alternatehistory.com

I just had a brief moment of nostalgic reminiscing about the Once Weren't Warriors thread, so I thought it might be a good idea to see if it could be revived. A list, in no particular order, of military units that never were. putting this in Before 1900 to keep yopur options open, but there's no reason to hold back if you have a good post-1900 idea.

I'll start:

94th Regiment The Forsythe Highlanders

Raised in 1799, the Forsythe Highland Line Infantry Regiment (they insist on the spelling Forsythe) saw action in the West Indies, Mysore, and Malaya before returning to Britain in 1817. Based first in Bristol, later in Inniskillen and briefly in Michni, the unit was neither fashionable nor lucky in war. Its primary claim to fame remains the regimental tradition of doubling the number of pipers in each company, making them popular at military shows and band competitions. Its modern battle honours are limited to the Irish Invasion of 1872, the Siamese Conflict of 1911, and the Asantahene War of 1959. In the latter case, the decision to deploy the regiment was viewed as a political move to strengthen the "imperial" nature of the force in an efdfort to deter French intervention. IBS reported Daniel Rathstone was famously told by a navy officer attached to the beachmaster's staff: "That's not an army, it's a f***ing imperial jamboree. The Forsythe Highlanders? What next, the Simlah Girl Guides?"

In the parliamentary Budget Debates of 1958, the Liberal Member for Inverness referred to the 94th Regiment as "The empire's most expensive folk music appreciation society".
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