Black Watch

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Prior to 28 March 2006, The Black Watch was an infantry regiment in its own right; The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) from 1931 to 2006, and The Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) before 1931. Part of the Scottish Division, it was the senior regiment of Highlanders. The regiment's name came from the dark tartan that they wore and from its role to "watch" the Highlands. 'Black Watch' was originally just a nickname for the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, but was used more and more so that, in 1881, when the 42nd amalgamated with the 73rd Foot, the new regiment was named 'The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)'. The uniform changed over time, but the nickname has been more enduring. The regimental motto was Nemo me impune lacessit (no one attacks me with impunity). The Royal Stewart Tartan was worn by the regimental pipers due the royal designation. Six companies were formed from 1725 to stop fighting among the clans.

History

The Black Watch was formed as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 when the Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Foot to form two battalions of the newly named Black Watch (Royal Highlanders).

20th century

During World War I the 25 battalions of Black Watch fought mainly in France and Flanders, except for the 2nd Battalion which fought in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and the 10th Battalion which was in the Balkans. Only the 1st and 2nd battalions were regulars. The fearsome reputation of these kilted soldiers led to their acquiring the nickname "Ladies from Hell" from the German troops that faced them in the trenches. (Scottish troops wore kilts up until 1940).

Battalions of the Watch fought in almost every major action of the British in World War II, from Palestine to Dunkirk to Normandy and as Chindits (42 and 73 columns) in Burma . After the war, in 1948, the two regular battalions were merged into one.

The regiment won honors after the Battle of the Hook during the Korean War in November 1952, and were subsequently involved in peacekeeping in various parts of the world; the same activity for which the regiment was raised 250 years earlier. It was the last British military unit to leave Hong Kong in 1997 and played a prominent role in the handover ceremony.

21st century

During the 2003 Iraq War the Black Watch fought in the attack on Basra and during its deployment the unit suffered a single fatality. The following year the Black Watch was dispatched to Iraq again, as part of 4 (Armoured) Brigade. On 12 August a soldier from the regiment was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED). In October, the Black Watch was at the centre of political controversy after the Americans requested British forces to be moved further north outside of the British-controlled Multi-National Division (South East) area. Despite objections in Parliament, the deployment went ahead. Based at Camp Dogwood, South of Baghdad, it came under regular attack from rockets. On the 29 October, during the journey to their new base, a Black Watch soldier was killed in a road accident. On 4 November three soldiers and an interpreter were killed and on 8 November another soldier was killed. This high profile deployment caused a magnification of these events back home in Britain.

Under a plan supervised by General Sir Mike Jackson, on 16 December 2004 it was announced that the Black Watch was to join with five other Scottish regiments - the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, a single regiment consisting 5 regular and 2 territorial battalions. The measure, which reflected recruiting difficulties and the inefficiencies inherent in maintaining a number of relatively small separate units, took place on 28 March 2006. These plans encountered considerable opposition from retired soldiers and the Scottish public. It was claimed by proponents of the plan that the establishment of a large regiment will improve conditions of service for serving personnel. As with the other former Scottish regiments, the Black Watch will retain its former name as its primary identifier, with its battalion number as a subtitle. Therefore, the regiment is now known as The Black Watch (3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland); in addition, the battalion is also permitted to retain its most famous accoutrement, the red hackle, in certain circumstances.

Australia/New Zealand

While Australia has had various units of its military with affiliations to the Black Watch, no regiment in Australia or New Zealand has formally borne that title, although one company Alpha Company, of the 2/17 Battalion, the Royal NSW Regiment does wear the kilt, bonnet and hackle.

Canada

Canada (from 1862) has its own Black Watch, being raised as the 5th Battalion of the Canadian Militia, being renamed by 1914 as the 5th Regiment (Royal Highlanders of Canada). It adopted its current title, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, prior to World War Two, in which it served in the Second Canadian Division from mobilization in 1939 to 1945. As part of the 5th Canadian Brigade, the Regiment's 1st Battalion landed in Normandy in July 1944 and participated in major combat actions afterwards including the fight for the Channel Ports, the Scheldt, the Nijmegen Salient, the Rhineland, and the final battles of the war east of the Rhine River. Two battalions of the Black Watch (RHR) of Canada also served in Canada, one in the Active Army, the other as a Reserve unit. For brief time between 1953 and 1970, the Regiment had two battalions on the order of battle of the Regular Force, with a battalion in the Militia. The Regiment reverted to a one-battalion Militia unit in 1972 and remains in that status today.

