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Guards Division
The Guards Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the London Guards reserve battalion. The Guards Division is responsible for providing two battalions for public duties to London District (plus three incremental companies); although the guards are most associated with ceremony, they are nevertheless operational infantry battalions, and as such perform all the various roles of infantry. History The Guards Division was established by redesignation of the Brigade of Guards in 1968. The headquarters was established at Wellington Barracks in London. Before the Options for Change defence review in 1992, there were eight battalions: *1st and 2nd Battalions, Grenadier Guards *1st and 2nd Battalions, Coldstream Guards *1st and 2nd Battalions, Scots Guards *1st Battalion, Irish Guards *1st Battalion, Welsh Guards The cuts made to the infantry under Options for Change included three ...
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Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Historically, the division has been the default combined arms unit capable of independent operations. Smaller combined arms units, such as the American regimental combat team (RCT) during World War II, were used when conditions favored them. In recent times, modern Western militaries have begun adopting the smaller brigade combat team (similar to the RCT) as the default combined arms unit, with the division they belong to being less important. While the focus of this article is on army divisions, in naval usage " division" has a completely different meaning, referring to either an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of the weapons department) aboard naval and coast guard ships, shore commands, and in ...
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Colours, Standards And Guidons
In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours (or colors), standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 years ago. The Roman Empire also made battle Vexillum, standards a part of their vast armies. It was formalized in the armies of Europe in the High Middle Ages, with standards being emblazoned with the commander's coat of arms. General use As armies became trained and adopted set formations, each regiment's ability to keep its formation was potentially critical to its, and therefore its army's, success. In the chaos of battle, not least due to the amount of dust and smoke on a battlefield, soldiers needed to be able to determine where their regiment was. Regimental flags are generally awarded to a regiment by a head of state during a ceremony. They were therefore treated with reverence as they represented the honour and traditi ...
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Grenade (insignia)
A grenade insignia is a form of emblem which represents a stylized old style of hand grenade, with a rising flame. This symbol is used as a charge in heraldry and is also featured on the uniforms of numerous military units. Military usage The insignia is featured on the uniforms of such military units as the: *French Foreign Legion *Italian Carabinieri *Italian Fanteria *Italian Cavalleria *Italian Trasmissioni *Italian Granatieri di Sardegna *Italian Trasporti e Materiali *Italian Engineers Corps *Italian Bersaglieri *Dutch Koninklijke Marechaussee * Finnish artillery *The Grenadiers Regiment of the Indian Army *British and Commonwealth Grenadier Guards Regiments *British Royal Regiment of Fusiliers *Royal Canadian Engineers *Commissioned Officers of the British Royal Engineers *Commissioned Officers of the British Honourable Artillery Company *Commissioned Officers of the British Royal Artillery (collar badge) * Norwegian artillery troops * Portuguese artillery troops *Nat ...
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London Regiment (1993)
The London Guards is an administrative formation within the British Army comprising the Army Reserve companies of the British Army's Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots and Irish Guards. On formation these companies drew their personnel from the London Regiment which existed from 1993 to 2022. Under the Integrated Review published in March 2021 it was announced the London Regiment would lose its regimental status and re-designate as 1st Battalion London Guards. The former companies of the London Regiment became reserve companies of the four senior foot guard regiments with soldiers previously in the London Regiment transferred to foot guards regiments. The London Guards is not a regiment, the companies wear the uniform, and follow the traditions, of their foot guards regiment. History The London Regiment was reformed in 1993 through the re-regimentation of some of the remaining successors of the original regiment (not including, for example, the Artists Rifles or Kensington Regi ...
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Band Of The Welsh Guards
The Band of the Welsh Guards is the youngest of the five bands in the Foot Guards Regiments in the Household Division, specifically the Welsh Guards which primarily guards the British monarch. History The Welsh Guards Band was formed in 1915, the same year as the regiment. Unlike other Guards Bands such as that of the Grenadier Guards, the band consisted of 45 people, including a Warrant Officer at the time of its inception, with the instruments having been bought by funds provided by the City of Cardiff. Because the Welsh Guards Band was formed hundreds of years after military music for ceremonial purpose first arose, high standards had already been set by other Guards ensembles. They first publicly performed proving their worth on March 1, 1916, when they Mounted the King's Guard. The Welsh Guards Band started its touring career in 1917, early after its formation. In recent years tours have taken the band to European countries such as Belgium and Spain; North America, with ...
