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Per Ardua Ad Astra
The Black Watch's primary recruiting areas are in Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross, with the Battalion Headquarters located at Balhousie Castle.
On 28 March 2006 The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) was merged with other Scottish Infantry Battalions to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The title of the battalion is now The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The values and traditions of The Black Watch live on in a new guise and in the autumn of 2011 The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion of The Royal Regiment of Scotland will be posted to Helmand Province in Afghanistan, currently one of the world's most exciting Theatres of War where it will display all of the fighting skill that has been the Regiment's hallmark since its formation in 1739. The Battalion will take part in the transition to Afghan led governance.
An interesting read is Lt-Col C C 'Mad Mitch' Mitchell and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
In 1967 "Mad Mitch", as he was affectionately known, cut through the British policy of neutral peacekeeping in Aden by leading his Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to retake the terrorist-dominated Crater district of the city.
On June 20 British forces had been repulsed from the district with the loss of 22 lives. Mitchell determined to reoccupy it, though he had been warned that 500 well-armed police mutineers and terrorists had taken up positions there and were prepared to fight.
On the night of July 3 he ordered Pipe Major Kenneth Robinson to sound the Regimental Charge, "Monymusk". As Mitchell recalled: "It is the most thrilling sound in the world to go into action with the pipes playing. It stirs the blood and reminds one of the heritage of Scotland and the Regiment. Best of all it frightens the enemy to death."
A burst of machine gun fire rattled out from the edge of the town, but the Pipe Major played on undeterred while his comrades flung themselves to the ground. None of them knew how much resistance would be encountered; as it turned out, the only man to be shot dead that night was an Arab who had been challenged and made to run away. The Treasury building containing the whole of the currency reserve for southern Arabia was taken from the police mutineers by negotiation. By the end of the night it was clear to Mitchell that his determination to push on into the Crater area had utterly demoralised the enemy.
He sensed success in the air. "To me that single moment in Crater was worth all my quarter century of soldiering", he said. At dawn on July 4 the pipes and drums sounded again from a rooftop overlooking Crater.
The Argylls kept the peace there for five months by terrifying the rebels. "They know that if they start trouble we'll blow their bloody heads off," was Mitchell's characteristic comment.
Of his style of leadership he said: "I took flamboyant risks in order to demonstrate to my own officers and NCOs that we led from the front." Not one British soldier was lost in the operation.
An interesting fact 75% of SAS troopers are Scottish. As ex SAS Sergeant Stone once said, "Cos we're hard bastards."
On 28 March 2006 The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) was merged with other Scottish Infantry Battalions to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The title of the battalion is now The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The values and traditions of The Black Watch live on in a new guise and in the autumn of 2011 The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion of The Royal Regiment of Scotland will be posted to Helmand Province in Afghanistan, currently one of the world's most exciting Theatres of War where it will display all of the fighting skill that has been the Regiment's hallmark since its formation in 1739. The Battalion will take part in the transition to Afghan led governance.
An interesting read is Lt-Col C C 'Mad Mitch' Mitchell and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
In 1967 "Mad Mitch", as he was affectionately known, cut through the British policy of neutral peacekeeping in Aden by leading his Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to retake the terrorist-dominated Crater district of the city.
On June 20 British forces had been repulsed from the district with the loss of 22 lives. Mitchell determined to reoccupy it, though he had been warned that 500 well-armed police mutineers and terrorists had taken up positions there and were prepared to fight.
On the night of July 3 he ordered Pipe Major Kenneth Robinson to sound the Regimental Charge, "Monymusk". As Mitchell recalled: "It is the most thrilling sound in the world to go into action with the pipes playing. It stirs the blood and reminds one of the heritage of Scotland and the Regiment. Best of all it frightens the enemy to death."
A burst of machine gun fire rattled out from the edge of the town, but the Pipe Major played on undeterred while his comrades flung themselves to the ground. None of them knew how much resistance would be encountered; as it turned out, the only man to be shot dead that night was an Arab who had been challenged and made to run away. The Treasury building containing the whole of the currency reserve for southern Arabia was taken from the police mutineers by negotiation. By the end of the night it was clear to Mitchell that his determination to push on into the Crater area had utterly demoralised the enemy.
He sensed success in the air. "To me that single moment in Crater was worth all my quarter century of soldiering", he said. At dawn on July 4 the pipes and drums sounded again from a rooftop overlooking Crater.
The Argylls kept the peace there for five months by terrifying the rebels. "They know that if they start trouble we'll blow their bloody heads off," was Mitchell's characteristic comment.
Of his style of leadership he said: "I took flamboyant risks in order to demonstrate to my own officers and NCOs that we led from the front." Not one British soldier was lost in the operation.
An interesting fact 75% of SAS troopers are Scottish. As ex SAS Sergeant Stone once said, "Cos we're hard bastards."
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