Royal 22e Régiment

The Royal 22nd Regiment (R22R; ) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. Known colloquially in English as the Van Doos (representing an anglicized pronunciation of the French number twenty-two, ) or in French as , the mostly francophone regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army.

History

left|thumb|[[Arthur Mignault, founder of the Royal 22nd Regiment]]

thumb|left|22nd Battalion leaving Quebec in 1915.

While the Royal 22e Régiment commemorates the history and traditions of the Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry from the War of 1812 (also carrying resultant battle honours from the War of 1812), the modern ancestor of the regiment was formed in the early days of the First World War as part of the British Army, when volunteers from all over Canada were being massed for training at Valcartier, Québec, just outside Quebec City. The first contingent of 30,000 volunteers, which became the 1st Canadian Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, were grouped into numbered battalions, regardless of origin. The existing reserve regiments were not mobilized, due to the belief of the Defence Minister, Sam Hughes, that a new "efficient" structure was required. Once again the new structure did not contain French-speaking units, such as those that had existed in the reserves. Over 1000 French-Canadian volunteers were scattered into different English-speaking units. This was not an oversight as Ontario (Hughes's political base) was in the process of outlawing both the teaching of French, as well as in the French language in their school system (Regulation 17) The predictable outrage in French Canada created a lack of support for the war of "King and Country", perceived as a mechanism to entirely annihilate the Francophone community in Canada.

The second contingent was more logically based on battalions raised and trained in the various military districts in which they were recruited, but remained using an impersonal numerical basis (with the exception of those with a Highland or Irish identity). Considerable political pressure in Quebec, along with public rallies, demanded the creation of French-speaking units to fight a war many viewed as being right and necessary, despite Regulation 17 in Ontario.

right|thumb|150px|[[Arthur Mignault|Mignault communicated with Prime Minister Robert Borden, leading to the creation of the Royal 22e Régiment]]

In September 1914, French Canadian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Arthur Mignault communicated with Prime Minister Robert Borden, advocating the formation of a solely French Canadian regiment. Mignault offered the government $50,000 to pursue this end. Borden had recently committed Canada to provide half a million soldiers to the Allied cause, and was just realising how demanding it would be to honour this promise. Borden eagerly accepted Mignault's proposal and accordingly, on 14 October 1914, the 22nd Battalion (French Canadian), CEF, was authorized. Mignault participated in the recruitment campaign, which resulted in a remarkable success; the ranks of the battalion were filled in less than a month. Arthur Mignault is as such considered the founder of the 22nd regiment.

The 22nd went to France as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade and the 2nd Canadian Division in September 1915, and fought with distinction in every major Canadian engagement until the end of the war. While other French speaking units were also created, they were all broken up upon arrival in France to provide reinforcements for the 22nd, which suffered close to 4000 wounded and killed in the course of the war. Two members of the 22nd were awarded the Victoria Cross in that war, Lieutenant Jean Brillant and Corporal Joseph Kaeble.

left|thumb|[[Émile Fayolle Marshal of France, presenting regimental colours to the Royal 22e Régiment on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, 1921. This had been done at the request of Maréchal Foch who had been made honorary colonel of the regiment.]]

left|thumb|The Royal 22nd Regiment parading on [[Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 1927]]

After the war, the 22nd Battalion was disbanded on 20 May 1919, sharing the fate of other numbered battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. However, in the post-war reorganizations of the army, public pressure, such as resolutions by the Legislative Assembly of Quebec as well as the City Council of Quebec City, demanded that a permanent French-language unit be created in the peace-time Regular Force, and accordingly a new regiment was created, made up of veterans of the 22nd Battalion, on 1 April 1920. Initially the regiment, which was given the guard of the Citadelle of Quebec, was simply the 22nd Regiment, but in June 1921 King George V approved the renaming of it as The Royal 22nd Regiment. In 1928, the anomaly of a French-language unit with an English name was resolved, and the regiment became the Royal 22e Régiment in both languages. While in the Canadian Armed Forces, unit names are generally translated into the language of a text, traditional combat arms regiments are identified only in the single language of their troops, either English or French. However, the English version of the R22eR is still seen occasionally, but strictly speaking it is incorrect; only "Royal 22e Régiment" has been official in either language since 1928.

In 1940, the regiment became the first Francophone Canadian unit to mount the King's Guard in London and was the first of the three current Regular Force infantry regiments to do so.

thumb|Soldiers of the Royal 22e Régiment exercising the [[freedom of the city in front of Quebec City's City Hall, on 3 July 2006]]

In the Second World War, the regiment was part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade and the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and was involved in intense combat in Italy, (where Captain Paul Triquet earned the Victoria Cross) and later in the Netherlands and northwest Germany.

During the Korean War, 1951–1953, the regiment expanded to three battalions, each serving in turn as part of the Canadian brigade in the 1st Commonwealth Division. Thus the "Van Doos" represented one-third of Canada's infantry contingent throughout the war.

