Regimental Colours
FROM the days of early man, some sort of insignia has been employed to distinguish families, tribes and nations. When, in prehistoric rimes, the head of a family wished to adopt a distinguishing mark he sought it in the animal and bird life around him. He compared the qualities he imagined he possessed, or hoped to acquire, with his surroundings, and adopted the device which seemed to fit these qualities.
In the very early days the family badge was carved in wood and fixed to a pole, so that all could note the position of their leader in combat. The tribal badge was the family device of the chieftain. Later, when man learnt to make cloth, it became customary to paint or embroider the device on a banner or flag.
The first military organization to adopt a unit device or standard, as distinct from the tribal nr family badge, appears to have been the Roman Army, the units of which carried a bronze or silver eagle mounted on a staff. The basis on which eagles were allotted is not clear, but it seems that at one time each cohort (600 men) carried one. Since the cohort corresponds to the modern regiment or battalion — there were ten cohorts in a legion — it is reasonable to assume that the Roman eagles were regimental emblems.
With the disintegration of the Roman Empire armies ceased to be organized on a regimental basis. Throughout the Middle Ages armies were composed of the armed bands brought into the field by the nobles. The nobles reverted to the earlier practice of using their family badges, (armorial bearings) to indicate their position in battle or bivouac.
The loose formation of armies gav[ILLEGIBLE TEXT] place to a system of regimentation during the early part of the seventeenth century. A definite number of troops and companies, respectively, was allotted to cavalry and infantry regiments, with a Standard or Guidon to each troop and a Colour to each company. In the middle of the eighteenth century the number was reduced to two per regiment, which corresponds to our present practice of having two per battalion—The King’s Colour and the Regimental Colour.
The Colours became the most precious possession of the regiment, and elaborate ceremonies pertaining to their safe custody were evolved. Their loss in battle was regarded as a very serious matter. Writing of the Battle of Albuhera, in 1811, a French diarist records that when surrounded and summoned to surrender, the Ensign carrying the Colours of 3rd Buffs returned an answer that was “discourteous but to the point.”
At the Battle of Alma, in the Crimean War, five men won the Victoria Cross for their defence of the Colours of the Welsh Fusiliers.
The last time Regimental Colours were carried in action was at Laing’s Nek, on 26th January, 1881. About this time all commanding officers had been invited to express their views on the taking of Colours into battle. Because of the necessity for concealment imposed by the increased range of firearms, the majority favoured the abolition of the practice. An Order giving effect to these views was issued by the War Office in January, 1882.
An important event in the evolution of military flags was the decision to place battle honours on the Regimental Colour. The first of these distinctions was “Emsdorf,” granted to the 15th Light Dragoons in 1768. Ten years later, the second distinction, “Gibraltar” was awarded to four regiments which served through the seige in 1783-84.
Although several Royal Warrants pertaining to the design of Colours were issued between 1790 and 1844, there was much laxity in their administration. In many instances regiments followed their own ideas in design; some placed their battle honours on the King’s as well as the Regimental Colour. In 1844, however the rule that battle honours should be carried on the Regimental Colour only was enforced. The Foot Guards, being a law unto themselves, were granted an exemption.
Only a few units of the Australian Military Forces possessed Colours prior to the war of 1914-18. In 1928, however, His Majesty the King approved of Guidons being carried by Light Horse Regiments, and King’s and Regimental Colours by Infantry Battalions. Australian Army Order No. 474 of 1928 details the designs for all three emblems.
The earliest battle honour possessed by an Australian unit is, “South Africa 1899-1902.” Only a very few units, however, are entitled to this distinction. In nearly all cases the earliest battle honour dates from World War I, 1914-18.
Tactics of the early Britons
Their mode of fighting with their chariots is this: firstly, they drive about in all directions and throw their weapons and generally break the ranks of the enemy with the very dread of their horses and the noise of their wheels; and when they have worked themselves in between the troops of horse, leap from their chariots and engage on foot. The charioteers in the meantime withdraw some little distance from the battle, and so place themselves with the chariots that, if their masters are overpowered by the number of the enemy, they may have a ready retreat to their own troops. Thus they display in battle the speed of horse, (together with) the firmness of infantry; and by daily practice and exercise attain to such expertness that they are accustomed, even on a declining and steep place, to check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest celerity to their chariots again.—Caesar’s Commentaries.
