jf42

Ah, now we are talking. Perfect. Danke schon. JF

Many thanks for that. Just to be sure, that is letter 'I' in "Ia"not number '1'?

Greetings, Please forgive if this is basic but, my study of German ending when I was three, I have been having difficulty pinning down the answer to this question. What terms or terms might a German Divisional commander (Panzer) use to refer to a 'GSO' on his staff, specifically his Operations Officer. By that I mean, what might the original German equivalent have been for those English translations? The context is Tunisia 1943. Many thanks.

Thank you, gentlemen. Always a pleasure. In the first footnote above, the reference should be to the 15th Light Dragoons (or Elliot's Light Horse. Later The King's Light Dragoons) not the 16th Light Dragoons. My apologies. I am innumerate. Tricky when writing regimental history.

Just some points of information on the 'Back Badge' of the 28th Regiment (later 'The Gloucestershire Regiment'). The Wikipedia entry is a little oversimplified. As with many of the 'unique distinctions' that a number of regiments began to sport in the C19th, the silver plate with a Sphinx badge and regimental number that appeared on the back of the 28th Regiment's caps circa 1805 (there is no certain date) was not awarded to them as such. It was a distinction which the Regiment adopted for itself on returning from Egypt. Subsequently, as often happened, during the course of the war against Napoleon wearing the emblem became an honour enshrined by custom and tempered in battle. The same is true of the 'Red Hackle' of the 42nd Royal Highand Regiment- The Black Watch (1822), the 5th (Northumberland) Regt white feather (1824), the 46th (South Devonshire) Regt light company 'Red Feather' (1833) or the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers 'Flash' (1834). In none of those cases can the origin of the distinction be connected directly with a single verifiable event or award recorded by authority. All appear to have been emblems assumed informally at first, which the regiments adopted under their own cognizance. As was the case with those regiments, the non-regulation second cap badge of the 28th was eventually drawn to the attention of the C-in-C's office at Horse Guards- who had probably been turning a blind eye for some time. In 1823, the Adjutant General wrote to the CO of the 28th to say "I have the honour to acquaint you that it was never our intention to deprive the 28th Regiment of any badge of honour they may have acquired by their distinguished service in Egypt and that there will be no objection to their retaining the plate they have been accustomed to wear on the back of their caps since that service for which this letter may be shown by you to the Inspecting General Officer as sufficient authority. " Thus the custom was acknowledged officially and permission was given to continue wearing it, as was the case with the other regiments. In 1843, the 28th's "deviation of dress" was brought up again and the Duke of Wellington himself put an end to the matter: "The Duke of Wellington does not object to the continuance in wear of these ornaments by the officers and soldiers of the 28th Regiment." [sections in bold are mine] In fact, during the battle of Alexandria several other regiments in Moore's brigade were forced to turn back-to-back to engage enemy in front and rear, as successive French attacks attempted to cut off and destroy the British right flank- most being cut off and destroyed themselves. Only two regiments, however, were singled out for mention in the official dispatch after the battle; the 28th (North Gloucestershire) and 42nd Royal Highland Regiment: "The reserve, against whom the principal attack of the enemy was directed, conducted themselves with unexampled spirit. They resisted the impetuosity of the French infantry, and repulsed several charges of cavalry... The 28th and 42nd regiments acted in the most distinguished and brilliant manner." As we know, the 28th chose to commemorate their part in this desperate struggle- immortalised by Lieut Col Chamber's command "28th, rear rank only, right about face!"