, founder of the regiment
Formation; 1689 to 1773 The regiment was raised by
Henry Herbert at
Ludlow on 16 March 1689, following the 1688
Glorious Revolution and exile of
James II. It served throughout the 1689 to 1691
Williamite War in Ireland, including the
Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, and the
Battle of Aughrim in 1691 which brought the campaign to an end. It joined Allied forces fighting in the
Nine Years War and at
Namur in August 1695, took part in the attack on the Terra Nova earthwork that inspired the song '
The British Grenadiers.' On the outbreak of the
War of the Spanish Succession in 1702, it became the
Welch Regiment of Fuzilieers; this denoted
units equipped with light-weight muskets or 'fusils' used to protect the artillery, although the distinction later became obsolete. It served throughout
Marlborough's campaigns in the Low Countries, including the battles of
Schellenberg,
Blenheim and
Ramillies. In 1714,
George I gave it the title of the '''Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers.''' The next 28 years were spent on garrison duty in England and Scotland, until it returned to
Flanders in 1742 for the
War of the Austrian Succession. At
Dettingen in June 1743, it rallied after being driven back by the
elite French Maison du Roi cavalry; its steadiness was a major contribution to what is considered a fortunate victory. It incurred 323 casualties at
Fontenoy in May 1745, before a brief period in
Scotland during the
1745 Rising. Over 240 members of the regiment were lost at
Lauffeld in July 1747, a defeat that led to the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. , 1 August 1759, an action still celebrated as
Minden Day Following the 1751 reforms that standardised naming and numbering of regiments, it became the
23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers). At
Minden in August 1759, it was one of the infantry units that routed the French cavalry, an achievement still celebrated as
Minden Day by their successor unit, the
Royal Welsh.
Kloster Kampen 1760 and
Wilhelmsthal in June 1762, before the war ended with the
1763 Treaty of Paris. When the
American Revolutionary War began in 1775, the regiment was posted to
North America. The
light infantry and
grenadier companies took heavy losses at the
Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775; it participated in nearly every campaign up to the
Siege of Yorktown in September 1781. At Yorktown, it was the only British regiment not to surrender its colours, which were smuggled out by a junior officer. In the early stages of the
French Revolutionary Wars, it was posted to the
West Indies in 1794 and participated in the 1795 capture of
Port-au-Prince before returning home in 1796. As part of the expeditionary force assigned to the 1799
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, it fought at
Alkmaar in October 1799. in London.
19th century ,
St. George's (Round) Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia Apart from
Egypt and the
Battle of Alexandria in 1801 and the
Invasion of Martinique in 1809 the regiment saw little action in the
Napoleonic Wars until being sent to the
Peninsula in 1810. Between 1811 and 1814, it fought in many of
Wellington's actions, including the battles of
Albuera,
Badajoz,
Salamanca,
Nivelle and
Toulouse. At the
Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, it was part of
Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Mitchell's 4th Brigade in the 4th Infantry Division. In the nineteenth century, the regiment took part in the
Crimean War, the
Second Opium War, the
Indian Mutiny and the
Third Anglo-Burmese War. The
Cardwell Reforms of 1872 linked most infantry regiments in pairs, but because the 23rd already had two battalions it was unaffected. Cardwell also introduced 'Localisation of the Forces', which established permanent regimental depots in county towns and brigaded the regular regiments with their local
Militia and
Volunteer battalions. For the 23rd, this included: • 23rd Brigade Depot at
Hightown Barracks in
Wrexham from 1873 • Royal Anglesey Light Infantry –
converted to Engineers in 1877 •
Royal Flint Rifles •
1st Administrative Battalion, Flintshire & Carnarvonshire Rifle Volunteers The
Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further. The regiments were given names rather than numbers the regiment officially became
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 1 July 1881, although "Welch" was used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56. The depot became the 23rd Regimental District depot, and the militia and volunteers became numbered battalions of their linked regiment (though the Royal Flint Rifles joined the
King's Royal Rifle Corps): •
3rd (Royal Denbigh and Merioneth Militia) Battalion –
3rd (Royal Denbigh and Flint Militia) Battalion from 1889 The 2nd battalion was stationed at
Hong Kong from 1898 to 1902, and served in the multinational force involved in the
Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. They fought alongside the
United States Marine Corps (see pages 32–33 in official USMC paper published in 1995). They transferred to
India in October 1902, and were stationed at
Chakrata.
20th century of the 6th (Caernarvonshire and Anglesey) Battalion, a Territorial unit of the Royal Welch Fusiliers of the 5th (Flintshire) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1908 in full dress uniform. The
Haldane Reforms of 1908 converted the remaining Militia into the
Special Reserve (SR) and the Volunteers into the
Territorial Force (TF). The battalions were now numbered sequentially within their regiment. The TF battalions of the RWF were given subtitles in 1909: The four TF Battalions constituted the
North Wales Brigade in the
Welsh Division.
First World War; Regular Army The 1st and 2nd battalions served on the
Western Front from 1914 to 1918 and took part in some of the hardest fighting of the war, including
Mametz Wood in 1916 and
Passchendaele or Third Ypres in 1917. Claims in 2008 they participated in the semi-mythical
Christmas 1914 Football Game with the Germans have since been disproved. A number of writers fought with the regiment in France and recorded their experiences;
David Thomas (killed 1916),
Robert Graves and
Siegfried Sassoon all served with the 1st Battalion.
