Royal Australian Regiment

The Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) is the main regular infantry formation in the Australian Army. The regiment consists of six separate battalions:

1st Battalion (1 RAR) - Light Infantry
2nd Battalion (2 RAR) - Light Infantry
3rd Battalion (3 RAR) - Parachute Infantry
4th Battalion (Commando) (4 RAR [Cdo]) - Commando
5th/7th Battalion (5/7 RAR) - Mechanised Infantry
6th Battalion (6 RAR) - Light Infantry

The Royal Australian Regiment is capable of providing five battlegroups for deployment. 1 Brigade can deploy two battlegroups, one of which comes from the RAR mechanised battalion, while the other is from 1st Armoured Regiment.

At present (2005) there is a major re-organisation of the Australian Army in progress. The army wishes to operate six battalion groups within three brigades (one airmobile, one standard and one mechanised); as the 4th Battalion is a specialist commando unit, this would involve raising another battalion, most likely for the mechanised role. In December 2005, it was announced that the 3rd Battalion will convert from its current parachute role to a mechanised battalion, and will move from Sydney to Adelaide by 2011.

History

The Royal Australian Regiment has its origins in the 65th, 66th and 67th battalions of the 34th Brigade, raised in late 1945 — from soldiers in other units of the Second Australian Imperial Force — to form the body of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. In 1947, it was decided that the unit would be the army's first ever standing, regular infantry formation (see History of the Australian Army). The Brigade's three infantry battalions became part of the Australian Regiment in 1948, with the "Royal" prefix being granted the following year.

The regiment has served in several major conflicts. In 1951, during the Korean War, 3 RAR, with the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and supporting UN forces, defeated a whole division from the Chinese army, at the Battle of Kapyong. In 1966, during the Vietnam War, two platoons from D Company 6 RAR, with support from other Australian, New Zealand and US forces, defeated a battalion-sized Viet Cong force, at the Battle of Long Tan.

In 1988, during the Australian bicentennial celebrations, a detachment from 1 RAR mounted the guard at Buckingham Palace in London, the first Australian unit to do so since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1993, 1 RAR served with distinction in the Baidoa district of Somalia and had several firefights with armed groups.

The Regiment provided almost all the Australian combat units deployed to East Timor between 1999 and 2004. All the current battalions in the Regiment served at least one 6-month rotation to East Timor where they were responsible for securing the East Timorese-Indonesian border.

The Regiment's most recent commitment has been to Iraq. While the Regiment's only representation in the Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a single commando platoon from 4 RAR, rifle companies from most of the Regiment's current battalions have been deployed to Baghdad to provide security for the Australian embassy. More significantly, a company from 5/7 RAR forms part of the Al Muthanna Task Group, with the second rotation of the Task Group being commanded by the headquarters of 5/7 RAR.

Former Battalions

2nd/4th Battalion (1973-1995)
5th Battalion (1965-1973)
7th Battalion (1965-1973)
8th Battalion (1966-1973)
9th Battalion (1967-1973)
8th/9th Battalion (1973-1997)

Battle Honours

Sariwon, Yongyu, Chongju, Pakchon, Uijongbu, Chuan-Ni, Maehwa-San, Kapyong, Kowang-San, The Samichon, Korea 1950-53
Long Tan, Bien Hoa, Coral-Balmoral, Hat Dich, Binh Ba, Vietnam 1965-72

Unit decorations from the United States

1 RAR, 3 RAR and 6 RAR have all been awarded US military decorations for service alongside US troops; 1 RAR received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for its service in Vietnam, while 3 RAR received the Distinguished Unit Citation following the Battle of Kapyong during the Korean War (an honour it shares with the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry). D Company 6 RAR also received the Distinguished Unit Citation, this time in Vietnam at the Battle of Long Tan; although the respective battle honours are borne by the whole regiment, the three citations awarded by the United States are held solely by the battalions that received them, and are displayed as streamers on the respective regimental colours of those battalions.

Affiliations

The Royal Australian Regiment is affiliated to a number of other Commonwealth regiments:

Individual battalions of the RAR also have affiliations:

1st Battalion - Grenadier Guards
2nd Battalion - Coldstream Guards
3rd Battalion - Scots Guards, Queen's Royal Hussars
4th Battalion - Irish Guards
5th/7th Battalion - Welsh Guards, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)

External links