1881: The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) - organised as the county regiment of Fifeshire, Forfarshire and Perthshire uniting two regular battalions:

The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment's name comes from the extremely dark (A cloth having a crisscross design) tartan that they wear; 'Black Watch' was originally just a nickname for the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, but was used more and more so that, in 1881, when the 42nd amalgamated with the 73rd Foot, the new regiment was named 'The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)'. The uniform has changed but the nickname has been more enduring. The regimental motto is Nemo me impune lacessit (no one attacks me with impunity). The Royal Stewart tartan is worn by the regimental pipers due the royal designation.

1935 The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
2006.03.28 to be united with The Royal Scots, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons), and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, to form The Royal Regiment of Scotland

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch)

73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot

1935: The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)

World War One - 25 Battalions

During WWI the 25 battalions of Black Watch fought mainly in France and Flanders, except for 2nd Battalion which fought in (The land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq) Mesopotamia and (A British mandate on the east coast of the Mediterranean; divided between Jordan and Israel in 1948) Palestine, and the 10th Battalion which was in the (The major mountain range of Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula) Balkans. Only the 1st and 2nd battalions were regulars. The fearsome reputation of these kilted soldiers led to their acquiring the nickname "Ladies from Hell" from the German troops that faced them in the trenches.

The Great War [25 battalions]: Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914 '18, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Béthune, Scherpenberg, Soissonnais-Ourcq, Tardenois, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenberg Line, Épéhy, St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1915-18, Egypt 1916, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Damascus, Palestine 1917-18, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-17

Battle Honours WW2

Battalions of the Watch fought in World War II, from Palestine to Dunkirk to Normandy. After the war, in 1948, the two regular battalions were merged into one.

The Second World War: Defence of Arras, Ypres-Comines Canal, Dunkirk 1940, Somme 1940, St. Valery-en-Caux, Saar, Breville, Odon, Fontenay le Pesnil, Defence of Rauray, Caen, Falaise, Falaise Road, La Vie Crossing, Le Havre, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Barkasan, British Somaliland 1940, Tobruk 1941, Tobruk Sortie, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, Medenine, Zemlet el Lebene, Mareth, Akarit, Wadi Akarit East, Djebel Roumana, Medjez Plain, Si Mediene, Tunis, North Africa 1941-43, Landing in Sicily, Vizzini, Sferro, Gerbini, Adrano, Sferro Hills, Sicily 1943, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa Fortis, Rimini Line, Casa Fabbri Ridge, Savio Bridgehead, Italy 1944-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45, Crete, Heraklion, Middle East 1941, Chindits 1944, Burma 1944

The Hook 1952, Korea 1952-53, Al Basrah, Iraq 2003

The Black Watch Museum, Perth (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)

Under a plan supervised by General Sir Mike Jackson, on December 16 2004 it was announced that the Black Watch was to join with five other Scottish regiments - the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, a single five-battalion regiment. The Black Watch is to retain its (Long slender feather on the necks of e.g. turkeys and pheasants) hackle and will be known as The Black Watch (3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland).

