All, I am currently estranged from my small library of books on this matter and wondered if someone could help, I wonder if anyone could point me towards a list of Cavalry Regiments in 1939-40 and their role at this time, for example from memory the 11th Hussars and 12th Lancers were both Armoured Car Regiments.
Ron, Thanks for the link, weren't there however some amalgamations in the 1920s? For example the creation of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards and the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
Rusty - You are quite right as in 1922 it was deemed that horses were of little use on a battlefield and thus ALL Cavalry units were to be converted to Armoured - in most cases- this the amalgamations took place- against many objections from the horsey set thus delaying the process and it was not until 1940 that my regiment shed their horses in Egypt on the way home from India that they were equipped with Tanks in the UK - but they had been joined at the hip with 5th Irish Lancers long before then.....one anomaly was that they kept their standing against the more senior regiment in their title 16/5th Lancers whereas all other went by the lower number - i.e 4/7th - 14/20 -12/19th etc today of course they have lost that predominance by the amalgamation with 17/21st Lancers to become The Queen's Royal Lancers - with the 17th's Cap badge ...aaaarrrghgh Cheers
A quickly-compiled, late-1939-ish list (let me know where it's wrong!): 1 & 2 Armd Bdes were in 1 Armd Div in the UK, the horsed regiments were in Palestine. Glad you said cavalry and not yeomanry...
Alagamation appeared to be the name of the game once major conflicts ceased. I never thought for a moment that a regiment as steeped in tradition as my old mob, the 4th QOH, would be given the kibosh but like so many others they were broken up and merged with similar units. 'Twas ever so, I'm afraid. Ron
Chris - Apologies for being so abrupt but - on thinking about this - the 9/12th came into being way after WW2 - 1960 circa - but my experience was with 9th Lancers when they did a great job in the desert in 1st Armoured Div in 2nd Bde when they led the retreat from Gazala back to Alamein - later at El Hamma in Tunisia - a long wait in Tunisia until they joined us at the Gothic Line where they were out of battle experience and were broken up as a Division - the 2nd ABde were first into Venice as I recall Cheers
ALDERSHOT SHOW - British Pathé Royal Scots Greys and 4th Queens Own Hussars - Mounted Regiments 1936 Aldershot Tattoo 4th Queens Own Hussars TAKING CHANCES! - British Pathé
All, Thank you for all the replies, they have proved very interesting. A special mention should however go to idler, thank you very much exactly what I was after. Regards Rusty Buckle
Coming to this a little late (sorry - this is my first post here), but the 16th/5th were so named because the 5th Royal Irish Lancers were, in fact, the junior regiment. Although the 5th Dragoons and then Light Dragoons had existed long before the 16th came along, the regiment had been disbanded in 1798 following the Irish Rebellion of that year (the story goes that the 5th recruited rebels to their ranks). The 5th Light Dragoons were then reformed - but not until 1858. That meant their precedence was actually after the 17th Lancers (the 19th and 20th Hussars and 21st Lancers came with the reduction of the Company's Army in India) ... so, when amalgamated, the 5th were the junior regiment. Regarding the assertion that "horsey types" were against mechanisation, I would disagree with that. In the 11th Hussars, for example, mechanisation was embraced enthusiastically. A more likely cause for the delay in mechanising cavalry regiments was government financial constraints - for example, when the 10th Hussars mechanised in the late 30's the first thing they received were tatty old lorries, with obsolete Light Tanks not arriving until shortly before war broke out. The regiments (such as the 16th/5th) on the Indian Establishment were even more affected by the financial side of things - and, of course, there appeared to be no rapid requirement for India to mechanise: no-one saw any expectation of a western-style enemy. For Internal Security purposes, horses were a sight more useful than tanks.
Gonzo welcome to your first posting of undoubted historic accuracy regarding the mechanistion of the Cavalry - however -the objections to mechanisation lasted long into ww2 at many senior levels as we look at the actions of people like Lumsden who seemed to think that the Charge of the Light Brigade was still relevant to seeing off German PZ's 1V's and running on to the 88mm's to the destruction of too many Tanks and crews….took Monty until Medenine -Feb '43 to get of him and his attitude and create an Armoured Corps which fought as they should with the equivalent of the British Blitzkreig at El Hamma - Tunis- and the three AD's charging towards Antwerp et al…strongly doubt that Horses would have made those charges… Cheers
Just had to give my old tale an airing. There were some amazing times ! I served in the Forces between October 1st 1942 & March 1947. That's about four and a half years in total. It was inevitable that within that time scale I should experience a vast gamut of experiences ranging from the depth of despair to immense exultation and before I move on to other fields I find myself eager to get as much as possible into print while I am still around to do it. One of the more pleasurable moments springs to light. Picture the scene..... It was during the closing stages of the war in Italy. For the the previous month our Armoured Brigade had been moving relatively slowly through a landscape that consisted of hills and rivers. Suddenly we came to the Argenta Gap and immediately it was 'pierced' we were able to see the plains and nothing seemed to stand in the way of our advance. The order must have been given 'In open order -- Advance !' because all the vehicles in the front (which included my Honey Tank) literally moved forward in one long line and it was the most wonderful sight that I had ever seen in my (then) short life. With coloured pennants flying from our aerial masts and with some of our crews even firing pistol shots into the air (a la the old cowboy films) we moved forward un-obstructed by an enemy who were more interested in getting away from us rather than offering resistance. Simply wonderful, and I was there ! Ron
