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The
Calgary Highlanders was an infantry regiment of the
Canadian Army during the 20th Century that continued its
service into the 21st.
Lineage
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103rd
Regiment "Calgary Rifles" formed
on 1 April 1910
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Redesignated The Calgary Regiment on
15 March 1920
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1st Battalion of The Calgary Regiment redesignated
1st Battalion, Calgary Highlanders, The Calgary
Regiment on 15 September 1921
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Regiment reorganized as two separate regiments; split
into The Calgary Highlanders and The Calgary
Regiment on 15
May 1924
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The
Calgary Highlanders |
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Headquarters:
Calgary, AB
Predecessors: 103rd Regiment, Calgary Rifles
Perpetuates: 10th, 56th and 82nd Battalions, CEF
Raised: 1 April 1910
Status on 31 December 1999: Active Militia
Regiment |
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First World War
The 103rd Regiment placed details on active service for local
protective duty on 6 August 1914, and soldiers of the 103rd Regiment
helped staff prisoner of war and internment camps in Alberta. The
Regiment provided drafts to the 10th Battalion, CEF on its formation
in September, 1914 and later recruited for the 50th, 56th, 82nd,
89th and 137th Battalions of the CEF. The Calgary Highlanders were
later permitted to perpetuate the 10th Battalion (in a dual
perpetuation with The Winnipeg Light Infantry, as the 106th Regiment
had also contributed materially to the unit on formation), the 56th
and 82nd Battalions, with The Calgary Regiment perpetuating the 50th
Battalion, which served in the 4th Division, and the 89th and 137th,
which served as reinforcement units. The 10th Battalion served with
the 1st Division in France and Flanders, participating in every
major Canadian battle on the Western Front. Two soldiers of the 10th
Battalion were awarded the Victoria Cross, both posthumously.
Second World War
The Calgary Highlanders mobilized on 1 September 1939 as a rifle
battalion of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. The unit
concentrated in Shilo in the summer of 1940 and then travelled to
the United Kingdom in the autumn, where it trained for almost four
years. The mortar platoon embarked for the Dieppe Raid, where two
soldiers were mentioned in despatches while serving as anti-aircraft
gunners off-shore. The battalion landed in Normandy in July 1944 and
as a component of the 5th Canadian Brigade, the unit saw action to
the end of the North-West Europe campaign. The 1st Battalion was
disbanded on return to Calgary in December 1945. A 2nd Battalion
remained in Calgary with the Reserve Army.
Battle Honours
The Regiment was awarded Battle Honours
for both World Wars (bold type indicates honours selected for
emblazonment):
General Order No. 110 of 1929 granted honours for the First World
War.
Ypres 1915, '17
St. Julien
Mount Sorrel
Thiepval
Arras, 1917, '18
Arleux
Passchendaele
Scarpe, 1918
Hindenburg Line
Pursuit to Mons
Bourguébus Ridge
Verrières Ridge-Tilly-la-Campagne
Falaise Road
Forêt de la Londe
Wyneghem
The Scheldt
South Beveland
The Rhineland
The Hochwald
The Rhine
Oldenburg |
Gravenstavel
Festubert, 1915
Somme, 1916
Ancre Heights
Vimy, 1917
Hill 70
Amiens
Drocourt-Quéant
Canal du Nord
France and Flanders, 1915-18
Faubourg de Vaucelles
Falaise
Clair Tizon
Dunkirk, 1944
Antwerp-Turnhout Canal
Woensdrecht
Walcheren Causeway
The Reichswald
Xanten
Groningen
North-West Europe,1944-45 |
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Traditions
- Regimental Alliances
- Regimental Motto
- Official Marches
Formation/District Assignments
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3rd (Reserve) Infantry Brigade,
Military District 13
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1st Battalion
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2nd Battalion
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3rd (Reserve) Infantry Brigade,
Military District 13 1939-1940
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41st (Reserve) Brigade Group,
1939-1946
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18th Infantry Brigade, Western
Command 1946-1954
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22 Militia Group, Alberta Area,
Western Command 1954-1964
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Southern Alberta Militia District,
Prairie Militia Area 1964-1991
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Alberta Militia District (renamed
from SAMD)
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Alberta Militia District, Land Force
Western Area 1991-1997
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41 Canadian Brigade Group, Land
Force Western Area 1997-2000
Headquarters
The regiment occupied Mewata Armouries
at 801-11th Street SW in Calgary from the time it was granted its
designation into the 21st Century. After the Second World War the
unit maintained a number of outlying companies in rural areas which
disappeared by the end of the century, though affiliated cadet corps
were maintained in Airdrie and Turner Valley.