Deployment

1st Battalion

1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
1881 Scotland: Edinburgh
1882 Egypt
1882 Egypt
1885 Sudan
1889 Malta
1892 Gibraltar
1893.01 Egypt
1893.03 Mauritius (half bn)
1893.04 Cape Colony: Cape Town (half bn)
1897 India: Subathu (bn reunited)
1899 Sitapur
1901.02 South Africa
1902.12 Scotland: Edinburgh
1904 Fort George
1906 Ireland: Curragh
1908 Limerick
1911 Scotland: Edinburgh
1912 England: Aldershot 1 Bde
1914.08 France and Flanders 1 Div
1919 India: Baluchistan
1921 Allahabad
1923 Quetta
1925 Lahore
1928 Chakratta
1931 Meerut
1935 Barrackpore
1936 Sudan
1938.08 England: Dover
1939.09 France & Belgium 4 Inf Div, BEF
1940.03 France & Belgium 51 Inf Div
1940.06 captured by the Germans at St. Valery
1940.09 re-formed in UK
1940.09 UK 51 Inf Div
1942.08 Middle East
1943.07 Sicily
1943.11
1944.01 UK
1944.06 NW Europe
1945 Germany
1948.07.13 amalgamated with 2nd Battalion without change of title
1948 Germany: Duisburg 2 Div
1950.04 Berlin
1951.10 Buxtehude
1952.02
1952.06 Korea 29 Inf Bde Gp
1953.07 at sea
1953.08 Kenya
1955.04 Crail
1955.05 Kenya
1956.01 Berlin
1957.11 Scotland: Edinburgh
1958.11 Cyprus
1961.11 England: Warminster
1964.03 Germany: Minden 11 Bde [later 7 Bde]
1968.03 Scotland: Edinburgh
1970.06 (Northern Ireland)
1970.07 Scotland: Edinburgh
1970.08 (Northern Ireland)
1970.09 Scotland: Edinburgh
1971.02 (Northern Ireland)
1971.06 Scotland: Edinburgh
1971.10 (Northern Ireland)
1971.11 Scotland: Edinburgh
1972.01 Hong Kong
1974.03 England: Colchester 19 Inf Bde
1974.06 (Northern Ireland)
1974.10 England: Colchester
1975.06 (Northern Ireland)
1975.10 England: Colchester
1976.07 Northern Ireland: Aldergrove ? Inf Bde
1978.07 England: Catterick 5 Field Force
1979.03 [Belize]
1979.07 England: Catterick
1980.04 Germany: Werl 3 Armd Div
1982.01 Werl 33 Armd Bde
1982.12 (Northern Ireland)
1983.03 Werl
1985.03 Scotland: Edinburgh
1985.12 (Northern Ireland)
1986.05 Scotland: Edinburgh
1987.03 Berlin Berlin Bde
1989.07 Northern Ireland: Ballykinlar 39 Inf Bde
1991.07 England: Tern Hill 143 Bde
1991.07 (Northern Ireland)
1991.08 Tern Hill 143 Bde
1992.10 Hong Kong
1994.08 England: Pirbright 5 Abn Bde
1995.04 (Northern Ireland)
1995.11 Pirbright 5 Abn Bde
1996.07 Scotland: Fort George
1997.02 [Hong Kong] last battalion to leave the Colony
1997.06 Scotland: Fort George
2000.07 Germany: Fallingbostel 7 Armd Bde
2001.04 (Kosovo)
2001.10 Germany: Fallingbostel 7 Armd Bde
2003.02 Persian Gulf 7 Armd Bde
2003.03 Iraq 7 Armd Bde
2003.05.27 Germany: Fallingbostel 7 Armd Bde
2004.07 Iraq: Basra Province 1 Mech Bde
2004.11 Iraq: Baghdad [US command]
2004.12 Iraq: Basra Province
2004.12.11 England: Warminster

2nd Battalion

 

1881.07.01 2nd Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
1884 Aldershot
<1889> Ireland: Belfast
<1892> Limerick
<1894> Scotland: Glasgow
1897 England: York
1899.10 South Africa 3 Bde
1902.12 India: Umballa
1905 Solon
1906 Dalhousie
1908 Barian
1911 Calcutta
1914 Bareilly
1914.10 France and Flanders Meerut Div
1915.12.15 Mesopotamia
1918.13 Egypt
1918.01 Palestine
1918.10 Syria
1919.03 Egypt
1919 Scotland: Glasgow
1920.03 Germany: Silesia Army of Occupation
1922.07 Bordon 3 Bde
1925 Scotland: Fort George
1931 England: Colchester
1933 Scotland: Glasgow
1935 2nd Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
1937.09 Palestine
1939.09 Palestine Jerusalem Area
1940.05.04 Egypt: Suez Canal Area 23 Bde, BTE
1940.07.03 Aden
1940.08.07 British Somaliland
1940.08.17 Aden
1940.10 Egypt 14 Bde, MEF
1940.11.06 Crete Creforce (14 Inf Bde)
1941.06.01 Egypt 14 Bde, MEF
1941.07.10 Syria 14 Bde, 6 Inf Div
1941.10.22 North Africa: Libya 14 Bde, 70 Inf Div
1942.01.01 Egypt 14 Bde, 70 Inf Div
1942.02.04 Syria 14 Bde, 70 Inf Div
1942.02.23 Egypt
1942.02.28 at sea
1942.03.09 India 14 Bde, 70 Inf Div
1942.05.10 Burma reorg as 42 Col and 73 Col
1943.07.02 India 14 Bde, 70 Inf Div
1944.03.23 Burma 14 Bde, Special Force
1944.09.01 India 14 Bde, Special Force
1944.11.01 India 14 AL Bde, 44 Ind AB Div
1945.08 India
1947 UK
1948.07.13 amalgamated with 1st Battalion
1952.04.03 re-formed at Colchester
1952.04 England: Colchester
1952.10 Germany: Hubblerath BAOR
1953.03 Dortmund
1954.09 British Guiana
1956.03 Scotland: Edinburgh
1956.10.01 disbanded (PSA) at Edinburgh

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