Last Post plays for historic Scots regiments

EDINBURGH - A chapter in Scotland's famous military history closed this week when its six remaining infantry units, whose forebears served Britain in wars through five centuries, were merged into a single regiment.

The new Royal Regiment of Scotland was launched at a low-key ceremony at Edinburgh Castle on Tuesday, with representatives of its five battalions receiving their new cap badges from divisional commander Major-General Euan Loudon.

Two regiments, the Royal Scots - the oldest infantry regiment in the British Army - and The Highlanders, received their badges in Iraq while on deployment. Other units were serving in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, England and elsewhere in Scotland.

Over the centuries, Scottish regiments have participated in virtually every war on every continent, from the 17th-century battlefields of Europe and the American Revolution, to the Napoleonic and Crimean wars of the 19th century through two world wars in the 20th century, and now in Iraq.

The merger of the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Black Watch, The Highlanders, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the Royal Highland Fusiliers provoked bitter opposition from veterans and Scottish nationalists.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders earned the nickname "The Thin Red Line" for confronting a Russian cavalry attack at Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War.

Loudon, himself a former commander of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, said the "golden thread" of the regiments' history and tradition will continue in the new unit's five regular and two Territorial Army battalions.

He said that March 28 had been chosen to inaugurate the new regiment on the anniversary of the raising of the unit in 1633 that became the Royal Scots Regiment.

The regiments have affiliations with "Highland" units in other Commonwealth countries.

The Army says the new regiment is being forged to meet the changing needs of the 21st century, including short-notice deployments, peacekeeping duties and the need to operate with allies - as with US forces in Iraq.

Four of the old regiments will constitute individual battalions with the Royal Regiment, but the Royal Scots and the KOSB will be combined into one battalion. The Army is also losing three regiments in England.

A group of KOSB veterans went to court to challenge the right of the Ministry of Defence in London to dissolve a regiment created by the Scottish Parliament before the political union of Scotland and England in 1707. They withdrew their petition just days before the new regiment was born.

Historian Tom Devine of Edinburgh University said military tradition and the regiments had played a vital role in Scotland, particularly in Highland society in the 17th and 18th centuries, providing employment and income to poor families.

He noted, however, that Scotland's militarist past appeared to have faded with the end of empire, fewer overseas commitments and radical social changes at home. He said recruitment had also dropped due to higher levels of employment in recent decades.

Loudon said the new regiment had emerged from a review of defence policy in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War. It had become apparent, he said, that "we would have to be prepared to fight across a broad spectrum of operations and, of course, peacekeeping missions, and to go to these operations at quite short notice and plug in effectively with allies".

He said that a legacy of the Cold War had left the Army unbalanced, with a preponderance of "pretty immobile heavy forces" and "light forces with relatively light combat power".

"The big idea was to rebalance that structure into three areas of capability: light, which would be beefed up; medium, which would be created; and heavy, which would be made as mobile as we could in the future."

He said the traditional system where units changed locations and roles every three years or so also failed to meet these needs and meant that about 25 per cent of infantry in the British Army could be unavailable for operations at any one time as they moved to new locations and retrained for new roles.

The Royal Scots and KOSB have traditionally worn tartan trousers rather than kilts, but the Royal Regiment of Scotland will be kilted, wearing the dark "Government" tartan of the Black Watch.

The battalions will, however, retain their distinctive coloured feathers behind their cap badges, known as the "hackle", and the pipe and drum bands will keep the regimental tartans and accoutrements.

Loudon said history and tradition of the units were integral to the new regiment, but added: "A tradition is only relevant if its legacy, when it is handed down to the next generation of people, inspires them to soldier as their forebears."

He said the spiritual homes of the old units would remain at their bases in Scotland in the form of regimental museums and associations covering past and present members.

"The memories are terribly important things, aren't they, because they tell you who you are, who you were and, with luck, will help you understand who you might be in the future." 


New beginning for 'thin red line'

* Royal Scots Regiment
Raised in 1633 by Charles I of Scotland, the most senior of British military units. Fought at Waterloo 1815, Gallipoli 1915 and in Burma 1943-45. Currently serving in Iraq.

* The Black Watch
The regiment's name came from its dark tartan and its role to "watch" the Highlands. Its honours embrace most major battles from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

* The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Nicknamed "The Thin Red Line" for confronting Russian cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War.

- REUTERS