History of the Royal Military Police

A Field Security Police (FSP) Wing was formed within the new Corps in 1937. Its personnel wore Lincoln green cap covers and brass shoulder titles on their tunics with the letters "FSP", to distinguish them from the rest of the Corps. They wore the standard CMP cap badge, but unofficially ground down the wording "MILITARY POLICE" from the lower scroll of the badge.

In 1938 the Secretary of The Automobile Association (AA), Sir Stenson Cooke, a former member of the Military Foot Police, approached the War Office with an offer to raise a Supplementary Reserve for the Corps of Military Police, from employees of the AA. This offer was quickly accepted and 850 AA patrolmen had signed on as members of the CMP (SR) by 1939. Thirteen Territorial Army (TA) Companies of the Corps were also raised from April 1939 onwards, having been authorised that February as part of the reorganisation of the Territorial Army Field Forces announced in autumn 1938.

(from left to right) WWII Vulnerable Points shoulder badge as worn by VP Wing, WWII Traffic Control shoulder badge as worn by TC Wing, CMP armband as worn during WWII, present-day RMP Flash.

During the Second World War the Military Police grew from 4,121 all ranks to over 50,000 all ranks.[1] At the outbreak of the conflict the Corps had two wings, the Field Security Wing and the Provost Wing. The latter was responsible for general policing, with its Provost Companies included in the order of battle of Home Commands, Armoured, Infantry and Airborne Divisions, as well as at Army and Corps level and with independent Brigades. The Supplementary Reserve was also mobilised in September 1939 and used to raise new Provost Companies for the British Expeditionary Force in France and for Home Forces in the United Kingdom. In March 1940, 151 Provost Company, CMP was formed in France, predominantly from AA Supplementary Reservists, as the first Traffic Control Company in the British Army. It distinguished itself during the Battle of France but due to its high casualties was disbanded on returning to England in June 1940.

Two more wings were formed in 1940, Special Investigation Branch (SIB) and Vulnerable Points Wing. The latter provided security for static locations and establishments. They were known as "blue caps" from the Oxford blue cloth covers worn on their service dress caps. Originally intended to act as static Companies and detachments, VP Coys were later deployed in North West Europe, guarding prisoner of war camps and other static installations. SIB, by contrast, was formed by transferring 19 detectives from Metropolitan Police CID to the Army for deployment in France. From this small beginning SIB expanded into numerous Sections which were deployed both in the UK and overseas, providing the Corps with its own criminal investigation department to conduct more detailed and protracted investigations into organised crime and serious offences such as murder. July 1940 also saw the Corps' Field Security Wing absorbed into the new Intelligence Corps, which revived the title of an earlier unit disbanded in 1929.

The Corps' Traffic Control Wing was formed in 1941, with Traffic Control (TC) Companies deployed throughout the United Kingdom, releasing Provost Companies from the tasks of traffic control. TC Coys were later deployed in the Middle East, Italy and North-West Europe. Many sources over the years continue to erroneously state that personnel of the Traffic Control Wing wore white cloth cap covers. This is not the case. CMP (TC) personnel did not wear cap covers when on duty, unless they had undergone a basic course in police duties, in which case they were authorised to wear red top covers as per the Provost Wing. From 1942, "Ports Provost" Companies were raised within the Provost Wing, consisting of a mix of Provost and Vulnerable Points Sections, which were deployed on security and policing duties within ports and docks.

Some 950 Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks of the Corps of Military Police were killed in action or died in service, a high proportion of the latter in traffic accidents; and several were murdered whilst carrying out their duties. In addition, 28 Officers were killed or died whilst serving with CMP units. 101st Provost Company landed under enemy fire at Courseilles-Sur-Mer, whilst 150th Provost Company also took part in Operation Overlord. The following year Field Marshal Montgomery wrote "The Battle of Normandy and subsequent battles would never have been won but for the work and co-operation of the Provost on the traffic routes." 1st Airborne Division's 1st (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company captured the police station in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, but then suffered heavy losses when the II SS Panzer Corps counterattacked.

Corps units also took part in Operation Varsity (6th (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company and HQ, 245th Provost Company) and Operation Plunder (101 Provost Company, CMP, 15th (Scottish) Division), the airborne and ground elements respectively of the Rhine Crossings in March 1945. CMP units also served with British units of the 14th Army in the Burma campaign 1944–1945 (e.g. 2nd Division). At war's end, General Sir Miles Dempsey paid the following tribute: "The Military Policeman became such a well known figure on every road to the battlefield that his presence became taken for granted. Few soldiers as they hurried over a bridge which was a regular target for the enemy, gave much thought to the man whose duty it was to stand there for hours on end, directing the traffic and ensuring its rapid passage".

