Dorset Brochure Final(4) - Flipbook - Page 2
"Fording the Alma" by Lewis H. Johns
RIFLE REGIMENTS
Rifle regiments have a long tradition in
the British Army. The normal, ‘line’ infantry
was armed with powerful but inaccurate
muskets. They wore red jackets and
generally fought shoulder to shoulder so
they could fire their muskets all together,
in volleys. From the 1750s onwards in
North America, the Army began to use
some lightly-equipped infantry soldiers
dressed in camouflage. Line Regiments
began to form Light Companies and it was
from these origins that Rifle Regiments
developed. In 1800, when the Baker
Rifle was invented, the Army created
an Experimental Corps of Riflemen to
make best use of this revolutionary new
weapon. The Army saw that the new
rifle needed to be used by a force that
would be quite different to the rest of the
infantry. The lighter and far more accurate
rifle allowed the riflemen - dressed in dark
green - to spread out.
Because of the way they fought, the
early rifle and light infantry regiments
needed to develop a special way of
working - an ethos. This ethos was based
around marksmanship, independence,
self-discipline and initiative. Riflemen
needed to be led by very capable and
independent junior officers and noncommissioned officers, who would
communicate with their men by voice,
bugles and whistles.
The Rifles carries forward this ethos into
the modern Army and every soldier and
officer in the Regiment is proud to say “I
am a Rifleman”.
