Welch Regiment

[2] The battalion took part in the Battle of Suakin in December 1888 during the Mahdist War under the leadership of the force commander, Colonel Herbert Kitchener, who wrote in his dispatches: The half-Battalion of The Welsh Regiment are seasoned soldiers and whatever I asked of them to do they did well.

Their marksmen at Gemaizah Fort and the remainder of the half-Battalion on the left fired section volleys driving the Dervishes from their right position and inflicting severe punishment upon them when in the open.

[7][8][9] The 1st Battalion, after returning from India, landed at Le Havre as part of the 84th Brigade in 28th Division in January 1915 for service on the Western Front but moved to Egypt and then on to Salonika in November 1915.

[10] Lance Corporal William Charles Fuller, of the 2nd Battalion, won the Welsh Regiment's first Victoria Cross of the war when, under withering and sustained rifle and machine gun fire, he advanced one hundred yards to rescue Captain Mark Haggard who was mortally wounded on Chézy sur Aisne on 14 September 1914.

[10] Captain Edgar Myles, of the 8th (Service) Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Siege of Kut in April 1916 during the Mesopotamian campaign.

[10] Private Hubert William Lewis, of the 11th (Service) Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Evzonoi in Macedonia in October 1916 during the Macedonian campaign.

The 1st Battalion landed in Crete in February but was overwhelmed by the enemy in fighting at Souda Bay in Chania and Sphakia Beach and had to be evacuated by the Royal Navy.

As a result of the casualties sustained, and a severe shortage of British infantry replacements in the Mediterranean theatre, 168th Brigade was disbanded and the 1st Battalion was reduced to a small cadre of 5 officers and 60 other ranks.

In June 1944 the battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Coleman, was, after many years of training, ordered to France to join the British Second Army in the Normandy Campaign.

Some of the hardest fighting took place around the Falaise Gap where on 16 August 1944, near Balfour, Lieutenant Tasker Watkins of the 1/5th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross for supreme personal bravery and inspired leadership.

[23] The Battalion moved to Sobraon Barracks in Colchester in October 1950 and was then deployed to Korea as part of the 29th British Infantry Brigade in the 1st Commonwealth Division in November 1951 for service in the Korean War.

[23] The battalion moved to Hong Kong as part of the 27th Infantry Brigade in November 1952 and then returned home to Llanion Barracks in Pembroke Dock in 1954.

[23] The battalion moved to North Africa in December 1958 and established its headquarters in Benghazi with company detachments at Derna, Marj and Al Adm and then returned to the United Kingdom the following year.

[23] (Prior to 1881) (Post 1881) The Regiment was awarded the following battle honours:[8] From the above Battle Honours the following were actually borne on the Regimental and Queen's Colour: Belleisle, Martinique 1762, St. Vincent 1797, India, Bourbon, Java, Detroit, Queenstown, Miami, Niagara, Waterloo, Ava, Candahar 1842, Ghuznee 1842, Cabool 1842, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeburg, South Africa 1899–1902, Korea 1951–52.

Aisne 1914–18, Ypres 1914-15-17, Gheluvelt, Loos, Somme 1916–18, Pilkem, Cambrai 1917–18, Macedonia 1915–18, Gallipoli 1915, Gaza, Falaise, Lower Mass, Reichswald, Croce, Italy 1943–45, Crete, Canae, Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead, Sittang 1945, Burma 1944–45.

Regimental badge with "Welch" spelling
13th Battalion The Welsh Regiment at Houplines in France on 13 March 1918
The Welch Regiment War Memorial at Maindy Barracks, Cardiff
Welch Regiment mascot Taffy IV c. 1921
Welch Regiment Memorial, St. Mary's Church, Madras .
Men of the 4th Battalion, Welch Regiment clean their weapons outside 's-Hertogenbosch , the Netherlands , 25 October 1944.
Universal Carriers of the 1/5th Battalion, Welch Regiment crossing the Meuse into the Netherlands , 20 September 1944.