Royal 22e Régiment

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Royal 22^e Régiment
Cap badge of Le Royal 22^e Régiment
Active	14 October 1914-
Country	Canada
Branch	Canadian Army
Type	Line Infantry
Role	Mechanized Infantry (two battalions) Light Role Infantry/Paratroop (one battalion) Reserve (two battalions)
Size	Five battalions
Part of	Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
Garrison/HQ	Le siège social - Quebec City 1^er Bataillon - CFB Valcartier 2^e Bataillon - Quebec City 3^e Bataillon - Valcartier 4^e Batallion - Laval 6^e Batallion - Saint-Hyacinthe
Nickname	The Van Doos
Motto	Je me souviens (I Remember)
March	Quick: Vive la Canadienne Slow: Marche lente du Royal 22^e Régiment
Mascot	Goat named Bâtisse X
Commanders
Colonel en Chef	HM The Queen
Colonel du Régiment	Général Maurice Baril, CMM, MSM, CD
Insignia
Plume	Red Left of Bearskin cap
Abbreviation	R22eR

Soldiers from the Royal 22^e Régiment exercising the Freedom of the City in front of Quebec City's City Hall, on July 3, 2006.

The Royal 22^e Régiment is an infantry regiment and the most famous francophone organization of the Canadian Forces. The regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army. The ceremonial home of the regiment is La Citadelle in Quebec City, where the regimental museum is housed. The regiment is nicknamed the Van Doos, a corruption of vingt-deux, French for "twenty-two." The regiment's regimental headquarters is located in Quebec City, with all three of its regular battalions stationed at various bases in the province of Quebec. The regiment serves as the "local" infantry regiment for Quebec.

1 History
2 Afghanistan
3 Battalions
4 Battle honours
5 Victoria Cross recipients
6 A note on the name
7 Order of precedence
8 Alliances
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] History

The ancestor of the regiment was formed in the early days of the First World War, when volunteers from all over Canada were being massed for training at Valcartier, Quebec, just outside of Quebec City. The first contingent of 30,000 volunteers, which became the 1st Canadian Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, were grouped into numbered battalions, regardless of origin. The existing reserve regiments were not mobilized, due to the belief of the Defence Minister, Sam Hughes, that a new "efficient" structure was required. In the process, the new structure failed to create French-speaking units, such as those that had existed in the reserves. Over 1000 French-Canadian volunteers were scattered into different English-speaking units. This was not an oversight. Ontario (Hughes's political base) was in the process of forbidding teaching in French, or of French, in the school system (Regulation 17), causing outrage in French Canada and a lack of support for the war of the "king and country" that was perceived as seeking to destroy the Francophone community in Canada.

The second contingent was based, more logically, on battalions raised and trained in the various military districts in which they had been recruited, but still on an impersonal numbered basis (with the exception of some with a Highland or Irish identity). Considerable political pressure in Quebec, along with public rallies, demanded the creation of French-speaking units to fight a war that many viewed as being right and necessary, despite Regulation 17 in Ontario. When the government relented, the first such unit was the 22nd (French Canadian) Infantry Battalion, CEF. The 22nd went to France as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade and the 2nd Canadian Division in September 1915, and fought with distinction in every major Canadian engagement until the end of the war. While other French-speaking units were also created, they were all broken up upon arrival in France to provide reinforcements for the 22nd, which suffered close to 4000 wounded and killed in the course of the war. Two members of the 22nd were awarded the Victoria Cross in that war, Lieutenant Jean Brillant and Corporal Joseph Kaeble.

After the war, the 22nd Battalion was disbanded on May 20, 1919, sharing the fate of the other numbered battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. However, in the post-war reorganizations of the army, public pressure, such as resolutions by the Legislative Assembly of Quebec as well as the City Council of Quebec City, demanded that a permanent French-language unit be created in the peace-time Regular Force, and accordingly a new regiment was created, made up of veterans of the 22nd Battalion, on April 1, 1920. Initially the regiment, which was given the guard of the Citadelle of Quebec, was simply the 22nd Regiment, but in June 1921 King George V approved renaming it The Royal 22nd Regiment. In 1928 the anomaly of a French-language unit with an English name was resolved, and the regiment became the Royal 22^e Régiment.

In 1940, the regiment became the first Francophone Canadian unit to mount the King's Guard in London, and was the first of the three current Regular Force regiments to do so.

In the Second World War the regiment was part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and was involved in intense combat in Italy, (where Captain Paul Triquet earned the Victoria Cross) and later in the Netherlands and northwest Germany.

During the Korean War, 1951–1953, the regiment expanded to three battalions, each serving in turn as part of the Canadian brigade in the 1st Commonwealth Division. Thus the "Van Doos" represented one-third of Canada's infantry contingent throughout the war.

Pte. Patrick Cloutier, a 'Van Doo' perimeter sentry, and a Mohawk warrior face off during the Oka Crisis in 1990.

During the Cold War the regular battalions of the regiment served, in turn, in West Germany for most of the period.

The regiment also served during the Oka Crisis (see photo, right).

During the life of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (1968–1995) the 1^er Commando was manned as a French-speaking sub-unit by soldiers of the Royal 22^e Régiment.