- in their own original fashion by adopting the 'Back Number' as it came to be known. In 1881, when regimental numbers were done away and the 28th were amalgamated with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment to become 'The Gloucestershire Regiment', the badge was changed to a simple Sphinx within a wreath. That is the badge on the blue HS helmet shown at the start of this post. On returning from Egypt, the Black Watch in their case found they could no longer ignore a series of recent regulations that had made the scarlet hackle feather worn in their bonnets for as long as anyone could remember (but that's another story), a deviation from authorised dress. The wish of King George III to review his Highland Regiment brought the matter to a head. On May 7th 1802, at Ashford in Middlesex, in front of a large crowd gathered for the occasion, we are told that Lieutenant Colonel Dickson, CO of the 42nd, had the inspired notion of requesting from the Monarch himself, as a privilege for the 42nd, the right to wear the scarlet feather in their bonnet. How could King George refuse? The glamorous Royal Highland Regiment, heroes of Alexandria, were the darlings of society even before they set foot back on British soil. A huge canvas of ‘The Battle of Alexandria’ by the Royal painter Loutherbourg featured a Grenadier Sergeant of the Black Watch at its very centre, his scarlet feather silhouetted against the smoke of battle, into which lines of more red-hackled highlanders disappeared to drive back the French. The Royal permission was graciously granted. Thus, what had previously been an ’ornament’ became an honour- and the rest should have been history (but that is another tale yet). The Sphinx badge itself had been authorised for all the regiments that served in Egypt by an order of 6th July 1802 which announced that the 'Egyptian badge' was in future to be "assumed and worn on the colours of the several regiments which served in the late campaign in Egypt, as a distinguishing mark of His Majesty’s Approbation and as a lasting memorial of the glory acquired to His Majesty’s Arms by the zeal, discipline and intrepidity of his troops in that arduous and important campaign.”* Regiments decided for themselves where else apart from their colours they would show the 'Egyptian badge'. As time went on it appeared on cap badges, belt plates and drum shells; subsequently, on the collar of the coat. Only the 28th and their descendants ever showed it on the back of their caps. In India, they wore it only on the back of their khaki Wolseley helmets. Today the Back Badge is worn by The Rifles, who absorbed the last incarnation of 'The Glosters'** in 2006. Another anecdote from Alexandria, unique to the 28th but hardly ever recounted, is that at the end of the battle the 28th, who were occupying a redoubt slightly forward of the main position, ran out of ammunition (as had most of Moore's brigade). French soldiers whose ammunition had also ran out, realising they were safe from enemy fire, climbed in the ditch below the rampart and started pelting the defenders with stones, one of which struck a sergeant of the 28th in the head and killed him. Men of the 28th started throwing stones at the attackers in return. Eventually the brawl ended when the two flank companies of the 40th, with some ammunition remaining, drove off the troublesome hooligans and the battle finally petered out. A story that never featured strongly in regimental tradition. They preferred to be known as 'The Slashers'. A shame, perhaps. *This was the first official honour awarded to all units involved in a campaign, including six cavalry regiments and some 30 regiments of Foot including the Coldstream and 3rd Foot Guards. The only previous case had been the award of the honour 'Gibraltar' to the four infantry regiments who served in the siege of 1779-83 (Prior to that there had been only a couple honours granted to single regiments to bear an honour on their colours: the 18th (later Royal Irish ) for Namur in 1695 and the 16th Light Dragoons, who had assumed a motif on their helmet to commemorate their role in the Allied victory at Emsdorf in 1760 and, in a pattern of events that would become familiar, were subsequently granted Royal approval for them to bear the honour 'Emsdorf.' **the ponderously titled 'Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry' (allegedly known, affectionately, as "The M4 Rifles") Read more here <http://www.redcoat.info/Alex01.html> and in the excellent 'British victory in Egypt' by Piers Mackesy

