User Contributed Dictionary

English

Noun

rifles

Plural of rifle

Verb

rifles

third-person singular of rifle

Extensive Definition

For the band The Rifles, see The Rifles (band). For the novel by William T. Vollmann, see The Rifles (novel).

The Rifles (RIFLES) is a regiment of the British Army. It consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, plus a number of companies in other TA battalions, making the regiment the largest in the infantry. Each battalion of the Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light Division (with the exception of the 1st Battalion, which is an amalgamation of two individual regiments).

History

The Rifles was created as a result of the Future Army Structure. Under the original announcement, the Light Division would have remained essentially unchanged, with the exception of the Light Infantry gaining a new battalion through the amalgamation of two other regiments, and both gaining a TA battalion. However, on 24 November 2005, it was announced by the Ministry of Defence that the four regiments would amalgamate into a single five battalion regiment. The Rifles was formed on 1st February 2007 by the amalgamation of the four Light Infantry and Rifle Regiments of the Light Division:

The two existing battalions each of the Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets were renamed, while the single battalions of the DDLI and the RGBWLI were merged into one battalion. This brought the whole of the Light Division under a single cap badge. On formation, The Rifles became the county regiment of the following counties:

As a rifle regiment, a private soldier in The Rifles is known as a Rifleman and Serjeant is spelt in the archaic fashion; the regiment wears a standard rifle green beret. A number of golden threads have been brought into the new regiment from each of its founder regiments:

Croix de Guerre - the French Croix de Guerre ribbon awarded to the Devonshire Regiment in World War I, and subsequently worn by the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, is worn on both sleeves of No. 1 and No. 2 dress.
Back Badge - the badge worn on the back of headdress that was awarded as an honour to the 28th Foot, and subsequently worn by the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry is worn on the forage cap and side hat, and on the shako of the regimental band and bugles.
Bugle Horn - the bugle horn badge of the Light Infantry, now surmounted by St. Edward's Crown, is the regiment's cap badge.
Maltese Cross - the Maltese Cross of the Royal Green Jackets is worn as a buckle on the cross belt, and will contain the regiment's representative battle honours; currently one space is kept free for future honours. In accordance with the tradition of rifle regiments, the regiment does not carry colours.
Black Buttons - the traditional black buttons of a rifle regiment are worn on all forms of dress with the exception of combat dress.

In addition, the new regiment's "Double Past" march (the music used when marching past at the double) is an amalgam of the Light Infantry's (Keel Row) and the Royal Green Jackets' (Road to the Isles). Furthermore The Rifles march at 140 paces per minute, much faster than that of the rest of the Infantry that march at 120.

The unit's back badge reads Egypt, in honor of service by the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, one of the Rifle's precursor units.

Organisation

The new regiment has 5 regular and 2 Territorial Army battalions:

1st Battalion - amalgamation of the 1st Battalion, Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry and the 1st Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry
2nd Battalion - redesignation of the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets
3rd Battalion - redesignation of the 2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry
4th Battalion - redesignation of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets
5th Battalion - redesignation of the 1st Battalion, The Light Infantry
6th (V) Battalion - redesignation of the Rifle Volunteers
7th (V) Battalion - redesignation of the Royal Rifle Volunteers, minus the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment company, plus the Royal Green Jacket companies of the London Regiment

There is only one single CCF unit that still carries the RGJ cap badge and that is the London Oratory School CCF, London, England.

In addition to the seven battalions above, a further two companies (and a platoon) are also cap badged as The Rifles but are attached to other TA infantry Battalions:

D (RIFLES) Company, 5th (V) Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (includes Y (RIFLES) Platoon) - redesignation of C (Light Infantry) Company, Tyne-Tees Regiment and Minden (Light Infantry) Company, East and West Riding Regiment (The 'D' and 'Y' designations were specifically chosen to help maintain The Rifles' county links to both Durham and Yorkshire.)
E (RIFLES) Company, 4th (V) Battalion, Mercian Regiment - redesignation of E (Light Infantry) Company, West Midlands Regiment.

Following the restructuring of the infantry and the end of the arms plot, the new regiment's five regular battalions will have fixed roles:

1st Battalion - Commando Infantry (3 Commando Brigade) - Beachley, Gloucestershire.
2nd Battalion - Light Role (19 Light Brigade) - Ballykinler, Northern Ireland.
3rd Battalion - Light Role (52 Infantry Brigade though currently re-subordinated to 11 Light Brigade in preparation of a tour to Afghanistan) - Edinburgh.
4th Battalion - Mechanised Infantry (1 Mechanised Brigade) - Bulford, Wiltshire.
5th Battalion - Armoured Infantry (20th Armoured Brigade) - Paderborn, Germany.