A new set of TA Companies were established for the RMP in 1947. The Supplementary Reserve was also restarted in 1949 and renamed as the Army Emergency Reserve in 1951. Numerous RMP (AER) units were raised, administered by HQ RMP AER at Inkerman Barracks, Woking; these included Army and Corps Provost Companies and Vulnerable Points Companies as well as SIB Sections. The RMP AER recruited heavily from ex-Regular and National Service RMP personnel, as well as the civilian Police and Automobile Association. The annual training commitment of the AER units was lower than that of the TA, with personnel only required to attend one 15-day camp each year, with no weekly or monthly continuation training. In 1951 the composition of RMP AER was as follows;

The RMP (AER) Pool – comprising an establishment of 44 Officers and some 830 NCOs and Other Ranks, who would reinforce Regular Army and TA units in the event of mobilisation for war.

• Seven General Headquarters Provost Companies (240 – 246 (GHQ) Pro Coy, RMP (AER).

• Two Home Command Provost Companies (153 and 154 (HC) Pro Coy, RMP (AER).

• Two Port Provost Companies (2 and 3 Port Pro Coy, RMP (AER).

• One Provost Signal Company (1 Prov Sig Coy, RMP (AER).

• Eleven Vulnerable Points Companies (300 – 310 V P Coy, RMP (AER).

• Six Special Investigation Branch Sections (81 – 86 SIS Sec, RMP (AER).

By 1961 this had been reduced to 243 (GHQ) Pro Coy, 161 Force Pro Unit, 162 and 163 Rear Area Pro Unit, 1 Port Task Force Pro Coy, RMP (AER), plus 81 and 82 Det (Rear Area) SIB, RMP (AER).

A Royal Military Police soldier using field glasses to look across the Berlin Wall from a viewing platform on the western side, 1984.

In 1946 the Robertson-Malinin agreement introduced Military Missions into the post-war Control Zones of Germany. The agreements remained in force until 2 October 1990, when all three missions were deactivated on the eve of Germany's reunification.

As a result of the agreement, the Soviet Union maintained missions (SOXMIS) in the U.S., French and British zones. In the British sector the Soviet Mission was based in Bünde near Herford. British Forces maintained a mission (BRIXMIS) in the Soviet Zone (East Germany). The RMP had the task of policing the Soviet mission in Bünde, and this was tasked to 19 (Support) Platoon RMP, who became known as "white mice". This unit's job was to wait outside the Soviet mission until a SOXMIS vehicle appeared and then follow it. In restricted areas, Soviet vehicles were not permitted to leave the autobahns (not even in parking areas) unless accompanied by U.S., British or French military police.

In Berlin, within 2 Regiment RMP, 247 Provost Company RMP was responsible for manning the British Sector checkpoints and Border Patrols. As part of 2 Regiment, an armed unit of German nationals, 248 German Security Unit, was maintained; its commander was a German national in the rank of Major and an RSM from a British infantry regiment acted as liaison officer. This was disbanded in 1994, when the British Garrison in Berlin was closed. A third company within the 2 Regiment was 246 Provost Company in Helmstedt.

RMP personnel were committed to combat guerilla forces in the Malayan Emergency (1948-1950), whilst thirteen of its members also lost their lives in the 1948-1956 Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation and eight during anti-terrorist operations in the Suez Canal Zone (1951-1956).

On 1 April 1955 a terrorist campaign was started by the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA) in Cyprus. An early casualty Major Greenaway, Officer Commanding 1 Division Provost Company (Detachment), who was shot in the back, paralysed and repatriated to the UK in 1955. The campaign lasted until 1959 - the RMP's nine casualties during this emergency are buried at the Waynes Keep Cemetery in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus:

• Lance-Corporal W. R. Bell, 227 GHQ Provost Company RMP
• Lance-Corporal W. N. Cameron, 51 Independent Infantry Brigade Provost Company RMP
• Lance-Corporal R. J. Downing, 3 Infantry Division Provost Company RMP
• Lance-Corporal R. B. Leitch, 227 Provost Company RMP
• Lance-Corporal D. W. Perry, HQ 3 Brigade RMP
• Lance-Corporal A. R. Shaw, 3 Independent Infantry Division Provost Company RMP
• Lance-Corporal G. A. Todd
• Lance-Corporal B. F. Turvey
• Lance-Corporal B. D. Welsh

