Royal Newfoundland Regiment

Royal Newfoundland Regiment
The badge of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
Active	1949–present
Country	Canada
Branch	Reserve
Type	Line Infantry
Role	Light Infantry
Size	Three battalions
Part of	Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
Garrison/HQ	RHQ - St. John's 1st Battalion - St. John's 2nd Battalion - HQ and B COY Grand Falls-Windsor A COY - Corner Brook C COY - Stephenville
Nickname(s)	The Blue Puttees
Motto(s)	Better than the Best
March	Quick - The Banks of Newfoundland Slow - The Garb of Old Gaul
Anniversaries	ANZAC Day - 25 April Memorial Day - 1 July
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant Colonel Paul Furlong
Colonel-in-Chief	HRH The Princess Royal

The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (R NFLD R) is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 37 Canadian Brigade Group.

Predecessor units trace their origins to 1795, and since 1949 Royal Newfoundland Regiment has been a unit of the Canadian Army. During the First World War the battalion-sized regiment was the only North American unit to fight in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Later in the war the regiment was virtually wiped out at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Since then July 1 has been marked as Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The government of Canada doesn't recognize an unbroken lineage of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment to earlier units as there were gaps in existence. However, it recognizes that the Regiment commemorates the history and heritage of previous units. In this respect Canada has awarded three Battle Honours to the Regiment to commemorate the services rendered during the War of 1812 by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry and it recognizes Battle Honours earned by an early iteration of the regiment during the First World War.

In the list below, battle honours in small capitals are for large operations and campaigns and those in lowercase are for more specific battles. Bold type indicates honours authorized to be emblazoned on regimental colours

All three honours were awarded in commemoration of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Infantry and are emblazoned on the colours of the regiment's 2nd battalion.

A Newfoundland regiment was first founded, to serve in the British Army, in 1795 when Major Thomas Skinner of the Royal Engineers stationed in St. John's at Fort Townshend, was ordered to raise a regiment. It was disbanded and refounded several times under different names, including His Majesty's Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot, The Royal Newfoundland Veterans Companies and The Royal Newfoundland Companies. He was assisted in this by fairly large detachment, successively under command of Capt. Maclean, Capt. Aldridge, and Lt. Van Cortlandt, of the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment, which returned to its home colony in November of that year.