KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS

The 'King's Royal Rifle Corps' was a British Army formation founded as the 'Royal Americans' and to be recruited from American colonists. It was eventually recruited by the Hanoverian subjects of King George III.

Contents

History

War with France

American War of Independence

Napoleonic Wars

World War I

World War II

Royal Green Jackets

See also

Territorial Battalions

Alliances

References

History

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was founded in 1755 as the '62nd Royal American Regiment' renumbered the '60th Regiment' in 1757 when the 50th and 51st foot were eliminated after a British loss at Fort Oswego. The 60th was a large regiment being raised with 4 battalions.
Originally titled the "Royal Americans" as an attempt to recruit American colonists into the ranks of the regular army. Recruiting Americans into the British army proved difficult so the 60th was made up of a large portion of German immigrants, King George's Hanoverian subjects, drafts from other British regiments, and some American colonists^[1].
Because it was raised for foreign service, and contained many foreign officers, Henri Bouquet and Frederick Haldimand, two Swiss men who commanded the 1st and 2nd battalion, the regiment was considered 2nd class and lacked the regimental trimmings that more esteemed regiments had, such as numbered buttons, and unique regimental lace.
They were uniformed and equipped just like any other British regiment in all other respects, including the grenadiers wearing miter caps, but on campaign swords were replaced with hatchets, and coats and hats would be cut down for ease of movement on the North American frontier.

War with France

They fought their first major battles in Canada at Louisbourg in 1758 and Quebec in 1759 against the French. Because it was such a large regiment, detachments of the 60th found themselves participating in nearly every major engagement in the war, and taking part in Pontiac's Rebellion after the French and Indian War. Because of its good service, in 1768 the 60th received regimental lace and buttons.

American War of Independence

They fought during the American War of Independence, withdrawing to Canada following the surrender. The 60th was equipped with the smoothbore Brown Bess throughout this period, the British army was just starting to experiment with the best way to use slower loading and more accurate rifles in conjunction with the faster loading musket armed troops.

Napoleonic Wars

During the Napoleonic Wars the unit played a part in the Peninsular War. It was among the largest of British regiments, totalling eight battalions^[2]
. The first four regular battalions had been raised as regular line battalions, but a 5th battalion was raised and equipped entirely with the Baker rifles, and wore green jackets with red facings. The mixing of rifle troops and muskets proved popular enough that eventually the line battalion's light companies, were replaced with rifle companies. The line battalions found themselves in different theatres, including the West Indies. The rifle battalion was soon supplemented with a second, and found themselves in the Peninsula with Wellington's army, serving along with the 95th Rifles, and the King's German Legion rifle units. A 7th battalion was eventually raised as a rifle battalion specifically for service in the American War of 1812^[3].
The unit's name was not changed until after the Napoleonic Wars; first to 'The Duke of York's Own Rifle Corps' and then in 1830 to the 'King's Royal Rifle Corps'. In 1858 the Rifle Depot at Winchester was made their headquarters. During the rest of the 1800s the unit was active in China, Canada (Wolseley Expedition), Afghanistan, India, Burma and South Africa.

World War I

In World War I the unit was expanded to twenty-two battalions and saw much action on the Western Front. Over 12,000 soldiers of the regiment were killed while eight members won the Victoria Cross and over 2,000 further decorations were awarded. After 1918 the unit returned to garrison duties in India, Palestine and Ireland. In 1926 the regiment was reorganized as one of the first mechanized infantry regiments.

World War II

In World War II after initial deployment to France as part of the BEF, the unit lost 50% of its effectives during the disaster at Dunkirk. Redeployed to northern Africa the unit saw more success, continuing with actions in Italy, Austria, Germany and in the Battle of Greece (when its 9th Battalion, The Rangers, served with 1st Armoured Brigade Group). Post war the unit was deployed in Germany.

Royal Green Jackets

On 7 November 1958 the Regiment was re-titled as the '2nd Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps', and the two other regiments of the Green Jackets Brigade - which had existed since 1948 - also had their titles changed. In 1966 the three regiments of the brigade were amalgamated to form the three battalion Royal Green Jackets Regiment. This regiment was again amalgamated in 2007 to form the five regular and two territorial battalion regiment The Rifles.

See also

Territorial Battalions

★ Queen Victoria’s Rifles

★ The Rangers

★ The Queen's Westminsters
In WW2 these territorial battalions were made formally part of the KRRC as follows:


★ 1st Btn Queen Victoria's Rifles - 7th Btn KRRC


★ 2nd Btn Queen Victoria's Rifles - 8th Btn KRRC


★ 1st Btn The Rangers - 9th Btn KRRC


★ 2nd Btn The Rangers - 10th Btn KRRC


★ 1st Btn The Queen's Westminsters - 11th Btn KRRC


★ 2nd Btn The Queen's Westminsters - 12th Btn KRRC

Alliances

★ - The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1956-1966)

References

1. ''History and Uniform of the 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot, 1755-1760'' by Jack L. Summers and Rene Chartrand [1]
2. ''The King's Royal Rifle Corps'' [2]
3. ''Raising of the 7th Battalion of the 60th Regiment for North America [War of 1812]'', by Keith Raynor [3]