Colchester Garrison Colchester Garrison is a major garrison located in Colchester in the county of Essex , Southern England . It has been an important military base since the Roman era . The first permanent military garrison in Colchester was established by Legio XX Valeria Victrix in 43AD following the Roman conquest of Britain . Colchester was an important garrison town during the Napoleonic Wars and throughout the Victorian era . During the First World War several battalions of Kitchener ' s Army were trained there . Now , 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment are based there . Today there are new barracks , which , in replacing the Victorian buildings , have made available building land slightly nearer the town centre . History . Napoleonic Wars ( 1792 - 1815 ) . Colchester Garrison played an eminent role during the Napoleonic Wars . The troops were originally billet ed in local inns and houses . After petitioning from the borough council , new infantry barracks were built in 1794 . By 1800 additional infantry , artillery , and cavalry barracks had been built in the area bounded by Barrack Street to the north , Wimpole Road to the west , and Port Lane to the east . In 1805 the barracks were home to 7 , 000 officers and men . After the Napoleonic Wars the barracks were reduced . The sale of the older barracks and the freehold site on which they stood started in 1817 and was completed in 1840 . The Army retained and an infantry barracks for 851 officers and men . Much of the old barracks land was developed as the " New Town " area of Colchester during the Victorian era . Crimean War ( 1854 - 1856 ) . Colchester Garrison experienced rapid expansion during the Crimean War . Between 1855 and 1856 wooden infantry barracks for 5 , 000 troops were erected on Ordnance Field . The government purchased Middlewick Farm for use as a training area and a rifle range in 1857 . Middlewick Ranges are still in use by the present garrison . British German Legion . In 1856 10 , 000 troops of the British German Legion were billeted in the infantry barracks and in tented encampments on Barrack Field . The British German Legion was raised in 1854 as a foreign corps in British service ( similar to the Kings German Legion during the Napoleonic Wars ) . The Legion was raised for service in the Crimean War , under the provisions of the Enlistment of Foreigners Act 1854 . The Legion did not see active service although a large number of legionaries went to the Crimea where they mostly died of fever without seeing the battlefields . The Legion was disbanded in Colchester in 1857 , but the majority of the remaining personnel went to the Eastern Cape as part of the Kaffraria Settlement . Because preference was given to those who were married or had a fiancee , men without German wives or fiancees married , in great numbers , Colchester girls . There are dozens of marriages recorded in the Colchester Churches , mainly St Botolphs , and the remainder were married at the Garrison Church . This establishment was later found not to be registered for marriages , and so the affected couples were declared wed by Act of the Cape Parliament in 1858 . First World War ( 1914 - 1918 ) . Territorial Force . Essex Regiment . 8th ( Cyclist ) Battalion , Essex Regiment , ( TF ) was based in Colchester at the outbreak of war in August 1914 . It was redesignated 1 / 8th Battalion as additional " Terrier " battalions were raised from volunteers during the early months of the war . The 2 / 8th and 3 / 8th Battalions were formed in September 1914 and April 1915 respectively . All three Terrier battalions were allocated to home defence and remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war . Essex Yeomanry . The Essex Yeomanry ( EY ) , a cavalry regiment , was mobilised at the outbreak of war . The regiment joined the Royal Horse Guards and the 10th Royal Hussars in France in November 1914 as part of 8th Cavalry Brigade , 3rd Cavalry Division . During the war , 2nd and 3rd line regiments were raised in Colchester to reinforce the 1st line . 2 EY served as garrison troops in Ireland during the war , 3 EY was absorbed into the 4th Reserve Cavalry Regiment in 1917 . On 14 March 1918 , Essex Yeomanry left 8th Cavalry Brigade to become a cyclist unit , then to form a machine gun battalion with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry . The German Spring Offensive forestalled this plan , and the regiment was remounted on 28 March and sent to the 1st Cavalry Division . From 4 April it was split up with a squadron joining each regiment in 1st Cavalry Brigade ( 2nd Dragoon Guards , 5th Dragoon Guards and 11th Hussars ) . Lieutenant Colonel Whitmore was appointed to command the 10th Royal Hussars , the only Territorial and EY officer without previous regular service to command a regular cavalry regiment . Essex RHA . Essex Battery , RHA was mobilised in Colchester and Chelmsford in 1914 . The battery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery unit . A 2nd line unit , 2 / Essex Battery , RHA , was raised later . Kitchener ' s Army . The 12th ( Eastern ) Division was organised at Colchester from August 1914 to February 1915 . The division was one of the first New Army divisions to be formed , as part of K1 . The division included Kitchener battalions from the Essex Regiment , the Suffolk Regiment , the Norfolk Regiment , the Royal Berkshire Regiment , the Cambridgeshire Regiment , the Royal Fusiliers , the Queen ' s Regiment , The Buffs , the Royal West Kent Regiment , and the East Surrey Regiment . The division moved to France in 1915 and fought at the Battle of Loos ( 1915 ) , the Battle of the Somme ( 1916 ) , the Battle of Cambrai ( 1917 ) and the Battle of the Hindenburg Line ( 1918 ) . Second World War ( 1939 - 1945 ) . 