 |
|
|
|
A Condensed History of The Kings Own Scottish Borderers 1689 - 1945
Battle Honours
NAMUR (1695); MINDEN (1759); EGMONT-OP-ZEE (1799); EGYPT (1801); MARTINIQUE (1809); AFGHANISTAN (1878-80); CHITRAL (1895); TIRAH (1897-98); PAARDEBERG , SOUTH AFRICA (1900-02); MONS , AISNE , YPRES , LOOS , SOMME , ARRAS , SOISSONNAIS-OURCQ , HINDENBURG LINE , GALLIPOLI , GAZA (World War I); DUNKIRK , ODON , CAEN , ARNHEM , FLUSHING , RHINE , BREMEN , NGAKYEDAUK PASS , IMPHAL , IRRAWADDY (World War II);
The Regiment was created in 1689 as a crisis measure for the defence of Edinburghagainst the Jacobites. The Regiment was recruited "by beat of drum" along the Royal Mile (the High Street in the Old Town) of the City of Edinburgh in the record time of two hours with men flocking to join the Earl of Leven to safeguard their city.
the Regiment first saw action at the Battle of Killiecrankie on July 27th of that year. Although the Jacobite rebels forced the Government army to retreat, Leven’s new Regiment acquitted itself well, and was granted the privilege of recruiting by beat of drum within the City of Edinburgh without the prior permission of the Lord Provost. In 1691 the Regiment fought a hard and bloody campaign in Ireland, taking part in the assault on Ballymore (7th June), the siege of Athlone, the Battle of Aughrim (12th July), and the sieges of Galway and Limerick. This was followed by 5 years (1692-97) in the Low Countries fighting the French. At the siege of Namuron 27th July 1695, in the course of an assault on the outerdefences of the town, 20 officers and 500 men were killed by an exploding mine. The survivors rallied and pressed on with the attack, driving the French back to the main defences. For this action the Regiment was awarded its first Battle Honour. Renewed Jacobite activity in the eighteenth century culminated in the Battles of Sheriffmuir (13th November 1715) and Culloden (16th April 1746). The Regiment took part in both battles - the only Scottish Regiment to have fought for the Government in all three decisive engagements of the Jacobite wars. For most of the century,however, the Regiment was stationed abroad. It was in Gibraltar from 1726-36, and the West Indies between1740 and 1743, returning to Flanders– and its old enemy the French -in 1744. At the Battle of Fontenoy on 11th May 1745, Sempill’s Regiment (as it was then titled) formed part of a hollow square of infantry that turned back repeated French cavalry charges until the order to retreat was given. Nearly one third of the Regiment was lost in this encounter. A lengthy period of service in Minorca (1768-80) was followed in 1782 by an expedition to Gibraltar, which was under attack by Spain. In the same year the Regiment was retitled ‘The 25th (Sussex) Regiment of Foot’. It was thought that the addition of an English county name would stimulate recruiting! At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War the 25th was in Plymouth, and between 1793 and 1797 supplied marine parties for service aboard warships in the Mediterranean, the English Channel and the North Sea. The Grenadier and Light Companies were both present at Admiral Howe’s great victory on the ‘Glorious First of June’, 1794. A second Battalion was formed in 1795 to reinforce the first, which had been sent to Grenada to quell a revolt of the slave population there. En route to the West Indies, 2/25’s ship was captured by a French corvette. The men were taken aboard the French vessel and placed in irons, but managed to overpower their captors and turn the ship back towards Grenada.