In the 1950s, the Canadian Army promoted a scheme of administratively associating reserve infantry regiments with a regular one. Although this project did not make much progress in most of the army, three reserve regiments did join the Van Doos, becoming battalions of the Royal 22^e Régiment:

Old regiment name	Formed	New battalion name	Joined R22^eR
Le Régiment de Châteauguay	1869	4th Battalion, Royal 22^e Régiment (Châteauguay)	1954
Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent	1869	Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent (5th Battalion, Royal 22^e Régiment)	1954 to 1968
Le Régiment de Saint-Hyacinthe	1866	6th Battalion, Royal 22^e Régiment	1956

In the case of Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent, the battalion designation was in a subsidiary title, but it became nevertheless, administratively, part of the Royal 22^e Régiment. However, in 1968, Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent dropped the subsidiary title, and ended their administrative association with the R22^eR.

[edit] Afghanistan

The 3rd Battalion (with a mechanized company from the 1st Battalion) provided the basis of the Canadian ISAF contingent in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2004 (February-August).

In August 2007 a battle group based on the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22^e Régiment returned to Afghanistan, replacing the 2nd Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment in Kandahar province. The battle group was made up of a company from each of the regiment's three regular battalions. It also included combat support and service support from all the units of 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Valcartier, Quebec. There was a reconnaissance squadron from the 12^e Régiment blindé du Canada, a composite tank squadron from Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) (with troops from the other two armoured regiments), a battery from the 5^e Régiment d'artillerie légère du Canada, an engineer squadron from 5 Combat Engineer Regiment as well as support from all the other Valcartier units and about 250 reservists, mostly from Quebec.

The Royal 22^e Régiment also provided about 150 trainers (OMLT) for the three Afghan "Kandaks" serving with them. As well it provided a protection company for the PRT in Kandahar.

The regiment distinguished itself in Kandahar through its determined and successful efforts to establish Afghan police sub-stations, protected by ANA and Canadian 24/7 presence, in an ever-widening secure zone in the former Taliban home districts of Zhari and Panjawaii. The battle group, and its associated OMLT and PRT elements, lost 10 men KIA during its 6-month tour.

[edit] Battalions

Battalion	Home	Brigade	Notes
1^er Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment	CFB Valcartier	5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Mechanized infantry
2^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment	Quebec City	5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Mechanized infantry
3^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment	CFB Valcartier	5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Light infantry, Includes a parachute company
4^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment (Châteauguay)	Laval, Quebec	34 Canadian Brigade Group	Reserve, Dismounted infantry
6^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment	Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec	34 Canadian Brigade Group	Reserve, Dismounted infantry
La Musique du Royal 22^e Régiment	CFB Valcartier	Land Force Quebec Area	Regular Force professional band

[edit] Battle honours

The Great War: Mont-Sorrel¹, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Les Hauteurs d'Ancre¹, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Arleux, Scarpe 1917 '18, Côte 70¹, Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Amiens, Ligne Hindenburg¹, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Poussée de Mons¹, France et Flandres 1915–18¹
The Second World War: Débarquement en Sicile¹, Valguarnera, Adrano, Catenuova, Sicile 1943¹, Débarquement à Reggio¹, Potenza, Le Sangro¹, Casa Berardi, Torre Mucchia, Cassino II, Ligne Gustav¹, Vallée de la Liri¹, Ligne Hitler¹, Ligne Gothique¹, Borgo Santa Maria, Passage du Lamone¹, Ligne Rimini¹, San Martino-San Lorenzo, San Fortunato, Cesena, Italie 1943–1945¹, Apeldoorn, Nord-Ouest de l'Europe 1945¹
Corée 1951–53¹

1. translated to French in 1958 from original English awards in 1957.

[edit] Victoria Cross recipients

Corporal Joseph Kaeble † – 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force – Neuville-Vitasse, France – June 8, 1918
Lieutenant Jean Brillant † – 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force – near Amiens, France – August 8–9, 1918
Major Paul Triquet – Royal 22^e Régiment – Casa Berardi, Italy – December 14, 1943

† – Awarded posthumously

[edit] A note on the name

Most units of the Canadian Forces have official names in English and in French, but the historic regiments are exceptions, having monolingual names for the sake of tradition. The English name "Royal 22nd Regiment" is often seen, but strictly speaking is incorrect: only the French form is official.

[edit] Order of precedence

Regular Force:

Preceded by: Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry	Royal 22^e Régiment	Succeeded by: Governor General's Foot Guards (see note below)

Reserve Force:

Preceded by: Le Régiment de la Chaudière	4^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment (Chateauguay)	Succeeded by: 6^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment
Preceded by: 4^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment (Chateauguay)	6^e Bataillon, Royal 22^e Régiment	Succeeded by: Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal

Note: The Royal 22^e Régiment is last in precedence of Regular Force infantry regiments, and is immediately succeeded by the Governor General's Foot Guards, first in precedence of the Reserve infantry regiments.

[edit] Alliances

United Kingdom – The Royal Welsh
United Kingdom – The Mercian Regiment; 4e Bn

[edit] References

(1992) Ducimus, The Regiments of the Canadian Infantry. St. Hubert, Quebec, Canada: Mobile Command Headquarters, Canadian Armed Forces, 248p.. ISBN 0-9696421-0-5.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e Land Force Command

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