The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Prior to 28 March 2006, the Black Watch was an infantry regiment. The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) from 1931 to 2006, and The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) from 1881 to 1931. Part of the Scottish Division, it was the senior regiment of Highlanders.
== History ==
===The name===
The source of the regiment’s name is uncertain. In 1725, following the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, General George Wade was authorised by George II to form six ‘watch’ companies to patrol the Highlands of Scotland, three from Clan Campbell, one from Clan Fraser, one from Clan Munro and one from Clan Grant. These were to be “employed in disarming the Highlanders, preventing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, and hindering rebels and attainted persons from inhabiting that part of the kingdom.” The force was known in Gaelic as Am Freiceadan Dubh ‘the dark’ or ‘black watch’.
This epithet may have come from the uniform plaids of dark tartan with which the companies were provided. Other theories have been put forward, for instance that the name referred to the “black hearts” of the pro-government militia who had sided with the “enemies of true Highland spirit”, or that it came from their original duty in policing the Highlands, namely preventing ‘blackmail’ (Highlanders demanding extortion payments to spare cattle herds). However, these theories are without historical basis and do not stand up to scrutiny.
In 1739 the six Highland watch companies were augmented to ten and incorporated into the regular forces of the Crown as the Earl of Crawford’s Regiment of Foot. The regiment was numbered the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1747, changing to 42nd in 1749. In 1751 the regiment was titled ’42nd (Highland) Regiment’ and in 1758 was permitted the honor to add ‘Royal’ to its title. However, it continued to be known colloquially as the ‘Black Watch’. The Battle of Ordashu was a battle fought on 4 February 1874 during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War when Sir Garnet Wolseley defeated the Ashantis. The attack was led by the 42nd Regiment of Foot. L/Sgt Mcgaw won the Victoria Cross during the action. In 1881, when the 42nd amalgamated with the 73rd Regiment of Foot, the new regiment was named “The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)”. The regiment adopted the royal motto of Scotland’s Stewart monarchs, Nemo me impune lacessit (No-one provokes me with impunity).
The Black Watch was formed as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form two battalions of the newly named the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). The 42nd became the 1st Bn. 73rd the 2nd Bn.
The 1st Battalion then served in Africa taking part in the Highland Brigade’s dawn assault on the Egyptian position at Tel-el-Kebir in 1882. Two years later it was in the thick of the fight with the Mahdi’s tribesmen at El Teb and Tamai. The following year 1885, saw it taking part in the Nile Expedition and fighting at Kirbekan and Abu Klea.
===20th century===
During World War I, the 25 battalions of the Black Watch fought mainly in France and Flanders, except for the 2nd Battalion which fought in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and the 10th Battalion, which was in the Balkans. Only the 1st and 2nd battalions were regulars. The rest were either part of the Territorial Force or the New Army. The Black Watch served with the British 51st (Highland) Division (World War I).
Battalions of the Black Watch fought in nearly every major British action in World War II, from Palestine to Normandy, and as Chindits (42 and 73 columns) in Burma. In 1940, the 1st Battalion, together with two Territorial Army battalions, were captured at St Valery-en-Caux with the 51st (Highland) Division. They were later reformed from reserve units of the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division, and fought at the Battle of El Alamein and the Allied invasion of Sicily. After the war, in 1948, the two regular battalions were merged into one.
The regiment won honours after the Battle of the Hook during the Korean War in November 1952. They were subsequently involved in peacekeeping and counter-insurgency in various parts of the world, such as the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and Malayan Emergency. Such actions were similar to those for which the regiment was raised 250 years earlier. In 1967, the regiment lost its Territorial battalions, which were amalgamated into the 51st Highland Volunteers. The Black Watch was the last British military unit to leave Hong Kong in 1997, and it played a prominent role in the handover ceremony.
The Black Watch Regiment served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles as part of Operation Banner. The Black Watch was frequently a major target of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
===21st century===
During the 2003 Iraq War, the Black Watch fought during Operation Telic in the initial attack on Basra, and during its deployment the unit suffered a single fatality. The following year, the Black Watch was dispatched to Iraq again, as part of 4 (Armoured) Brigade. On 12 August a soldier from the regiment was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED). In October, the Black Watch was at the centre of political controversy after the United States Army requested British forces to be moved further north outside of the British-controlled Multi-National Division (South East), in order to replace forces temporarily redeployed for the Second Battle of Fallujah. Despite objections in Parliament, the deployment went ahead. Based at Camp Dogwood, located between Fallujah and Karbala, in an area later dubbed the “Triangle of Death”, the Black Watch came under sustained insurgent attack from mortars and rockets. On 29 October, during the journey to their new base, a Black Watch soldier was killed in a road accident. On 4 November three soldiers and an interpreter were killed by a car bomb at a check point and on 8 November another soldier was killed. The high profile nature of the deployment caused a magnification of these events back home in Britain.
Under a plan devised by Alistair Irwin and approved by General Sir Mike Jackson, on 16 December 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 regiment consisting of five regular and two territorial battalions. The measure, which reflected recruiting difficulties and the inefficiencies inherent in maintaining a number of relatively small separate units, took place on 28 March 2006.
These plans encountered considerable opposition from a well co-ordinated campaign backed by politicians, retired soldiers and the Scottish public. It was claimed by proponents of the plan that the establishment of a large regiment would improve conditions of service for serving personnel. As with the other former Scottish regiments, the Black Watch will retain its former name as its primary identifier, with its battalion number as a subtitle. Therefore, the regiment is now known as The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland; in addition, the battalion is also permitted to retain its most famous distinction, the red hackle on the Tam o’Shanter. The Black Watch’s primary recruiting areas are in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross, with the Battalion Headquarters and regimental museum located at Balhousie Castle, Perth. The Battalion is currently on Operational Commitments on Op Herrick Afghanistan the Bn are the reserve bn of 19 light brigade and based at Khandhar.
On 24 June 2009 it was reported that elements of the battalion numbering about 350 troops carried out one of the largest air assault operations of the NATO troops in Afghanistan, named Operation Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw), by deploying into, and attacking a Taliban stronghold located near Bābājī (باباجی ), north of Lashkar Gah. The operation commenced on 19 June just before midnight. After a number of combat engagements with the insurgents, the soldiers of the battalion secured three main crossing points: the Lui Mandey Wadi crossing, the Nahr-e-Burgha canal and the Shamalan canal. Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, Commanding Officer of The Black Watch battalion was reported saying that this operation established a firm foothold in what was the last remaining Taliban area controlled in the southern Helmand province. The location of the Taliban force in the area had allowed it to conduct attacks on the A01 highway, a major national route connecting Kandahar and Herat. During 22 June, troops of the battalion also “found 1.3 tonnes of poppy seed and a number of improvised explosive devices and anti-personnel mines before they could be laid”. Analysis by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation revealed the haul to be of mung beans, not poppy seed.
== Future ==
As part of the Army 2020 plan, the Black Watch will be mounted on Foxhound vehicles and be under 51st Infantry Brigade.
==Notable members==
===Recipients of the Victoria Cross===
All of the below Black Watch servicemen were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_units_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War