Units of the RMP involved during the emergency were:

• 1st Guards Brigade HQ RMP, Waynes Keep, Nicosia
• 1 Independent Infantry Division Provost Company (Detachment) RMP, HQ Nicosia
• 3 Infantry Division Provost Company RMP, Famagusta
• No 6 Army Guard Unit RMP, Lakatamia, Larnaca and Dhekelia
• 227 GHQ Provost Company RMP, Nicosia, with detachments at Famagusta, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Kyrenia
• 51 Brigade Independent Provost Company RMP
• Cyprus District Provost Company

An RMP unit was also based in Nairobi during the Mau Mau Uprising between 1952 and 1960, whilst RMP personnel were also involved in Operation Musketeer, the trigger for the Suez Crisis in 1956. The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) was established in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of fighting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and a return to normal conditions. After the 1974 Greek coup-d'etat and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the UN Security Council extended and expanded the mission to prevent that Cyprus dispute turning into war. RMP have served with the Force Military Police Unit (FMPU), from the outset, whilst three RMP units were also involved in the Aden Emergency (1964–1967):

• 24 Brigade Provost Unit RMP (Falaise Barracks, Little Aden)
• Port Security Force RMP (based at HMS Sheba until 1967)
• Joint Services Police (Army Navy and Airforce) based at HQ P&SS Steamer Point until 1967

160 Provost Company RMP, located in Aldershot sent a detachment with the task force for the Falklands conflict.

After the Argentine forces surrendered, 5 Infantry Brigade Provost Unit RMP remained on the islands, sworn in as Special Constables until the Falkland Islands Police Force were able to become operational again. After the re-capture of South Georgia (Operation Paraquat), the Argentine commander Lieutenant-Commander Alfredo Astiz was taken to the UK and questioned by the RMP and Sussex Police at the Keep, Roussillon Barracks, Chichester about the murder of Swedish and French nationals several years before. As there was no jurisdiction for extradition to Sweden or France, he was repatriated to Argentina by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In 1991, British forces as part of US-led coalition forces invaded Kuwait and Southern Iraq as part of Operation Desert Storm. The British name for this operation was Operation Granby.

RMP units involved were:

• 203 Provost Company RMP – 7th and 4th Armoured Brigades (1 (British) Armoured Division). This unit was a composite of various RMP units in United Kingdom Land Forces and British Forces Germany.
• 174 Provost Company RMP – Force Maintenance Area, one section attached to 203 Pro.

The RMP suffered one fatality:

• Staff Sergeant David Tite

On 6 April 1992 the RMP lost its status as an independent corps, merging with the Military Provost Staff Corps to form the Provost Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps. It was, however, permitted to retain the name "Royal Military Police", together with its cap badge and other distinctive insignia including the red cap. On 5 March 1995, the Mounted Troop was disbanded after 118 years of service to the crown and the colours.[2]

During 1994 the British Army deployed units to Bosnia as part of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), which was later superseded by IFOR and then SFOR. These included:

• 111 Provost Company Coy RMP – Force Military Police Unit (FMPU) support. The company was based in Vitez, Gornji Vakuf, Kiseljak, Maglaj and Split.
• Elements of 24 Airmobile Brigade Provost Unit (156 Provost Company, based in Colchester, England) provided the British Force Military Police Unit (FMPU) for UNPROFOR (UK Operation Grapple 5) between Oct 1994 and April 1995 based as above and then re-deployed as the Brigade Provost Unit when 24 Airmobile brigade deployed to Ploce in May/Jun 1995.
• 115 Provost Company RMP (based in Osnabrück, Germany) provided the British Force Military Police Unit (FMPU) for UNPROFOR (UK Operation Grapple 7) between August and December 1995 and then reverted to its unit designation of 4th (UK) Armoured Brigade Provost Unit RMP as part of IFOR until April 1996.

On 12 June 1999, the UK sent 19,000 troops into Kosovo as part of KFOR. Lead units of the 5 Airborne Brigade, which included the Royal Engineers and RMP, had to deal with booby traps in road tunnels before the Force could advance into Kosovo and seize the Kačanik defile.