British Regiments at the Front, The Story of Their Battle HonoursHodder, Reginald
History
British Regiments at the Front, The Story of Their Battle Honours
Hodder, Reginald
Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain. Army
"Rangers of Connaught, the eyes of all Ireland are on you this day.
On then, and at them, and if you do not give them the soundest
thrashing they have ever got in their lives, you needn't look me in
the face again in this world or the next."--_Colonel-in-Command
at the Front._
Towards the close of the Transvaal War the 2nd Battalion of the
Connaught Rangers performed a heroic feat, which tended to mitigate the
peace-with-little-honour feeling which marked the peace negotiations of
1879.
Lydenberg was garrisoned by some seventy men, fifty-three of whom were
Connaught Rangers, the whole being under the command of Lieut. Long, a
mere stripling lad of twenty-two. Soon after Brunker's Spruit the Boers
called upon Lydenberg to surrender, thinking that the lad of twenty-two
would do as he was told like an obedient boy. But they soon found that
they were mistaken. Long wisely temporised, and made use of a few days
thus gained to strengthen his defences. Soon came the Boers' second
demand of surrender, and this time it was scornfully flung back. So, on
the 6th January, the Boers' bombarded the place, but the little
garrison held out, and, for twelve weeks, the forces of siege,
sickness, hunger and thirst failed to break the spirit of the gallant
band. Then, when peace was declared, the 94th had no cause to feel
ashamed, for in their hands Lydenberg had never surrendered. The
British flag still fluttered above it. Worn and exhausted by terrible
hardships and privations, but _still unconquered_, the survivors
came forth in peace.
* * * * *
THEIR BADGES AND BATTLE HONOURS, ETC.
BADGES.--The Harp and Crown. The Elephant. The Sphinx, superscribed
Egypt.
MOTTO.--"Quis Separabit."
BATTLE HONOURS.--Seringapatam, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d'Onoro,
Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, Orthes,
Toulouse, Peninsula, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Central India, S.
Africa 1877-79, 1899-1902, Relief of Ladysmith.
UNIFORM.--Regular and Reserve Battns., scarlet with green facings.
[Raised in 1793 in Connaught. Both Battns. gained undying fame in
the Peninsula War, the regiment having the honour of forming the
forlorn hope at the storming of both Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo.
The regiment also fought with distinction in the Crimea and the
Indian Mutiny. During the Boer War of 1899 the 1st Battn. formed
part of the famous Irish Brigade in Natal, and in 1901 it became a
battn. of mounted infantry.]
THE ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS
("THE THIN RED LINE")
"Wherever they have lived and fought they have carried with them
the fearless picturesqueness of their indomitable mountains."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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