Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685 . It saw service for three centuries , before being amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment as the 1st East Anglian Regiment ( Royal Norfolk and Suffolk ) in 1959 . Its lineage is continued today by the Royal Anglian Regiment . History . The " Duke of Norfolk ' s Regiment of Foot " raised in 1685 incorporated men from the East Anglian counties of Norfolk and Suffolk . Until 1751 it was named after ten different colonels and was ranked in 1747 as the 12th Foot regiment . In 1751 it was retitled the 12th Regiment of Foot and in 1782 given a county association as the 12th ( the East Suffolk ) Regiment of Foot . In 1758 the 2nd Battalion of the 12th Regiment of Foot was redesignated as the 65th ( 2nd Yorkshire , North Riding ) Regiment of Foot . The 63rd Regiment of Foot ( another regiment recruiting in Suffolk ) became the 63rd ( the West Suffolk ) Regiment of Foot , which would later form the 1st Battalion , Manchester Regiment . 1895 to 1914 . Boer War . The 1st Battalion served in the Second Boer War . 2nd Battalion . By contrast between 1895 and 1914 , the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment was not involved in hostilities . It was stationed for the majority of the time in India . Garrison postings during this period include ; Secunderabad ( India ) 1895 , Rangoon and the Andaman Islands ( Burma ) 1896 to 1899 , Quetta ( North West Frontier ) 1899 to 1902 , Karachi and Hyderabad ( Northern India , now Pakistan ) 1902 to 1905 , Madras ( India ) 1905 to 1907 , Aden 1907 , Returning to Southhampton in 1908 after seeing 20 years overseas service as a battalion . During its service in India the 2nd Battalion became known as a " well officered battalion that compared favourably with the best battalion in the service having the nicest possible feeling amongst all ranks " . The 2nd was also regarded as a good shooting battalion with high level of musketry skills . The spirit of independence and self - reliance exhibited by officers and non - commissioned officers led to the 2nd Battalion taking first place in the Quetta Division of the British Army of India , from a military effectiveness point of view , in a six - day test . This test saw the men under arms for over 12 hours a day conducting a wide selection of military manoeuvres , including bridge building , retreats under fire , forced marches and defending ground and fixed fortifications . First World War . The Battle of Le Cateau . The value of the 2nd Battalion ' s 20 years of peacetime training was exemplified at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914 . In this action the 2nd Battalion undertook a fierce rear - guard defence out - manned and out - gunned by superior numbers of enemy . The 2nd Battalion held their defensive position despite losing their commanding officer , Lt . Col . C . A . H Brett D . S . O . , at the commencement of the action and their second in command , Maj . E . C . Doughty , who was severely wounded after six hours of battle as he went forward to take ammunition to the hard - pressed battalion machine gunners . Almost totally decimated as a fighting unit after over eight hours of incessant fighting , the 2nd Battalion was gradually outflanked but would still not surrender . This was despite the fact that the Germans , knowing the 2nd Battalion had no hope of survival , entreated them to surrender , even ordering the German buglers to sound the British Cease Fire and gesticulating for the men of the 2nd to lay down their arms . At length an overwhelming force rushed the 2nd Battalion from the rear , bringing down all resistance and the 2nd ' s defence of Le Cateau was at an end . Those remaining alive were taken captive by the Germans , spending the next four years as prisoners of war and not returning home until Christmas Day 1918 . As an example of their valour and the level of training they had been subject to as a peacetime unit , it is noted that 720 men of 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment total roll call of some 1 , 000 , many of whom had been with the battalion since the 1899 posting to Quetta , were killed , wounded or captured . This fight - to - the - last - man defence at Le Cateau was later recognised as a key factor in preventing the German occupation of Paris . ( Bell 2007 ) Gallipoli . The 1 / 5th Battalion was a part of the 54th ( East Anglian ) Infantry Division and saw action at Gallipoli ( 1915 ) and the First Battle of Gaza ( 1917 ) . Second World War . Defence of Singapore . The 4th and 5th ( Territorial Army ) Battalions of the Suffolk Regiment fought briefly in the defence of Singapore , with the 18th East Anglian Division , before British Commonwealth forces on that island surrendered on 15 February 1942 . Men from the two battalions suffered great hardship as prisoners of war and only a few would survive the war . 7th Bn . The 7th Battalion was converted to a regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps in November 1941 , becoming 142nd Regiment RAC . They continued to wear their Suffolk cap badge on the black beret of the RAC . Equipped with Churchill tank s the regiment landed at Algiers in 1943 , fighting at the Battle of Medjez - el Bab in Tunisia in April . In 1944 it landed at Naples for the Italian campaign and was present when the Allies overcame the Gothic and Hitler lines . It disbanded in January 1945 while in northern Italy . Suffolk Regiment Museum . The Suffolk Regiment Museum is at The Keep , Gibraltar Barracks , Newmarket Road , Bury St Edmunds , Suffolk . Exhibits include uniforms , weapons , medals , badges , insignia , photographs , regimental regalia and memorabilia . Admission is free .