Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, often referred to as The Fusiliers, is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st Battalion, part of the Regular Army, is an armoured infantry battalion based in Tidworth, Wiltshire, and the 5th Battalion, part of the Army Reserve, recruits in the traditional fusilier recruiting areas across England. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was largely unaffected by the infantry reforms that were announced in December 2004, but under the Army 2020 reduction in the size of the Army, the 2nd Battalion was merged into the first in 2014.

History

The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was formed on 23 April 1968 as part of the reforms of the British Army that saw the creation of 'large infantry regiments', by the amalgamation of the four English Fusilier regiments:

Royal Northumberland Fusiliers

Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers

Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)

Lancashire Fusiliers

The 3rd Battalion of the regiment saw active service in Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991. All battalions were also deployed to Northern Ireland on Operation Banner multiple times.

In 2003, the 1 Fusiliers battlegroup was at the forefront of the coalition invasion of Iraq, ultimately occupying the city of Basra. Over the next decade, the regiment carried out multiple operational tours of Iraq.

In 2006, elements of the 2nd Battalion were deployed to Afghanistan to support the International Security Assistance Force. Deployed to the town of Now Zad in Helmand Province, they rapidly found themselves fighting off a sustained Taliban attack that lasted for 107 days - the longest siege of British troops since World War II. Over the following years, elements of the regiment deployed on several occasions to Afghanistan and saw heavy fighting. Most recently, the entire 1st Battalion deployed to Nahri Saraj District in Helmand in 2013, where they took part in mounted and dismounted infantry operations.