In fact that is precisely what happened with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, Royal Welsh, Mercians and Yorkshire Regt, not to mention the clunkily named Rifles. In 2006, those 'super regiments' each became the repository for the traditions of dozens of former Childers regiments, many of them the result of earlier amalgamations or super regiments created in the 50s' and 60's (or later), all reduced to battalions of the new regiments. Unfortunately, the colonels could not argue with falling recruiting figures.

What in the name of all that's pagan is this tosh doing at the top of my GMIC page?

Jeff, Thanks for posting those scans. I look forward to seeing what might have been said regarding the significance of the Middlesex Regt’s yellow and claret flash at the time it was adopted and when it was authorised. In the meantime, I've been comparing what was being said by C19th historians on the matter of the 57th Light coy in America. Here's what H.J. Warre said in 1878: "The Americans, enraged at their comrades having fallen into their own trap, declared they would give no quarter to the troops of the Light Battalion. To prevent others not engaged in this night attack from suffering on their account, the soldiers of the light companies composing this battalion dyed their plumes red, as a distinguishing mark for the enemy, and as a memorial of the signal success of the expedition. This practice was continued by the Light companies of the regiments engaged until they were ordered to wear green." (Historical records of the Fifty-seventh, or, West Middlesex Regiment of Foot) IN 1893, H.H. Woolright wrote: "After this affair the Americans vowed no quarter to the light battalion, in defiance of which threat, and as a mark of distinction, the latter dyed their plumes red, and the light company of the 57th and the others* that formed the battalion continued to wear red plumes till some years after, when the whole of the light infantry were ordered to wear green." (*Footnote: "The light company of the 46th, however, continued to wear the red plumes, and the distinction is still commemorated in the uniform of that regiment") (History of the Fifty-seventh (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot 1755-1881) As the marked passages show, both these accounts bear a close resemblance to each other and also, significantly, to the account that appeared in Cannon’s "Historical Record of the 46th, or the South Devonshire Regiment of Foot," published in 1851. “It was this affair which gave the FORTY-SIXTH regiment Red Feathers, which it has ever since worn. The origin of the distinction is as follows:- The Americans having vowed vengeance for the attack at Paoli (which they deemed a "massacre"), and that they would give no quarter, the soldiers of the Light Battalion declared that in order to prevent any one not engaged in the action from suffering on their account, that they would dye the feathers worn in their caps red, as a distinguishing mark...” -=- It does appear that the 1878 and 1893 accounts for the 57th Regt red feather drew heavily on the 1851 history of the 46th Regt. There's no detail that suggests that the Middlesex historians had access to another, independent source- let alone an earlier one. There are unpublished sources that indicate red feather stories were circulating in some form as early as 1803- but there is no direct reference to the 2nd Light Infantry or Paoli Tavern although the 1803 anecdote appears to have become garbled in the intervening eighteen years before it was committed to paper in 1821. There is also unpublished correspondence from 1822 that, arguably, shows the tradition of the 46th wearing red feathers circulating c.1808. All this can be set against the recollection of Major General James Stirling who stated in 1822 (as part of that same correspondence) that when he arrived in New York with the 42nd RHR in 1776 the 2nd LI were wearing a red feather (while the 1st LI wore a green feather). the implication being that these distinctions were adopted purely for recognition purposes and battalion esprit de corps. Looking at the source you quoted, Major Lawrence-Archer's reference to the subject is brief and, sadly, even shorter on reliable facts. Space may have been at a premium in his book but it's interesting that he makes a point of referring to the Light Infantry wearing a red plume at the time of Yorktown but does not mention its relevance, given that the appeal of the red feather tradition is the story of the 'light bobs' ' defiant gesture in the face of American vengefulness; a theme that goes at least as far back as Agincourt and the alleged origin of the British V-sign. In fact, the Light Infantry of 1781 was not the Light infantry of 1777-78, when the events said to have inspired the adoption of the red feather occurred. In 1778, many regiments were sent ‘southward’ to Georgia and the West Indies and the light companies of the regiments remaining in New York were merged into one battalion and adopted a green feather. This included four light companies that had fought at Paoli Tavern, who presumably would have been required to lay aside any symbolic red feathers and adopt green, as had the light company of the 37th when they transferred from 2nd LI to 1st LI earlier in the summer. When the Light Infantry was re-organised into 2 battalions at the end of 1779, in preparation for for the Charleston expedition, the companies were mixed up so that some that had been in the 1st LI in 1778 were put in the 2nd LI and vice-versa. Only three companies from the original 2nd LI (1776-1778)- those of the 43rd, 57th and 64th Regiments- were in the ‘new’ 2nd LI. These might have re-adopted the red feathers of their old battalion, but would the three companies from the 1st LI (who may have been wearing green feathers since 1776) and the three companies who had come out with their regiments as reinforcements, and were entirely innocent of alleged atrocities, would these have been so content to advertise themselves as targets of American revenge? Or had the red feather perhaps become by then simply a symbol of esprit de corps and general defiance? We have no evidence either way. The one piece of contemporary evidence that we have currently is that in 1783 the light infantry of the 71st Regiment ('Fraser's Highlanders') - part of the 2nd LI until they went to Georgia in 1778 and featuring prominently in connection with 'American' red feather stories- were recorded wearing mixed black and red ostrich feathers in their Scottish bonnets. It seems unlikely that there isn't some germ of truth to the American 'red feather' tradition but the evidence, on examination, proves to be very insubstantial and based almost entirely on hearsay. The origins are unlikely to have been as dramatic as later generations have liked to recount, as now appears to be the case with the Black Watch and their 'red hackle'. That doesn't detract from the value of the emblems worn by generations of soldiers, for whom the feathers, hackles tufts and flashes worn in honour of past exploits have provided a cherished symbol of loyalty, discipline and pride.

