The Nova Scotia Highlanders

Mi'kmaq militias	1677-1779
Acadian militias	1689-1761
40th Regiment	1717-57
Troupes de la marine	1717-58
Gorham's Rangers	1744-62
Danks' Rangers	1756-62
84th Regiment of Foot	1775-84
Royal Fencible American	1775-83
Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers	1775-83
King's Orange Rangers	1776-83
1st Field Artillery	1791-present
Royal Nova Scotia	1793-1802
Nova Scotia Fencibles	1803-16
The Halifax Rifles (RCAC)	1860-present
The Princess Louise Fusiliers	1867-present
78th Highlanders	1869-71
Cape Breton Highlanders	1871-present
Nova Scotia Rifles	1914-19
No. 2 Construction Battalion	1916-19
West Nova Scotia	1916-present
The Nova Scotia Highlanders	1954-present

Battle of Port Royal	1690
Conquest of Acadia	1710
Battle of Jeddore Harbour	1722
Northeast Coast Campaign	1745
Battle of Grand Pré	1747
Dartmouth Massacre	1751
Bay of Fundy Campaign	1755
Fall of Louisbourg	1758
Headquarters established for Royal Navy's North American Station	1758
Burying the Hatchet ceremony	1761
Battle of Fort Cumberland	1776
Raid on Lunenburg	1782
Halifax Impressment Riot	1805
Establishment of New Ireland	1812
Capture of USS Chesapeake	1813
Battle at the Great Redan	1855
Siege of Lucknow	1857
CSS Tallahassee Escape	1861
Departing Halifax for Northwest Rebellion	1885
Departing Halifax for the Boer War	1899
Imprisonment of Leon Trotsky	1917
Jewish Legion formed	1917
Sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle	1918
Battle of the St. Lawrence	1942–44
Sinking of SS Point Pleasant Park	1945
Halifax VE-Day Riot	1945
Walter Callow Wheelchair Bus established	1947

The Nova Scotia Highlanders
	File:NovaScotiaHighlandersLogo.jpg
Active	1871–present
Country	Canada
Branch	Primary Reserve
Type	Light infantry
Role	Light role
Size	One battalions
Part of	Royal Canadian Infantry Corps
Garrison/HQ	Truro, Nova Scotia
Motto(s)	Siol Na Fear Fearail (Breed of Manly Men)
March	The Sweet Maid of Glendaruel (Regiment) ; The Atholl Highlanders (1Bn)
Abbreviation	NS Highrs (as seen on rank slip on) ; Official-NSH

The Nova Scotia Highlanders (also known as North Novies, North Novas) is a reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces.

Creation[]

The regiment was formed in 1954 by the amalgamation of The North Nova Scotia Highlanders, The Cape Breton Highlanders, and The Pictou Highlanders.

The regiment was composed of two separate units, officially designated as the 1st Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (North), and 2nd Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (Cape Breton), both of which were part of 5th Canadian Division's 36 Canadian Brigade Group. The 1st Battalion was headquartered in Truro with individual companies located in Amherst, Pictou, New Glasgow, Springhill, and Truro. The 2nd Battalion was headquartered in Sydney, and in 2011 it was renamed back to its pre-1954 designation, the Cape Breton Highlanders.^[1]^[2] This leaves The Nova Scotia Highlanders as a one-battalion regiment.

Headdress[]

Although the 2nd Battalion continued the proud tradition of wearing balmorals, the traditional headdress of the regiment, the 1st Battalion did not. There was a strong movement within the unit by the majority of the troops to replace the beret with the balmoral once again as it marked out the highland unit as distinctive and showed the ties with the unit's heritage that contributed to its ésprit de corps. As of January 1, 2011, the balmoral once again became the official headdress of the 1st Battalion as well.

History of predecessor regiments[]

Members of the regiment volunteered for service in the Canadian Contingents that served in South African War (1899–1902) (see South African War Memorial (Halifax)). The regiment's original constituents participated in many operations, including the Vimy, the Hindenburg Line in World War I and the Normandy landing, Boulogne, and the Gothic Line in World War II.