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Band Of The Irish Guards
The Band of the Irish Guards is one of five bands in the Foot Guards Regiments in the Household Division whose main role is to guard the British monarch. The Band supports the Regiment by providing the musical backing to which much of the ceremonial duties depend within Central London. Unlike the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, which moves to various duty stations around the world, the Band is based permanently at Wellington Barracks in St James's, London. History The Irish Guards was formed on 1 April 1900 to commemorate the bravery of the many Irish regiments which fought in the South African campaigns. Under the direction of its first Bandmaster, Warrant Officer Charles Hassell, the Regimental Band made its first public appearance the following year. The Band quickly gained a reputation for excellence as evidenced by the glowing press reports in 1905 for what turned out to be the first of many tours of Canada. The citizens of Toronto were so impressed with its performance that ...
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Band Of The Scots Guards
The Band of the Scots Guards is one of five bands in the Foot Guards Regiments in the Household Division which primarily guards the British monarch. The band is based at Wellington Barracks in St James's, London, which is the same place as for all the foot guards bands. The band should not be confused with the Pipes and Drums, which is a separate entity comprising fighting soldiers who are also pipers, rather than full-time professional musicians. History The Scots Guards is a regiment that was formed by King Charles I in 1642. It is known that in 1716 a small band of "hautbouys" existed; however, the precise origins of the Band of the Scots Guards are unknown. The band grew in strength during the early part of the 19th century and by 1838, it could boast some 32 performers. Throughout the 19th century the band expanded, until in 1888, there was an establishment of 44. During the First World War it entertained troops at Ypres and the Somme in 1916. During the Second World ...
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Band Of The Coldstream Guards
The Band of the Coldstream Guards is one of the oldest and best known bands in the British Army, having been officially formed on 16 May 1785 under the command of Major C F Eley. History The band of the Coldstream Guards was officially formed under the direction of Music Major C.F. Eley on 16 May 1785. The band received its first British bandmaster in 1835, Charles Godfrey. On 18 June 1944 over one hundred twenty people were killed at Wellington Barracks when a German flying bomb hit the chapel. The director of the band was amongst the dead, prompting the appointment of Captain Douglas Alexander Pope. In 1985, during the band's two hundredth anniversary year, the Coldstream Guards kicked off the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "a fanfare composed by the Director of Music Lt Col Richard Ridings". Two especially unusual performances took place in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States. On September 12, 2001, Queen Elizabeth II br ...
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Royal Corps Of Army Music
The Royal Corps of Army Music (RCAM, widely known by its former acronym CAMUS) is a Corps of the British Army dedicated to the provision and promotion of military music. History The formation of the Corps of Army Music was triggered by a defence review known as ''Options for Change'' in 1991 and followed a 1993 announcement by the Chief of the General Staff that the number of regular army bands was to be reduced from 69 to 30. The period saw the number of personnel fall from 2,000 to 1,100, with Lieutenant Colonel Roger Tomlinson of the Royal Military School of Music describing it as "a gloomy time for those of us in the military music business". The Queen signed a warrant on 13 August 1994 to allow the formation of the Corps of Army Music. All regular army officers who were Directors of Music in the various corps and regiments and all regular army musicians would transfer to the Corps of Army Music - now the newest and most junior corps in the army - on 1 September 1994. The h ...
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Band Of The Grenadier Guards
The Band of the Grenadier Guards is one of the bands in the British Army. History In 1685 Charles II allowed the band to maintain 12 "hautbois" (oboe) players. His death in 1685 was so significant for the band that until the Second World War, the Bass Drummer (known officially as The Regimental Timebeater), wore a black armband in mourning of the king's death. The Band was given the freedom of the City of Lincoln on 8 May 2008. The March ''The British Grenadiers'' is one of the most recognizable and memorable tunes in the world, part of Britain's musical heritage. One of the band's admirers during the 18th century was George Frideric Handel. He demonstrated this by presenting the march from ''Scipio'' to the regiment before he included it in his opera of that name when it was first performed in 1726. George II gave Handel the task of scoring the '' Music for the Royal Fireworks'', most commonly performed with strings, for the king's own musicians, who were wind players fro ...
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Guards Incremental Companies
The British Army primarily divides its infantry into regiments, which are subdivided into battalions. However, for various reasons, since the end of the Second World War it has also maintained companies that are intended to provide increments and reinforcements. Disbanded battalions In the 1960s, a policy began to be implemented intended to move the infantry away from collections of regiments made up of just single battalions, towards what came to be known as " large regiments", made up of a number of battalions, which would be formed by the amalgamation of several existing regiments. Between 1964 and 1968, a total of six of these multi-battalion regiments were formed, before a policy change saw the process halted. As part of this however, there were additional plans to reduce the size of the infantry, through the disbanding or amalgamation of individual battalions. Again however, after the first round of disbandings and amalgamations, the policy was halted, with those battal ...
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