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Welsh Guards

Battalions 1st Battalion

The Welsh Guards was raised on 26 February 1915 by order of King George V to complete the national complement of regiments of Foot Guards identified with the countries of the United Kingdom. As a Foot Guards' Regiment in the Household Division, the Welsh Guards are proud to provide the guard for Her Majesty the Queen at her royal residences. When carrying out these duties the Battalion is based in central London. The Regiment is based in Cavalry Barracks, Hounslow in West London and is part of 12 Mechanised Brigade.

A Guardsman who has served with the Battalion for the last ten years will have been on tours to Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, interspersed with fire fighting, sport, adventurous training and exercises all over the world. In addition, they would have carried out state ceremonial and public duties, demonstrating the busy nature of this period. The wide range of recent activities undertaken by the Welsh Guards reflects the busy and varied nature of the modern day British Army.

The Welsh Guards was raised on 26 February 1915 by order of King George V, in order to complete the national complement of regiments of Foot Guards identified with the countries of the United Kingdom (why shouldn't gallant little Wales have its regiment of Guards?). On inception the Regiment took its place alongside the English Grenadier Guards and Coldstream Guards, the Scots Guards and the Irish Guards. Two days later, the Battalion mounted its first King's Guard at Buckingham Palace on 1 March 1915 - St David's Day. King George has ordered that his newly formed regiment of Welsh guards shall have as their regimental badge the Leek, and that the Red Dragon be emblazoned on their regimental colors.

In the mystical history and legendary poetry of most nations the Dragon holds a prominent place. Although a fabulous creature, the Dragon is a form of the serpent, evolved through the haze and clouds of superstition and mythology. In heraldry the chief characteristics of the Dragon are: The head of a wolf, the body of a serpent, with eagles' feet, bat-like wings and barbed tongue and tail. It has been said with considerable truth that in the mythology of the primitive world the serpent is universally the symbol of the Sun. Among the ancients the Sun-god, as the giver of life, was represented under the type of the serpent (Dragon).

On 17 August 1915 the 1st Battalion sailed for France and formed part of the Guards Division. This was the newly-formed division of Guards (Lord Cavan), consisting of the eight battalions which had already done such splendid service from Mons onwards, together with the newly-formed Welsh Guards, the 3rd and 4th Grenadier Guards, the 2nd Coldstream, and the 2nd Irish. The Welsh Guards had never been in action before, having only recently been constituted. Its first battle was fought at Loos on 27 September 1915 and the Regiment's first Victoria Cross was won by Sergeant Robert Bye at Pilckem in July 1917.

By 1920 a proposal to abolish the Welsh Guards was under consideration by the Army Council. There was no intention of disbanding the Irish or Welsh Guards so long as they are able to maintain their recruiting in such a manner as to preserve the national character of the regiments. At that time the percentage of Welshmen in the Battalion of Welsh Guards was 45.18%. The maintenance, however, of five regimental headquarters, which, now that the Guards' regimental lieutenant-colonels no longer commanded Territorial brigades, performed few functions other than those of record offices, required careful study. It may seem advisable to reduce them to three, or even to establish one joint record office for the Brigade of Guards. In any case, care will be taken to balance the claims of efficiency and economy against those of sentiment and tradition.

In 1920, out of 500 recruits 200 were Welshmen, but taking the wastage in a battalion at 150 in a year, which is not an unreasonable calculation, it will be seen that there would be a gain of 50 Welshmen per annum if that figure were maintained. That is a matter of great importance, having regard to the fact that this battalion was reconstructed so quickly after the War. So far as the rate of recruiting for the Welsh Guards is concerned, it is higher than that for the Grenadiers or the Coldstreams, but as the Grenadiers and Coldstreams had already practically attained their full strength, they were only allowed to recruit at a lower rate.

The original proposals, which were put forward from purely military quarters, would have resulted only in the reduction of the Welsh Guards to a company and of the uniting under one record organisation of the Irish Guards and of the two Scots Guards battalions, leaving the Guards in three regiments of three battalions each. Those proposals, if carried out, would have resulted in a saving of £275,000 a year, but as it was never intended that such a step should be taken unless recruiting for the Welsh and Irish Guards failed.

Between the wars the 1st Battalion was stationed in Cologne, Egypt and Gibraltar, where it was at the outbreak of war in 1939. The Regiment was expanded to three Battalions during World War II. The 1st Battalion fought in all the campaigns of North West Europe. The 2nd Battalion was formed in 1939 and fought in Boulogne in 1940, whilst the 1st Battalion was in Belgium as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In May 1940, at the Battle of Arras, the Regiment's second Victoria Cross was won by Lieutenant the Hon Christopher Furness, who was killed in action. In 1941, a 3rd Battalion was raised and fought throughout the Tunisian and Italian Campaigns.

Meanwhile, the 1st and 2nd Battalion formed part of the Guards Armoured Division - the 1st Battalion as infantry and the 2nd Battalion as an Armoured Battalion. The two Battalions working together were the first troops to re-enter Brussels on 3 September 1944 after an advance of 100 miles in one day, in what was described as "an armoured dash unequalled for speed in this or any other war".

Shortly after the war, the 3rd Battalion was disbanded and the 2nd Battalion was placed in suspended animation. In 1947 it was decided that the Brigade of Guards should bear a share in the reduction of Regular Infantry Battalions for the postwar Army. The 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards, which was raised in 1939, is not included in the ten battalions that will be retained.

In the 1950s Welsh National Service men were posted to fill all available National Service vacancies in the Welsh Guards and the three Welsh infantry regiments. Two educational tests are given to all recruits as part of the selection procedure, which is designed to put the men in the most suitable military jobs. For this reason the English language, which is used in all military work, is used for these tests. The first language of most of these recruits from the Welsh-speaking areas of Wales is Welsh. In the second half of the last century the 1st Battalion served in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Egypt, Germany, Aden, Cyprus and Belize, as well as forming part of the task force that fought in the Falklands campaign in 1982. The Battle Honour for which is now borne on the colours.

Exercises have been conducted all around the world, including in the USA, Canada, Greece, Belize, Norway, Kenya, Morocco, Gibraltar, Macedonia, Poland and France. In the new century the 1st Battalion has deployed on Operations on two tours of Bosnia and tours of Northern Ireland, Iraq, Kosovo and is currently deployed on a second tour of Afghanistan.