| Le Royal 22e Régiment | |
|---|---|
Cap badge of Le Royal 22e Régiment |
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| 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 quartier général - Quebec City 1ere Bataillon - Valcartier 2e Bataillon - Quebec City 3e Bataillon - Valcartier 4e Bataillon - Laval 6e Bataillon - Saint-Hyacinthe |
| Nickname | The Van Doos |
| Motto | Je me souviens (I Remember) |
| March | Quick: Vive la Canadienne Slow: Marche lente du Royal 22e Régiment: La Prière en famille |
| Mascot | Goat named Baptiste |
| Commanders | |
| Colonel in Chief | HM The Queen |
| Colonel of the Regiment | General Maurice Baril, CMM, MSM, CD |
| Insignia | |
| Plume | Red Left side of bearskin |
| Abbreviation | R22eR |
The Royal 22nd Regiment (Royal 22e 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, an anglicized mispronunciation of the first two syllables of vingt-deuxième ("22nd" in French).[1] The French language name for the regiment, Royal 22e Régiment, is used officially in both French and English. 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.
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The ancestor of the regiment was formed in the early days of the First World War as part of the British Army, 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 20 May 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 1 April 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 22e 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.
During the Cold War the regular battalions of the regiment served, in turn, in West Germany as part of 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, with the 1er Battalion serving permanently from 1967 until the withdrawal in 1993.
The regiment also served during the Oka Crisis. During the life of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (1968–1995) the 1er Commando was manned as a French-speaking sub-unit by soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment.</ref>
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 22nd Regiment:
| Old regiment name | Formed | New battalion name | Joined R22eR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Régiment de Châteauguay | 1869 | 4th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (Châteauguay) | 1954 |
| Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent | 1869 | Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent (5th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment) | 1954 to 1968 |
| Le Régiment de Saint-Hyacinthe | 1866 | 6th Battalion, Royal 22e 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 22e Régiment. However, in 1968, Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent dropped the subsidiary title, and ended their administrative association with the R22eR.
A stone shaft was erected on the grounds of Royal Military College Saint-Jean on 26 September 1964 to commemorate the founding of the Royal 22e Régiment (French-Canadian) 24063-005.[2]
The 3rd Battalion, along with an attached mechanized company from the 1st, provided the basis for the Canadian ISAF contingent in Kabul, Afghanistan, from February to August 2004.
In August 2007 a battle group based on the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment 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 12e 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 5th Regiment light artillery du Canada, an engineer squadron from 5 Combat Engineer Regiment. The battle group, awarded the Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation, was "instrumental in dismantling improvised explosive device networks, re-capturing checkpoints and returning them to Afghan control, enhancing the capacity of Afghan forces and providing guidance on community building and local governance."[3]
The Royal 22nd Regiment 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 presence, in an ever-widening secure zone in the former Taliban home districts of Zhari and Panjawaii. Light infantry elements often fought toe-to-toe with the Taliban, relying heavily on sniper fire and man-portable grenade launchers to gain the edge over the militants. The battle group, and its associated OMLT and PRT elements, had 10 men killed in action during the six-month tour. The many wounded included Captain Simon Mailloux a Van Doos platoon commander who returned two years later to Kandahar even though his leg had to be amputated.[4]
A second Van Doos battle group, this time based on the 2nd Battalion, deployed to Kandahar from March to November 2009 and was the vanguard of the much-vaunted "key villages" [1] program, wherein Canadian soldiers cleared urban areas of Taliban activity during sweeping combat operations and then installed sub-units permanently in those hamlets, guarding the approaches to Kandahar City. The composition of this battle group was nearly identical to previous incarnations, and it was able to rely heavily on the recently-deployed CH-146 Griffon and CH-47 Chinook helicopters to perform a wide variety of airmobile operations, as well as traditional mechanized manoeuvres. The Griffon helicopters proved especially capable at spotting Taliban movements and directing accurate artillery fire on them, preventing Taliban groups from effectively re-infiltrating areas cleared.
Over the course of the seven-month Roto 7, 10 soldiers from the battle group were killed in action ("Roto 7" denoting that this was the eighth consecutive Canadian battle group deployment in Kandahar since 2006, as rotations are numbered starting at "0"). An additional five Canadian soldiers, all belonging to the battle group's parent organization, Task Force Kandahar, also died during that period. The vast majority of these soldiers were killed by the Taliban's lethal employment of anti-vehicle or anti-personnel improvised explosive devices.
The final Canadian combat mission began in the fall of 2010 with the 1st Battalion Battle Group (BG) commanded by Lieutant-Colonel Henri St. Louis. One of the main operations taken on by the BG was Operation Baawar beginning in December 2010 featuring a major road project and a strongpoint construction project led by engineers, tanks, and infantry.
| Battalion | Home | Brigade | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Bataillon, Royal 22nd Regiment | CFB Valcartier | 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group | Mechanized infantry |
| 2nd Bataillon, Royal 22nd Regiment | Quebec City | 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group | Mechanized infantry |
| 3rd Bataillon, Royal 22nd Regiment | CFB Valcartier | 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group | Light infantry, Includes a parachute company |
| 4th Bataillon, Royal 22nd Regiment (Châteauguay) | Laval, Quebec | 34 Canadian Brigade Group | Reserve, Dismounted infantry |
| 6th Bataillon, Royal 22nd Regiment | Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec | 34 Canadian Brigade Group | Reserve, Dismounted infantry |
| La Musique du Royal 22nd Regiment | CFB Valcartier | Land Force Quebec Area | Regular Force professional band |
* Translated to French in 1958 from original English awards in 1957.
† – Awarded posthumously
Regular Force:
| Preceded by Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry |
Royal 22e Régiment | Succeeded by Governor General's Foot Guards |
Reserve Force:
| Preceded by Le Régiment de la Chaudière |
4e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment (Chateauguay) | Succeeded by 6e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment |
| Preceded by 4e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment (Chateauguay) |
6e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment | Succeeded by Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal |
The Van Doos are the subject of a 2011 National Film Board of Canada documentary Le 22e Régiment en Afghanistan (English: The Van Doos in Afghanistan).[5] The documentary was filmed in Afghanistan in March 2011. On November 9, 2011, the film was previewed for the families of 26 soldiers who have died during their mission in Afghanistan, at a ceremony at the Valcartier base. A commemorative mural by Canadian artist Dave Sopha was also unveiled.[6]
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