Royal Highland Fusiliers

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Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East
Garrison/HQGlencorse Barracks, Penicuik
Motto(s)Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (No One Assails Me With Impunity)
MarchWhistle o'er the Lave o't/The British Grenadiers
AnniversariesAssaye (23 September)
Insignia
Tactical recognition flash
TartanHLI Mackenzie
HackleWhite
From Royal Scots Fusiliers

The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Prior to 28 March 2006, the Royal Highland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment in its own right, created by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots Fusiliers with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) in January 1959.

History

The regiment was formed as the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment) on 20 January 1959 by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots Fusiliers with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment). The Royal Highland Fusiliers, abbreviated as 'The RHF', were part of the Scottish Division.[2]

The regiment was initially based at

Fort George in 1967.[2]

In 1968 the regiment was deployed to Gibraltar for six months on frontier duties after General Franco closed the frontier between Spain and Gibraltar and then undertook five tours in Northern Ireland during the Troubles in the 1970s. It relocated to Kiwi Barracks at Bulford Camp in 1970. After a two-year posting to Malaysia, the regiment returned to Redford Barracks in 1973 moving on to Barrosa Barracks at Hemer in 1979.[2]

The regiment were at the

Macedonia and Kosovo in 1999.[2]

The regiment moved back to

Operation TELIC IV in Iraq in Summer 2004[4] and then in Operation TELIC VI in Iraq in Spring 2006.[5]

As part of the Delivering Security in a Changing World Review of the Armed Forces, the regiment was amalgamated with the other regiments of the Scottish Division to become the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland which was formed on 28 March 2006.[2] The battalion moved to Glencorse Barracks in Penicuik at the same time.[2]

In Summer 2015 units of the battalion were deployed to

Afghan National Army.[6]

Following the

Regimental heritage

British East India Company to the 74th Highland Regiment for distinguished service at the Battle of Assaye in India in 1803 while under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.[9]

The regiment maintained the traditions of the long 'Attention' command being given on parade (rather than the modern abbreviated Army 'shun') and of referring to the Commanding Officer's orders (disciplinary parade) as 'haul up' from the days of the unit acting as escorts to prisoners being transported to the colonies. Officers wore red 'infantry' piping on the epaulettes of their greatcoats, a detail inherited from the Royal Scots Fusiliers and mentioned by Boris Pasternak in his book Doctor Zhivago, but long lost to other infantry regiments.[10]

The regiment's uniform included the blue

tam o'shanter' bonnet with Mackenzie tartan patch and with a white hackle from the Royal Scots Fusiliers when appropriate. The Regimental capbadge was the 'grenade in flames' taken from the Royal Scots Fusiliers cap badge, on which is mounted the crowned HLI monogram from the Highland Light Infantry. The tartan is 'Mackenzie', the blue and green 'government' tartan with added white and red lines.[11]

Battle honours

The regiment has been awarded over 200 battle honours, from Blenheim to the Gulf War, gained in every major and many minor conflicts, campaigns and theatres of war since the 21st Regiment's first engagement at the Battle of Walcourt in 1689, a number unsurpassed by any other unit in the British Army.[12]

The regiment's battle honours include:

Seringapatam and Assaye, on the Assaye Colour.[12]

Colonels-in-Chief

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the regiment were:[14]

Pipe band

In the Royal Highland Fusiliers'

Pipes and Drums band, pipers wear the all-blue Cameron pattern Glengarry with Dress Erskine tartan kilt, drummers also wear the kilt but retain the diced Glengarry as do buglers who wear Mackenzie tartan trews. The band members wear a different type of capbadge in which the Regimental 'flaming grenade' capbadge is superimposed on the saltire of St Andrew and the star of the Order of the Thistle. The Drum major wears Mackenzie tartan trews, fusilier officer's full dress pattern scarlet doublet and bearskin with a grenade cap badge and white hackle.[15] Like all corps of drums and pipes and drums within the British Army, the pd are regular soldiers and pipers/drummers second. The corps currently operate as assault pioneers trained in explosives and entrances.[16]

The Home Headquarters and Museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.

Regimental headquarters and museum

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed regimental headquarters and museum is operated by the Regimental Secretary and located near Charing Cross at Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.[17] The battalion's recruitment team is also based at Walcheren Barracks in the Maryhill district of Glasgow. A regimental magazine is also published, The Journal of the Royal Highland Fusiliers. There are also various old comrades groups and associations linked to the current and antecedent Regiments of the RHF.[18]

Alliances

See also

References

  1. ^ "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Royal Highland Fusiliers". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Somaliland Independence: 26th June 1960". Somaliland News. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  4. ^ "UK Stability Operations in Iraq" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  5. ^ "The Operational Emergency Department Attendance Register (Opedar): A New Epidemiological Tool" (PDF). Royal Army Medical Corps RAMC Journal. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "Scots troops off to Afghanistan to train army". Herald Scotland. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  7. ^ Response to Field Army reforms, 1 August 2019 (PDF). Marlborough Lines Andover, Hampshire United Kingdom. 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ "British Army units from 1945 on – Royal Regiment of Scotland". british-army-units1945on.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Assaye". Royal Highland Fusiliers. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  10. .
  11. ^ "Tartan types". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  12. ^ a b "Battle honours". Royal Highland Fusiliers. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  13. ^ "Prince Andrew's military affiliations and royal patronages returned to the Queen". Sky News. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  14. ^ "The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 30 December 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ "4/5th Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers TA, drum major 1965". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Pipes and Drums". British Army Website. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  17. ^ "Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum". Ogilby Trust. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  18. ^ "Welcome to the Regimental Museum". Retrieved 25 May 2014.

Further reading

  • Buchan, John. The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers 1678–1918.
  • Oats, Lt. Col. L.B. Proud Heritage. The Story of the Highland Light Infantry (4 Volumes).
  • Durie, W. (2012). The British Garrison in Berlin 1945–1994, Nowhere to go. Vergangenheitsverlag, Berlin. .

External links