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The Royal Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial〔(Oxford English Dictionary: Definition of Territorial Army )〕 infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the mostly black Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) and the almost entirely white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC). ==History== The original Bermuda Militia had existed from 1612 to 1815, and all military-aged males were required to serve. This militia ceased to exist after the American War of 1812 as the Government of Bermuda saw it as an unnecessary expense, given the buildup of regular army units that had begun as a result of the 1795 establishment of the Royal Naval base in Bermuda. During the subsequent decades, short-lived militias were raised within the Bermuda Garrison without a Militia Act or any financial contribution from the local parliament (Bermudians who enlisted in this way probably included Robert John Simmons, who later served as First Sergeant in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War as, in recommending Simmons as a valuable recruit, prominent abolitionist William Wells Brown described him as ''a young man of more than ordinary abilities who had learned the science of war in the British Army''). Although the local government for decades resisted pleas from the Governor, the War Office, and the Secretary of State for Defence to restore a part-time reserve, it was not 'til the Secretary of State for Defence made it a condition of his approval of American investment into the Princess Hotel and the widening of the shipping channel into St. George's Harbour that the local government authorised the creation of three units. Of these, only two were raised. The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Bermuda Militia Artillery were raised in 1894 and 1895, respectively, in order to allow the Regular Army component of the garrison to be reduced. This was done primarily as an economic measure, though the regular units withdrawn were required for the build-up of what would become the British Expeditionary Force. Both units served through the two world wars, sending contingents to serve overseas while shouldering their responsibilities for the defence of Bermuda and its many strategic assets. They were reorganised as Territorial Army units between the world wars, and joined by the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers in 1931 and the Bermuda Militia Infantry in 1939, though the two newer units (along with a wartime Home Guard) were permanently disbanded in 1946. In 1953, when the coastal artillery batteries were taken out of use, the BMA, while still wearing the Royal Artillery cap badge, converted to the infantry role. This left the Colony wastefully maintaining two separate infantry units. After closure of the Royal Navy's dockyard commenced in 1951 (a process that lasted until 1958, leaving only a small naval base, HMS Malabar, within the former dockyard),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Royal Navy, including HMS Affray, 1951-1960 )〕 the military garrison, which had existed primarily to protect the Royal Navy base, was also closed. The last regular unit (a detachment from the DCLI) was withdrawn in 1957, and the two Bermudian territorials ceased to have any military role under Imperial defence planning (with 1953 being the last year an Imperial Defence Plan, under which their roles were assigned, was issued). Although the colonial government had only formed the two units at the behest of and under pressure from the British government, it chose to continue maintaining them entirely at its own expense (although defence falls within the remit of the national British government, rather than the internal government of the colony). The presence of the part-time units, and their abilities to take on all of the roles of the garrison, had been part of the British Government's justification for withdrawing the Command Headquarters and the regular infantry. The amalgamation of the forces took place on 1 September 1965. The new Bermuda Regiment's stand of colours was presented by Princess Margaret. Princess Margaret presented a second stand of colours to replace the first in 1990, to mark the Bermuda Regiment's 25th anniversary.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Amalgamation )〕 The Royal Bermuda Regiment is not entitled to inherit the battle honours of the units amalgamated into it, so they are not displayed on its colours and are rarely mentioned. The battle honours it inherits from the BVRC, all from World War I, are ''Ypres 1915'', ''Neuve Chapelle'', ''Loos'', ''Somme 1916'', ''Ypres 1917'', ''Lys'', ''Hindenburg Line'', ''Messines 1917'', ''Somme 1918'' (the BMA had no battle honours specific to itself to hand down, although its contingents had taken part in battles such as Vimy Ridge and the Somme, and as part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, it had the honour ''ubique''; ''everywhere''). This is ostensibly due to the gap formed by the disbandment of the BVRC and the formation of the Bermuda Rifles, although a skeleton command structure remained after the BVRC's 1946 disbandment and was brought back up to strength to form the Bermuda Rifles in 1951. This was also not the first time the unit had been disbanded. Originally a volunteer unit, the BVRC (and BMA) had also been briefly disbanded after the First World War. On that occasion, it had been re-embodied as a territorial (a process that had taken place in Britain and Ireland in 1908 when the Volunteer Force, Militia, and Yeomanry had been merged, their units linked to Regular Army regiments and terms of service introduced for recruits, who were no longer permitted to quit their service with 14 days notice) although it had continued to be titled as a ''volunteer'' rifle corps until 1951. As reformed after the First World War, the BVRC had retained its identity and its battle honours. The latest set of Colours were presented by HRH Duchess of Gloucester, GCVO at the National Sports Centre on 13 November 2010. The former set will be retired to the Bermuda National Museum, before being formally laid up in the Warrant Officers' and Sergeants' Mess. The third set of Colours have been donated by the Bermuda Regiment Charitable Trust. Originally, the part-time reserve units in Bermuda, the Channel Islands and Malta had numbered collectively as 28th in the British Army order of precedence, but were ordered within that according to the order of precedence of their parent corps in the regular army. This meant, that the Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA), as part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery and the Militia, preceded the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) (as part of the infantry and the Volunteer Force) despite being the second of the two to be raised. Today, the Royal Bermuda Regiment, as an amalgam of the BMA and BVRC, is 28th.〔The Quarterly Army List, DECEMBER, 1946. Corrected generally to 8th October, 1946. Volume 1. Page 14. ORDER OF PRECEDENCE OF REGIMENTS, ETC., IN THE ARMY. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London.〕 On 1 September 2015, HM Queen Elizabeth II awarded the title “Royal” to the regiment to mark the 50th anniversary of its formation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Regiment gets 'Royal' name change as gift - The Royal Gazette:Bermuda News )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Royal Bermuda Regiment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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