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The Canadian Scottish
Regiment (Princess Mary's)
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The
Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) was an infantry regiment of the
Canadian Army during the 20th Century that continued its
service into the 21st.1
Lineage
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88th
Regiment "Victoria Fusiliers"
authorized
on 3 September 1912
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50th Regiment authorized 15 August 1913
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50th and
88th Regiments amalgamated and redesignated The Canadian
Scottish Regiment on
15 March 1920
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Reorganized into
1st Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment and 2nd
Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment on 1 August
1930
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2nd
Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment amalgamated
with "A" Company, 11th Canadian Machine Gun Battalion,
Canadian Machine Gun Corps and redesignated 2nd
Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment (M.G.), 15
December 1936
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1st
Battalion redesignated 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, The
Canadian Scottish Regiment on 7 November 1940
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3rd
(Reserve) Battalion redesignated 3rd (Reserve)
Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment (M.G.) 26
March 1942
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2nd
Battalion redesignated 66th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
(Canadian Scottish Regiment) 1 April 1946
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3rd
Battalion redesignated The Canadian Scottish Regiment
(Princess Mary's) 29 April 1948
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Amalgamated with 66th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment and
62nd Anti-Tank Battery (Self-Propelled) 31 December 1954
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The
Canadian Scottish Regiment
(Princess Mary's) |
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Headquarters:
Victoria, BC
Predecessors: 50th and 88th Regiments
Perpetuates: 16th, 48th, 67th, 88th, 103rd
and 143rd Battalions, CEF
Created: 15 March 1920
Status on 31 December 1999: Active Militia
Regiment |
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First World War
The 50th and 88th Regiments were placed on active service on 10
August 1914 for local protective duties, and contributed to the 16th
and 7th Battalions of the CEF respectively, later recruiting for the
48th, 67th, 88th, 103rd and 143rd Battalions.
The 16th Battalion drew its initial
companies from four Highland Regiments across Canada and its
companies originally went to Valcartier and later the UK in the
tartan of those regiments; the 50th (Gordon Highlanders of Canada)
from Victoria, 72nd (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada) from Vancouver,
73rd (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) from Winnipeg, 91st (Canadian
Highlanders) from Hamilton, later The Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders of Canada.
The 16th Battalion became known as
simply "Canadian Scottish" and adopted a predominantly khaki tartan.
It served with the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Canadian
Division, and four soldiers of the Battalion were awarded the
Victoria Cross:
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Private (Piper) James Cleland
Richardson - 8 October 1916
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Private W.J. Milne - 9 April 1917
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Lieutenant Colonel Cyrus W. Peck,
DSO
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Lance Corporal W.H. Metcalf, MM - 2
September 1918
Second World War
Details of The Canadian Scottish Regiment were placed on active
service on 1 September 1939 for local protective duty. The Regiment
mobilized "1st Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment, Canadian
Active Service Force" on 24 May 1940. The unit concentrated with
other units of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in Debert, Nova
Scotia and embarked for the United Kingdom on 25 August 1941. The
active battalion landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 as a component of
the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade and served throughout the campaign
in North-west Europe, disbanding on 15 January 1946.
The regiment mobilized "2nd Battalion,
The Canadian Scottish Regiment, CASF" on 1 January 1941. The 2nd
Battalion served in Canada and disbanded on 15 October 1943.
An additional unit, designation 4th
Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment, was formed on 1 June 1945
for service in the Canadian Army Occupation Force, and it served in
Germany until disbandment on 29 April 1946.
Two battalions (the 2nd, and 3rd
(Reserve) Battalions) served in the Reserve Army during the war.
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
Pozières
Thiepval
Ancre, 1916
Vimy, 1917
Scarpe, 1917, '18
Passchendaele
Drocourt-Quéant
Pursuit to Mons
France and Flanders, 1915-18
Putot-en-Bessin
The Orne
The Laison
The Scheldt
Breskens Pocket
Waal Flats
The Rhine
Deventer |
Gravenstavel
Festubert, 1915
Somme, 1916
Flers-Courcelette
Ancre Heights
Arras, 1917, 18
Arleux
Hill 70
Amiens
Hindenburg Line
Canal du Nord
Normandy Landing
Caen
Falaise
Calais, 1944
Leopold Canal
The Rhineland
Moyland Wood
Emmerich-Hoch Elten
North-West Europe,1944-45 |
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Traditions
- Regimental Alliances
- Regimental Motto
- Official Marches
Uniforms
The 16th Battalion had worn the tartan of the four contributing
regiments on formation (Gordon (50th Regiment), Mackenzie (72nd
Regiment) Cameron of Erracht (73rd Regiment) and Government (91st
Regiment)) and later adopted one tartan for all with a khaki field.
When The Canadian Scottish Regiment was created, a mixture of
regimental styles of dress continued, with the plain blue glengarry
of the Camerons, the red and white hose of the Argylls, the unique
sporran of the Gordons, and the Mackenzie tartan kilt of the
Seaforths. The latter was useful, since due to shortages of
equipment, items of Highland kit often had to be borrowed from
Vancouver's Seaforth Highlanders for dress parades up to 1927. After
the alliance with The Royal Scots, the Hunting Stuart tartan was
officially adopted, and though the Royal Scots were a lowland
regiment (i.e. wore trews, or tartan trousers), the Canadian
Scottish wore the kilt, as did one Territorial battalion of the
Royal Scots. In actual use, the 2nd Battalion received new kilts
first, Ordnance informed the 1st Battalion that they had to first
wear out their Mackenzie Tartan kilts before new ones would be
issued. It is recorded that even as late as 1939, some soldiers of
the 1st Battalion were still clad in the Mackenzie tartan.2
Insignia
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Metal Shoulder Titles
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.3 |
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Notes
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The Regiments and Corps of the Canadian
Army, Queen's Printer, Ottawa,
1964, pp.233-235
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Roy, Reginald H. Ready for the Fray (Deas
gu Cath): The History of The Canadian Scottish Regiment
(Princess Mary's) (Bunker to Bunker Publishing, Calgary,
AB, 2002) ISBN 1-894255-11-9 pp.1-26
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