ROYAL MARINES

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 111, 6 November 1935, Page 24

ROYAL MARINES

"THE SEA REGIMENT"

THEIR EARLY CAMPAIGNS

GIBRALTAR'S CAPTURE

Recently, for the first time in their glorious annals, Royal Marines mounted guard over the Royal Palaces of London, by express command of their Colonel-in-Chief, his-Majesty the' King, writes Hector Bywater in the "Daily Telegraph." This signal honour is well deserved. No unit of the armed forces of the Crown has contributed more to the defence of the realm, whether by sea or land, since Restoration times. So far-flung is the battle record of the corps that'it has to be symbolised by a laurel-wreathed globe. The Marine is in the truest sense "soldier and sailor too." He is both a fully-trained infantryman ■ and a naval gunner. Every battleship and cruiser in the Navy has its contingent of Marines, who not only perform much of the work of the ship, but invariably man one of the big-gun turrets. • When ashore the Marine is essentially a soldier, subject to Army Act discipline, but the moment he goes on board one of his Majesty's ships he automatically comes under the Naval Discipline Act.- Imperturbable in all circumstances, he does his duty with equal efficiency whether afloat or ashore. LONDON RECRUITS. This unique corps came into existence on 26, 1664, when an Order in Council established a regiment of 1200 "land souldgers prepared for sea service," to be known as the Duke of York and Albany's Regiment of Foot. Most of the men were recruited in the City of London; hence ' no doubt the privilege—not the "right" —enjoyed by the Royal Marines of marchingjiirotigh the city with colours flying, drums beating, and bayonets fixed. After serving with distinction in the putch War, the "sea regiment" was disbanded in 1689, to be re-created very early in the 18th century, this time in six regiments, supplemented by an equal number of line regiments specially trained for service with the Fleet. These formations were responsible for the capture of Gibraltar in 1704—the first battle 'honour on the scroll of the corps—and for holding the fortress during part of the subsequent siege. Soon aften their return home they were absorbed into the Army, and for the next 50 years the Marine Corps, as such, existed, if at all, as a tenuous and' barely recognised branch of the services. Not until 1755 was the corps established on a permanent basis, with divisional headquarters at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, arid an administrative system which, in essentials, has endured to the present day. From that time onward Marines became part of the authorised complement of warships, and were present at every important naval engagement from Quiberon Bay to Jutland. At Trafalgar it was a Marine who took instant vengeance on the sharpshooter in the Redoubtable, who had struck down Lord Nelson. In the countless overseas expeditions undertaken by Great Britain from 1755 to the close of the Napoleonic Wars, the Marines were always.in the forefront, as at Quebec in 1759' and Cape Town 46 years later. With such traditions it is not surprising that they should have gained fresh laurels in the Great War. True to their geographical emblem, they fought on almost every front, from Flanders to East Africa. Thousands served with the Grand Fleet. It will not be forgotten that Major F. J. W. Harvey, commanding Q-turret of H.M.S. Lion at Jutland, saved Admiral Beatty's flagship from destruction by ordering, with his dying breath, the flooding of the magazines when a cordite fire in the wrecked turret was within an ace of causing a cataclysm. In France and Flanders many of the big howitzers and siege guns were , served by Marines, who were also among the first to organise anti-aircraft batteries on the Western Front. On St. George's Day, 1918, Marine storm- : ing-parties of the 4th Battalion were among trie first to leap on to Zeebrugge Mole from the shell-torn Vindictive, on the deck of which their commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel B. H. Elliot, already lay dead. The heavy casualty list was the measure of their prowess on that immortal occasion. NELSON'S TRIBUTE. So indispensable did the Marines prove themselves to be that by the Armistice they mustered a strength of over 40,000. But national economy is no respecter of tradition, and by 1923 the total had been reduced to 9000. This drastic reduction led to an important change in the organisation of the corps. A year before Trafalgar, Nelson, who thoroughly appreciated the special qualities of the Marines, had suggested that many of them showed aptitude as artillerymen and might be trained as such. This was done, and eventually the corps was reorganised in separate branches as the Royal Marine Light Infantry and the Royal Marine Artillery, unofficially known as "Red" and "Blue" Marines—popularly as the "Jollies." In 1923, when the corps had shrunk to less than one-quarter of its war strength, the two branches were amalgamated as a measure of administrative simplicity, and were designated the Royal Marines, thus reverting to the title conferred on them in 1802 at the instance of Lord St. Vincent. What that fine old seaman : thought of the Marines is on record : in his own handwriting:— ! "There never was an appeal made ! to them for honour, courage, or loy- : alty that they did not more than rea- ' Use my highest expectation. If ever 1 real danger comes to England the ■ Marines will be found the country's > sheet-anchor." i In our present depleted Fleet the ' Royal Marines number only 9835 officers and men, or hardly more than 10 • per cent, of the total personnel of the • Navy. This number includes all ships' bands, the members of which • are recruited as Marines and trained '■ at the Royal Naval School of Music at ; Easlncy. ; From personal experience in war 1 and peace I know the superlative effi- ■ ciency of the Royal Marines at all ! their duties on board ship, while military experts testify to their marvel--1 lous precision at battalion drill. 1 Londoners who watched the chang- ■ ing of the guard at the Royal palaces '' saw for themselves that for soldierly smartness the Royal Marines need not fear comparison with the finest units > of the Army.