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Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

Battalions 1st Battalion 2nd Battalion 5th Battalion - TA Infantry

The Fusiliers are a two-battalion Infantry regiment. The 1st Battalion is equipped with the WARRIOR Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle and skilled in the complex demands of fast-moving armoured warfare, while the 2nd Battalion is a Light Role battalion with the ability to deploy quickly and adapt to any operational scenario. The Territorial Army Fusiliers serve with their regular comrades on operations and on exercise, fitting seamlessly into the tough demands of modern soldiering.

The Fusiliers take their title from the time of King James II in 1685 when he ordered Lord Dartmouth to form an Ordnance Regiment to guard the artillery. He called them my Royal Regiment of Fuzileers and had them armed with the Fusil, a light musket or firelock, the most up to date weapon of the day. The Regiment became the 7th of Foot, the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) and other infantry regiments subsequently became Fusiliers, the most famous of which, the royal Northumberland (5th of Foot), Lancashire (XX of Foot) and in the 1960s the Royal Warwickshire (6th of Foot) together with the Royal Fusiliers formed the Royal Regiment of Fusilier in 1968 (Englands Finest).

From the word fusil comes fusillade or fusilade, a simultaneous discharge of fire-arms; a wholesale execution by this means. Originally, a Fusilier was a soldier armed with a fusil. In the British army, by 1900 the designation of 'Fusiliers1 was still retained by certain regiments (by then present ten) which were distinguished from the other regiments of the line only by wearing a kind of busby and by some small peculiarities of costume.

The Fusil was a successor to the musket, and Fusil from its name may be presumed a French invention, being modern French for any long gun. It was shorter and of less calibre than the musket, consequently a handier weapon, but not so effective. It was also fitted with a flint lock. The change from the musket to the fusil was effected in the French army in 1699 and 1700. It was, however, invented several years before this. M. de Puysegur in his Memoires, writing of the year 1647, says, "Les bouts (des bayonnettes) etoient propres a mettre dans les canons des fusils." [Tips (bayonnettes) had own a place in the canons of the rifles] (ii., p. 306.) In enumerating the advantages and disadvantages of the two weapons, he says the musket never missed fire, inasmuch as its match communicated directly with the priming in the pan; but the fusil sometimes failed, either by default of the flint, or from the damp of the atmosphere.

Then, again, the musket was the heavier, and incommoded the soldier, and could not be so quickly discharged, and the burning match at night often attracted the attention of the enemy when concealment was desirable. The musket was fired from the breast, the fusil from the shoulder. Daniel (tom, ii., liv. xiii.) believed that the first corps which was armed with the new arm in France was the regiment of Fusiliers raised in 1671, and subsequently converted into the regiment of Royal Artillery; but in the Etudes d'Artillerie, it is reported there was a regiment of Fusiliers in 1646. (Tom. i., liv. i., ch. iv., p. 346.)

The first regiment of English Fusiliers (later the 7th Bo}al Fusiliers) was not raised until 1685, there were Fusiliers in 1680, and in a Manual for the English troops, published by royal command in 1682, relates that the Dragoon of that day was armed with a fusil. The special duty for which the Fusilier troops was originally appointed was for the protection of the guns. It was necessary, therefore, that they should be lightly armed and quick loaders. In addition to their firearms, they carried along with them, on the line of march, the component parts of chevaux de Frise, then called "turnpikes ;" wherefore the fusils were provided with slings, so that the men could hang them over their backs, if they wished to have their hands disencumbered. There are two fusils, with stop to the cock, the locks engraved "I.R. II." [that is, King James II] in the Tower.

The Gentleman's Dictionary of 1705 relates that "Fusiliers are foot-soldiers, armed with fusees with slings to sling them. The first design of Fusiliers was to guard the artillery, for which end the regiment of English Fusiliers was first raised. To supply the want of pikes, and to secure themselves against horse, the fusiliers used to carry turn-pikes along with them, which, in a camp, were placed along the front of a battalion, and, on a march, were carried by the soldiers, each carrying one of the short pikes, and two, by turns, the spar through which they were thrust, so that they were quickly put together."

Fusilier regiments, and those of flank companies in all other infantry regiments, carried fusils after the discontinuance of spontons. The term fusil was for brevity pronounced fusee, which name it retained, and for the lighter fire-lock borne by all sergeants of infantry, after the suppression of halberts, until the issue of Enfield rifles in 1853.

The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers inherited a unique history and set of traditions from its four former regiments. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was formed on April 23rd 1968, as part of the reforms of the Army that saw the creation of the first 'large infantry regiment'. The Regiment was made up with the amalgamation of the four English fusilier regiments, which were

• The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
• The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers
• The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
• The Lancashire Fusiliers

The distinctive red and white Hackle, worn by all ranks in the Regiment, was handed down from the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. The Hackle was awarded in recognition for the defeat of the French at the Battle of St Lucia in 1778. The white hackles were removed from the French dead by the Fusiliers. In 1829 King William IV ordered the white plume to be worn by all line infantry regiments, and in order not to take away from the Fifth (Northumberland) Regiment of Foot's battle honour, their plume was distinguished with a red tip making the plume red over white.

Each former regiment has an exceptional place in military history, from the Northumberland Fusiliers winning of the Hackle at the battle of St Lucia, to the Lancashire Fusiliers winning 6 Victoria Crosses at Gallipoli. The Royal Warwickshires led the way on D-Day while the Royal Fusiliers counter attack at Albuhera in 1813 undoubtedly saved Wellingtons campaign in Spain against Napoleon.

All four regiments fought in WW1, raised 196 battalions between them and were represented in every major campaign. In WWII all four regiments took part in some of the most incredible operations of that period, from the Lancashire Fusiliers operating as Chindits against the Japanese in Burma to the Royal Warwickshires D-Day landing and the Royal Northumberland and Royal Fusiliers fighting in North Africa and Italy.

After WWII the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and Royal Fusiliers fought in Korea and all four regiments saw service in one of the many trouble spots around the world from Malaya to Kenya. Since 1968 and the Regiments formation, Fusiliers have seen service across the world and found themselves at the sharp end in countries as diverse as Northern Ireland and Cyprus, More recently the Regiment served in the Balkans and took part in the first and second Gulf wars.