His Majesty's Green Jackets
War in the forest is not for line infantry!
In all European armies, light infantry that could fight in loose formation appeared at about the same time: in the middle of the 1756th century. In the German principalities and Russia, these were the Jaegers, in France, the Tirailleurs and Voltigeurs. In England, light infantry appeared in XNUMX in the American colonies: for the war with the French in the dense forests, fighters were needed who were proficient in rifle fire. weapons better than line infantry and capable of operating in loose formation.
In principle, His Majesty's army had such soldiers: in each infantry regiment, in addition to the line infantry, there was a flank light company. But this was, for the most part, a theory. In practice, light companies, if they differed from line companies, then in the smaller number of personnel, and not in training. You can understand the English commanders: they took real rabble as soldiers, so they could only be commanded by keeping everyone in a tight group: if you disband them in a chain, you won't be able to gather them back later... And the light companies had standard weapons - the Brown Bess infantry musket.
British Light Infantry in action
The proposal to create a brigade consisting only of light infantry was made by Sir John Moore, a veteran of the American wars. He remembered the successful actions of the American colonists in loose formation and highly valued their accurate fire from the "Kentucky rifles". In addition, Sir John was aware of the experience of creating two experimental battalions of the 60th Regiment, which also showed themselves well on the battlefield. Moore was supported by the Duke of York, and consent to create a light brigade was received. The purpose of the brigade was to conduct reconnaissance and assist the line infantry with aimed fire.
Moore's "Smart Shooters".
A new unit was formed on the basis of the 43rd Monmouthshire and 52nd Oxfordshire line regiments - regiments with a glorious history, which included participation in the siege of Quebec, fighting the French in the West Indies, and battles with American colonists during the War of Independence of the American colonies. The brigade's soldiers were trained using a new method - as "intelligent shooters" who could act independently, including alone. But the English would not be English without creating the "Creme de la Creme": the new elite unit had its own elite. It was the very same royal riflemen...
Sir Coot Manningham is the 'father' of the Royal Fusiliers.
The Experimental Rifle Corps became a kind of "special forces" of the Napoleonic Wars, mainly in Spain. Having suffered heavy losses from rifle fire during the war with their own colonists, the British generals had the idea of creating a unit fully armed with rifled weapons and staffed with selected marksmen. More precisely, American colonists who remained loyal to the Crown initially joined the experimental battalions of the 60th Regiment. They joined with their rifles and in their green uniforms. The rest were recruited and armed in their image and likeness. The "father" of the Experimental Rifle Corps was Colonel Sir Coot Manningham. He commanded a light infantry battalion that fought in the Caribbean, where he gained extensive experience in open order combat. Therefore, in 1800, the colonel, together with Lieutenant Colonel William Stewart, proposed accumulating this experience in a new unit.
Soldier, Sergeant and Officer, Royal Fusiliers (95th Regiment)
The main thing that caught the eye was the uniform of the Experimental Corps soldiers. Unlike the infantrymen dressed in red cloth, they wore dark green uniforms, which is where their nicknames came from: "green jackets" or, as the French dubbed them, "grasshoppers". There was another nickname - "chimney sweeps", but its origin will be discussed separately.
The officers of the Corps wore green dolmans and mentiks, embroidered with black silk cords, and gray trousers. The cuffs, collars and shoulder straps of the personnel were black with white piping - for the 95th regiment, and red - for the 5th battalion of the 60th regiment. Instead of traditional infantry breeches, the riflemen wore long, tight trousers of the same color. As headgear, they initially had leather helmets with a caterpillar comb, but already in 1802 they were replaced by massive black shakos, which were nicknamed "stove pipes" (the peak of the riflemen's shako could bend upward when shooting), the plumes on the shakos were green. In 1807, the uncomfortable leather shakos were replaced by light felt ones, in the form of a tapering cylinder, but often instead of a shako, the riflemen wore light black sailor caps with a pompom. On the buttons, sailor caps and shakos was the traditional emblem for light infantry - a hunting horn.
Baker Rifle 1800
However, a far more important feature of the Royal Fusiliers was their weaponry. All men in the Corps were armed with the "Infantry Rifle Pattern 1800", also known as the "Baker Rifle". The rifle had a caliber of 15,6 mm, a 32-inch barrel with 8 rectangular grooves and a flintlock. An experienced user could fire two shots per minute, which was slightly less than an infantry musket, but the rifle fired much further and more accurately!
Tom Plunkett Takes His Legendary Shot
If the maximum shooting range of a smoothbore gun was about 80 meters, then a good shooter could hit the target at 200-300 meters with a Baker rifle. And the legendary Thomas Plunkett put a bullet in the forehead of the French general Auguste Colbert from a distance of 600 steps! True, to do this, he had to lie on his back and pull the rifle strap with his foot to fix the weapon as tightly as possible... Since the rifle was 30 cm shorter than the musket, a 21-inch long cleaver was used as a bayonet, which, if necessary, could also be used as a sabre. Corps officers were entitled to an infantry sword, but they most often carried a sabre, which was more convenient for hand-to-hand combat.
