The Royal Canadian Regiment

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{{Infobox Military Unit |unit_name= The Royal Canadian Regiment |image= Image:Royalcanadianregt.jpg |caption= Crest of the Royal Canadian Regiment |dates=December 21, 1883 |country=Canada |allegiance= |branch=Canadian Forces |type= Infantry regiment |role= Light Infantry |size= |command_structure= Canadian Forces Land Force Command |current_commander= |garrison=CFB Petawawa, CFB Gagetown, London, Ontario |ceremonial_chief= |colonel_of_the_regiment= |nickname= |patron= |motto= |colors= |march= |mascot= |battles= Battle of Ypres
Battle of the Somme
Battle of Vimy Ridge
Italian Campaign
Korean War |notable_commanders= |anniversaries= }}

The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the regular force and one in the reserve force (militia). The RCR is the most senior infantry regiment in the regulars, but is 11th among the infantry militia.

also see Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

Battalion	Home	Brigade	Notes
1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment	CFB Petawawa (Ontario)	2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Mechanized infantry
2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment	Gagetown, New Brunswick	2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Mechanized infantry
3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment	CFB Petawawa	2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group	Light infantry. Includes a parachute company.
4th Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (London and Oxford Fusiliers)	London and Stratford, Ontario	31 Canadian Brigade Group	Reserve Force. Dismounted infantry

The Royal Canadian Regiment is one of Canada’s oldest military units. The regiment was formed as the Infantry School Corps on 21 December 1883, as a regular unit that would train the Canadian militia. Its first battle honours were earned during the North-West Rebellion in 1885, it fought at Batoche and Cut Knife Creek, and later assisted the Royal Northwest Mounted Police in the Yukon during the Gold Rush.

The regiment changed its name to The Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry in 1899, and fought as such in the Second Boer War; a second battalion was formed to increase the regiment's strength, although this battalion was quickly dismantled in 1902.

In the Boer War, the Toronto company of the 2RCRI fought Canada’s first overseas battle at Sunnyside, Cape Colony, on January 1, 1900, defeating a Boer commando in an action let by Australia's Queensland Mounted Infantry. The unit as a whole then joined and won the Battle at Paardeburg Drift, devising its own strategy including a hitherto unheard of secret night maneuver, involving quietly digging trenches on high ground 65 yards from the Boer lines. The next morning, February 27, 1900, the Boers, staring into the muzzles of Canadian rifles, surrendered, thus removing the commando blocking the way to the first Boer capital, Blomfontein, Orange Free State. Having delivered the first unqualified good news of the war for the British Empire, the regiment also distinguished itself on the march north, arriving first at the gates of Pretoria. For the nearly two years remaining in the war, cavalry took the leading role from infantry.

In 1902, the regiment finally changed its name to The Royal Canadian Regiment. In 1914, the colonel of the regiment was Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and, once World War I began, the regiment was deployed to France. In the First World War, the regiment combined with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and other Canadian units to form the “Shiny 7th Brigade” that fought at Cambrai and liberated the Belgian city of Mons. The regiment received numerous battle honours, including Ypres, the Somme, Vimy, and Mons. The regiment went to Siberia in 1918, then returned to Canada in 1919.

In World War II, the RCR landed at Palermo in Sicily as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily and after fighting across the island, was involved in another amphibious landing at Reggio di Calabria. The RCR was also part of the fierce battle at Ortona and then took part in attacks on the German defences in Italy called the Adolf Hitler Line and the Gothic Line. The regiment was transferred to Europe in February 1945 and liberated the Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

The regiment returned home, then was deployed to Korea, where it fought in the Korean War. All three battalions of the regiment fought during the war. In February 1952, the Second Battalion fought the Chinese at the battle of Kowang San. It was replaced by the Third Battalion, which took over the Jamestown Line on Hill 187, where it fought one of the last engagements before the armistice in 1953. After the end of the Korean War, the regiment was reduced to two battalions, when the 3rd Battalion was renamed as 1st Battalion, Canadian Guards.

In 1958, The London and Oxford Fusiliers militia regiment was amalgamated into the regiment and renamed Third Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment (London and Oxford Fusiliers). The battalion was renumbered as the 4th battalion in 1970 when a new regular battalion was formed.

Both the First and Third Battalions RCR were deployed during the October Crisis in 1971.

The Third Battalion RCR was stationed in Europe as part of NATO from 1972 to 1975, then was posted to peacekeeping duties in Cyprus in 1976. In 1977 3RCR was posted to CFB Baden-Soelligan in Germany. In 1984 the battalion was rotated to Winnipeg. In 1988 the battalion was rotated back to Baden until the based was closed in 1993 at which time it was disbanded. 3RCR was reformed in 1996.

In 1990, two companies from 3 RCR and one company from 1 RCR served in the Gulf during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the first Gulf War.

In 1992, soldiers from the Third Battalion helped secure Sarajevo airport during the Yugoslav wars. It returned to Bosnia for a tour with the stabilization force, SFOR, in 1998 and 1999.

The First battalion has served as peacekeepers in the Sinai Peninsula, in Bosnia and Kosovo.

NATO OPERATION IN AFGHANISTAN (ISAF) OP ATHENA - 3RCR Bn Gp with C Coy 1RCR UC [7] - Aug 2003 - Feb 2004 Duke of Edinburgh's Company Group 1RCR - Jan - Aug 2005

By 1970, the regiment had inherited a new Colonel-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh. Currently, the regiment's Colonel is Major General Thomas F. de Faye.

Image:RCRbuckinghampalace.JPG

In 2000, the 2nd Battalion had the honour of mounting the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace, when a detachment came to London to commemorate the Canadian involvement in the Second Boer War, and to celebrate the re-opening of Canada House.

1 Battle honours
2 Order of precedence
3 Alliances
4 See also
5 External links

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Battle honours

Saskatchewan, North West Canada 1885,
Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1900
The Great War:
- Ypres 1915¹ '17, Gravenstafel¹, St. Julien¹, Festubert 1915¹, Mount Sorrel, Somme 1916, Pozières¹, Flers-Courcelette, Ancre Heights, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Arleux, Scarpe 1917 '18, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant¹, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918¹, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1915-18, Siberia 1918-19²
The Second World War:
- Landing in Sicily, Valguarnera, Agira, Adrano, Regalbuto, Sicily 1943, Landing at Reggio, Motta Montecovervino, Camponasso, Torella, San Leonardo, The Gully, Ortona, Cassino II, Gustav Line, Liri Valley, Hitler Line, Gothic Line, Lamone Crossing, Misano Ridge, Rimini Line, San Martino-San Lorenzo, Pisciatello, Fosso Vecchio, Italy 1943-45, Apeldoorn, North-West Europe 1945
Korea 1951-53