British Guiana

1965-66

 

.....Late 1965 found 3 PARA overseas. In October the battalion was deployed to British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America on internal security duties. The colony was about to receive independence, and there had been considerable inter-racial political trouble among the population, which consisted mainly of Negroes, Indians and a number of Chinese. The different ethnic factions supported different political groups: the Negroes backed the Socialist People's National Congress, and the Indians backed the People's National Congress, which was communist. Both organisations enjoyed the same degree of popular support, so there was a battle for power. When 3 PARA arrived it relieved the lst Battalion The Lancashire Fusiliers, which had been maintaining the peace until then.
The situation was calm, and remained so, apart from the occasional minor incident. The battalion's area of responsibility was that of Demarara, which forms the eastern part of the country.

.....Companies were thinly spread, their platoons, in some cases, being deployed over 50 miles from their company headquarters, and were rotated through the different locations every four weeks. The reserve company was based at Atkinson Field. The calm situation enabled the battalion to take advantage of the opportunities for jungle training. A battle camp was established in a disused cattle station five miles from Takama, on the River Berbice. Takama itself consisted of a jetty and a few buildings, one of which was a general store, and was reached from Atkinson Field via a 120-mile unmetalled track. The large areas of uninhabited jungle enabled the battalion to conduct extensive field firing exercises, some of which included support from the Mortar Platoon. In addition to maintaining the peace, the battalion was also tasked with training the Guyanese Defence Force to enable it to take over responsibility for the country's defence and internal security after independence.

.....On 4 February of the following year Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana, for the independence celebrations, which lasted three days. On 10 February the leading elements of 3 PARA left the newly independent Guyana for England, the entire battalion being back in Aldershot by the 20th after a successful four-month tour of duty.

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