It was Plunkett who gave the regiment its third nickname, "chimney sweeps." Once, while campaigning for enlistment in the Corps in a tavern, he stood on a barrel of beer, but the bottom flipped over and he fell into the "foamy" beer up to his head, after which he climbed out and climbed into the recently extinguished fireplace to warm up. The rifleman came out with the words: "And I'm ready for inspection right now," hinting at the dark green (and darkening over time to almost black) color of the uniform, on which, unlike the red jackets of the infantry, soot was practically invisible.
"Black Bob" Crawford could have given 300 lashes for arguing, but - Father Commander!
It should be noted that the Corps differed from ordinary regiments in its much more democratic atmosphere: here, soldiers could sit at the same table with officers, and corporal punishment, which was widespread in the British army, was practically not used. Although one of the regiment's commanders, Robert Crawford, "Black Bob", resorted to the whip quite often, he was an exception to the rule and... a father-commander who was loved despite his cruelty. In many ways, this was the result of the "personnel policy" in the Corps. Personnel were recruited here in January 1800, having requested 4 sergeants, 2 corporals and 2 best shooters from 30 line infantry regiments. Many commanders decided to cheat and sent the worst soldiers instead of the best. These were returned to their contingent and ordered to allocate those who were supposed to.
...the ability to shoot rarely, but always effectively...
Later, the regiment was recruited on a competitive basis, with the ability to shoot accurately being the main selection criterion.
"Vigilance, activity and intelligence are especially necessary... They must know how to take advantage of the advantages or disadvantages of the terrain on any part of the battlefield, which will help them to harass and disturb the enemy without creating danger to themselves... In some situations they must hide from the enemy's eyes by simply bending down, in others they must kneel or even lie on the ground... Correctly load and shoot accurately from any position... The main result of their training should be the ability to shoot rarely, but always effectively..."
— was stated in the 1803 manual.
Working in a firing line
The tactics of the royal riflemen included working in a chain, as well as in pairs and fours. When working in pairs, one of the riflemen aimed and fired, while the second reloaded the rifle, thus maintaining constant aimed fire. Pairs usually worked from behind cover, primarily hitting officers and sergeants. In fours, the royal riflemen worked against the French tirailleurs. Usually, in this case, three quarters of the battalion were divided into groups of four people. The distance between the groups was kept at 4-50 steps, forming a skirmish chain. Fire was conducted in turns, starting with the right-flank rifleman. The shooter ran out of the chain for 100 steps and took any position convenient for shooting: lying down or standing on one knee. After firing, he returned to the line, and his neighbor on the left took three steps forward. If someone from the chain was killed, his place was taken by a shooter from the quarter of the battalion that remained in reserve.
The Corps was founded on August 25, 1800, when officers received their patents. The Royal Riflemen received their baptism of fire under the walls of Ferrol, where an English landing party was landed, including the rifle corps of Lieutenant Colonel William Stewart. The English were attacked by the Spanish, but repelled the attack with accurate fire, although they suffered losses, including Stewart himself being wounded. In general, the English failed to take Ferrol, but the fighting qualities of the Royal Riflemen were appreciated.
95th Rifle Regiment at Waterloo
Later, throughout the Peninsular Campaign, the Rifle Corps was in the front line at the battles of Roliça and Vimeiro, covering the retreat of the English army from La Coruna, earning the well-deserved motto: "Hurrah for the first to appear on the battlefield and the last to leave it - the fighting ninety-fifth!"
"We fired the first and last shots in almost every battle, siege and skirmish the army was involved in,"
— wrote John Kincaid of the 95th Regiment. The fact is that on December 25, 1802, the 95th Rifle Regiment was created on the basis of the Corps. Subsequently, the 60th Regiment was also reformed into a rifle regiment (one of whose battalions was rifle even before the Corps appeared). Rifle battalions were part of Crawford's brigade, which later became the Light Division. Riflemen participated in the capture of Copenhagen, fought in Egypt and India, and fought at Waterloo.
Royal Fusiliers, present day...
Over its long history, the Royal Fusiliers have been reformed many times: battalions were created and disbanded, regiments changed numbers and names. But they have always been part of the English army! The last reorganization took place in 2007, when the Royal Regiment of the Green Jackets was merged with the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wilshire Regiments and received the name "The Fusiliers". The Fusiliers Regiment took part in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. As before, the regiment does not have drummers, but it does have a bugler orchestra, because the bugle has been a symbol of light infantry since the XNUMXth century...
All images are taken from open sources
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