Hugh- This might stir some old memories: http://sites.google.com/site/djkl157/home [via:<http://www.britisharmedforces.org/li_pages/regiments/dcli/duke_index.htm> By the way, I think the correct pronunciation of Paoli is PA-OH-LI, which in Standard English would morph slightly into PIE-OH-LEE.

Hugh, The reason you didn't see the 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) mentioned is that they became the 1st Battalion DCLI, when the Regiment was created in 1881, while the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment became the 2nd Battalion. It was the 46th Regiment whose light company were part of the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion in 1777 and who had perpetuated the 'red feather' tradition in the years after the AWI. Your memory of the way the squaddies pronounced 'Paoli' in contrast to the locals in southern Pennsylvania is a wonderful vignette of how the name had been mangled by generations of West Country sergeants and corporals passing the story on to successive intakes of recruits (I'm thinking, 'Paola'- 'Paoli'- fair enough!). As for Brandywine, for some reason, in the 46th and also the 49th (later 1st Royal Berkshires), the tradition became garbled and over the years the story was attached to the battle of Brandywine Creek rather than the subsequent night action near Paoli Tavern. Perhaps it was something to do with wine being red- (although brandy, like the river, is brown) or perhaps because 'Brandywine' is easier to say and is a more vivid name than 'Paoli' which, while exotic, is confusingly alien- and hard to say! ('Paoli Tavern' had been named by local Whigs in honour of a Corsican nationalist who had led a resistance campaign against the French and, ironically, was living in exile in London.) Your situation of being a local boy from Chadds Ford, of all places, and then being told the story in a far away place by descendants in spirit of the soldiers who fought at Brandywine and Paoli Tavern must be unique. I'm glad the good luck charm worked for you. Thanks for your story.

Jeff, thank you for wading through what, on re-reading, now seem rather hastily composed notes. I might well take advantage of Mervyn's offer to redraft and expand- when I am a little farther down the road. Thank you, too for prompting closer attention to the involvement of the 57th 'light bobs' at Paoli Tavern. I had read in Woolbright's history (1893) of their adoption of a red feather when part of Maitland's 2nd Light Infantry but was unaware of the existence of the Middlesex Regt's claret and yellow flash or of its significance. Having looked into the subject a little today, it seems to me the evidence for the 57th wearing a red feather is as slight as for the other component coy's of Maitland's 'Bloodhounds'. The claim that they continued to wear the red feather for a period after the end of the AWI is contradicted somewhat by the reference in Woolbright to an inspection at Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1784 when the 57th's clothing was approved as regulation (as was that of the 46th during several post-war inspections, with particular reference to their Light coy). Curiously, the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment were in Nova Scotia at the same time, and there is no comment to their famous red feather, which they now appear to have been wearing since the start of the AWI. On returning home, their bonnets attracted hostile comment. Perhaps we are dealing with an easy-going Major General. I should be most interested to read any documentary evidence relating to the Middlesex Regiment adoption of a flash after the Great War and to the official recognition of their distinction in 1950. Are you aware of direct reference to the 1777 campaign in America being made at the time? I was unable to trace your reference to Major J.L Archer. I should also be grateful if you could expand on that a little.