The 1st Battalion formed on 1 Feb 07 in Alma Barracks, Catterick Garrison (the same place where the RGBW formed in 1994) as part of 52 Infantry Brigade. In August that year the Battalion moved again to its permanent home of Beachley still under 52 Brigade, whose HQ had departed for Afghanistan. From 1 April 2008 however, it was permanently attached to 3 Commando Brigade, where it will serve as the one of the brigade's four manoeuvre battalions/units alongside the three commandos of the Royal Marines.

Territorial Army locations:

6th Battalion - Gloucester, Taunton, Dorchester, Truro and Exeter.
7th Battalion - Oxford, Reading, Milton Keynes and London.
D Coy, 5th Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers - Bishop Auckland, Consett, Doncaster, Sunderland, Washington.
E Coy, West Midlands Regiment - Shrewsbury.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (Colonel-in-Chief, RGBWLI) is the new regiment's Colonel-in-Chief, but each battalion has its own Royal Colonel:

The Band and Bugles

The Rifles maintains a single regular regimental band, the Band and Bugles of The Rifles. This was formed by renaming the Band and Bugles of the Light Division, which in itself was an amalgamation of four separate bands:

The Corunna Band of the Light Infantry
The Salamanca Band of the Light Infantry
The Peninsula Band of the Royal Green Jackets
The Normandy Band of the Royal Green Jackets

In addition, the two TA Battalions maintain their own bands:

The Salamanca Band of the Rifles - 6th Battalion (formerly the Band of the Rifle Volunteers)
The Waterloo Band of the Rifles - 7th Battalion (formerly the Band of the Royal Rifle Volunteers)

Roll of Honour

Iraq

Major Paul Harding, a company commander in the 4th Battalion The Rifles. Killed by mortar fire near Basra, 21 June 2007http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6227978.stm.
Corporal John Rigby, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles. Killed by roadside bomb in Basra, 23 June 2007http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6234512.stm.
Corporal Rodney Wilson of 4th Battalion The Rifles. Killed when rescuing a colleague under heavy fire. 7 June 2007http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6734835.stm.
Corporal Jeremy Brookes, of 4th Battalion The Rifles. Killed when convoy attacked in southern Iraq. 21 May 2007http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6678533.stm.
Rifleman Paul Donnachie from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles. On routine patrol in Basra. 29 April 2007http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6608621.stm
Rifleman Aaron Lincoln, from the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, died on 2 April 2007 after he was wounded by small arms fire during a routine patrol in Basra http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6523351.stm
Rifleman Daniel Coffey of the 2nd Battalion The Rifles died in hospital on 28 February 2007, a day after being injured in an attack in Basrahttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6406271.stm.

Alliances

Although no list of regimental alliances has been announced as yet, using the large regiments that have formed already as examples, it can be assumed that all of the current alliances of the four individual regiments will be carried into the Rifles.

- Monash University Regiment
- Melbourne University Regiment
- 11th/28th Battalion, The Royal Western Australia Regiment
- The Royal New South Wales Regiment
- The Royal Canadian Regiment
- Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
- The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- The Brockville Rifles
- The Royal Winnipeg Rifles
- The Royal Regina Rifles
- Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke
- The Lincoln and Welland Regiment
- The Algonquin Regiment
- The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) (RCAC)
- The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment)
- Le Régiment de Maisonneuve
- The North Saskatchewan Regiment
- 1st Battalion, The Ghana Regiment
- 1st and 3rd Battalions, The Kenya Rifles
- 6th Battalion, The Royal Malay Regiment
- Special Mobile Force
- The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
- The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment
- The Hauraki Regiment
- 11th Battalion, The Baloch Regiment
- 1st Battalion, The Sind Regiment
- 2nd and 13th Battalions, The Frontier Force Regiment
- The Cape Town Rifles
- 5 South African Infantry Battalion (Bond of Friendship)
- The Rand Light Infantry
- The Durban Light Infantry
- The Kaffrarian Rifles
- HMS Exeter
- HMS Cornwall
- HMS Gloucester
- HMS Somerset

- 2e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie (Bond of Friendship)

Battle Honours

The following battle honours are a representation of the total honours awarded to the regiments which formed The Rifles. These are inscribed on the regiment's belt badge:

Gibraltar, Dettingen, Plassey, Minden, Quebec, Martinique, Marabout, Waterloo, Peninsula, Afghanistan, Jellalabad, Ferozeshah, Delhi, Lucknow, New Zealand, Pekin, South Africa, Inkerman
Great War: Nonne Boschen, Ypres, Somme, Vittoria Veneto, Megiddo
Second World War: Calais, El Alamein, Kohima, Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, Italy 1943-45, Anzio
Imjin, Korea, Iraq 2003

Order of Precedence

Lineage

References

Regimental Website (official)
The Rifles on Regiments.org
MOD Press Release Nov 2005
Statement by CO Devon and Dorset Regiment
Statement by CO Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (Now Offline)
The Light Infantry Homepage
BBC Gloucestershire News
1 RIFLES to join the Commandos

rifles in French: The Rifles

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