Notable members

• Robert Munro (1684 - 1746), The original Black Watch commander, Colonel Sir Robert Munro.
• Alfred Anderson, Scotland's last surviving World War I veteran (now deceased)
• Fergus Bowes-Lyon
• Duncan Campbell
• Walter Cook
• Henry Davie
• Thomas Edwards
• Lewis Pugh Evans
• Adam Ferguson
• David Finlay
• Ian Fleming
• J. B. S. Haldane
• John MacKenzie
• Gillean Robert Maclaine
• Charles Melvin
• Eric Newby
• Simon Ramsay
• John Ripley
• Neil Ritchie
• William Rose
• William Speakman
• Rory Stewart
• Frederick Guthrie Tait
• Arthur Wauchope
• Archibald Wavell

Battle honours

• [combined battle honours of 42nd Regiment and 73rd Regiment, plus:]
  • Guadaloupe 1759¹, Martinique 1762¹, Havannah¹, North America 1763-642, Mysore⁵, Busaco³, Salamanca⁴, South Africa 1846-7⁶, 1851-2-3⁶ Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882 '84, Kirbekan, Nile 1884-5, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902
  • The Great War [25 battalions]: Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Béthune, Scherpenberg, Soissonnais-Ourcq, Tardenois, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1915-18, Egypt 1916, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Damascus, Palestine 1917-18, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-17
  • The Second World War: Defence of Arras, Ypres-Comines Canal, Dunkirk 1940, Somme 1940, St. Valery-en-Caux, Saar, Breville, Odon, Fontenay le Pesnil, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Falaise, Falaise Road, La Vie Crossing, Le Havre, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Barkasan, British Somaliland 1940, Tobruk 1941, Tobruk Sortie, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, Medenine, Zemlet el Lebene, Mareth, Akarit, Wadi Akarit East, Djebel Roumana, Medjez Plain, Si Mediene, Tunis, North Africa 1941-43, Landing in Sicily, Vizzini, Sferro, Gerbini, Adrano, Sferro Hills, Sicily 1943, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa Fortis, Rimini Line, Casa Fabbri Ridge, Savio Bridgehead, Italy 1944-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45, Crete, Heraklion, Middle East 1941, Chindits 1944, Burma 1944
  • The Hook 1952, Korea 1952-53; Al Basrah, Iraq 2003

1. awarded 1909 for services of 42nd Regiment.
2. awarded 1914 for services of 42nd Regiment.
3. awarded 1910 for service of 42nd Regiment.
4. awarded 1951 for service of 42nd Regiment.
5. awarded 1889 for service of 73rd Regiment.
6. awarded 1882 for service of 73rd Regiment.

Alliances

•  Canada - The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
•  Canada - 1st Air Defence Regiment (Lanark and Renfrew Scottish), Royal Canadian Artillery
•  Canada - The Prince Edward Island Regiment (RCAC)
•  Australia - The Royal Queensland Regiment
•  Australia - The Royal New South Wales Regiment
• Image:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa - The Transvaal Scottish
•  New Zealand - The New Zealand Scottish
• Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Navy - HMS Montrose

Anecdotes

When wearing kilts, it is customary for troops to "go regimental" or "military practice", wearing no underwear. In the 1950s, kilted soldiers on parade would be checked by the sergeant major using a mirror on the end of a stick. In 1994, a Black Watch soldier received wide press exposure, because of windy conditions during a military ceremony in Hong Kong.

In popular culture

In the American cartoon Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the second-season episode Blackwatch Plaid features a parody of the American terrorism alert system that includes a number of levels above the real system's maximum of "Red/Severe." As implied by the episode title, one of these is "Black Watch Plaid," represented by the Black Watch's traditional tartan pattern.

References

Wikipedia information about Black Watch This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Black Watch". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.