THE UNIQUE BATTLE HONOURS

OF

THE QUEEN'S LANCASHIRE REGIMENT

The Red Rose Regiment

Amongst the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment’s long list of 204 Battle Honours there are six which are unique in the British Army, and two (Canton and Fiesole) which are unique in the world :

‘Canton’. Earned by the 59^th Regiment (later 2^nd Battalion East Lancashires) in 1857 when they took part in an Anglo-French expedition to protect European commercial interests in that walled Chinese port, which had a garrison of 30,000 and mounted 430 cannon. Two days after landing, on 29 December, the 59^th scaled the walls to seize the gates of the city, which surrendered the following morning.

‘Defence of Kimberley’. Awarded to the 1^st Loyal North Lancashires for their defence of that South African diamond town against the Boers from 1899 to 1900.

‘Baluchistan 1918’. This unruly tribal territory on the Afghan border is now al-Qa’eda country, parts of it remaining effectively outside Pakistan Government authority to the present day. At the end of 1917 trouble broke out with the Marri tribe, and early the following year 1^st South Lancashires marched out from Quetta and, after a two-month campaign in wild mountainous country defeated the tribesmen in pitched battle. 

‘Fiesole’. On 25 August 1944, during the Italian campaign, the terraced hillsides below this pleasant town outside Florence saw 1^st Loyals in action against a strongly-entrenched German rearguard. A fierce day-long engagement ensued, in the course of which eight gallantry medals were earned by members of the Battalion.

‘Nyaungu Bridgehead’. On 15 February 1945 the 1^st South Lancashires made the longest opposed assault river crossing of the war, over a mile across the swift-flowing Irrawaddy River in Burma. Only one company reached the far side before dawn, and subsequent assaults suffered heavy casualties, but the bridgehead was held until reinforced, enabling the 14^th Army to cut the Japanese withdrawal route from northern Burma.

‘Letse’. This is another ‘Burma’ Honour, earned by 1^st South Lancashires between 23 February and 10 April 1945 for operations against Japanese forces round the Letse ‘Box’. On 1 April the Battalion attacked the heavily defended Point 534 feature which dominated the Box, which fell after 24 hours very heavy fighting.

No other British regiment carries these Battle Honours. However, with the absolute exceptions of 'Canton' and 'Fiesole,' these Honours are shared with other former Imperial units of the Indian Army, South African Army and Kings African Rifles.

 A further eight battle honours are shared with just one other British regiment. These are:

Honour                   Campaign/Date                Earned By       Shared With

‘Tarifa’                  (Spain, 1811-1812)            47^th Foot          87^th Foot (now R Irish)

‘Candahar 1842’    (Afghanistan)                   40^th Foot          41^st Foot (now RRW)

‘Ghuznee 1842’      (Afghanistan)                   40^th Foot          41^st Foot

‘Ahmed Khel’         (Afghanistan, 1880)         59^th Foot        60^th Rifles (now RGJ)

‘Kilimanjaro’           (East Africa 1916)           2 Loyals          R Fus (now RRF)

‘Banana Ridge’       (Tunisia 1943)                1 Loyals           DWR

‘Djebel Kesskiss’    (Tunisia 1943)                1 Loyals          N Staffs (now WFR)

‘Gab Gab Gap’        (Tunisia 1943)                  1 Loyals           N Staffs

EJD