Uniforms
The regiment adopted Government (Black Watch) tartan upon
creation. A well-meaning Honorary Colonel purchased Royal Stewart
tartan kilts and plaids for the pipers of the regiment before the
Second World War; they were politely informed upon arrival in
England in 1940 that the Royal Stewart tartan was reserved for Royal
regiments. The pipers of the 2nd Battalion retained the tartan for a
period during the war. In the 1990s, pipe ribbons in Royal Stewart
and Gordon Highlanders tartan were adopted, in homage to the
appointment of Queen Elizabeth II as Colonel-in-Chief of the
regiment, and the tartan worn by the Calgary Scottish pipe band in
the early years of the 20th Century, from which the early Pipes and
Drums drew many of its first performers.
Senior NCOs and
officers wore a kilt panel and rosettes on the kilt as a rank
distinction, in line with the dress distinctions of The Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) of the British Army. By
tradition, the Argylls also wear box pleated kilts, to set them
apart from the Black Watch who also wear the Government Tartan, with
kilts arranged in knife pleats.
Plain brown purse sporrans of various
types were worn for walking out dress; hair sporrans were patterned
after that worn by the allied regiment. Officers wore a badger head
sporran, with Other Ranks wearing a six-point sporran with black
horsehair and white "points" or tassels. Over time, the wearing of
badger head sporrans was adopted by Warrant Officers and senior
NCOs. Shortages of six-point sporrans also resulted in the latter
decades of the 20th Century in restricting the wear of the six-point
sporrans to corporals and master corporals. Pipers wore a
traditional three-point sporran in brown horsehair with black
points. Both the Pipe Major and Drum Major adopted the wear of a
three point sporran in white with black points sometime after the
Second World War.
The glengarry worn had red/white/red dicing, with a red toorie
(except pipers, who wore plain black glengarries with red toories).
The Regiment also adopted some unusual headdress at various times;
pipers in the Regimental Pipes and Drums briefly wore the feather
bonnet in Full Dress after the Korean War. The regiment as a whole,
with the exception of the Pipe Band, adopted a diced balmoral in
lieu of the Glengarry in the 1960s and 1970s; the balmoral was a
dark blue with red and white dice and a red toorie, styled after the
regimental glengarry.
Insignia
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Cap Badge
The cap badge is described in "Regiments and Corps of the Canadian
Army" as:
Upon sprays of thistle, a St.
Andrew's Cross, on the centre of the Cross a beaver on a log
encircled by a wreath of maple leaves; below the beaver, on the
wreath a scroll emblazoned with thistles, placed above a scroll
enscribed with the unit designation "CALGARY HIGHLANDERS"; above
the wreath upon the upper arms of the Cross a scroll emblazoned
with thistles and on the centre, between the upper arms of the
Cross, the Crown.1
The Tudor Crown badge
was approved by General Order 115 of 1925; the badge was issued in
brass and later bronze and "battle bronze" (dark brown) with white
metal overlays. Officers, the RSM, and Musicians seem to have worn
silver badges, either chromed, nickle plated or in the case of some
officers, sterling silver. |
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Badge
design (King's Crown) |
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After 1953 and the introduction of the
St. Edward's Crown badges, officers, the RSM, and Musicians
traditionally wore silver coloured badges, though at some point
warrant officers and sergeants also adopted them. Other Ranks wore a
bronze badge with white metal overlay, and gold badges became issued
to regimental soldiers not yet trained as infantrymen, as well as
associated cadet corps.
A cloth cap badge was also produced for the Combat Field Cap.
Collar Badges
Three types of collar badges have been issued since the inception of
the Regiment:
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mirrored miniatures of the
cap badge, King's Crown, seen in silver and brass; when
worn, the beavers face each other.
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example as seen below with
"FIRST BATTALION" appearing on the scrolls, King's
Crown, in brass and silver
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as below, Queen's Crown, in
gold, bronze and silver.2
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Metal Shoulder Titles
The original shoulder badge authorized
was a simple "C.H" badge in brass, worn until 1938. |
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When Battle Honours
for the First World War were being considered in the 1920s, the
units that perpetuated the 10th and 16th Battalions of the CEF were
perturbed that they did not receive recognition for the Battle of
Kitcheners' Wood. That battle had marked the first offensive action
taken by Canadian soldiers in the First World War, and was later
described by Marshall Foch as "the finest act in the War." The
commanding officers of the three battalions (The Canadian Scottish
Regiment, The Calgary Highlanders, and The Winnipeg Light Infantry)
petitioned Ottawa, and gained the support of many prominent
individuals such as Sir Arthur Currie. The Adjutant General
proposed that a distinction in dress be awarded in lieu of a battle
honour.
