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The History in the Dekho! of Winter 1983 The Battle of Donbaik - 18 March 1943
THE
ROYAL WELCH FUSILERS It
was the great General Marlborough who, in 1702, recommended the 23rd Foot to
Queen Anne for the honour of her approval that the Regiment should become one of
the three original fusilier regiments and be designated “The Welch Regiment of
Fusiliers”. They were in the
front line of the assault on the hilltop fortifications at
Schulenburg
in 1704 and no less than sixteen of their officers were
killed or wounded; and yet only a few weeks later they were in the van again at
the great victory of
Blenheim where a
further nine officers fell. In
all Marlborough’s great battles the Regiment earned such distinction that in
1712 Queen Anne dubbed it “Our Royal Regiment of Welch Fusiliers”. When George I succeeded her, he further
honoured it with the
title of “His Royal Highness’s The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Welch
Fusiliers” and it is from this association with the eldest son of the Monarch
that stems the regiment’s privilege of bearing on the Regimental Colour the
three ancient badges of Edward, The Black Prince, our first Prince of Wales —
the three feathers with the coronet and motto “lch Dien” (I serve), the
rising sun and the red dragon rampant. The inclusion on the Regimental Colour of
the White Horse of Hanover marks the occasion when George II at Dettingen was
the last time the King led his troops in the field. Perhaps
one of the sternest tests that the regiment had to bear in those early days was
at the Battle of Minden (1759). Advancing on a mistaken order The Royal Welch
were on the left of a formation of only six British infantry battalions that
attacked no less than eighty-one squadrons of French cavalry and tumbled them in
ruins before turning on the mass of enemy infantry who were in support and drove
them from the field. No wonder it is said that “At Minden, the impossible was
achieved”. The
Regiment fought in numerous engagements during the American War of Independence
and today the Fusiliers Redoubt at Yorktown is preserved and the old Union Flag
flies over it to mark the only Redoubt that never fell by force of arms. Its
intrepid defence was undertaken by a mere handful of gallant men who were the
remnants of The Royal Welch Fusiliers. No
less than thirteen battle honours were won by the regiment during the campaigns
against Napoleon serving with distinction in Egypt, at Albuhera and at Waterloo
to mention only a few of the principal battles. In
the Crimean War the regiment’s achievements were no less glorious. At the
Battle of Alma “the lamentable loss of the 23rd Fusiliers” was reported. 211
casualties had been suffered and two Victoria Crosses had been won, one of them
by Sergeant Luke O’Connor whose gallantry in planting the Queen’s Colour on
the Russian Redoubt gained him a commission. When he died in 1915 he was Major
General Sir Luke O’Connor and Colonel of the Regiment. The casualties suffered
in the whole campaign were severe; the Commanding Officer writing home after
Sebastopol, himself severely wounded, said that 197 men of about 300 were either
killed or wounded and that 14 out of 16 officers were hit. During
the Indian Mutiny the Regiment took part in the Relief of Lucknow and it was
there two Victoria Crosses were won — one by Boy George Monger, the only boy
in the British Army ever to have won the supreme award. The
1st Battalion saw action in the South African War; and the 2nd was engaged in
quelling the Boxer Rebellion in China, a campaign that saw a close unofficial
association begun with the United States Marine Corps and which still exists. It
is impossible in the space available to do justice to the huge contribution made
during the Great War of 1914-18 by the 42 Battalions of the Regiment when almost
ten thousand Royal Welchman died. The
sacrifice made by the 1st Battalion at St. Venant in May 1940 is well remembered
when they held up two German Armoured Divisions but were finally overwhelmed.
The reformed 1st and 2nd Battalions added further laurels to the Regiment by
their service in 2nd and 36 Divisions respectively during the Burma Campaign
1942-45. Today,
from the back of each uniform collar flutters the five black ribbons of the
“Flash”, a relic of the long abolished pigtail and the “peculiarity”
which by the command of William IV “Should continue to be worn to mark the
dress of that distinguished regiment”. Again
today, the Ceremonial Pioneers enjoy the unique privilege at marching at the
head of the Regiment being preceded only by the Regimental Goat, the
Regiment’s oldest tradition. From the Rangoon Liberator No. 17 of Friday, June 1, 1945 "ALLIES CONTROL BASSEIN Meanwhile at Bassein, the inland port 88 miles west of Rangoon, which was recently occupied by Allied forces, troops of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers have assumed military control. The local inhabitants welcomed the British troops with jubilation and the Union Jack was hoisted ceremoniously on the afternoon of May 27th. South-east of Rangoon heavy bombers of Eastern Air Command yesterday dropped more than 100 toins of bombs on Japanese troops concentrations at Moulmein. Many buildings were lit and fires were started. This was the second attack on Moulmein within three days by our heavy bombers" |
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