Perpetuations[]

The Nova Scotia Highlanders perpetuate the following battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force of the First World War:

Battle honours[]

The Nova Scotia Highlanders have received 56 battle honours since the unit's inception.

They are:

South Africa, 1899–1900 (South African War Memorial (Halifax))

First World War

Ypres, 1915, '17
Festubert, 1915
Mount Sorrel
Somme, 1916, '18
Flers-Courcelette
Thiepval
Ancre Heights
Arras, 1917, '18
Vimy, 1917
Arleux
Scarpe, 1917, '18
Hill 70
Passchendaele
Amiens
Drocourt-Quéant
Hindenburg Line
Canal du Nord
Cambrai, 1918
Valenciennes
Sambre
France and Flanders, 1915–18

Second World War

Liri Valley
Melfa Crossing
Ceprano
Gothic Line
Montecchio
Coriano
Lamone Crossing
Fosso Munio
Conventello-Comacchio
Italy, 1944–1945
Normandy Landing
Authie
Caen
The Orne
Bourguébus Ridge
Faubourg de Vaucelles
Verrières Ridge–Tilly-la-Campagne
Falaise
The Laison
Chambois
Boulogne, 1944
Calais, 1944
The Scheldt
Savojaards Plaat
Breskens Pocket
The Rhineland
Waal Flats
The Hochwald
The Rhine
Zutphen
IJsselmeer
Leer
Delfzijl Pocket
North-West Europe, 1944–1945.

NOTE: The honours in bold appear on the Nova Scotia Highlanders regimental colours.

Armouries[]

Site	Date(s)	Designated	Location	Description
Col Welsford MacDonald Armoury 31 Union Street			Pictou, Nova Scotia	Housing The Nova Scotia Highlanders, this centrally located building has a flat roof
New Glasgow Armoury 10 Riverside Parkway			New Glasgow, Nova Scotia	Housing The Nova Scotia Highlanders, this centrally located building has a flat roof
Col James Layton Ralston Armoury, Acadia Street	1914-1915 David Ewart	Canada's Register of Historic Places; Recognized - 1990 Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings	Amherst, Nova Scotia	Housing The Nova Scotia Highlanders, this large, centrally-located stone and brick Baronial style building features two sturdy towers, a triple arched entrance way and a large drill hall
LCol Daniel J Murray Armoury 72 North Street			Springhill, Nova Scotia	Housing The Nova Scotia Highlanders, this centrally located building has a flat roof
Truro Armoury 126 Willow Street,	1874 Thomas Seaton Scott	Canada's Register of Historic Places; Recognized - 1991 Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings	Truro, Nova Scotia	Housing 1st Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders, this centrally located box-like Dominion style Neo-Gothic style building with a flat roof was designed with classical inspiration.

Alliances[]

United Kingdom — 1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire)

Order of precedence[]

Preceded by The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment	The Nova Scotia Highlanders	Succeeded by Le Régiment de Maisonneuve

References[]

Texts

No Retreating Footsteps: The Story of the North Novas (by Will R. Bird)
The Fighting North Novies: Into the Fire (by Al Cameron)

Endnotes

↑ Ministry of National Defence (January 16, 2011). "Minister of National Defence Peter Mackay Announces the Return of the Cape Breton Highlanders". http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/news-nouvelles-eng.asp?cat=00&id=3701. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
↑ Ken MacLeod (September 8, 2011). "Cape Breton Highlanders on parade Saturday for first time in more than 50 years". http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2011-09-08/article-2743608/Cape-Breton-Highlanders-on-parade-Saturday-for-first-time-in-nearly-30-years/1. Retrieved September 11, 2011.

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at The Nova Scotia Highlanders and the edit history here.

[1] Ministry of National Defence (January 16, 2011). "Minister of National Defence Peter Mackay Announces the Return of the Cape Breton Highlanders". http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/news-nouvelles-eng.asp?cat=00&id=3701. Retrieved January 20, 2011.

[2] Ken MacLeod (September 8, 2011). "Cape Breton Highlanders on parade Saturday for first time in more than 50 years". http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2011-09-08/article-2743608/Cape-Breton-Highlanders-on-parade-Saturday-for-first-time-in-nearly-30-years/1. Retrieved September 11, 2011.

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