In June 1926, it was suggested that one or more oak
leaves on a blood red background be adopted as a collar
badge, as Kitcheners Wood had been an oak plantation. The
Calgary Highlanders preferred a badge be worn on the lower
sleeve while the WLI preferred an upper sleeve badge. All
three agreed that an acorn and oak leaf design was
desirable. The Adjutant General agreed that a collar badge
depicting a single acorn and oak leaf was acceptable, and
could be worn in conjunction with existing collar badges, as
precedence for double collar badges had been set in the
British Army by the Seaforth Highlanders and the Royal Irish
Fusiliers.
In 1930, the Adjutant General's office proposed that
the collar badges of the individual units be set upon a
bronze oak leaf. This idea was rejected, and in 1933 a
metal shoulder badge was agreed upon. The Calgary
Highlanders and Canadian Scottish wanted the full name of
the regiment to be part of the design, while the WLI wanted
only their initials.
General Orders in 1934 granted
authority for the Calgary Highlanders and Canadian Scottish
to wear bronze oak leaf and acorn badges with their names
inscribed on an annulus. The WLI were to wear a badge
consisting of the oak leaf and acorn with the initials on
the regiment superimposed.
Barry Agnew, former Calgary Highlander officer,
curator of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, and Calgary
Highlanders Museum Curator, uncovered the drawings at right
in the National Archives in Ottawa. They show suggested
designs for the Calgary Highlanders' oak leaf badges; none
of the badges were ever worn.3
The final
approved pattern was first issued in 1938; The Calgary
Highlanders and The Winnipeg Light Infantry both adopted
similar titles with oakleaf and acorn designs (issued in
left and right pairs) with the initials of the unit title
embossed upon them. The Canadian Scottish adopted the more
elaborate design of an annulus surrounding the oak leaf with
the full regimental title spelled out. The oak leaf badges
were worn by the regiment on service dress, and after the
Second World War, were worn on Battle Dress into the 1970s.
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1938 actual badges adopted |
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Early buttons featured the full
regimental cap badge design; this was later simplified to a
design that featured the St. Andrew's Cross and beaver and
log
from the regimental crest, in brass, white metal or silver, and
came in three sizes.4 |
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Cloth Shoulder Flashes
The first unit identifier used on Battle
Dress was a slip on shoulder title adopted sometime in 1940. It was
worn by the 1st Battalion overseas until 1941; the 2nd Battalion
adopted it at some point also and wore them to the end of the war.
As a unit of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in the Second World
War, the overseas battalion also wore a royal blue formation patch
of the division. In the period 1941-1942, a red triangle was worn
over top of the divisional patch as part the the "battle patch"
system in use by the formation at that time.
After Dieppe, the overseas battalion
adopted a dark blue shoulder flash for wear on Battle
Dress. According to the
staff at the regimental museum, the first pattern of cloth shoulder
flash was a blue crescent, with CALGARY HIGHLANDERS and CANADA
embroidered thereupon. While small numbers of these titles have been
found on the collectors market, there is no evidence to suggest that
they ever progressed past prototype stage. There is no photographic
record of the badges being worn.
The type adopted was a lozenge shape in
royal blue with green and red lettering. The titles were found in
both melton and later in the war, printed on canvas. After the war,
melton titles of the same pattern were worn into the 1970s on Battle
Dress and Bush Dress. The adoption of Garrison Dress in the 1990s
saw a revival of the pattern, on shinier cloth with swiss
embroidered edges.
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When the CF
Uniform was adopted in the 1970s, replacing battle dress and
service dress, a distinctive CF Green shoulder flash was
designed for wear on the service dress jacket, as the
distinctive metal oak leaf shoulder title could no longer be
worn on the new uniform, which lacked shoulder straps.
The Calgary Highlanders adopted a large arc shaped
title with the name of the regiment, the oak leaf, and the
numeral "10" (to represent the 10th Battalion, CEF)
superimposed. This badge was designed by Lieutenant JH
Brink, and was approved for wear in 1981. The flashes were
issued in left and right pairs, with the acorn on the oak
leaf worn facing the wearer's front. Metal oak leaves
continued to be worn on work dress.
On Combat
Dress, the unit wore the standard olive drab combat title,
with the unit's short form name CALG HIGHRS embroidered upon
it.
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Notes
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The Regiments and Corps of the Canadian
Army, Queen's Printer, Ottawa,
1964, p.227
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Thompson, Roy J.C.
Canadian Army Cap Badges 1953-1973, 2nd Edition gives a date
of 1956 for the "1st type" and illustrates them with Queen's
Crowns
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Photos and information from
from The Oakleaf, Regimental Newsletter of the
Calgary Highlanders, Dec 1991 issue.
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Smylie Reference Number: F-103e and F-103f.
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