Royal Welch Fusiliers

The Royal Welch Fusiliers
Cap badge of the Royal Welch Fusiliers
Active	16 March 1689–28 February 2006
Allegiance	Kingdom of England (to 1707)  Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1800)  United Kingdom (1801-2006)
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Line infantry
Garrison/HQ	Hightown Barracks, Wrexham
Motto	Ich Dien
Anniversaries	St. David's Day (1 March)
Engagements	Williamite War War of the Grand Alliance War of the Spanish Succession War of the Austrian Succession Seven Years' War American War of Independence Wars of the French Revolution Napoleonic Wars Crimean War Second China War Indian Mutiny Third Anglo-Burmese War South African War First World War Second World War The Troubles Yugoslav wars
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	HM The Queen
Colonel of the Regiment	Major-General Brian Plummer

The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and to take part in the imminent war with France. The regiment was numbered as the 23rd Regiment of Foot, though it was one of the first regiments to be granted the honour of a fusilier title and so was known as The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers from 1702. The "Royal" accolade was earned fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713.

It was one of the oldest infantry regiments in the regular army, hence the archaic spelling of the word Welch instead of Welsh. In the Boer War and throughout the First World War, the army officially called the regiment "The Royal Welsh Fusiliers" but the archaic "Welch" was officially restored to the regiment's title in 1920 under Army Order No.56. During those decades, the regiment itself unofficially used the "Welch" form. The regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Regiment of Wales (RRW) on 1 March 2006, to become the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh (RRW becoming the 2nd Battalion).

The regiment primarily recruited from North Wales.^[1] It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, which recruited from South and West Wales.

History

Regimental Colour of the 6th (Caernarvonshire and Anglesey) Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers were formed by Lord Henry Herbert at Ludlow in March 1689 to oppose James II and to take part in the imminent war with France.^[2] The regiment continued to have ties with the town of Ludlow, for example marching through having completed active service in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997, and its successor battalion in The Royal Welsh regiment was granted the freedom of the town in 2014.^[3]

The regiment served in the Williamite War, fighting at the Battles of the Boyne and Aughrim. In the War of the Grand Alliance, they were at the Siege of Namur and in the War of the Spanish Succession, they were at Schellenberg and Blenheim. During the War of the Austrian Succession, they were at Dettingen, Fontenoy and Lauffeld and in the Seven Years' War, they fought at Minden, Warburg, Kloster Kampen and Wilhelmsthal.^[4]

American Revolutionary War

The light infantry and grenadier companies of the Fusiliers saw bloody action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the light infantry only had five men left unwounded. All companies, except the grenadiers who were garrisoning New York City, fought at the Battle of Guilford Court House in the American War of Independence. The regiment participated in nearly every campaign from the Lexington & Concord to Yorktown.^[5]

At the surrender of Yorktown, the Royal Welch Fusiliers were the only British regiment not to surrender their colours; these were smuggled out tied around the ensign’s waist.^[6]

In the Wars of the French Revolution, the Fusiliers served in the West Indies in 1793-94, before going to Europe for the Helder Expedition and to Egypt for the Battle of Alexandria.^[7]

23rd Royal Welch Fusilier depicted guarding Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars, they served from 1810 to 1814 in the Peninsular War; fighting at Albuera, Badajoz, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, Nivelle and Toulouse and took part in the Battle of Waterloo^[8] where they fought in the 4th Brigade under Lt-Col. Hugh Henry Mitchell, in the 4th British Infantry Division (see Order of Battle of the Waterloo Campaign).^[9]

In the nineteenth century, the regiment took part in the Crimean War, the Second China War, the Indian Mutiny and the Third Anglo-Burmese War before serving in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.^[10]

First World War

Several battalions of the regiment saw notable service in France and Belgium during the First World War, in particular the 1st, which became forever associated with the terribly destructive action at Mametz Wood in 1916, and the 2nd, which endured the horrors of the massacre in the mud of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) in 1917. In 1914 The Royal Welch Fusiliers did not participate in any Christmas 1914 Football Game with the Germans. The myth that they did was created in 2008 when a plaque was unveiled to the RWF Truce at Frelinghien. Although it was then acknowledged that no football was played by 2/RWF, a game was played as part of the day's celebrations.^[11] The football was played further south, but still at Frelinghien - that was the kickabout described by Lt Johannes Niemann between his men of Infantry Regiment 133 and kilted soldiers (almost certainly 2/A&SH).

