| British Army Arms and Services |
|---|
| Combat Arms |
| Royal Armoured Corps |
| Infantry |
| Army Air Corps |
| Combat Support Arms |
| Royal Artillery |
| Royal Engineers |
| Royal Corps of Signals |
| Intelligence Corps |
| Combat Services |
| Royal Army Chaplains Department |
| Royal Logistic Corps |
| Army Medical Services |
| Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers |
| Adjutant General's Corps |
| Small Arms School Corps |
| Royal Army Physical Training Corps |
| General Service Corps |
| Corps of Army Music |
The British Army's Infantry, part of the Structure of the British Army, comprises 51 battalions of Infantry, from 19 Regiments. Of these 37 battalions are part of the 'Regular' army and the remaining 14 a part of the 'Territorial' (reserve) force. The British Infantry forms a highly flexible organisation, taking on a variety of roles including armoured, mechanised, air assault and light.
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Traditionally, regiments that form the combat arms of the British Army (cavalry and infantry) recruit from specific areas of the country. Infantry regiments had been assigned specific areas from which they would recruit from by the mid eighteenth century. These were formalised under the Cardwell Reforms that began in the 1860s. Under this scheme, single battalion infantry regiments were amalgamated into two battalion regiments, then assigned to a depot and associated recruiting area (which would usually correspond to all or part of a county). The recruiting area (usually) would then become part of the regiment's title. It was this that gave rise to the concept of the "county regiment", with the local infantry regiment becoming part of the fabric of its local area.
Over time, regiments have been amalgamated further, which has led to recruiting areas of individual regiments increasing in size. Often, these amalgamations will be between regiments whose recruiting areas border each other. However, there have been occasions where regiments of a similar type, but from widely different areas, have been amalgamated. Two modern examples have been the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (amalgamated from the county regiments of Northumberland, Warwickshire, City of London and Lancashire, all of which were regiments of fusiliers) and The Light Infantry (amalgamated from the county regiments of Cornwall, Somerset, Shropshire, South Yorkshire and Durham, all of which were regiments of light infantry).
After September 2007, when the current reforms have been completed, the infantry will consist of a total of 18 separate regiments. The five regiments of foot guards recruit from their respective home nations (with the exception of the Coldstream Guards, which recruits from the counties through which the regiment marched between Coldstream and London). Scotland, Ireland and Wales each have a single regiment of line infantry from which they recruit (though the battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland recruit from the areas they recruited from when they were separate regiments), while England has seven line infantry and rifles regiments. The Parachute Regiment recruits nationally, while the Royal Gurkha Rifles recruits most of its serving personnel from Nepal, and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment recruits in Gibraltar.
Before the Second World War, infantry recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall. They initially enlisted for seven years with the colours and a further five years with the reserve. They trained at their own regimental depot.[1]
Unlike the other trades in the army, which have separate units for basic training and specialised training, new recruits into the infantry undergo a single course at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick. This course, called the "Combat Infantryman's Course" (CIC), lasts 26 weeks as standard and teaches recruits both the basics of soldiering (Phase 1 training) and the specifics of soldiering in the infantry (Phase 2 training). Upon completion of the CIC, the newly qualified infantry soldier will then be posted to his battalion.
For some infantry units, the CIC is longer, due to specific additional requirements for individual regiments:
New officers conduct their Phase 1 training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Phase 2 training for officers, which is encompassed by the Platoon Commander's Battle Course, is run at the Infantry Battle School at ITC Brecon in Wales. It is here that leadership and tactics are taught to new platoon commanders. New NCOs and Warrant Officers are also sent on courses at Brecon when they come up for promotion. This encompasses Phase 3 training. Phase 3 training is also undertaken at the Support Weapons School at ITC Warminster, where new officers, NCOs and soldiers are trained in the use of support weapons (mortars, anti-tank weapons) and in communications.
Terriotorial Infantrymen undertake preliminary training at Regional Training Centres prior to attending a two week CIC(TA) at Catterick
The majority of the infantry in the British Army is divided for administrative purposes into five divisions. These are not the same as the ready and regenerative divisions (see below), but are based on either the geographical recruiting areas of regiments, or the type of regiments:
A further division, the Light Division, grouped together the regiments of light infantry and rifles, until they were amalgamated into a single regiment in 2007.
| Guards Division | Scottish Division | King's Division | Prince of Wales' Division | Queen's Division | |
| 1st Bn, Grenadier Guards | The Royal Scots Borderers (1st Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) | 1st & 2nd Bn, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border) | 1st, 2nd & 3rd Bn, The Mercian Regiment | 1st & 2nd Bn, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) | |
| 1st Bn, Coldstream Guards | The Royal Highland Fusiliers (2nd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) | 1st, 2nd & 3rd Bn, The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th & 33rd/76th Foot) | 1st and 2nd Bn, The Royal Welsh | 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers | |
| 1st Bn, Scots Guards | The Black Watch (3rd Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) | 1st & 2nd Bn, The Royal Anglian Regiment | |||
| 1st Bn, Irish Guards | The Highlanders (4th Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) | The Royal Gibraltar Regiment | |||
| 1st Bn, Welsh Guards | The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5th Bn, The Royal Regiment of Scotland) |
There are further infantry units in the army that are not grouped in the various divisions:
Within the British Army, there are four main types of infantry:
The infantry is traditionally divided into three types:
The tactical distinctions between infantry regiments disappeared in the late nineteenth century, but remain in tradition. In the order of precedence, the five regiments of foot guards are ranked above the ten regiments of traditional line infantry, who are ranked above the two remaining regiments of rifles.
