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The South Wales Borderers was an infantry regiment of the British Army.
The BeginningThe Regiment was first formed as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot in 1689 and would be known by the name of the Regiment's subsequent colonels. It became the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1751 -- it had, however, been placed 24th in the infantry order of precedence in 1747. In 1782 it became the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1776 the Regiment was sent to Quebec and subsequently fought the American rebels during their War of Independence. The 'Regiment was part of the 10,000 British force, under the command of Sir Charles Cornwallis, that surrendered to the American rebels at Saratoga where they would would remain imprisoned until 1783. In 1804 the 2nd Battalion was raised but, however, its life was relatively short, having seen service during the Peninsular War, was disbanded in 1814. In 1810 the vast majority of the 1st Battalion was captured at sea by the French; they were released the following year. In 1814 the 1st Battalion took part in the Nepal War -- the war would see the Gurkhas that the British fought gain such respect that they were recruited by the British, becoming part, first, of the British Indian Army and then, after Indian independence in 1947, four Gurkha regiments joined the British Army. In 1829 the Regiment arrived in Canada, remaining there until 1841 when it returned home. The Regiment was back on the Indian sub-continent in 1846 and took part in the Second Sikh War, gaining much respect in a war that saw the Punjab annexed by the British. In 1858 the 2nd Battalion was re-formed at Sheffield. In 1860 the 2nd Battalion was sent to the Mauritius where it spent 5 years, after which it left for Burma and then to the Andaman Islands in 1867. Two years later it was based on the Indian mainland. It returned home in 1872 and would remain there until war broke out in Southern Africa in 1878. In 1866 the 1st Battalion was sent to Malta and then, remaining in the Meditteranean, moved to Gibraltar in 1872. Zulu WarIn 1875 the 1st Battalion arrived in Southern Africa and subsequently saw service, along with the 2nd Battalion, in the 9th Kaffir War in 1878. In 1879 the 1st and 2nd battalions took part in the Zulu War after the British had invaded Zululand, ruled by Cetshwayo. Much of the 1st Battalion (5 companies) and the 2nd Battalion (1 company) was decimated at the diastrous Battle of Isandhlwana. During the battle the Commanding Officer (CO) 1st Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Pulleine, ordered Lieutenants Coghill and Melvill to save the Queen's Colour -- their Regimental Colour was located at Helpmakaar with G Company. The two Lieutenants attempted to, crossing the River Buffalo where the Colour fell and was lost downstream, though later recoevered; both officers were killed -- at this particular time, the Victoria Cross (VC) was not awarded posthumously, and would not until the early 1900s when, therefore, both Lieutenants were awarded posthumous Victoria Crosses for their bravery. The 2nd Batalion lost both its Colours at Isandhylwanna, however, parts of the Colours -- the crown, the pike and a colour case -- were retrieved and trooped when the Battalion was presented with new Colours in 1880. The 24th performed with distinction, fighting bravely against the Zulu onslaught. The last survivors made their way to the foot of a mountain where they fought until they expended all their ammunition and were killed. The 24th Foot suffered 540 dead, including the 1st Battalion's commanding officer. At Rorke's Drift -- which was garrisoned by a company of the 2nd Battalion, native levies and others, commanded by Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead -- The Regiment won 7 (out of 11) Victoria Crosses for their distinguished defence of the post, including the commanding officer of the detachment of the 24th, Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. The 24th Foot's brave stand at Rorke's Drift was immortalised in the movie "Zulu". In 1880 the 2nd Battalion, after a brief stay in Gibraltar where they were presented with new Colours, arrived in India. The Regiment's regimental depot had moved to Brecon in Wales in 1875; this change, understandably, led to the Regiment having close links with South Wales and in 1881 the Regiment, as a conseuqnece of Childers reforms which was a continuation of Cardwell's reforms of British forces, became the South Wales Borderers, becoming the county regiment of Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, and Radnor. In 1886 the 2nd Battalion took part in the Third Burma War -- this war was the final war between the British Empire and Burma, and saw Upper Burma annexed, formally ending Burmese independence. The 2nd Battalion returned home in 1892. In 1893 the 1st Battalion arrived in Egypt and in 1895arrived in Gibraltar. The Battalion went back to the east when it joined the British forces based in India; the Battalion would remain in India until 1910. The 2nd Battalion arrived in Cape Colony in 1900 to take part in the Boer War that had begun in 1899. The Regiment, additionally, saw a number of companies from its Volunteer battalions deployed to South Africa -- a company of the 1st and 2nd Volunteers In 1910 the 2nd Battalion arrived in South Africa, now a more peaceful place. In 1912 it deployed to the British-controlled part of Tientsin) in China where it would remain until the outbreak of war n 1914. First World WarThe Battalion provided the only British contribution, a symbolic one, to the Japanese invasion of Tsingtao -- a German naval base in China that was the base of the East Asiatic Squadron. Shortly after the capture of Tsingtao, the Battalion