John Bernard Pye Adams, a captain with the 1st Battalion, was wounded in 1916, and while on medical leave, wrote
Nothing of Importance, his recollections of trench life. Adams did not live to see its publication — after returning to the front in January 1917, he died in action a month later. His book, published a few months after his death, was the only memoir of trench experiences published in Great Britain during the war and was well received by both
The Times and the
Daily Telegraph.
J C Dunn, a medical officer with the 2nd Battalion who had also served in the
1899–1902 Boer War, published
The War the Infantry Knew in 1931. A collection of letters and diary entries from over 50 individuals, it is considered a classic by military historians for its treatment of daily life and death in the trenches.
Good-Bye to All That by Robert Graves was first published in 1929 and has never been out of print; in one anecdote, he records the Regimental Goat Major being charged with 'prostituting the Royal Goat' in return for a
stud fee. Graves also edited
Old Soldiers Never Die, published in 1933; a rare example of the war seen by an ordinary soldier, it was written by
Frank Richards, a pre-war regular recalled in 1914, who served on the Western Front until the end of the war. The poets
David Jones and
Hedd Wyn, killed at Passchendaele in 1917, were members of Kitchener battalions.
First World War; Territorial and War Service The TF battalions raised 2nd and 3rd Line battalions; in addition, the regiment raised over a dozen 'war service' battalions, informally known as
Kitchener or
Pals battalions. The 4th (Denbighshire) Battalion was one of the first TF units to see active service, landing in France in November 1914, where it remained until January 1919. Between 1915 and 1918, another ten Royal Welch Kitchener battalions also fought on the
Western Front, including the battles of
Loos,
the Somme and
Passchendaele; a number of these were disbanded in early 1918 due to manpower shortages. The poets
David Jones and
Hedd Wyn served with The 11th (Service) Battalion landed in
Salonika in November 1915, where it remained for the duration of the war. The 5th, 6th, 7th Territorial battalions fought at
Gallipoli as part of the
53rd (Welsh) Division; by January 1916, it contained 162 officers and 2,428 men, approximately 15% of full strength.
Interwar The TF was reformed in 1920 and reorganised as the
Territorial Army (TA) the following year. In 1938 the 5th (Flintshire) Battalion was converted into
60th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery. Just before the outbreak of World War II the Territorial Army was doubled in size and the battalions created duplicates: •
8th (Denbighshire) Battalion –
from the 4th Bn •
9th (Caernarvonshire & Anglesey) Battalion –
from the 6th Bn •
10th (Merionethshire & Montgomeryshire) Battalion –
from the 7th Bn •
70th Anti-Tank Regiment –
from the 60th Rgt; granted Royal Welch Fusiliers subtitle in 1942) Second World War; Regular Army The regiment was awarded 27
battle honours for
World War II, with more than 1,200 fusiliers killed in action or died of wounds. 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. It served in France in 1940 with the
British Expeditionary Force. The battalion fought in the short but fierce battles of
France and
Belgium and was forced to retreat and be evacuated during the
Dunkirk evacuation. After two 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. The battalion was involved in the
Burma Campaign, particularly the
Battle of Kohima, nicknamed
Stalingrad of the East due to the ferocity of fighting on both sides, that helped to turn the tide of the campaign in the
South East Asian theatre. The 2nd Battalion was part of
29th Independent Infantry Brigade throughout the war. In 1942, it fought in the
Battle of Madagascar, then part of
Vichy French, before being transferred to the
South-East Asian Theatre. In 1944, the battalion and brigade became part of
36th British Infantry Division, previously an Indian Army formation. , December 1944 Both battalions came under the command of
Lieutenant-General Bill Slim, commander of the
British Fourteenth Army. This was known as the 'Forgotten Fourteenth,' allegedly because it fought in a theatre that seemed largely unnoticed and had little importance to the war.
Second World War; Territorial and War Service , 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. They 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, in which action the British and Canadians, and the 53rd Division in particular, endured some of the fiercest fighting of the entire European Campaign against
German paratroops. The 8th, 9th and 10th Battalions were 2nd Line Territorial battalions raised in 1939 as duplicates of the 4th, 6th and 7th Battalions respectively. The battalions initially served in the
115th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Brigade,
38th (Welsh) Division, itself a 2nd Line duplicate of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. The 8th and 9th battalions never saw action abroad, remaining 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. of the 7th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 8 December 1944 In the summer of 1942, the 10th battalion was converted 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). In late 1944, the brigade was sent to Greece to support pro-Western forces in the
Greek Civil War, a forgotten but brutal episode now seen as the first act of the post-1945
Cold War. In 1938, the 5th Battalion transferred to the
Royal Artillery as 60th Anti-Tank Regiment and in 1939, added a 2nd-Line duplicate, 70th Anti-Tank Regiment. Unlike 1914–1918, there were relatively few service battalions, one being 11th (Home Defence) Battalion, raised in 1939 as part of the
Home Guard.
Post Second World War The 2nd Battalion Royal Welch remained overseas after the Second World War, with a posting to Burma (still a colony until 4 January 1948) and performed internal security duties. On 7 March 1947 a party aboard a train were ambushed by bandits and seven soldiers were killed. The regiment did not take part in the
Gulf War, but did perform several tours in
Northern Ireland (
Operation Banner) before being deployed to the Balkans. 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. 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. 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. 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 north to
Srebrenica, where they would
massacre over 8,000
Bosniaks.
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. There is an image available taken in 2013. ==Regimental museum==