Official wartime caption, 85 years ago today: “Men of the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers practice firing their .55 caliber Boys anti-tank rifles on the beach near Etaples, 6 February 1940.” At the time the unit of regulars was part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, of the British Expeditionary Force in France.
Kessell (Lt), War Office official photographer, IWM F 2441
An infantry unit formed in 1689, raised by Henry Herbert, 4th Baron Herbert of Chirbury, and primarily recruited in North Wales, the regiment was designated a fusilier regiment in 1702 and earned its “Royal” prefix in 1713 after honors at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706) and Malplaquet (1709).
The Royal Welsh kept appearing on campaigns from Culloden to Minden, Bunker Hill to Yorktown (where it was the only British regiment not to surrender its colors, instead smuggled them out, tied around an ensign’s waist).
They fought the French in Haiti, Egypt, Martinique, the Peninsula, and Waterloo. They then fought alongside the French in the Crimea, Manchuria, and on the Western Front as well as in 1940, as seen above above.
The 1st Royal Welsh evacuated at Dunkirk– leaving their heavy Boys behind– then, after defending the British Isles from Mr. Hitler, moved to India and Burma to fight the Japanese, taking part in the defence of Kohima in 1944 with Bill Slim’s “Forgotten Fourteenth” Army.
1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers move forward on a jungle path near Pinbaw, Burma, December 1944. Note the mix of M1928 Thompson SMGs and No. 1 Mk III Enfields. Photo by No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, IWM SE2889
Postwar, the unit saw service in England, Germany, and Cyprus, combat in the Malayan Emergency, along with 13 tours in Northern Ireland, and continued service in Bosnia and Iraq.
On St David’s Day (1 March) 2006, the regiment amalgamated with The Royal Regiment of Wales to form The Royal Welsh and are known as the “Nanny Goats” after their mascot, a Persian goat enrolled as a lance corporal.
They are based at Hightown Barracks, Wrexham, serving in an armored infantry role.
Their motto is “Gwell angau na Chywilydd” (Welsh) (“Better Death than Dishonour”)