Territorial Force (TF), which had served in World War I.

Before the TF reformed on 7 February 1920 the War Office had decided that only a small number of mounted Yeomanry regiments would be required in future, and the remainder would have to be re-roled, mainly as artillery.

[b] The WCY, 17th in the order of precedence, therefore converted to the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) as 2nd (Cumberland Yeomanry) Army Brigade[c] with two batteries and headquarters (HQ) at Penrith.

Partial mechanisation was carried out from 1927, but the guns retained iron-tyred wheels until pneumatic tyres began to be introduced just before the outbreak of World War II.

Although a naval bombardment had been tried, movement was greatly hampered by deep snow and no immediate attack was made on the German troops in Narvik.

By morning on 16 May the British infantry had been withdrawn to reinforce Bodø (see below) leaving only the artillery (including 203 Bty less a troop) supporting the Allied attack on Narvik.

[19][20] Meanwhile, 1st Battalion Scots Guards and a 4-gun Troop of 203 Bty had been sent by sea to Mo i Rana, where they landed on 12 May and took up position at Stein to block German reinforcements approaching from the south.

[16][22] The reunited 51st (W&C) Field Rgt joined 46th Division on 30 July 1940 while that formation was refitting in Scottish Command after its return from Dunkirk.

Afterwards, 51st (W&C) Field Rgt moved up with 16th Australian Bde for the capture of Tobruk (21–22 January), where it repeated its counter-battery (CB) role.

F Troop had two guns hit and several men wounded, but by nightfall on 21 January the regiment was leap-frogging batteries forward with 19th Australian Bde to positions inside the enemy's wire.

On 23 January, when it reverted to the command of XIII Corps (as WDF had become), the regiment was some miles south-west of Tobruk, and at the end of the month it had reached Martuba.

[24][25][26][27] XIII Corps had cleared the Italians out of Cyrenaica, but its supply lines were now stretched to their limit, and it had to pause its advance in February.

Then the balance shifted: the first troops of the Afrika Korps under Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel began arriving to support the Italians, while British forces had to be diverted to the Greek Campaign.

51st (W&C) Field Rgt's two batteries were supporting the 10 miles (16 km) frontage of 26th Australian Bde, with OPs on the perimeter and a mobile Forward Observation Officer (FOO).

[40][41][42][43] Eighth Army was being formed in the Western Desert to carry out an autumn offensive to relieve Tobruk and drive the Axis out of Cyrenaica: Operation Crusader.

Since the end of 1940 the RA had been producing enough battery staffs to begin the process of changing regiments from a two-battery to a three-battery organisation.

[6] At the start of 'Crusader', while 4th SA Bde was in army reserve, 203 Bty with 12 guns (still organised as one battery) was assigned to 7th Support Group of 7th Armoured Division, commanded by Brigadier 'Jock' Campbell.

On 21 November 7th Support Gp was ordered to attack northwards with 7th Armoured Bde from Sidi Rezegh airfield to secure a ridge overlooking the main east–west track and meet the breakout from Tobruk.

While some of the tank units turned to meet this threat, 7th Support Gp's northward attack was partially successful, but casualties were heavy from the Axis artillery on the escarpment further north.

On 3 December it came into action with 11th Indian Bde in a 20 miles (32 km) night march to attack Point 182 south of El Adem airfield, which was carried out 'with exemplary speed' and was partially successful.

The guns engaged at a range of 1,000 yards (910 m) and A Trp, 370 Bty, continued firing over open sights in a thick mist as the enemy approached.

The Germans made an aggressive defence at Agedabia and were able to retire to El Agheila on 1 January 1942, temporarily ending the operations while both sides brought up supplies and reinforcements.

The Axis won the supply race and advanced back up the Agedabia road on 21 January, sweeping round 200th Gds Bde.

[25][56][57][58][59][60] 51st (W&C) Field Rgt was still short of one battery HQ, but on 20 March it was joined by 14 Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) Bty from 6th Coast Regiment, RA.

[64] After the lessons learned it was decided to increase 'Special Force' to six brigades for future operations, and 70th Division was selected to be broken up to provide three of these.

[4][6][59][68] After several changes of plan, 16th Bde under Brig Bernard Fergusson began its long march from Ledo in Assam into Burma on 5 February, proceeding down a single-file track towards Hkalak Ga.

It turned a sandbank into an airstrip and then began crossing the river on 1 March aboard assault boats brought in by gliders.

The rest of 16th Bde established a stronghold codenamed 'Aberdeen' near Manhton and on 22 March gliders flew in material to construct an airstrip.

[4][6][67] When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the regiment was reformed as 251 (Westmorland & Cumberland) Field Rgt as part of 42nd (Lancashire) Division.