5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


The 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are one of two battalions within the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Originally formed as the Fusilier Volunteers, the battalion saw many changes and reforms before finally gaining their modern title of the 5th battalion in 2006.
Following the more recent Army 2020 Refine, the battalion is today paired with 1 R FUSILIERS and is organised as a reserve armoured infantry battalion within the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade.

History

Cold War

The Fusilier Volunteers were first formed in 1967 following the 1966 Defence White Paper many new "large" regiments were formed. One of these new regiments was the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, formed from the amalgamation of the Royal Northumberland, Royal Warwickshire, Royal, and Lancashire Fusiliers regiments. As a result, the fusiliers formed a new reserve regiment/battalion known as the Fusilier Volunteers.
In 1967, the Fusiliers Volunteers were formed within TAVR II with the following structure;
In 1968 the regiment was renamed as the 5th Battalion following their induction into the regiment. In December the E Company was formed in Ashington with a platoon in Alnwick following the expansion of the cadre of the former 7th battalion of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.
During the 1970's, the Ministry of Defence implemented a new major reform scheme known as the 1975 Mason Review which would re-evaluate the way the British Army of the Rhine was organised. As part of these reforms, the territorials were re-organised into new brigades, with many divisions being disbanded and re-organised into districts. As part of these reforms, A Company based in Sandyford at this time was transferred as X Company and E Company transferred as Z Company.
In 1981 the 1981 "The Way Forward" Defence White Paper was published with many changes of the former Mason Review being reverted, namely the reinstatement of division and brigades of the British Army of the Rhine. Among the changes of the review was the reformation of the Home Guard under the new title of the Home Service Force. Following the formation of this new group, G Company was formed within the battalion. A few years later in 1986 the territorial army was again re-organised to be more efficient in the event of war with the Warsaw Pact. One of the changes brought through this was the re-organisation of the battalion into the following;
In 1992 following the end of the Cold War, the Options for Change reforms were announced. These reforms were mostly focused on the regular army and reduced the army, namely the army in Germany, to just a division. As a result of these reforms, the battalion was now all based in Warwickshire. Following these changes, the battalion then had the following structure;
As seen in the list above, all unit subtitles were removed, this not only happened to the battalion but to almost all territorial units. Eventually in 1997, following the Front Line First reforms, the battalion was renamed as the 5th Battalion. Finally in 1999, following the Strategic Defence Review the battalion was disbanded and formed part of the new West Midlands Regiment.
In 2003 following the Delivering Security in a Changing World reforms, it was announced that most 1 battalion units would be amalgamated. As a result, the 5th Battalion was re-formed in 2006 following conversion of the Tyne-Tees Regiment and assigned back to The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
After the Army 2020 refines, the battalion moved from the 15th Brigade to join the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade. As a result, the battalion was paired with the 1st battalion and reorganised and converted to a reserve armoured infantry battalion. After the refines, the battalion now has the following structure;