Formation The regiment was created in 1881 under the
Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the
41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot and
69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot to form the
Welsh Regiment. The 1st Battalion moved to Egypt in 1886. The battalion took part in the
Battle of Suakin in December 1888 during the
Mahdist War under the leadership of the force commander, Colonel
Herbert Kitchener, who wrote in his dispatches: The 1st Battalion moved to
Malta in 1889 while the 2nd Battalion went to
India in 1892; the 1st Battalion moved to
Pembroke Dock in December 1893 where almost all the regiment's artifacts, plate and silver were lost in a large fire in 1895. A 3rd,
militia battalion, was embodied in December 1899, and embarked for South Africa in February 1900 to serve in the same war. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
Territorial Force and the latter the
Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve battalion and four Territorial battalions.
First World War in France on 13 March 1918
Regular Army The 1st Battalion, after returning from India, landed at
Le Havre as part of the
84th Brigade in
28th Division in January 1915 for service on the
Western Front but moved to Egypt and then on to
Salonika in November 1915. The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the
3rd Brigade in the
1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front.
Territorial Force The 1/4th Battalion and 1/5th Battalion landed at
Suvla Bay as part of the
159th Brigade in the
53rd (Welsh) Division in August 1915; after being evacuated from
Gallipoli in December 1915 the battalion moved to Egypt. The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at
Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the
58th Brigade in the
19th (Western) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 13th (Service) Battalion (2nd Rhondda), the
14th (Service) Battalion (Swansea) and the 15th (Service) Battalion (Carmarthenshire) landed at Le Havre as part of the 114th Brigade in the 38th (Welsh) Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front.
Inter-war The 2nd Battalion was deployed to Ireland in 1920 while the 1st Battalion returned to
British India and served there until 1924 when it moved to
Waziristan. The 2nd Battalion moved to
Shanghai in 1927 for service with the
Shanghai Defence Force and then on to India in 1935. The 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion of the
Territorial Army, which had absorbed the 7th (Cyclist) Battalion in 1921, was converted into a searchlight regiment in 1938 and was transferred to the
Royal Artillery as
67th (Welch) Searchlight Regiment in 1940.
Second World War . The 1st Battalion moved to
Palestine in 1939 to play its part in operations connected with the
1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The battalion first saw action in the
Western Desert Campaign of 1940. The 1st Battalion landed in
Crete in February but was overwhelmed by the enemy in fighting at
Souda Bay in
Chania and Sphakia Beach and had to be evacuated by the
Royal Navy. Eventually the 1st Battalion was reformed in Egypt and joined the
5th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of the
4th Indian Infantry Division and moved back again to the Western Desert. In Crete alone the battalion had lost nearly 250 dead, with 400 being captured and the battalion was reduced to a mere 7
officers and 161
other ranks. They received a large draft of 700 officers and men. After heavy fighting in the area of Benghazi the 1st Battalion was again overrun in mid-1942 and again suffered heavy casualties when
Erwin Rommel's
Afrika Korps swept through Cyrenaica and Libya in the
First Battle of El Alamein. Following a period of rest and training in Egypt and the Sudan the 1st Battalion was re-organized in early 1943 as
34th (Welch) Beach Brick and in July landed with the
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, part of
General Bernard Montgomery's
British Eighth Army, during the
invasion of Sicily in July. replacing the now disbanded 10th
Royal Berkshire Regiment and serving alongside 1st
London Irish Rifles and 1st
London Scottish, making the brigade a mixture of Irish, Scottish and Welsh. The 168th Brigade was part of the
56th (London) Division, which had just been severely mauled
fighting at Anzio. In July the battalion landed in Italy and fought in the
Italian Campaign and would remain there for the rest of the war. They took part in heavy fighting on the
Gothic Line, one of many
German defensive lines in Italy, and in the Croce area where the battalion, and the rest of the 56th Division, suffered heavy casualties. As a result of the casualties sustained, and a severe shortage of British infantry replacements in the
Mediterranean theatre, 168th Brigade was disbanded and the 1st Battalion was reduced to a small
cadre of 5
officers and 60
other ranks. In March 1945 the 1st Battalion was transferred to the
1st Guards Brigade, serving alongside the 3rd
Grenadier Guards and 3rd
Welsh Guards and replacing the disbanded 3rd
Coldstream Guards, part of
6th Armoured Division, and remained with it until the end of the war. In April they took part in
Operation Grapeshot which ended with the capture of thousands of
prisoners of war and the surrender of the German Army in Italy on 2 May. , the
Netherlands, 25 October 1944. The 4th Battalion was in Northern Ireland in the
160th Infantry Brigade attached to the
53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. In June 1944 the battalion, under
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Coleman, was, after many years of training, ordered to France to join the
British Second Army in the
Normandy Campaign. From the start of the campaign the 4th Battalion was involved in fierce fighting during the
Battle for Caen, and around the
Falaise Pocket, the
Battle of the Bulge and the
Battle of the Reichwald where it sustained very heavy casualties and involved some of the fiercest fighting in the
North West Europe Campaign for British soldiers as they were up against determined
German paratroopers. s of the 1/5th Battalion, Welch Regiment crossing the
Meuse into the
Netherlands, 20 September 1944. Meanwhile, the 1/5th and 2/5th Battalions, mobilized at the same time as the 4th Battalion, were retained at home where the 2/5th also trained and prepared drafts for overseas although it remained at home throughout the whole war as a
Home Defence battalion. The 1/5th Battalion, originally with the 160th Infantry Brigade, moved to Normandy in late June 1944 and fought alongside the 4th Battalion in the 53rd (Welsh) Division in the
North West Europe Campaign distinguishing itself at
's-Hertogenbosch, the Falaise Gap, the Ardennes and the Reichwald Forest. In August 1944 the 1/5th Battalion was transferred from 160th Brigade to the
158th Infantry Brigade, still with 53rd (Welsh) Division. Some of the hardest fighting took place around the Falaise Gap where on 16 August 1944, near Balfour, Lieutenant
Tasker Watkins of the 1/5th Battalion was awarded the
Victoria Cross for supreme personal bravery and inspired leadership. Around 1,100 officers and other ranks of the Welch Regiment were killed or died from wounds or sickness during the
Second World War, with many more wounded.
Post-war The 1st Battalion returned home in 1947 and was garrisoned at
Malvern, Worcester, with the 2nd Battalion, which had returned from Burma. The 1st Battalion moved to Dering Lines in
Brecon in February 1948 and amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion in June 1948. The battalion returned to the United Kingdom and became the Demonstration Battalion of The School of Infantry, stationed first at Knook Camp in
Heytesbury and then at the newly built
Battlesbury Barracks in
Warminster in 1965. For its final overseas posting the battalion moved to
Stanley Fort on Hong Kong Island in June 1966. It then amalgamated with the
South Wales Borderers to form the 1st Battalion the
Royal Regiment of Wales in June 1969. == Regimental holders of The Victoria Cross ==