Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Smell That Way! Quiz

Answer: Germany

The 20th of Foot, the Lancashire Fusiliers, was an infantry regiment that wore a distinctive primrose yellow coloured hackle. This regiment was amalgamated into the newly formed Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the RRF, on the 23rd of April 1968. On the 1st of August each year in they drink a toast in both the Officers and the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Messes of the RRF to the fallen of Minden in total silence. Junior subalterns, those officers at the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, eat a small red rose floating in a bowl of champagne before then drinking the champagne.

Other units who took part in this action, a group known as the Minden Regiments, were the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, the Suffolk Regiment, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Royal Hampshire Regiment and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. The town of Minden itself lies in the German region of North-Rhine Westphalia and straddles the River Weser.

Answer: His silver proclamation drum

Captured by the British at Magdala between the 9th and the 13th of April 1868, the huge proclamation drum was divided into three parts; one part being distributed to each of the three British infantry units involved in the fighting. One piece was issued to the 3rd Dragoons who went on to become the Prince of Wales' Dragoon Guards, one to the 33rd Regiment of Foot who later formed the Duke of Wellington's Regiment and the 4th King's Own Regiment.

It has been confirmed that this silver drum dates to as far back as the 10th century, making it the oldest regimental trophy in British Army and possibly the oldest drum in existence anywhere in the world. An initiation rite into the regiment required that a newly arrived officer would only become a fully-fledged member of the mess by 'Going through the Drum'; a ceremony which involved the officer placing their head and one arm through the body of the drum and then drinking a glass of beer. Once this had been done, they would then be accepted as fully fledged officers of the regiment.

After an objection from a group of Ethiopian academics had been received, the regiment agreed, out of respect, to cease the practice of consuming alcohol through this ancient Islamic artefact.

Answer: A steam ship

The SS Sarah Sands was a steam ship launched in 1846 and was the second large steam vessel built from iron; the SS Great Britain being the first. In August 1857 the SS Sarah Sands departed England carrying approximately one third of the soldiers and a number of the families of the 54th Regiment of Foot, later to become the Dorsetshire Regiment, to India to reinforce the troops there fighting the Indian Mutiny.

It took the SS Sarah Sands over two months to sail to the port of Simonstown in the Cape. Following a mutiny amongst the crew while the vessel was at anchor in the Cape, crew numbers were made up from whoever was willing to sign up for the remainder of the trip to India. During the remainder of the voyage to India, the ship was involved in a disaster. On the 11th of November an alarm was raised; a fire had started on board and with this all women, children, the sick, and drummer boys were launched to safety in the few lifeboats that were available.

The fire quickly took hold and threatened to detonate kegs of powder that were being transported on the vessel. Thanks to the heroic efforts of the soldiers on board, the fire was eventually extinguished and all those aboard were saved.

It took a further twenty-two days for the SS Sarah Sands to make landfall in Mauritius where they received a hero's welcome. The Duke of Cambridge ordered that a General Order should be read out in front of every regiment in the army recording the gallant actions carried out by the 54th in saving the ship and the lives of all on board. Until their amalgamation into The Rifles, the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment celebrated 'Sarah Sands' annually with a battalion wide forced march and formal dinner!

Answer: An incident involving a drunken regimental band

There is a tradition that dates back to the latter years of the 18th century in which troops returning from overseas service would be played ashore by their regimental bands. On the return of one of the antecedent regiments of the King's Royal Hussars at Dover, the regimental band travelled to the port in preparation to play their men ashore. Having arrived far too early, the bandmaster decided to take the band to the nearest public house for a drink.

The ship was late however; when it did arrive, the band, having spent many hours drinking, was incapable of playing their instruments! A runner was despatched to Dover Castle to ask the regiment stationed there, the Royal Sussex Regiment, if their band could play the waiting troops ashore. It was agreed that they would do so but when the band arrived at the docks they were unfamiliar with the regimental march and so played their own.

The modern Kings Royal Hussars, in respect to the now defunct Royal Sussex Regiment, still commemorate this incident by incorporating a part of the Royal Sussex march in their own when on parade.

Answer: It is a musical piece

The story of how the regiment gained their unique honour is a true boy's tale. Whilst fighting a rear-guard action against the French at the Battle of Famars on the 23rd of May, 1793, the French regiment opposing them sang, continually, the revolutionary song 'Ça Ira'- 'We Will Win!' This began to have an effect on the morale of the British troops and, challenged to learn the song by the regimental Colonel, the drum-major and the band practiced the song overnight.

The following morning, in thick fog, during the British attack on the French defences, the song was played.

The French who were expecting relief that morning became disorientated by the music and the British attack prevailed. On the regiment's return from service overseas against the French, they were pelted with stones by the inhabitants of Dartford, Kent during a celebratory march through the town as they played their newly acquired battle honour.

The locals, ignorant of this fact, pelted the soldiers with stones and shouted abuse as they believed that the regiment were acting in a treasonous manner.