During the Cold War the regular battalions of the regiment served, in turn, in West Germany as part of 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, with the 1er Battalion serving permanently from 1967 until the withdrawal in 1993.

thumb|left|160px|Batiste X, mascot of the regiment

The regiment also served during the Oka Crisis. During the life of the Canadian Airborne Regiment (1968–1995) the 1er Commando was manned as a French-speaking sub-unit by soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment.

In the 1950s, the Canadian Army promoted a scheme of administratively associating reserve infantry regiments with a regular one. Although this project did not make much progress in most of the army, three reserve regiments did join the Van Doos, becoming battalions of the Royal 22e Régiment:

thumb|130px|right|3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment CFB Valcartier

{|class=wikitable

! Old regiment name

! Formed

! New battalion name

! Joined R22eR

| Le Régiment de Châteauguay

| 1869

| 4th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (Châteauguay)

| 1954

| Fusiliers du St. Laurent

| 1869

| rowspan=2 | Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent (5th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment)

| rowspan=2 | 1954 to 1968

| Le Régiment de Montmagny

| 1869

| Le Régiment de St.-Hyacinthe

| 1866

| 6th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment

| 1956

In the case of Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent, the battalion designation was in a subsidiary title, but it became nevertheless, administratively, part of the Royal 22e Régiment. However, in 1968, Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent dropped the subsidiary title, and ended their administrative association with the R22eR.

Operational history

Fenian raids

The 64th Voltigeurs-de-Beauharnois were called out on active service from 9 to 29 April and from 24 to 31 May 1870. The battalion served on the Huntingdon frontier.

Great War

thumb|The distinguishing patch of the 22nd (French Canadian) Battalion, CEF.Details of the 64th Châteauguay and Beauharnois Regiment were placed on active service on 6 August 1914 for local protective duty.

The Royal 22nd Regiment also provided about 150 trainers (in Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs)) for the three Afghan "Kandaks" serving with them. As well it provided a protection company for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kandahar.

The regiment distinguished itself in Kandahar through its determined and successful efforts to establish Afghan police sub-stations, protected by Afghan National Army and Canadian presence, in an ever-widening secure zone in the former Taliban home districts of Zhari and Panjawaii. Light infantry elements often fought toe-to-toe with the Taliban, relying heavily on sniper fire and man-portable grenade launchers to gain the edge over the militants. The battle group, and its associated OMLT and PRT elements, had 10 men killed in action during the six-month tour. The many wounded included Captain Simon Mailloux, a Van Doos platoon commander who returned two years later to Kandahar even though his leg had to be amputated.

thumb|220x220px|A member of the regiment wearing the shoulder title at [[Canada Day celebrations]]

thumb|Van Doos at the [[400th anniversary of Quebec City, their home base.]]A second Van Doos battle group, this time based on the 2nd Battalion, deployed to Kandahar from March to November 2009 and was the vanguard of the much-vaunted "key villages" program, wherein Canadian soldiers cleared urban areas of Taliban activity during sweeping combat operations and then installed sub-units permanently in those hamlets, guarding the approaches to Kandahar City. The composition of this battle group was nearly identical to previous incarnations, and it was able to rely heavily on the recently deployed CH-146 Griffon and CH-47 Chinook helicopters to perform a wide variety of airmobile operations, as well as traditional mechanized manoeuvres. The Griffon helicopters proved especially capable at spotting Taliban movements and directing accurate artillery fire on them, preventing Taliban groups from effectively re-infiltrating areas previously cleared.

Over the course of the seven-month Rotation 7, ten soldiers from the battle group were killed in action ("Rotation 7" denoting that this was the eighth consecutive Canadian battle group deployment in Kandahar since 2006, as rotations are numbered starting at "0"). Five additional Canadian soldiers, all belonging to the battle group's parent organization, Task Force Kandahar, also died during that period. The vast majority of these soldiers were killed by the Taliban's lethal employment of anti-vehicle or anti-personnel improvised explosive devices.

The final Canadian combat mission began in the fall of 2010 with the 1st Battalion Battle Group (BG) commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Michel-Henri St. Louis. One of the main operations taken on by the BG was Operation Baawar beginning in December 2010 featuring a major road project and a strongpoint construction project led by engineers, tanks, and infantry.

Memorials

[[File:04214-Lieux Historique Manège Militaire de la Grande-Allée - 004.JPG|left|thumb|

Je me souviens (1989) Royal 22e Régiment memorial by André Gauthier (sculptor) at Quebec City Armoury

]]A stone shaft was erected on the grounds of Royal Military College Saint-Jean on 26 September 1964 to commemorate the founding of the Royal 22nd Regiment; the regiment trained at Fort Saint-Jean in 1914. The monument lists the regiment's battle honours.

