The Third Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) is the Light Infantry Battalion in Western Canada. A light battalion is similar to the heavier mechanized battalions in terms of organization and structure, but different in terms of equipment and tasks. 3 PPCLI has no Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) or tanks, and carries less heavy weapons than the mechanized units. The battalion has a company of trained parachutists, as well as specialists in tasks such as marking drop zones (where parachutists land) and landing zones for helicopters. The battalion works with the Edmonton-based 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron routinely on training to keep airmobile skills sharp. All of the unit's vital equipment can be loaded into Canada’s CC-130 Hercules aircraft, which means the unit can be deployed faster than the mechanized units can.

NATO Task:

For this reason the light battalions are the logical choice to be part of the Immediate Reaction Force (Land) [IRF(L)] in support of NATO. The IRF(L) is a standing NATO task for which Canada provides a reaction force on a continual basis. The current reaction force is drawn primarily from 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG) and based on 3PPCLI, which can quickly deploy with limited equipment and vehicles, if required, along with other members of various NATO countries to a trouble spot within NATO and stabilize the region until the heavier formations can arrive. 3 PPCLI will depart for Norway in 2002 on the next NATO exercise to practice this immediate reaction role.

Recent Activities outside of "Operation Apollo":

3PPCLI already has some experience working with our NATO allies. In January, a Small Unit exchange was conducted with the Gebirgsjaegerbrigade 23, a German alpine unit. Twenty-eight Canadians were taught ski and alpine skills in Bavaria, while 30 Germans were taken along on a training exercise in the Yukon. The Yukon exercise was part of a series of army deployments to the North to confirm Canada’s ability to defend her Arctic regions. Many lessons were learned on both sides, and the exchange built a feeling of camaraderie between the two armies.

In April, a team led by 3PPCLI flew to Poland to teach selected members of the Polish army how Canada trains for peacekeeping missions. The two-week mission focussed on basic drills, such as weapons searches and convoy escorts, followed by practical exercises. These exercises simulated the various contingencies a peacekeeping unit might encounter overseas, from civilian demonstrations to armed belligerents. Canadian instructors watched the Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian students' performance, while a team of Canadian soldiers, with overseas experience, played the role of the local inhabitants. Afterward, the group was debriefed by instructors and players as to how they performed. By focussing on lessons learned, the training team passed on many good points and built a good deal of cooperation with new and potential NATO allies

From February to September 2000, the Battalion was deployed to Bosnia with NATO’s Stabilization Force. During the six-month tour the Battalion ensured basic security in the region, as well as helped with humanitarian assistance. Neighbor battalions on this deployment included NATO members the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France, as well as NATO hopeful the Czech Republic. 3 PPCLI enjoyed good relations with all of these units and was able to cooperate with them during various peace support operations.

Prior to departing Canada, the unit conducted extensive training exercises to prepare for Bosnia. In order to train for the day-to-day activities in Bosnia, 3 PPCLI conducted an exercise in various cities and towns north of Edmonton to get the soldiers used to working in a civilian environment. This training, called Exercise Palladium Response, was deemed a great success by the unit. Soldiers lived in schools and community halls all around the Sturgeon County area. St. Albert was the largest community to house 3 PPCLI soldiers. Other host communities were Bon Accord, Fort Saskatchewan, Gibbons, Legal, Morinville and Redwater. Many citizens volunteered their time to exercise activities, playing rioters or smugglers. Even those citizens who did not actively participate contributed to the exercise by forcing the soldiers to always take the civilian factor into consideration - a habit that paid off in Bosnia.

Throughout 1999, 3 PPCLI conducted intensive training including following tanks on foot across all 50 kilometres of Wainwright. The various exercises on the prairies or in the mountains forced the soldiers to become physically and mentally tough. Various live fire training also improved marksmanship on all weapons.

History of the Battalion:

3 PPCLI was originally stood up in 1952 to augment Canada’s contribution to the United Nations forces in Korea. After the war the battalion was disbanded.

It was fully reestablished in the 1960’s, when the Queen’s Own Rifles was reduced in strength and it’s members transferred to the PPCLI. Until 1993 the battalion was based in Victoria, B.C. and saw service overseas in Cyprus, in addition to its regular military training. In 1992 the battalion deployed to Croatia for a six-month peacekeeping tour. Following the battalion’s return in April 1993, it was decreased in strength as part of the Canadian Forces downsizing and moved to Chilliwack, B.C. Many battalion members were posted to the two other battalions of the regiment.

In 1996 the parachute company was authorized and established in Edmonton and drew soldiers from Chilliwack, Calgary and Winnipeg. Soon after, the rest of the battalion was authorized at full strength and moved from Chilliwack to Edmonton, with more augmentation from the other two battalions. During the rebuilding process training was kept to small numbers; battalion-strength training did not occur until 1998.

From 1998 until deployment to Bosnia, 3 PPCLI also responded to various natural disasters in Canada including: fighting forest fires in Central B.C.; sending soldiers to the Quebec and Ontario ice storms and the Toronto blizzard, as well as participating in the Canadian Forces operation to save Winnipeg from the flooding of the Red River.