Answer: Grey

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the RSDG, were the result of an amalgamation in 1971 of the 3rd Carabiniers and the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons). The Royal Scots Greys were founded in 1678 and shortly thereafter became famous for their grey mounts; described as those 'terrible men on grey horses' by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte, the modern regiment wears a pale grey beret in tribute of their forebears.

The regimental cap badge features a pair of crossed carbines behind a French Imperial Eagle; the carbines hark back to the short barrelled weapons carried by the troopers of the 3rd Carabiniers, a regiment raised during 1685 to help defeat the Monmouth Rebellion.

The French Imperial Eagle that appears on the badge is a representation of the standard of the French 45th Regiment which was captured by the Royal Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo and from which the regiment takes its nickname; the 'Birdcatchers'.

Incidentally, the black felt backing behind the regimental cap badge is worn in memory of Tsar Nicholas II who was the Regimental Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Scots Greys until the Russian revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks.

As for the reason why the Royal Scots Greys only used grey horses? It is believed that on the departure from England of a Dutch Horse Guards regiment back to the Netherlands in the 1690s, their horses were handed over to the regiment and the tradition was adopted thereafter. Additionally, during their early history the soldiers of the regiment also wore dull grey tunics; the term 'Scots Greys' may have had nothing whatsoever to do with the colour of their horses!

Answer: Because he was a goat

Both Welsh regiments, the Royal Regiment of Wales and the Royal Welch Fusiliers, used goats as mascots before they were amalgamated on the 1st of March 2006. It is said that the goat harks back to an action at Bunker Hill during the American War of Independence.

Whilst campaigning around the world, the British army would often take livestock with them as a source of fresh meat for the troops. It was during this action that a goat escaped from its pen and joined the soldiers in an attack on an American position.

The goat survived and was adopted by the soldiers as a mascot. The regiment was presented with its first royal goat by Queen Victoria in 1844 and she decreed that the regiment would adopt a goat from the royal herd as its regimental mascot in perpetuity; the regiment still has its goat but they are now taken from a herd that lives on the hills of Wales.

Interestingly, the goat is never referred to as a mascot; he appears on the strength of the regiment and received a daily ration of five cigarettes each day... Don't worry; he doesn't smoke them but they are said to be very good for his digestion! The goat leads the unit on every battalion parade and after their service comes to an end they spend their retirement in the safety and comfort of Whipsnade Zoo.

Answer: A Papal blessing/pillaging a convent

It is said that in the final years of the eighteenth century, whilst the regiment was serving in the Mediterranean, that Pope Pius VI was so impressed with the way that the regiment conducted itself that they received his personal blessing and were authorised to play his five favourite hymns every evening.

However, there is another tale as to how the regiment came to play regimental hymns. It was during the Peninsular War that an antecedent regiment of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, the 12th Light Dragoons, fell upon a convent and stole one hundred and four bottles of wine which were promptly consumed.

As a result of this, some members of the regiment had allegedly assaulted a number of the nuns whilst in a drunken state. Their furious commander, the Duke of Wellington, punished the regiment by ordering the unit to parade and pay penance for an equivalent number of years as bottles of wine they had stolen.

The regiment had satisfied the conditions of their punishment by 1917 but by this time Regimental Hymns, as they had become known, had become accepted as a tradition and were continued.

Whilst these regimental hymns are in progress, the music played is known as 'Sicilian Vespers', the unit ceases all non-critical activity and stands at attention until the band have finished playing.

Answer: A chamber pot

All regiments possess a quantity of property that they have amassed during their history and the regimental silver, usually to be found adorning the officers mess dining table during days of regimental significance, is of immense importance. It was during the pursuit of the defeated French army after the Battle of Vitoria on the 21st of March 1813, that soldiers of the 14th King's Hussars came upon the baggage train of the escaping Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and, at that time, the appointed King of Spain.

The king's baggage was thoroughly ransacked by the Hussars and many of his personal items were purloined by the British troops. The item in question, known as 'The Emperor' is Joseph Bonaparte's personal chamber pot. Made from solid silver the pot makes an appearance in the officer's mess of the regiment at all important unit functions where officers will drink a toast in champagne from it. Sadly, like many fine old regiments, the 14th/20th Kings Hussars were amalgamated with the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) to form the present Kings Royal Hussars in 1992.

Answer: Never drinking the Loyal Toast

Immediately after the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1746, it was commanded by the king, George II, that all officers of every regiment would drink the Loyal Toast to the king in their messes. Because of their service during the rebellion, the now 8th Hussars were absolved from this as; in the words of the king "their loyalty had always been beyond question".

In addition to this, the king also excused the regiment from having to remain silent whilst the national anthem was being played.

This is another unique privilege granted and one that the regiment still observe to this day. In more recent times an antecedent of the regiment, the 4th Hussars, was honoured to count amongst its officers a certain Winston Spencer Churchill. Winston Churchill joined the 4th Hussars during 1895 and was appointed as the Colonel of the Regiment during WW2, a position that he maintained until his death in 1965.

In a tradition that carries on to this day, the armoured fighting vehicle, the tank used by the Commanding Officer is always named 'Churchill'.