The 5th Battalion (Flintshire) sailed from Devonport, bound for Gallipoli via Imbros (now Gökçeada) on 19 July 1915 and landed at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 9 August 1915. The division was evacuated from Gallipoli during December 1915 and moved to Egypt.^[12] The evacuation was forced by a combination of combat, disease and harsh weather which saw the division reduced to just 162 officers and 2428 men, approximately 15% of full strength.^[13]

During this war, several writers served with various battalions of the regiment in France, including the poets Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones and Hedd Wyn. Their memoirs, including Graves' Good-Bye to All That, have resulted in the activities of this regiment being vividly recorded for posterity. Captain J C Dunn, a medical officer attached to the regiment's 2nd Battalion, compiled a chronicle of that unit's experiences during its more than four years of service in France and Belgium. His epic, The War The Infantry Knew, has become a classic among military historians for its comprehensive treatment of all aspects of daily life and death in the trenches. Another record can be found in Frank Richards' Old Soldiers Never Die, detailing how, as a reservist, he was recalled to the colours at the outbreak of the First World War, serving on the Western Front until the end of the war (including being in the front line during the famous Christmas Truce of 1914).^[14]

Second World War

During the Second World War the regiment was awarded 27 battle honours. 1,200 men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers were killed in action or died of wounds.^[15]

Regular Army battalions

During the Second World War, the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers was a Regular Army unit and part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and served in France with the British Expeditionary Force. They fought in the short but fierce battles of France and Belgium and were forced to retreat and be evacuated during the Dunkirk evacuation. After 2 years spent in the United Kingdom, waiting and preparing for the invasion that never came (Operation Sea Lion), the 1st RWF and the rest of 2nd Division were sent to British India to fight the Imperial Japanese Army after a string of defeats inflicted upon the British and Indian troops. They were involved in the Burma Campaign and particularly the Battle of Kohima, nicknamed Stalingrad of the East due to the ferocity of fighting on both sides, that helped to turn of the campaign in the South East Asian theatre.

Royal Welsh Fusiliers move forward on a jungle path near Pinbaw, Burma, December 1944.

The 2nd Battalion also served in British India during the war as part of the 29th Independent Infantry Brigade. The battalion fought with the brigade throughout the war and served in the Battle of Madagascar in 1942 against the Vichy French. It was transferred to the South-East Asian Theatre soon after. In 1944 the battalion and brigade became part of 36th British Infantry Division, previously an Indian Army formation. Both the 1st and 2nd Battalions came under the command of Lieutenant-General Bill Slim, commander of the British Fourteenth Army, described at the time as the 'Forgotten Fourteenth' (so-called because their exploits went almost unnoticed in the British Press and were seemingly of little or no importance to the war).

Territorial Army battalions

Fusilier Tom Payne of 11 Platoon, 'B' Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, Normandy, 12 August 1944.

The 4th, 6th and 7th battalions, all Territorial units, served in 158th (Royal Welch) Brigade assigned to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, and took part in the Battle of Normandy at Hill 112 where the 53rd Division suffered heavy casualties. Due to heavy fighting and casualties in Normandy, some of the battalions were posted to different brigades within the division. The 53rd again suffered heavily during Operation Veritable (the Battle of the Reichswald) under command of the First Canadian Army where the British and Canadians, and 53rd Division in particular, endured some of the fiercest fighting of the entire European Campaign against German paratroops.

The 10th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers was a 2nd Line Territorial battalion raised in 1939 as a duplicate of the 7th Battalion. The 10th RWF served with the 8th and 9th battalions in the 115th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division, itself a 2nd Line duplicate of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. The 10th was selected to be converted, in the summer of 1942, into the 6th (Royal Welch) Battalion, Parachute Regiment. The 6th Parachute Battalion was assigned to the 2nd Parachute Brigade, alongside the 4th and 5th Parachute battalions, originally part of the 1st Airborne Division. The battalion played a small part in the Allied invasion of Italy during Operation Slapstick, an amphibious landing aimed at capturing the port of Taranto. After that the 2nd Para Brigade became an independent brigade group. The brigade took part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France, being the only British troops to do so (see 2nd Parachute Brigade in Southern France). They went back to Italy before being sent to Greece to help calm the Greek Civil War.

War Service battalions

The regiment also raised the 11th, 12th and 13th battalions, all during the course of the war.

The 5th Battalion was a 1st Line unit that was converted, before the war, into the 60th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery in the Royal Artillery and, in 1939, raised a 2nd-Line duplicate, the 70th Anti-Tank Regiment. The 11th and 12th battalions, both raised during the war, were also converted to a similar role, the 12th becoming 116th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery and served with 53rd (Welsh) Division until December 1944. The 8th, 9th and 13th battalions never saw active abroad and remained in the UK throughout the war in a training role, supplying trained replacements to units overseas. In this capacity, the 9th battalion served with the 80th Infantry (Reserve) Division and the 38th Infantry (Reserve) Division.