On the 2nd October 1799 the 25th won a third Honour at the Battle of Egmont-op-Zee, fighting in the forefront of Sir John Moore’s Brigade on the sand hills of Holland. In 1801 the Regiment went to Egypt with Sir Ralph Abercrombie’s expedition, and was granted the right to bear the emblem of the Sphinx on the Colours for its part in the capture of Alexandria. During the Napoleonic War the 1st Battalion returned to the West Indies. In joint operations with the Navy, Martinique was taken in 1809, and Guadeloupe in 1811. During this campaign the Battalion lost more men through disease than through enemy action. In 1873 the Regiment was allocated a Depot at York, and in 1881, when territorial titles and regimental districts were introduced, it was proposed that the 25th Foot should be re-designated ‘The York Regiment (King’s Own Borderers)’. Parliament was successfully lobbied, and on 29th July 1881 ‘The King’s Own Borderers’ moved to a new Depot at Berwick-upon-Tweed Barracks. The national origins of the Regiment were further recognised in 1887 when it acquired its present title ‘The King’s Own Scottish Borderers’. Welcome to the website home of The King’s Own Scottish Borderers Association and Museum . The Regiment was created in 1689 as a crisis measure for the defence of Edinburgh against the Jacobites. The Regiment was recruited "by beat of drum" along the Royal Mile (the High Street in the Old Town) of the City of Edinburgh in the record time of two hours with men flocking to join the Earl of Leven to safeguard their city. From 1900 to 1902 the 1st Battalion was in South Africa, fighting in the Orange Free State (Paardeberg) and the Transvaal. They were joined by the 3rd (Militia) BattaliAt the outbreak of war in August 1914, the two Regular Battalions and the two Territorial Battalions (4th and 5th) were mobilized. In addition, ‘New Army’ Battalions (6th, 7th and 8th) were raised, together with a 9th Battalion, which provided reinforcements for the other Battalions, and a 10th (Garrison) Battalion. The 1st Battalion fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and then on the Somme, at Ypres, Lys and Cambrai. 2nd KOSB served with the BEF at Mons, Le Cateau and on the Aisne, and later at the 2nd and 3rd Battles of Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge and the Lys. The 4th and 5th Battalions fought at Gallipoli with the 52nd Division, then in Palestine (Battle of Gaza) and France. The 6th Battalion suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, and later fought on the Somme, at Arras and at Ypres. The 7th Battalion lost about two-thirds of its strength and the 8th over one-third at the Battle of Loos, and the two Battalions were amalgamated in the spring of 1916. 7th/8th KOSB went on to fight on the Somme, at Arras, Pilckem, at Arras again during the great German Spring Offensive of 1918, and on the Marne (with the French and Americans), ending the war in Belgium.
Between the two World Wars the 1st Battalion served in India and Chanak (1922), Malta and Palestine (1936). 2nd KOSB served in Ireland, Egypt, Hong Kong and India, where it was when war broke out in September 1939.1st KOSB embarked for France in 1939 with the BEF (3rd Infantry Division). They crossed the Belgian frontier in May 1940, from where, facing an enemy of overwhelming numerical superiority, they were at length ordered to withdraw. On the night of 31st May/1st June they were evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk. They returned to France on D-Day, 6th June 1944, landing at ‘Queen’ Beach. They fought aroundCaen until the town capitulated, and then advanced north through Belgium and Holland to the Rhine and Bremen. Also present in France in 1940 were the 4th and 5th (Territorial) Battalions, with the 52nd (Lowland) Division, forming part of a second BEF. Landing at St. Malo on the 13th June, the original intention to establish a bridgehead with the French Army was frustrated by the fall of France, and on the 18th June the 2nd BEF was evacuated from Cherbourg. 4th and 5th KOSB subsequently trained as mountain troops and later as air-transportable troops. In the event, they found themselves in the Low Countries in the autumn of 1944, making assault landings on Walcheren Island, at the mouth of the River Scheldt. They fought through into Germany, taking part in the capture of Bremen.
The 6th and 7th Battalions, duplicates of the 4th and 5th, were initially both in the 15th (Scottish) Division. The 6th landed with the Division on the Normandy beaches on the 15th June 1944, and soon found themselves involved in the fierce battles aroundCaen and the River Odon. Fighting through France, Belgium and Holland, and crossing the Siegfried Line, they advanced across the Rhine into Germany, ending the war just beyond Hamburg. 7th KOSB became glider-borne troops with the 1st Airborne Division, and in September 1944 they were flown into the dropping zones at Arnhem, where, surrounded by an enemy force superior in numbers and equipped with tanks, they fought a gallant but ultimately futile action. When the order to retreat was given on 25th September, the 740 strong Battalion had been reduced to 4 Officers and 72 men. Having undergone jungle training in India, 2nd KOSB sailed with the 7th (Indian) Division to Burma in September 1943. They crossed into the Arakan, and took part in the critical actions at Ngakydauk Pass and in the ‘Admin Box’, where 2 COs were killed. Later they were flown to the central front at Imphal. In early 1945 they marched towards the Irrawaddy and took part in the assault that turned the Irrawaddy line. The Battalion’s last battle took place at Prome in May 1945, by which time Rangoon had fallen and the Japanese Army’s defeat in Burma was assured. |
|
Create An Online Shop |