Paul Revere

“The Regulars are coming!” That was the phrase heard on the morning of April 19, 1775 along the highways leading to Lexington and Concord from Boston, Massachusetts.

On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column.

On this night in 1775, Paul Revere was instructed by the Sons of Liberty to ride to Lexington, Mass., to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them. On his way to Lexington, Revere raised the alarm, stopping at each house.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gunfire was exchanged, leaving two colonists and three redcoats dead. Afterward, the British retreated back to Boston, skirmishing with colonial militiamen along the way and suffering a number of casualties; the Revolutionary War had begun.

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His most famous quote was fabricated. Paul Revere never shouted the legendary phrase later attributed to him (“The British are coming!”) as he passed from town to town. The operation was meant to be conducted as discreetly as possible since scores of British troops were hiding out in the Massachusetts countryside.

Benedict Arnold, the American general during the Revolutionary War who betrayed his country and became synonymous with the word “traitor,” was born on January 14, 1741.

Unfortunately, all wrong. First, Revere didn’t use the term “Regulars” instead of “British” because most Americans still considered themselves to be British, he did so because British soldiers were called Regulars (because they were in the regular army).

While nearly all technical and support branches of the army wore dark blue, the Royal Engineers had worn red since the Peninsular War in order to draw less fire when serving amongst red-coated infantry. Scarlet tunics ceased to be general issue upon British mobilisation in August 1914.

Regulars

Continental Army

Tommy Atkins

The Parachute Regiment

Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is slang for a common soldier in the British Army. German soldiers would call out to “Tommy” across no man’s land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. French and Commonwealth troops would also call British soldiers “Tommies”.

Simple answer: Germany, by far. Why? Because Germany recognized, at the beginning of stalemate in late ’14, that frontal assault was suicide, and that defensive warfare was far more economical and efficient, unlike the allies who kept trying for the “great breakthrough”.