Post Second World War

After the War ended, the regiment was mostly based in Germany and other British colonies. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1957. The regiment did not take part in the Gulf War and did several tours in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner) before being deployed to the Balkans.^[2]

During the Yugoslav Wars, the regiment came to attention when 33 of their men and 350 other UN servicemen part of UNPROFOR were taken hostage by Bosnian Serbs at Goražde on 28 May 1995.^[16][17] The situation caused some political debate as the UN troops had been given orders only to "deter attacks" and did not have a mandate or adequate equipment to fully defend the mainly Muslim town of Goražde, which was initially declared "safe" by the UN, thus rendering them exposed when armed members of the Army of Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Army) ignored the NATO ultimatum and attacked the town without warning. The regiment managed to hold off the Bosnian Serbs until they were forced to retreat into bunkers - those who did not make it quickly enough were taken hostage - and remained trapped underground while BiH Army reinforcements arrived and fought back. The commanding officer Lt Col Jonathon Riley (later promoted to Lieutenant General) broke with protocol and directly reported to then Prime Minister John Major about the situation over the phone while in the bunker.^[18] All the men were eventually safely rescued. An unprecedented five gallantry awards, seven mentions in despatches and two Queen's Commendations for Valuable Service were awarded to the regiment.^[19] Although the incident was largely unreported at that time, the regiment was credited in hindsight by observers for saving the town from a possible genocide - after failing to take Goražde the Bosnian Serbs continued south to Srebrenica where they would massacre over 8000 Bosniaks.^[20]

Amalgamation

It was one of only five line infantry regiments never to have been amalgamated in its entire history, the others being The Royal Scots, The Green Howards, The Cheshire Regiment, and The King's Own Scottish Borderers. However, in 2004 it was announced that, as part of the restructuring of the infantry, the Royal Welch Fusiliers would merge with the Royal Regiment of Wales to form a new large regiment, the Royal Welsh.^[2]

Regimental goat

As with the Royal Regiment of Wales, the regiment traditionally had a goat, never called a mascot. The tradition dated back to at least 1775, and possibly to the regiment's formation. The goat was always named 'Billy'.^[21]

Uniform

Soldiers of this regiment were distinguishable by the unique feature of the "flash", consisting of five overlapping black silk ribbons (seven inches long for soldiers and nine inches long for officers) on the back of the uniform jacket at neck level.^[22] This is a legacy of the days when it was normal for soldiers to wear pigtails. In 1808, this practice was discontinued but when the order was issued the RWF were serving in Nova Scotia and had not received the instruction when the regiment departed to join an expedition to the West Indies.^[23] In 1834 the officers of the 23rd Foot were finally granted permission by William IV to wear this non-regulation item as a distinction on the full dress uniform as "a peculiarity whereby to mark the dress of that distinguished regiment".^[24] This was extended to all ranks in 1900.^[25]

Khaki service dress replaced the scarlet tunic as the principal uniform, and the Army Council attempted to remove the flash during the First World War citing the grounds that it would help the Germans identify which unit was facing them. As Fusilier officer Robert Graves reported, "the regiment retorted by inquiring on what occasion since the retreat from Corunna, when the regiment was the last to leave Spain, with the keys of the town postern in the pocket of one of its officers, had any of His Majesty's enemies seen the back of a Royal Welch Fusilier?," and the matter remained "in abeyance throughout the war."^[26] The efforts of the regiment to retain the distinction was further reinforced at a medal ceremony when King George V saw an officer of the regiment in the line. He ordered an About Turn and seeing the flash still on the tunic said sotto voce, "don't ever let anyone take it from you!"^[27] The wearing of the flash on service dress was extended to other ranks in 1924.^[28]

As a fusilier regiment, the RWF wore a hackle, which consisted of a plume of white feathers mounted behind the cap-badge of the modern beret.^[22] The full dress of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, as worn by the entire regiment until 1914, included a racoon-skin hat (bearskin for officers) with a white hackle and a scarlet tunic with the dark blue facings of a Royal regiment. This uniform continued to be worn by the RWF's Corps of Drums and the Regimental Pioneers until the merger of 2006.^[29]

Museum

The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum is located in Caernarfon, Wales.^[30]

Notes

Bibliography

• Westlake, Ray (2002), English and Welsh Infantry Regiments: An Illustrated Record of Service. Staplehurst. Spellmount. ISBN 1-86227-147-X.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Welch Fusiliers.

• The Regiment's home page
• The regimental museum home page
• Royal Welch Fusiliers in America home page
• The Royal Welch Fusiliers Forum
• Colwyn Bay RWF Comrades Association
• Clwyd and Gwynedd ACF
• British Light Infantry Regiments - Royal Welch Fusiliers
• Royal Welch Fusiliers - National Army Museum