Postings, due to be completed in 2009[2]:
There are four locations that have a permanent British infantry presence; Germany, Cyprus and Brunei are home to battalions from the regular army, while Gibraltar has its own permanent home defence battalion. Other postings are usually roulement postings from either the UK, Germany or Cyprus.
The British Army is administered through HQ Land Command, which has responsibility for the majority of army units. Most of these are organised into a total of five divisions, each of which has a number of brigades under its command.
Battalions are attached permanently (semi-permanently for light role battalions) to formations:
HM Treasury asked for major cuts in the strength of the infantry in 2003, with at least ten battalions to be disbanded. This proved so unacceptable that in November 2003 there was consideration to instead reducing each battalion to two rifle companies (with the third to come from the TA).[3] By March 2004 ECAB had shown maximum number of battalions it was possible to cut was four. This was finally official announced as part of the army re-organisation. The arms plot system would be abolished, with instead individual battalions being given fixed roles. In order to ensure that officers and men could continue to gain the variety of skills the arms plot provided, the restructuring would also see a series of amalgamations of the remaining single battalion infantry regiments into large regiments. In addition, the regular army will lose a total of four battalions. The roles are divided up as follows:
The reorganisation was a hybrid of the systems used to organise the regular infantry in Australia and Canada. Australia's regular infantry encompasses eight battalions in a single large regiment, the Royal Australian Regiment - this system is the one undertaken by the Scottish Division and the Light Division. Canada's regular infantry has three regiments each of three battalions, which is how the King's Division and the Prince of Wales' Division will be restructured (albeit with one regiment of three battalions and one of two battalions each).
In addition to the army's infantry battalions, there are three further battalion sized commando infantry units which are part of the Royal Marines, as well as eight field squadrons (each larger than an infantry company) of the RAF Regiment, who have responsibility for the ground defence of air assets and are under the control of the Royal Air Force.
The majority of infantry battalions are attached to one of the deployable brigades. However, there are a number of formations which exist to administer infantry battalions that are not assigned to deployable brigades, but are instead available for independent deployment on roulement tours.
Each battalion in the five single battalion regiments of the Guards Division has a fixed role:
Two battalions will be assigned as general light role battalions, with the other two assigned to public duties. These battalions will periodically rotate roles and postings.
The six battalions of the Scottish Division have amalgamated into a single five battalion regiment to be called the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The six battalions of the King's Division have amalgamated into two regiments;
The original seven battalions of the Prince of Wales's Division have been reduced to five with the transfer of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment to the Light Division. The five remaining battalions will amalgamate into two regiments;
The three existing large regiments of the Queen's Division remain unaffected by the restructuring.
The four current battalions of the Light Division in two regiments were added to by two battalions from the Prince of Wales's Division in 2005. These two were amalgamated into a single battalion and then amalgamated with Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets to form a new five battalion regiment, called The Rifles. Upon its formation, the Light Division was abolished.[4]
The single regular battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment is unamalgamated to "retain an infantry footprint in Northern Ireland".
The Royal Gurkha Rifles is unaffected by the restructuring. However the UK based battalion has been integrated more fully with the rest of the infantry and trained in the air assault role.
One battalion of the Parachute Regiment is the core of the "special forces support battalion", no longer part of the Infantry order of battle. The other two operate in the Airborne role.
With the exception of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, every line infantry regiment has at least one TA battalion (the Royal Regiment of Scotland and The Rifles have two). The Guards Division has The London Regiment as an affiliated TA battalion.
Over time, a handful of infantry regiments have disappeared from the roll through disbandment rather than amalgamation. In the 20th Century, seven regiments disappeared like this:
Since the Cardwell reforms began, infantry regiments in the British Army have amalgamated on many occasions. However, there have been occasions where amalgamations have been announced, but have then been abandoned:
In recent years, there have been many depictions of the British Army of various periods in fiction. Two notable ones depicting the modern British Army have been Spearhead from the period of the late 1970s, and Soldier Soldier from the early to mid 1990s. Both are seen as reasonably accurate depictions of life in the army at those times, and both are centred on a fictional infantry regiment. The most recent depiction of the British Army came in the film The Mark of Cain, which featured an infantry regiment deployed to Iraq, and the difficulties it faced.
The Loamshire Regiment is used by the British Army as the placeholder name in the provision of examples for its procedures, for example in the method of addressing letters to members of the forces produced by the British Forces Post Office.
| Preceded by Royal Corps of Signals |
Order of precedence | Succeeded by Special Air Service |
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