Updated Regimental History

Updated Regimental History

Thanks to a generous grant from the Macdonald Stewart Foundation, the Regimental Council will publish a third edition of Stewart Bull’s history of the Regiment.  I am revising the text, both to bring the story into the 21st century as well as to incorporate new research.  For those of you who have the time and inclination, I thought it might be useful to post each chapter as I write it. If anyone does see any mistakes or want to make a comment, please contact me at dschimme@hotmail.com

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Rangers on the Somme - One Hundred Years Later

Rangers on the Somme - One Hundred Years Later

The British Army that started the great Somme Offensive of 1916 was enthusiastic, amateurish, and the disaster of the first day was --until the surrender of Singapore in 1942 -- the worst catastrophe in the history of the British Army.  With 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, to the British 4th Army alone on July 1st, it was certainly the bloodiest day in the history of British arms.

While many people regard this -- rightly -- as a debacle, they forget that the Somme Offensive continued until early November; even then this is widely regarded as an exercise in bloody-minded futility by a set of out-dated Generals incapable of understanding modern war.  This opinion is dead wrong.  

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The Regiment's Commanding Officers From Rogers to Simcoe (Part One)

The Regiment's Commanding Officers From Rogers to Simcoe (Part One)

Most people with a passing familiarity with the Queen’s York Rangers know that the first Commanding Officer was Robert Rogers.  The next most famous commander of the Regiment is John Graves Simcoe.  And while both men commanded the Regiment during the American Revolution, Simcoe did not succeed Rogers directly – there were two other Commanding Officers between their tenures.  These two men, Christopher French and James Wemyss, are little known officers whose history deserves to be shared

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