Evening star., 1943-05-14
Frontier Fighting Traditions Of Rogers Rangers
Serve British Army in Kings Royal Rifles

the same source. From the begin
ming, even the humblest private in
the KRR has been, of necessity,
somewhat of a specialist. Hence a
highly selective process Of recruiting
has been necessary. This has been
more true in the present war than
ever before. But always the fife
corpsman has had to know all an
infantryman knows and lot more
And from the beginning the corps
has been an experimenter in war
fare, the group selected to try out
new ideas, to embark on bold sor-
ties, where every man must fight
as an individual. 1t Is not organ
lied to act according to rules. It
came, in the first place, as a reac-
ton against the tragic stufnness in
the attack on Fort Duquesne and,
consequently, has been on the alert
to wipe out the mold of stuffiness
as soon as this has begun to appear
among its personnel.
Active in Present War.
Few military organizations have
taken more active part in the pres
ent war. The KRR fought in France
and took part in the great evacua-
| ton. It fought in Crete, 1t fought
in Egypt. 1t now is fighting in North
Africa. 1t remains the most Amer
lean" outfit in the British Army.
In fact, over century and a half
it has remained more American
than the Americans" in its basic
PHILOSOPHERS of fighting and living.
Its present personnel come from
all over the world. The majority,
of course, are English, although
there are Canadian and South A.
rican affiliated regiments. It's
present-day recruits, after nearly
four years of war, are as fine-look-
ing a crowd Of youths as could be
found in the British Empire, the
Goth century duplicates Of the type
of men who constituted the an?
cestral Rogers Rangers.
The basic philosophy Of the or
ganization is we'll expressed In the
pamphlet given to each new man
who enters the corps:
Instead Of rigid adherence to
accepted methods, its leaders have
always encouraged an independence
of thought which has enabled the
regiment to tackle new problems
and adopt new methods to meet
changing conditions. When the
problem was that of how to meet
and defeat the Indian in his native
forests, we see the 60th forsaking
the scarlet uniforms and the slow
and vulnerable tactics of the day.
We see them changing their dress,
| adopting loose forma tions and re-
lying on accurate and rapid shoot
ing combined withalapidity of move
ment, a simplifled drill and short
words of command. The regiment
has again and again given a practi-
cal lead that has been followed by
the rest of the army.
| To-day we find them with new
weapons, new means of transport
and a new organization. but still
swift and bold in the old traditional
role. skirmishing in the forefront
OF the battle, protecting the fanks,
guarding a retreat. scattered wide
IN small groups. yet acting in COM
bination.
Likened to U. S. Marines.
Nor are tactical methods the
whole story. The regiment owes
much to the ideals it has followed in
the matter Of relations between
officers and men, to conception of
discipline which combines mutual
respect and trust with obedience to
| orders. ...-.~ e..
Such are the regimental tradi-
tions which every true rifieman,
whether officer or soldier, is deter
mined to maintain
Probably the closest analogy to