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The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
Encyclopedia
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of the Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
. It is part of Land Force Central Area
Land Force Central Area
Land Force Central Area is responsible for the administration of the Canadian Army in the province of Ontario, from the Quebec border to the northern Lakehead region...
's 32 Canadian Brigade Group
32 Canadian Brigade Group
32 Canadian Brigade Group is part of Land Force Central Area, under the Canadian Army. It is centered around the Greater Toronto Area, as well as Grey and Simcoe Counties...
.
History
The regiment was formed in 1920 as the Mississauga Regiment in Ontario to perpetuate the lineage of the 75th (Mississauga) Battalion75th Battalion, CEF
The 75th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was formed on 1 July 1915 and was awarded Sixteen Battle Honours for its service during WW I. It was renamed The Mississauga Regiment in 1920 and The Toronto Scottish Regiment in 1921....
, Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Expeditionary Force
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...
following the First World War. The regiment increased to two battalions in 1921 when the 84th Battalion, CEF was incorporated. At that time, it was renamed as the Toronto Scottish Regiment.
During the Second World War, the regiment mobilized a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
battalion for the 1st Canadian Division
1st Canadian Infantry Division
The 1st Canadian Infantry Division was a formation mobilized on 1 September 1939 for service in the Second World War. The division was also reactivated twice during the Cold War....
. Following a reorganization early in 1940, the battalion was reassigned to the 2nd Canadian Division
2nd Canadian Infantry Division
The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the First Canadian Army, mobilized on 1 September 1939 at the outset of the Second World War. It was initially composed of volunteers within brigades established along regional lines, though a halt in recruitment in the early months of...
, where it operated as a Support Battalion, providing machine-gun detachments for the Operation Jubilee force at Dieppe in 1942, and then operating in support of the rifle battalions of the 2nd Division in northwest Europe from July 1944 to VE Day. In 1940, the 1st Battalion also mounted the King's Guard at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. A 2nd Battalion served in the reserve army in Canada.
In 2000, the regiment changed its name to the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own), in recognition of their Colonel-in-Chief, who had held the position since 1938. In recognition, the regiment was part of the escort at the Queen Mother's
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
funeral. The regimental tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
is Hodden
Hodden
Hodden or wadmel is a coarse kind of cloth made of undyed wool, formerly much worn by the peasantry of Scotland. It was usually made on small hand-looms by the peasants themselves. Grey hodden was made by mixing black and white fleeces together in the proportion of one to twelve when weaving...
Grey.
On September 12, 2009 the regiment moved to the Captain Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson VC Armoury which is shared with the Toronto Police Service. The new armoury is notable in that it is a green building, earning a LEEDS
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
silver rating.
Battle honours
- The Great War [awarded battle honours for services of 75th Battalion CEF]: Somme, 1916; Ancre HeightsBattle of the Ancre HeightsThe Battle of the Ancre Heights was a prolonged battle of attrition in October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. Lieutenant General Hubert Gough's Reserve Army had finally managed to break out of the positions it had occupied since the start of the Somme fighting and Gough intended to maintain...
; Ancre, 1916Battle of the AncreThe Battle of the Ancre was the final act of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Launched on 13 November 1916 by the British Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Hubert Gough, the objective of the battle was as much political as military.-Prelude:The Allied commanders were due to meet at Chantilly on 15...
; Arras, 1917Battle of Arras (1917)The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
, 1918; Vimy, 1917Battle of Vimy RidgeThe Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...
; Hill 70; YpresBattle of YpresThere were five Battles of Ypres during World War I:*First Battle of Ypres *Second Battle of Ypres...
; Passchendaele; Amiens; ScarpeBattle of the ScarpeThe Battle of the Scarpe refers to a number of battles fought on the Western Front during World War I in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France:...
, 1918; Drocourt-QuéantDrocourt-QuéantThe Drocourt-Quéant Line was a set of mutually supporting defensive lines constructed by Germany between the French cities of Drocourt and Quéant during World War I...
; Hindenburg LineBattle of the Hindenburg LineThe Battle of St Quentin Canal was a pivotal battle of World War I that began on 29 September 1918 and involved British, Australian and American forces in the spearhead attack and as a single combined force against the German Siegfried Stellung of the Hindenburg Line...
; Canal du NordBattle of the Canal du NordThe Battle of Canal du Nord was part of a general Allied offensive against German positions on the Western Front during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. The battle took place in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, along an incomplete portion of the Canal du Nord and on the outskirts...
; ValenciennesValenciennesValenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
; SambreBattle of the Sambre (1918)The Second Battle of the Sambre was part of the final European Allied offensives of World War I.-Background:...
; France and Flanders, 1916-1918Western Front (World War I)Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. - World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- Dieppe; Bourguebus Ridge; St. Andre-sur-Orne; Verrières Ridge-Tilly-la-Campagne; FalaiseFalaise pocketThe battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12 to 21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy...
; Falaise Road; Clair Tizon; Dunkirk 1944; Antwerp-Turnhout Canal; The ScheldtBattle of the ScheldtThe Battle of the Scheldt was a series of military operations of the Canadian 1st Army, led by Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds. The battle took place in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands during World War II from 2 October-8 November 1944...
; WoensdrechtWoensdrechtWoensdrecht is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands.Woensdrecht is mainly known for Woensdrecht Air Base. In 1983 it was decided that the US would station 48 nuclear armed cruise missiles here, unless the USSR would reduce the number of SS-20 missiles to 378. Since the number was...
; South Beveland; The Rhineland; The Reichswald; Goch-Calcar Road; The Hochwald; XantenXantenXanten is a historic town in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, located in the district of Wesel.Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park or archaeological open air museum , its medieval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and many museums, its large man-made lake for...
; Twente Canal; Groningen; OldenburgOldenburgOldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
; North-West EuropeNorth-West EuropeNorth-West Europe is a term that refers to a northern area of Western Europe, although the exact area or countries it comprises varies.-Geographic definition:...
, 1942, 1944-45.
(The honours in Bold are on the Battalion Colour)
Toronto Scottish Regiment Museum
The regiment's museum was formerly located at the Fort York Armoury in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The museum was opened in 1984 by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. In September 2009, the museum was relocated to the Captain Bellenden Seymore Hutcheson VC Armoury in Etobicoke and officially re-opened on 1 May 2010. The museum includes uniforms, weapons, artifacts and military memorabilia. The museum is open by appointment and during regimental events.
External links
- Toronto Scottish Regiment - official site
- Unofficial website
- The Toronto Scottish Regiment Pipes and Drums
See also
- The Canadian Crown and the Canadian ForcesThe Canadian Crown and the Canadian ForcesThe place of the Canadian Crown in relation to the Canadian Armed Forces is both constitutional and ceremonial, the sovereign of Canada being the supreme commander of the forces, while he or she and the rest of the Canadian Royal Family hold honorary positions in various branches and regiments,...
- 5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria RegimentThe 5th/6th Battalion is one of two battalions of the Royal Victoria Regiment, and is an infantry battalion of the Australian Army Reserve. The battalion can trace its lineage back to many units that existed prior to Federation, as well as units that fought during World War I and World War II and...