Officers and men are dressed, armed, and equipped very similarly to the Infantry of the Line (q. v.). They may, however, be readily distinguished by the broad red stripe on their trousers, and by the Royal Arms in front of the helmet. The forage-caps of the rank-and-file are small round ones with a broad yellow band and no brim, worn on the top of the head. Officers wear a black and gold pouch belt instead of a sash. The facings are of dark-blue velvet, with yellow edging.
Infantry.
The British Infantry is composed of—
- The Brigade of Guards (3 regiments).
- 69 Regiments of Infantry of the Line.
- 1 West India Regiment.
Napoleon the Great said of the British Infantry: “It is the best infantry in the world; luckily, there is not much of it.” It has certainly not deteriorated since his day; but, unfortunately, it is not much more numerous now than it was then.
Two years ago a distinguished Russian general said to an English Guardsman: “Are your men as fine a lot as they were in ’54?” and on receiving an answer in the affirmative, said: “I am sorry for it, if we ever have to fight you again. I had more than enough of them in the Crimea.” And Moltke said of the late Nile Expedition in 1885: “No one but English soldiers could have done what they did.”
Such remarks speak for themselves.
The Brigade of Guards consists of three regiments—
- The Grenadier Guards, of which there are 3 battalions.
- The Coldstream Guards, of which there are 2 battalions.
- The Scots Guards, of which there are 2 battalions.
These three regiments form the Sovereign’s Body-Guard, and do not usually serve out of Europe. The late campaigns in Egypt, however (1882 and 1885), and the prospective campaign in Canada in 1864, in all of which two or more battalions of Guards took part, go to prove that every rule has its exceptions.