page_title: Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 Men from the 5th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, 51st Highland Division, wearing snow suits, inspect the weapons of two GIs from the American 87th Division during the link-up of the two Allied armies at Champlin in Belgium, 14 January 1945.
context_page_description: The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders in 1961.
context_section_description: The 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, initially under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Wimberley, was sent to France as part of the 5th Brigade in the 2nd Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in September 1939. It then took part in the Battle of France and the subsequent Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 under the command of Lt Col G P Rose-Miller, DSO, MC. After returning to England and being brought up to strength, the 1st Battalion was then deployed to Burma in mid-1942 and took part in numerous actions during the Burma Campaign, including the Battle of Kohima in April 1944, the Battle of Mandalay in February 1945 and the Irrawaddy River operations in March 1945.
  The 2nd Battalion, which was still in Sudan at the start of the war, moved to Egypt and then Libya as part of the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade in the 2nd South African Infantry Division and following the Battle of Gazala was captured when Tobruk fell on June 1942. It was reformed in the UK in December 1942 and sent to Italy as part of the reformed 11th Indian Infantry Brigade in the 4th Indian Division in January 1944 and served in Tunisia, Italy and, at the end of the war, in Greece.
  The 4th Battalion went to France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division with the British Expeditionary Force in October 1939 but was captured at Saint-Valery-en-Caux in June 1940. The 4th Battalion was reformed in the UK in July 1940 but was disbanded in December 1942 to form troops to reconstitute the 2nd Battalion.
  The 5th Battalion formed part of the reconstituted 152nd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division and saw action at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 and the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The battalion took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944 and then fought at the Battle for Caen in July 1944, the Battle of the Falaise Gap in August 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
  The 7th Battalion was part of the 46th (Highland) Infantry Brigade, in the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division. On 24 March 1942 they were redesignated as the 5th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion. Those men that were deemed unsuitable for parachute duties were transferred to other units and were replaced by volunteers from other Scottish regiments.
  The Australian 61st Battalion, which was raised as a Militia unit in Queensland in 1938, adopted the designation of the "Queensland Cameron Highlanders" after receiving official approval for an association with the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders in 1939. This battalion subsequently took part in the Battle of Milne Bay in August 1942 and the Bougainville Campaign in 1944 and 1945.
caption: Men from the 5th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders wearing snow suits, inspect the weapons of two GIs from the U.S. 87th Division during the link-up of the two Allied armies at Champlin in Belgium, 14 January 1945.
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