4th Infantry Division . Colchester was the home garrison of the 4th Infantry Division in September 1939 . Resident units on the outbreak of war on 3 September , included 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers , 1st Battalion East Surrey Regiment , 1st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry , 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards , 17th / 21st Lancers , 27th Field Regiment Royal Artillery , 30th Field Regiment Royal Artillery and 14th Anti - Tank Regiment Royal Artillery . The division deployed to France in 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force . Home Guard . During the war the town was defended by local defence volunteers of 8th Essex Battalion of the Home Guard . At the height of its strength the battalion mustered over 2 , 000 men . The battalion possessed no fewer than 22 different types of weapon , including Vickers machine gun s , flame throwers , and 2 pounder anti tank guns . Additional support throughout the area was provided by 13th Essex Battalion , made up of volunteers from the GPO who were charged with the protection of critical telecommunications infrastructure . The order to " stand down " for the Home Guard came on 1 November 1944 . They took their final salute on 19 November before the Lord Lieutenant of the county , Colonel Sir Francis Whitmore . Whitmore said , " You have , by your sense of duty , your loyalty and patriotism , contributed pages of tradition to the historical records of our nation . . . you took a prominent part in the defence of our country at the most critical period of the war . . . In the name of the County of Essex , I thank you . " Sub - units of the Auxiliary Units served in the Colchester area during the war , although their existence and activities remained little known to the public until the 1990s . Colchester Stop Line . During the war the town was ringed by over 120 pillbox es or other defensive structures as part of the Colchester Stop Line . A small number of pillboxes can still be found around the borough , such as at Mount Bures , and the Hythe railway station . Colchester " Blitz " . Air raid sirens sounded over 1000 times in Colchester during the course of the war . Colchester was attacked by the Luftwaffe on several occasions . They included : Home Guard anti - aircraft batteries were established on Abbey Field and engaged enemy aircraft 14 times during a 21 month period . Americans in Colchester . The first American military personnel arrived in Britain in January 1942 . A significant American presence was established in the Colchester area , with many air bases of the US Eighth Air Force located in the district - at Earls Colne , Langham , Wormingford , Messing , and Dedham . In accordance with racial segregation of the American military during World War II , the American Red Cross established separate social clubs for black GIs at St Botolph ' s parish hall and for white GIs in St Nicholas Street . Colchester Garrison today . Regular Army . Colchester Garrison is currently home to the British Army ' s 16th Air Assault Brigade . The brigade has 3 air assault infantry battalions , 3 air assault aviation battalions , 1 artillery regiment , and supporting units ( engineer , signals , logistics , medical ) . The brigade has deployed in support of Operation Bessemer ( Macedonia ) , Operation Fingal ( Afghanistan ) , Operation Telic ( Iraq ) and Operation Herrick 4 ( Afghanistan ) . Territorial Army . Colchester has a proud tradition of its citizen volunteers serving in the Territorial Army . During the Second World War Colchester ' s " Terriers " included 2nd / 5th Battalion Essex Regiment and 104th Regiment , Royal Horse Artillery ( Essex Yeomanry ) . The Territorial Army is currently represented in Colchester by 36 ( Eastern ) Signal Squadron , 37 Signal Regiment ( Volunteers ) and Troop , 202 Squadron , 158 ( Royal Anglian ) Regiment , Royal Logistics Corps ( Volunteers ) . Garrison Church . The old Garrison Church in Military Road was a former Crimean War era hospital , similar to those shipped in prefabricated sections to Florence Nightingale at Scutari and Balaklava . It was built in 1854 and is the oldest surviving garrison building . In Easter 2007 , services transferred to a new church built on the St . Michaels estate in the married quarters . It is situated behind the Community Centre , and was built as part of the ongoing regeneration of Colchester Garrison . The old Garrison Church building is ( as of November 2008 ) the home of the Parish of St John the Wonderworker , a parish of the Diocese of Great Britain and Ireland in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia ( ROCOR ) . Military Corrective Training Centre ( MCTC ) . Berechurch Hall Camp is the home of the Army ' s Military Corrective Training Centre which incorporates the Naval Detention Quarters and is the only dedicated military facility of its kind in the United Kingdom . It is not a prison ; although it has a special unit for those who are being transferred to HM Prison Service to serve their sentences . Inmates are in three categories : BFBS Radio . BFBS Radio now runs the radio broadcasting service for the area having won the contract from Garrison Radio The local service in Colchester launched in 2001 after test transmissions . They broadcast from studios in the married quarters of the garrison . In May 2006 Colchester Garrison radio switched to 107FM from 1350AM , after receiving a Community Licence . They became 107 Garrison FM The feed from Garrison FM began broadcasting , in November 2005 , to the Army Training Regiment in Bassingbourn on 1287AM as well as Colchester . BFBS commenced broadcasting in Colchester on April 1 , 2013 BFBS Colchester is part of the BFBS UK Bases network which also has stations in Aldershot , Salisbury Plain , Catterick , Blandford and Edinburgh . BFBS also broadcasts in Germany , Afghanistan , Cyprus , Gibraltar , Canada , Brunei , the Falklands , Northern Ireland , via the web and on the free to download BFBS smartphone app