Post your favourite regiments

For me, it's the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    (But I'd give an honourable mention to the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) for having the best name.)

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    I don't know anything about them

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Most no longer exist, but there was once a strong sense of regimental identity and soldiers were enormously proud of their individual regiment's history and jealous of its traditions. This was particularly so among the Scottish, and particularly the Highland, regiments. One of the British army's proudest moments was when the 91st (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment faced down a Russian cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaklava, with the regiment, and the infantry more generally, becoming known as 'The Thin Red Line'.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    5th Regiment of Foot
    23rd Regiment of Foot
    27th Regiment of Foot
    33rd Regiment of Foot
    35th Regiment of Foot
    42nd Regiment of Foot
    50th Regiment of Foot
    57th Regiment of Foot
    79th Regiment of Foot
    88th Regiment of Foot
    92nd Regiment of Foot
    2nd Regiment of Foot Guards

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >88th Regiment of Foot
      >92nd Regiment of Foot
      Nice.

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The Glorious Glosters. Wish they were still around.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Connaught Rangers, Sherwood Foresters, DLI

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >Connaught Rangers
      You're the second to choose them (they used to be known as the 88th). What do you like so much about them?

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >TFW most of these are long disbanded
    I'm not a LARPer who glorifies war, but there is something tragic about the loss of these long standing traditions and warrior cultures.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      That's why I created the thread. The few remaining regiments are far too large to instil any meaningful sense of local pride. The Royal Scots, for example—once the most senior infantry regiment in the British army—were forced to amalgamate with another Scottish regiment before being absorbed into a new Scotland-wide regiment and forced to adopt the kilt, which they had never worn; they then became part of the Ranger Regiment, losing whatever vestigial connection they had to their roots. It's tragic.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Do regiments even locally recruit anymore? I imagine after WW1 they dropped that due to some places losing too many men

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I think you're referring to the so-called pals battalions, which saw those men who enlisted together grouped into the same battalions, leading to many smaller towns and villages decimated by some of the bloodiest battles such as the Somme. Regimental recruiting areas were usually large enough to avoid this, though in the case of certain sparsely populated areas (e.g., rural Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) men from overpopulated English cities were often transferred over to make up the numbers. The problem now is that recruiting areas are so large that many regional distinctions have been lost. For example, anyone wishing to join the sole remaining Scottish infantry regiment has to wear a kilt, even if he's a Lowlander whose ancestors wore trews for centuries and regarded the kilt as an anachronism. It's sad for anyone who cares about Britain's military heritage, but most people simply don't know or care enough about it to make a fuss.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >sparsely populated
            1/2 of the Scottish population lived in the highlands prior to the mid 1800s

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            I'm talking about the situation in the twentieth century, though 'sparsely populated' isn't necessarily the same thing as 'underpopulated'. Half the army were recruited in Ireland before the Great Famine, so the situation would have been the reverse of that described in my last post, with many English and Scottish regiments largely made up of Irishmen.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >with many English and Scottish regiments largely made up of Irishmen.
            That aint how it works chief

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            It literally is. Visit any regimental museum in Great Britain and see how many nineteenth-century Victoria Cross recipients were from Ireland. It used to peoduce far more recruits than its regiments could take.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >even if he's a Lowlander whose ancestors wore trews for
            Damn... Aberdeen and Murray are now in the Highlands...

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            'Highland' and 'Lowland' aren't strictly geographical designations in this context. No one would call someone from Dundee a Highlander, but Dundee traditionally sent recruits to the Black Watch, the army's oldest Highland regiment. Something similar was true of the Highland Light Infantry, which primarily recruited men from the slums of Glasgow. Many regimenta coveted the Highland designation because it appealed to a romantic sense of valour. Just look at how many Canadian regiments, thousands of miles from Scotland, still call themselves Highland regiments.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >It's tragic
        Not really.

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