arrived in Hong Kong and then back home in January 1915. In April the 2nd Battalion took part in a mis-managed attempt -- the Dardanelles Campaign -- to take Gallipoli and, thus, In March 1916 the 2nd Battalion arrived into the carnage of the Western Front in France. The 1st Battalion was part of the original British Expeditionary Force (BEF) -- known as the Old Contemptibles after a comment made by the German Kaiser -- that was sent to France shortly after war was delcared. Inter-WarIn 1919 the 2nd Battalion arrived in India. The end of war gave the 1st Battalion no respite; they were involved in operations against Irish rebels from 1919 until 1922 ans the declaration of the Irish Free State. In 1927 the 2nd Battalion arrived in Aden -- now part of the Yemen -- and would remain there until 1929 when it left for home. In 1928 the 1st Battalion arrived in Egypt where they remained until they were deployed to Hong Kong in 1930. In 1934 the 1st Battalion was, once more, deployed to India. In 1936 the 2nd Battalion arrived in Palestine -- a territory that was taken over by the British after the First World War --where it participated in the attempts to quell a rebellion by In 1937 the 1st Battalion was sent, for a brief time, to Iraq before returning to India to take part in operations in the [North-West Frontier]] in [[1938]. Second World WarNorth-West EuropeTe 2nd Battalion, as part of 24th Guards Brigade (Rupertforce), took part in the Norwegian campaign, fighting the German invaders. In 1944 the 2nd Battalion had the distinction of being the only Welsh battalion to take part in the Normandy Landings. It was part of 7th Armoured Division and 49th Infantry Division. It ended its war in Germany, amd remained there, as part of the occupation forces, until 1948 when it returned home. Africa and the Middle EastThe 1st Battalion, as part of the 10th Indian Infantry Division, was sent to Iraq to quell a German-inspired uprising in Iraq. The Battalion saw subsequent service in Iran. The 1st Battalion sustained enourmous casualities in Libya to such ane extent that the Battalion was disbanded in Cyprus and the remnants of the Battalion were transferred, with the exception of a cadre that returned to the UK, to the 1st Battalion, The King's Own Royal Regiment. A few months later the Battalion was re-formed from the cadre though would remain in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war. Far EastPost-WarIn 1945 the 1st Battalion was embroiled in the volatile uprising in Palestine, as-well as undertaking operations to assist in the prevention of illegal Jewish immigration into the territory. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1948 -- every other second battalion of the Line Infantry was also disbanded as a consequence of defence cuts implemented shortly after the Second World War. In 1946 the 1st Battalion arrived in Cyrpus where it remained until 1949 when it deployed to the Sudan. The following year the Regiment became part of the occupation force in Eritrea -- a former Italian colony that was ruled by a British military administration after WWII. The regiment left after Eritrea joined its larger aneighbour Ethiopia in 1952 after the United Nations ratifued a resolution creating a federation between the two countries. In 1953 the regiment arrived in Brunswick, West Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine. In 1948 a State of Emergency was delcared in Malaya shortly after Communist insurgentents, mostly from the large ethnic Chinese community, began a campaign against the British presence in Malaya as they did not believe Malaya's eventual independence would lead to the installation of a Communist regime. This situation was what the South Wales Borderers entered in October 1955, in a conflict known as the Malayan Emergency. It was a vicious, brutal campaign, one of claustrophobia when they sent patrols deep into the Malayan jungle to search for the elusive guerrilas -- they were known as Communist Terrorist (CT) in British parlance. The Regiment returned to the UK in 1958. The regiment's conduct during the war compelled Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer -- a distinguished British officer during World War II and a man instrumental to the defeat of the CTs during the Emergency -- to state that, "there has been no better regiment in Malaya during the ten years of the emergency and very few as good". In 1960 the regiment was posted to Minden, Germany and returned home two years later. In 1963 the Regiment arrived in Hong Kong, performing internal security duties until it returned home in 1963. In January 1967 the Regiment arrived in Aden -- a British territory in the Middle East, in what is now the Yemen, that was expericeng turbulent times shortly before it achieved independence from the British -- where it peformed internal security duties until it returned home later that year In 1969 the regiment was amalgamted with the Welch Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) The Territorial, Militia, Volunteer, and Hostilities-only battalionsWhen the Regiment was associated with a number of Welsh counties after it became the South Wales Borders in 1881, it gained those counties militia and volunteer battalions. These were:
In 1908 the Territorial Force was established and the Volunteer battalions joined it. These became:
First World War: The Regiment, along with its Territorial units, raised nineteen battalion: all these battalions were either disbanded during the war or in the immediate aftermath of it.
Second World War: The Regiment, along with its Territorial units, raised 5 battalions during the war, all of which were either disbanded during the war or in its immediate aftermath.
Battle Honours
Victoria Cross Winners
Other Information
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