In neighbouring Merionethshire the following units were raised:[4][5][8] In 1863 Capt Price Drew of the 1st RVC was appointed Major-Commandant of the 1st Admin Bn of Montgomeryshire RVCs and moved its HQ to Newtown in 1864.

[5][6][7][8][9][10] Recruitment was poor in the sparsely-populated rural counties of Wales, and discontent over the Secretary of State for War's refusal to sanction a commission for a sergeant in the corps led to mass resignations in the 3rd RVC in 1872.

The SWB's five VBs accordingly raised a service company between them, 5th VB being asked to supply only one officer, one sergeant, one corporal, one bugler and 18 privates, though 28 per cent of the battalion had put their names forward.

With the war apparently ending, the 1st VSC left 2nd SWB and began its journey home on 1 October, but it was repeatedly delayed and diverted to duties on the lines of communication, and it was not until 27 April 1901 that it finally embarked at Cape Town.

[21][32][33][20][34][35][36] On 3 August 1914 the Welsh Division's infantry brigades were at their annual camps when all training was cancelled and the battalions were ordered back to their HQs; war was declared next day.

With a strength of 29 officers and 496 ORs it was one of the strongest units in the division, which had suffered badly from sickness as well as battle casualties; several battalions had to be temporarily amalgamated.

By the end of the month the battalion had 105 men in hospital suffering from exposure and Trench foot, leaving a strength of 19 officers and 287 ORs when it was sent to Lala Baba on 1 December to work on defences and beach fatigues.

After leaving the protection of Mansura the three battalions marched across open ground parallel to the Ali Muntar defences before wheeling left and moving towards their objectives.

Held up a second time, Capt Walker of 1/7th RWF, with about 40 of his own men and 40 of the neighbouring 1/5th Welch Regiment, made a sudden rush that pierced the Turkish line close to the mosque and captured about 20 Turk and similar number of Austrians and Germans.

However, the Yeomanry outpost on Hill 630 was overwhelmed by the Turks, who then had perfect observation over the plain where 158th Bde was moving up, and began shelling the concentration of troops.

After a two-day lull during a sandstorm and a difficult assembly close up to Tel el Khuweilfe, 158th Bde carried out a fullscale assault on the position at 04.20 on 6 November.

53rd (W) Division was ordered to stand fast, and that night the Turks in front pulled out as the entire Turkish army began a headlong retreat.

The brigade took further ground on 28 December: an attack by one-and-a-half companies of 1/7th RWF towards Ras Arqub es Suffa was held up by machine gun fire but a second bombardment enabled the battalion to occupy the village after dusk.

[32][35][62][63][64] 53rd (W) Division held its line throughout the bad weather of January 1918, with 158th Bde providing working parties to improve the roads for the EEF's next advance, aimed at Jericho.

The division occupied No man's land in the preceding days, then advanced silently at 02.00 on 9 March, with 1/7th RWF supporting 1/1st Herefords against Drage Hill.

[20][70] In the summer of 1918 53rd Division was changed to the Indian Army establishment: only one British battalion was retained in each brigade, the remainder being sent as reinforcements to the Western Front.

The roads were very bad, and the Royal Engineers struggled to make a path for the guns, but the advance continued, and by the end of 22 September the Turkish army was shattered, its retreat was being harried by artillery and aircraft.

[5][12][10][20][81][82] Once again the battalion formed part of 158th (Royal Welch) Bde in 53rd (Welsh) Division,[20][83] and it had the 1st Cadet (Newtown County School) Company attached to it.

At 02.00 next morning 7th RWF crossed the River Guigne, but their anti-tank guns were unable to follow, and dawn found the battalion beyond support and out of touch with the brigade.

[20][102][103][104] When the Germans launched a major counter-offensive in the Ardennes (the Battle of the Bulge) in December 1944, 53rd (W) Division was among the formations sent by 21st Army Group to reinforce the northern flank of the 'Bulge'.

53rd (W) Division's experience fighting through the Reichswald itself to Goch and Weeze was described by Lt-Gen Brian Horrocks, XXX Corps' commander, as 'one of the most unpleasant weeks of the war'.

[20][85][110][111][112][113] 7th (Merionethshire & Montgomeryshire) Bn transferred to 56th Brigade in 49th (West Riding) Division on 28 April 1945, and the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath on 7 May saw the battalion serving in the Netherlands.

[20][116][118] 2nd Parachute Brigade trained in the UK and then went by sea to North Africa, where it arrived too late to see action in the final stages of the Tunisian campaign.

There was no opposition to the landings, but 6th Parachute Bn was still aboard HMS Abdiel on 10 September when she struck a mine while swinging at anchor: 58 men of the battalion were among 120 soldiers killed, with another 120 troops wounded.

General Sir Richard McCreery, commanding Eighth Army, wanted to drop the brigade to unsettle the German defenders and ease the capture of the Argenta Gap in Operation Grapeshot.

[118][127] 2nd Parachute Brigade as shipped back to the UK in June 1945 to join 6th Airborne Division, which was earmarked to go to India in December to prepare for the planned 1946 campaign against Japan.

The Shako and pouch-belt plates and officers waistbelt clasps all have the dragon inside a crowned circular scroll inscribed '1st MONTGOMERYSHIRE RIFLE VOLUNTEERS'.

An officer's pouch-belt plate of the 2nd (Welshpool) RVC of the same period has crossed Leeks and the numeral 2 within a crowned circular scroll inscribed '2nd MONTGOMERYSHIRE RIFLES'.

The plate on the full-dress Home Service helmet bore the Welsh Dragon passant inside a circular scroll inscribe '5th VOLR.

When the TF was formed and the unit transferred to become 7th Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers, it adopted that regiment's blue facings on the full dress scarlet tunic.