History of the Regiment:

The PPCLI was formed in 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War. Andrew Hamilton Gault, a Montreal businessman and captain in the Militia, offered the government $100,000 to raise a battalion for service in Europe. The government agreed to equip the soldiers and pay for transport to Britain. To speed up the enlistment process, volunteers were required to have previous military service with the British Empire. Reaction was very quick and the battalion was up to full strength on August 19, 1914; eight days after the first call for volunteers. All but 49 out of 1,098 officers and men that volunteered had previous military experience. The speed at which the Regiment formed allowed the PPCLI to be in Europe in 1914; long before other units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force arrived. The Regiment still proudly refers to itself as “the first in the field.”

The first Commanding Officer of the Regiment was Lieutenant-Colonel Francis D. Farquhar, an officer of Britain’s Coldstream Guards, who, at the outbreak of war, was serving as Military Secretary to the Governor-General of Canada, His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught. Both the Coldstream Guards and the Governor-General agreed to allow Lt-Col Farquhar to command the new unit. The Regiment was named after Princess Patricia of Connaught, youngest daughter of the Duke. The Princess agreed to let the Regiment bear her name and also designed the Regiment’s cap badge and sewed a camp flag for the regiment of her own design. This camp flag was named the Ric-A-Dam-Doo and was carried by the Regiment in the trenches of Flanders and France until the Armistice in 1918.

The Regiment sailed for England in August 1914, and was in France with a British brigade by December. The first true test of the Regiment came in May 1915 in the Battle of Frezenburg. This battle was part of the greater German offensive in April 1915 that saw the first use of poison gas. The attack on Frezenburg, in southern Belgium, also saw chlorine gas used against soldiers who had no gas masks. Only 154 officers and soldiers came away from that battle unscathed. The remainder of 1915 was spent rebuilding the Regiment from recovered soldiers or replacements from Canada. By the end of the year the battalion was attached to the Canadian Corps and fought in all the major actions for the rest of the war including the Somme, Vimy, Passchendale and Amiens. By the end of the war the PPCLI had accumulated 22 Battle Honours and three members of the Regiment had been awarded the Victoria Cross - two of them posthumously.

After the war the PPCLI was one of three infantry battalions to remain on permanent strength following demobilization. Drastically reduced in size the Regiment, maintained a small stock of arms and ammunition and conducted limited training. In 1939 the Regiment was brought back up to full strength and sailed to England three and a half months after the declaration of the Second World War. The Regiment spent three years in England, firstly waiting for German invasion, then waiting to invade France. In fact the Regiment was sent to Sicily in August 1943 with the First Canadian Division, and then moved up into Italy. From then until March 1945 the unit fought with the allied army (Canadian, British and American) up the spine of Italy. After the Normandy landings in 1944, the First Division became known as the “D-Day Dodgers,” after a Member of Parliament asked a question concerning the employment of Canadians in the war effort.

In March 1945 the Regiment moved with the Division to Holland to rejoin the First Canadian Army. The next two months involved taking part in the liberation of the Netherlands. On May 7, 1945, the PPCLI were the first Allied soldiers to enter Amsterdam, two days after the war ended. The Regiment ended the war having won another 20 Battle Honours, at the cost of 268 killed and 1,066 wounded.

After the war the Regiment again downsized upon demobilization, but remained as a permanent force unit. Very quickly the army was required to deter Communist aggression in Korea. In 1950 the Regiment gained a second battalion for the second time. In 1945 a second battalion had been raised for service against Japan, but never deployed. This time the new unit, known as 2 PPCLI or the Second Battalion, did deploy to Korea after extensive training. In April 1951 2 PPCLI, with Australian and American units, held back a major Chinese offensive that had pushed through the UN lines and was heading for Seoul.

The battle in the Kapy’ong valley lasted 48 hours and was widely credited with saving Seoul and the allied effort. For “outstanding heroism and exceptionally meritorious conduct,” (2 PPCLI had been cut-off and surrounded, yet continued to fight, receiving supplies dropped by air) the unit was awarded a United States Presidential Unit Citation, the only Canadian unit to ever receive one. In addition to a second battalion, a third was raised to keep the war effort going in Korea. 3 PPCLI served in Korea from 1952 until the end of the war in 1953. In-between 2 PPCLI and 3 PPCLI, the soldiers from 1 PPCLI also did their fair share. The Regiment earned two Battle Honours in Korea.

After the war, the Regiment lost the Third Battalion, but kept the Second. In 1967 the Third Battalion was re-formed as part of an amalgamation of army regiments. Since then the battalions of the Regiment have deployed to various overseas missions including peacekeeping in Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Various NATO postings have included Germany and temporary deployments to Norway. All three battalions have been to Bosnia or Kosovo in the last year.

The copyright to the regimental crests and text used rests in the Canadian Department of National Defence and may be used for personal and non-commercial use only.

Music: Band of the PPCLI - "PPCLI Regimental March"