Je me souviens (1989) by André Gauthier, a bronze haut-relief bronze and granite wall memorial, was erected at Place George V in front of the Grande Allée Armoury in Quebec City. Unveiled on 11 November 1989, the sculpture honours the memory of the soldiers from the Royal 22e Régiment who were killed during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. The sculptor was inspired by A.T.C. Bastiens' painting L'Avance at the Canadian War Museum. The names of soldiers are inscribed in granite on the monument.

There is a group of 28 gravestones of members of the Royal 22e Régiment who died between 1929 and 1960 in the Notre Dame de Belmont Cemetery in Quebec City. Four gravestones, dated 1929, 1935, 1938, 1938 feature a crown, beaver and regimental motto. Seven gravestones, dated 1939, 1941, 1941, 1942, 1942, 1942, 1947 feature the Maple Leaf and Canadian Forces cross. Seven gravestones feature the Canadian Forces cross dated 1954, 1954, 1955, 1955, 1955, 1954, 1960.[[File:Royal 22e Régiment memorial (1964) at Royal Military College Saint-Jean.jpg|thumb|

Royal 22e Régiment memorial (1914–1964)

]]

Battalions

{| class=wikitable

! Battalion !! Home !! Higher formation !! Notes

| 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment

| CFB Valcartier

| 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group

| Mechanized infantry

| 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment

| Quebec City

| 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group

| Mechanized infantry, includes a Precision Drill Team

| 3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment

| CFB Valcartier

| 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group

| Light infantry, includes a Parachute company, a Jungle company, Mountain company, an Assault Pioneer platoon

| 4th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (Châteauguay)

| Laval, Quebec

| 34 Canadian Brigade Group

| Reserve, dismounted infantry, includes an Assault Pioneer platoon

| 6th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment

| Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec

| 34 Canadian Brigade Group

| Reserve, dismounted infantry, musical band (6th Battalion Royal 22e Régiment Band)

| La Musique du Royal 22e Régiment

| CFB Valcartier

| 2nd Canadian Division

| Regular Force professional band

thumb|Royal 22nd Regiment Band

Armouries

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%; width:100%; border:0; text-align:left; line-height:150%;"

! style="background:#f2f2f2; color:navy; width:21%;"| Site

! style="background:#f2f2f2; color:navy; width:14%;"| Date(s)

! style="background:#f2f2f2; color:navy; width:9%;"| Designated

! style="background:#f2f2f2; color:navy; width:36%;" class="unsortable"| Description

! style="background:#f2f2f2; color:navy; width:7%;" class="unsortable"| Image

|Saint-Hyacinthe Armoury 2155 Laframboise Blvd. Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec

|1905–06

|Canada's Register of Historic Places; Recognized – 2005 Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings

Housing the 6th Battalion of the Royal 22e Régiment, this centrally located brick-and-stone building is composed of a drill hall, a simple rectangular block with a gable roof, and the north block.

|St. Lambert Armoury St. Lambert, Quebec

|1928 Simeon Brais

|housing the 4th Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment (Châteauguay)

Battle honours

thumb|Camp flag of the Royal 22e Régiment

Battle honours in small capitals are for large operations and campaigns and those in lowercase are for more specific battles. Bold type indicates honours emblazoned on regimental colours.

Honorary distinction

The non-emblazonable honorary distinction DEFENCE OF CANADA - 1812-1815 - DÉFENSE DU CANADA.

Lieutenant Jean Brillant† – 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force – near Amiens, France – 8–9 August 1918

Perpetuations

War of 1812

7th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
"Les Chasseurs"
Beauharnois Division
Beloeil Division
Boucherville Division
Chambly Division
Isle Jésus Division
St. Denis Division
St. Hyacinthe Division
St. Ours Division
Verchères Division
Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry

Order of precedence

Regular Force:

Reserve Force:

Alliances

 – The Royal Welsh
 – 4th Battalion, Mercian Regiment

Freedom of the city (military)

The Royal 22e Régiment exercises its freedom of the city annually in Quebec City on 3 July of each year. Quebec cities that have granted freedom of the city to the regiment include: Quebec City, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jérôme, Farnham, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Drummondville and Val-Bélair. Foreign cities that have granted freedom of the city to the regiment include: Werl, Germany; Lahr, Germany, and Ortona, Italy, on 14 April 1993.

In popular culture

The Van Doos are the subject of a 2011 National Film Board of Canada documentary (English: The Van Doos in Afghanistan). The documentary was filmed in Afghanistan in March 2011. On 9 November 2011, the film was previewed for the families of 26 soldiers who had died during their mission in Afghanistan, at a ceremony at the Valcartier base. A commemorative mural by Canadian artist Dave Sopha was also unveiled.

Hyena Road is a 2015 Canadian war drama film shown in the Gala Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The title comes from built in Afghanistan in 2010–2011 by 1 R22eR Battle Group. The film features an English-speaking Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group, reflecting the language of the target audience.

Alliances

The regiment had an alliance with the Royal Welch Fusiliers from 1927 until that regiment's amalgamation into the Royal Welsh in 2006; this alliance included the frequent exchange of personnel between the two regiments.