page_title: 1st Army Group Royal Artillery
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Army Group Royal Artillery / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Italy 1944 A 5.5-inch gun of 102nd Medium Regiment (Pembroke Yeomanry), 2 March 1944.
context_page_description: 1st Army Group Royal Artillery was a brigade-sized formation organised by Britain's Royal Artillery during World War II to command medium and heavy guns. It served in the final stages of the Tunisian Campaign and throughout the Italian Campaign. It reformed in the Territorial Army in the 1950s to command air defence units.
context_section_description: The Headquarters (HQ) of 1st AGRA was formed at Hamilton Park, Glasgow, on 24 August 1942. It was assigned to First Army for the landings in North Africa (Operation Torch), and arrived in Tunisia in January 1943, together with 56th Heavy Regiment, equipped with 7.2-inch howitzers – the first heavy regiment of the RA to serve overseas since the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. 1st AGRA went into action in February in support of XIX French Corps with one heavy, three medium and three field regiments under command. Later it supported V Corps in the closing stages of the campaign. It then prepared for the Allied invasion of Italy.
  The make-up of an AGRA during the Italian Campaign was extremely flexible: it could include army field regiments (25-pounders), medium regiments (4.5-inch or 5.5-inch guns) and heavy regiments with 7.2-inch howitzers. It might also be augmented with 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft (HAA) guns loaned by the AA brigades for additional ground support fire.
  1st AGRA landed in Italy in October 1943, operating with V Corps again, this time under Eighth Army. For V Corps' attack on the Sangro in November 1943, 1st AGRA contributed 51st (Midland) Medium Regiment alongside the guns of 6th AGRA for a massive artillery concentration. It transferred temporarily to X Corps in February 1944, operating on the River Garigliano.
  Both 1st and 6th AGRAs supported XIII Corps in July 1944 as it approached the Gothic Line. This time the front was so wide that control of the medium guns had to be decentralised to the individual divisions, so the two AGRAs only retained two medium regiments in addition to their two heavy regiments. However, when the 2nd New Zealand Division attacked on 29 July, it was supported by a concentration including the field artillery of 6th South African Armoured and 8th Indian Divisions as well as 1st AGRA, which was responsible for coordinating CB fire. 1st AGRA was assigned to V Corps for the assault on the Gothic Line (Operation Olive) in August 1944, and remained with it for the rest of the war.
  1st AGRA fought at the Battle of the Argenta Gap in early 1945, ending the war at Padua.
caption: 5.5-inch gun of a medium regiment in Italy, March 1944.
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