Mervyn, Thanks. Sadly, there's no diary, only a photo album of Box Brownie snaps but none of my g'gfather with a Russian musket. The 1st Sikhs had had a busy time with the Tochi Field force in 1897 and perhaps the weapon was a souvenir of that year's campaign, presented him by the CO, who was his host. lt's remarkable that the weapon had been knocking around for fifty odd years. Presumably, it didn't arrive in Afghanistan or Waziristan as a spanking new issue but was passed as surplus after rifled muskets had been adopted by the Imperial Russian Army and eventually arrived as an old bundook on the frontier.

Further to my account of the first published appearance of the phrase 'red heckle' in the 1870s, last night I came across a quotation in Wilkinson-Latham from 1830 government regulations for Regiments wearing Highand clothing. [Necessaries]: "Bonnet, complete with drooping feathers, hackle, cockade and oilskin cover." So, it turns out that in the context of Highland military uniform, the term 'hackle' was current in standard English as early as 1830 (it appears much earlier in Isaac Walton's "Compleat Angler" with reference to feather's for trout flies!). As far as ambiguities in the term 'plume' is concerned, obviously it is a French, or Anglo-French,word that referred originally to the feathered crests (crista- 'tuft' ie on a lark's head) on medieval helmets. Illustrations suggest these were predominantly ostrich feathers. That situation continued until the mid-18th century when both cut 'hackle-plumes' and worsted tufts of varying shapes- cylindrical, conical or spherical, began to appear. At the same time, horsehair crinieres or manes also began to appear as crests on pseudo-Classical helmets. Around 1800 hackle-plumes on the new shakos grew to assume a long cylindrical shape that we still see on Guards and Fusilier caps and on Highland feather bonnets. Subsequently, horsehair would also be used for vertical 'brush' distinctions while, where Neo-Classical Helmets were being replaced by the finial peaked helmets pioneered by Russia and Prussia, the horsehair criniere was replaced by falling 'plumes' as adopted by British heavy cavalry in the 1840s. It would seem that from its original French meaning of feather 'plume' has now come to mean any coloured distinction emulating the ostrich feather, be it a hackle-plume, horsehair 'brush' or 'falling plume'. Similarly, 'crest' having once meant specifically 'a feather,' came to mean any coloured decoration of animal origin on a helmet. Once, animal fibre would have been the unifying factor but obviously man-made fibres now have their role to play. Where used, wool-fibre tufts, once used as economy 'plumes', have generally evolved into what we would recognise as 'pom-poms, although I'm not aware of that term ever having a military application in a British context (for uniforms, that is). I am only familiar with the term 'ball-tuft,' which became reduntant when the HLI finally gave up their Full Dress shakos As with many military terms, we are guided as much by usage than logic, philology or science.

I phrased that wrongly- and had missed out some intervening posts. That's what comes of posting on the run. Let me rephrase it: (I had assumed that) When the Fusilier cap was reintroduced in 1866, only the 5th wore a distinction, the red-tipped "St Lucia" feather ( 1829 version). Is that correct?" Thanks, Stuart for posting on details of the DRs, which saved me from pedantically asking if the word 'hackle' actually appeared. The question of when the Royal Fusiliers, Royal Scots and Royal Welch Fusiliers re-adopted white plumes for their caps does seem a little vague. Moving forward from the RWF photo of 1872 in Barthorp, there is a well-known photo of the 1st Bn Royal Scots Fusiliers RSM and Drum Major with C/Sgt,. piper and private from 1896 (Wilkinson-Latham, p.99) and there is no plume in evidence in any of the three fur caps on show. This would suggest that until 1900, only the Northumberland Fusiliers and perhaps the Royal Irish Fusiliers, together with, as the accompanying illustration suggests, the RWF, were wearing a feather. Was 1900 or 1904 the turning point when all fusiliers adopted a feather in their cap? What date were the Lancs Fusiliers awarded their primrose distinction? (choosing my words carefully, here) Were they on active service when they adopted it? As far as Barthorp is concerned, I think the list of distinctions on p. 148 is meant to be an 'accumulator', indicating how uniforms evolved between 1881 and 1914. The inclusion of distinctions for the Irish and Welsh Guards (1915), Lancs Fusiliers and the blackcock feathers of the R Scots and KOSBs would seem to confirm that.

