Page 162 - Chronicle Vol 17

be seen as the founding point for the traditions which would continue into the Rifles. The 60th Royal American Regiment was later known as The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, then the 2nd Green Jackets, and was subsequently amalgamated into the Royal Green Jackets, then our regiment today. This provides an unbroken lin- age from the modern day back to the earliest incarnations of organised light forces in the British Army.
The developments in tactics from the Seven Years War did not take hold in the army immediately. Upon the outbreak of the American War of Independence, light companies were not usually considered as having a distinct role on the bat- tlefield in addition to their role in petty warfare. At The Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) at the outbreak of the war, British light infantry companies were used in assaults in the thick of the battle beside grenadier companies. Light tactics soon gained pre-eminence again however, and in 1776 light companies were reorgan- ised into light battalions, so that they could be employed in a more specialised role. Light infantry tactics were being increasingly employed in regular fighting, such as in the Battle of Vigie (1778), when outnumbered British troops used skir- misher tactics to defeat a force four times their own. The use of light infantry tac- tics in regular warfare and pitched battles gave these forces increasing credibility and relevance within the British Army of the time.
By the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, there was a strong trend across European armies towards establishing more professional light infantry forces and in greater number. The British and Prussian Armies saw light infantry as a specialty requir- ing more training than their ordinary counterparts. For the British, light compa- nies were usually furnished with veterans who had some training in sniping and open order tactics and were seen with similar prestige as those in the grenadier company. France saw light infantry as more of a convenience as these soldiers required less training in drill. France underwent a massive expansion of its light infantry, or tirailleurs, from being 4 per cent of her infantry in 1789 to being 23 per cent by 1795. French generals used the tirailleurs to great affect against the British in the Flanders and Helder campaigns in 1793 and 1799 respectively. Their dispersed formations took little damage from the massed volleys of line infantry whilst their own fire could inflict serious damage to men and morale if properly directed at targets such as officers.
Following French success, the Experimental Corps of Riflemen was established in the British Army by then Colonel and later Major General Manningham. These Riflemen donned green jackets and were equipped with the baker rifle. Rifles had made their first tentative appearance in the previous century in North America, but this was the first time they were equipped as standard. In 1803 Moore estab- lished the Light Infantry Training Centre at Shorncliffe Army Camp, where for the first time the British Army would train entire regiments as light infantry. This included the 43rd, 52nd and the new Corps of Riflemen which was incorporated into the line as the 95th regiment. These regiments would then form what was later known as the Light Division and were a continuation of the trend which had been prevailing over European Armies for the previous fifty years.
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