Royal Berkshire Regiment

The Royal Berkshire Regiment
Badge of The Royal Berkshire Regiment
Active	1881 - 1959
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Line Infantry
Size	2 Regular Battalions 1 Militia Battalion (Royal Berkshire Regiment of Militia) 1 - 2 Territorial and Volunteer Battalions Up to 12 hostilities-only Battalions
Garrison/HQ	Reading
Nickname	The Biscuit Boys
Anniversaries	Maiwand (27 July)

The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot.

The regiment was originally formed as The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment), taking the honorific from the 49th Foot (which became the 1st Battalion) and the county affiliation from the 66th Foot (which became the 2nd Battalion). In 1885 it was granted the distinction of a royal title, and became The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment); in 1921 the titles switched to become The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's).

After service in the First and Second World Wars, it was amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) in 1959.

Colonels

• 1829–1846: Sir Gordon Drummond
• 1846–1861: Sir Edward Bowater

Battle Honours

• From 49th Regiment of Foot: Egmont-op-Zee, Copenhagen, Queenstown, China, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol
• From 66th Regiment of Foot: Douro, Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Peninsula, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1879-80

• St. Lucia 1778, Egypt 1882, Tofrek, Suakin 1885, South Africa 1899-1902

• The Great War (16 battalions): Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914 '18, Ypres 1914 '17, Langemarck 1914 '17, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Pilckem, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Villers Bretonneux, Lys, Hazebrouck, Béthune, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917-18, Doiran 1917 '18, Macedonia 1915-18

• The Second World War: Dyle, St. Omer-La Bassée, Dunkirk 1940, Normandy Landing, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Pursuit to Messina, Sicily 1943, Monte Camino, Calabritto, Garigliano Crossing, Damiano, Anzio, Carroceto, Italy 1943-45, Donbaik, Kohima, Mao Songsang, Shwebo, Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead, Mandalay, Fort Dufferin, Rangoon Road, Toungoo, Burma 1942-45

References

• Mills, T.F.. "The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)". Archive of regiments.org. Archived from the original on 28 October 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20051028190836/http://regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/049Berks.htm. Retrieved 15 Nov 2010.  Includes chronological index of titles.