Well, it looks like he would have struggled to complete a 3-miler, wouldn't he?

When the Fusilier cap was reintroduced in 1866, only the 5th wore a distinction, the red-tipped "St Lucia" feather ( 1829 version). Is that correct?

Thanks for that admirably concise summary. It confirms my suspicions but I couldn't be sure without access to the relevant documents. As far as the Black Watch is concerned, the word 'hackle' emerges from the mists in the 1870s, when Lieut. Col. John Wheatley, a retired officer who had risen through the ranks, completed a 'Memoranda' of his service and 'A Record of Service' of the Royal Highland Regiment. These were used as the basis for an updated history of the 42nd by W. Melven in a new edition of Browne's ‘A History of The Scottish Highlands highland clans and highland regiments…’ (1875, Ed. J. Keltie) Wheatley frequently refers to the 'heckle' in his own memoirs but more significantly quotes an old soldier who recalls the award of the 'red heckle' as the result of the Regiment's 'gallant conduct' during a skirmish at Geldermelsen in 'Flanders'- now Holland. This was the first public appearance of that explanation for the origin of the 'Red Hackle,' which was then accepted as canonical until the 1950's since which time it has been questioned. The soldier- Andrew Dowie, who can be identified in the regimental rolls for 1795- recorded his memoir in 1845. Whether the Regimental Museum has Dowie's original testimony set downin Edinburgh on 30thMarch 1845 as well as Wheatley's version in the Record of Service is not clear at the moment. Another soldier, Ronald Cameron, recorded a fuller but arguably more credible version of the same story on 16th February 1845. He only uses the term 'red feather', however. Wheatley also quotes General Sir Hugh Rose, C-in-C India, referring to "How the 42d gained the ' Red Heckle' in Flanders'" when he presented the regiment with new colours at Bareilly in 1861. We cannot be sure how faithful a rendering of the general's address this might be. Wheatley was not present. Certainly all other references over that period are either to a 'red plume' or a 'red feather'. So while we might look for corroborating evidence for use of the term 'red heckle' in the 1840s or 1860s, all we can be sure of at the moment is of its use as an apparently familiar term in 1874-75. This was just the time that the 42nd sported a small tuft of feathers in the sun helmets worn with their special service uniform in Ashanti; the reduced-size 'plume' that has now become so familiar- and which appears to have given the word 'hackle' to the rest of the army, not least those fine Fusiliers.

I'm going to cross post this question across the three Fusilier threads. When did regulations start referring to a 'hackle' in Fusilier head dress (Assuming they did)? My guess it would be after the Fusilier distinction was adapted for Foreign Service helmets and then berets. As far as the Fusilier fur cap from 1866 to 1914 is concerned, were the relevant distinctions referred to as feathers or plumes? Or both?

Further more! I'm going to cross post this across the three Fusilier threads. When did regulations start referring to a 'hackle' in Fusilier head dress (Assuming they did). My guess it would be after the Fusilier distinction was adapted for Foreign Service helmets and then berets. As far as the Fusilier fur cap from 1866 to 1914 is concerned, was the relevant distinctions referred to as feathers or plumes? Or both?

I'm going to cross post this across the three Fusilier threads. When did regulations start referring to a 'hackle' in Fusilier head dress (Assuming they did). My guess it would be after the Fusilier distinction was adapted for Foreign Service helmets and then berets. As far as the Fusilier fur cap from 1866 to 1914 is concerned, was the relevant distinctions referred to as feathers or plumes? Or both?

Thank you, Mervyn. I regard your interest as a great compliment. When I have a moment, I shall do my best to comply, although I should say straight away that apart from family relics and mementos, I have no collection. I just know my way around my areas of interest!

Percussion Musket- fore barrel strap & ramrod

Percussion Musket- butt plate detail

Percussion musket- butt plate

Percussion musket- rear trigger guard plate