THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY -

BRIEF REGIMENTAL HISTORY OF

THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

(1st DRAGOONS) 1661-1992

The Royal Dragoons

(1st Dragoons)

1661 - 1969

The garrison was withdrawn on grounds of economy,
and on their return to England The Tangier Horse were
regimented as Dragoons, with between six and eight troops
according to the funds in the Exchequer and the state of
emergency in Europe.

The term 'Dragoon' was derived from the 'dragon' or
16th century musket suitable for mounted infantry.

Dragoons were originally highly mobile infantry
employed to capture a key feature ahead of an advance,
to cover an infantry withdrawal, or to support the Horse in
a pitched battle by firing dismounted from a flank. They
carried no armour, and so did not need large horses.

Although the difference between the tactical employment of
Horse and Dragoons fast disappeared, the difference in
equipment remained for many years.

Here they fought a curious campaign of bluff in
Eastern Spain. Lord Peterborough won an entire province
almost bloodlessly by scattering his Dragoons in small
detachments to appear as the advance guard of a large army.

During this campaign The Royals' employment as Horse,
as distinct from Dragoons, was recognised by equipping them
with the iron skull caps and the long straight swords
used by the Horse.

The Regiment went again to Flanders to take part in the
War of the Austrian Succession, in which they distinguished
themselves by a charge at Dettingen in 1743, and
at Fontenoy in 1745.

It was at Dettingen that The Royals defeated the Black
Musketeers, from whence came their black plume and the
black backings to badges of rank. After Fontenoy, they were
recalled to Britain for the Stuart rising of that year,
though the Regiment saw no action in it.

By now there was little to distinguish Dragoons from Horse,
except that the former still carried muskets.

From 1755 to 1759, The Royal Dragoons had a light troop
with the same role and equipment as the original Dragoons;
in 1758, during the Seven Years' War, this troop took part
in two of the earliest 'Commando' type seaborne raids
on the coast of France, against St. Malo and Cherbourg.

The Royals served in the Spanish Peninsular under
Lord Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington. They acted as
rearguard during the retreat to the Torres Vedras lines
in 1810, and their charge at Fuentes d'Onor in 1811 was
a major contribution to that victory.

By the end of the war in 1814, The Royal Dragoons had
advanced into Southern France and, to save the expense
and casualties of a sea voyage, were given permission to
march through France to Calais.

The 'Hundred Days' campaign saw The Royals in Flanders
again, and their successful charge at Waterloo on 18th June,
1815, with the Union Brigade, was largely responsible for
maintaining the Allies' weakest flank until the belated arrival
of the Prussians.

During this charge, the 105 Eagle which is now part of
The Blues and Royals' dress, was captured from the
French 105th Infantry Regiment of the Line by
Captain K Clarke and Corporal Stiles.

The Boer War was marked for The Royal Dragoons by
hard service with few highlights. After a conventional
campaign in Natal in 1900, which failed to provide the
opportunity for a cavalry charge, they spent the rest of
the war taking part in Kitchener's drives in the Transvaal
to round up Boer guerillas.

As a result of experience gained in the Boer War,
the rifle superceded the sword in importance, and the lance,
adopted in 1892 for the front rank, was discarded except
for ceremonial; khaki was retained as a working dress,
and the Regiment began the concentrated training in
dismounted work with fire-arms which was to stand them
in good stead in the First World War.

The outbreak of the First World War found the Regiment
again in South Africa, where they had helped quell the
Johannesburg riots of 1913, earning praise for their restraint
and judgement in this unpleasant duty.

By October 1914, The Royal Dragoons were in Flanders,
where for a short time they saw service in their normal
cavalry role, during the intense activity which preceded
the First Battle of Ypres.

Thereafter the Regiment saw little mounted service -
at first, in their role of mobile reserve, they were available
to man trenches in their sector wherever the need was
greatest, and so had to keep their horses close at hand,
thereby suffering severe casualties among the horse holders
from shellfire.

Although throughout the war it was hoped to force a gap
for the Cavalry to exploit, The Royals were only able to use
the arme blanche twice. The first occasion was in a small
but brilliantly successful charge alongside the 10th Hussars.

The other occasion was during the final Allied offensive
in 1918, when the Regiment formed part of an advanced guard;
trenches, craters and wire restricted them, for most of the time,
to patrolling.

Their last action in the war was a charge, clearing positions
around Honnechy which had impeded the Allied advance.

However, for the greater part of the war The Royal Dragoons
did hard and uncongenial work in the trenches, and did it
with distinction, even though not properly equipped for
an infantry role.

The Regiment fought at the first and second Battle of Ypres,
at Loos in 1915, opposite the Hohenzollern line in 1916,
and against the Hindenberg line in 1917.

The Royal Dragoons were in Palestine, engaged in
internal security duties, during the troubles between
Arabs and Jews.

The Regiment's last mounted parade was on
Waterloo Day, 1940, and in December of that year they
moved to Egypt to become mechanised.

They then became an Armoured Car Regiment,
reviving at last their original reconnaissance role
as Dragoons.

After mechanisation, 'A' Squadron went to join the
11th Hussars in the Western Desert, while 'B' Squadron
moved to Syria to take part in the campaign against
the Vichy French.

Shortly afterwards, R.H.Q. and 'C' Squadron went to
the Western Desert, but after a few weeks R.H.Q. and
'A' Squadron joined 'B' Squadron in Syria, leaving
'C' Squadron in the Western Desert.

On conclusion of the armistice in Syria, the Regiment
moved north to Aleppo to patrol the Syrian-Turkish border,
where they were later joined by 'C' Squadron.

In December 1941, The Royal Dragoons joined the
Eighth Army in the Western Desert, advancing with it to
Benghazi - they were the first troops to enter the city on
Christmas Day, 1941 - and on to Agedabia.

During Rommel's counter-offensive of January 1942,
they acted as flank and rearguard for the withdrawal to
the Gazala line, and the subsequent retreat from Tobruk.

After the stabilisation of the line at El Alamein, apart from
a month's rest in order to refit, the Royals were on
constant patrol duty.

During the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942,
'A' and 'C' Squadrons slipped unobserved at night
through the enemy lines and spent two days behind
the front, causing chaos among the German supply
columns and the retreating Italian infantry.

Thereafter, during the rapid advance that followed
the victory of Alamein, The Royals led the southern flank
of the Eighth Army as a flying column frequently with
other arms under command.

By the middle of May 1943, the enemy had been driven
from North Africa, and the Regiment spent the period from
then until September resting - and training - in Tunisia.

In July, 'A' Squadron left Tunisia to take part in the
invasion of Sicily, where they saw hard service during this
short campaign.

In October, the remainder of the Regiment joined
'A' Squadron in Italy, but they saw very little of the Italian
campaign, as just before Christmas 1943, The Royal Dragoons
were sent home to train for Operation 'Overlord',
the invasion of France.

The main features of this training were the formation of
'D' Squadron, the waterproofing of vehicles, and the arrival of
half-tracks, mounted with 75 mm guns, for the heavy troops.

After Crossing to Normandy at the end of July 1944,
the squadrons split up, all taking part in the rapid advance
north through France and Flanders, where they helped
to keep the axis open during the drive to join up with the
Airborne forces in Nijmegen and Arnhem.

By 27th September, 'D' Squadron was patrolling the
German border north of Nijmegen.

Then for three months the Regiment saw continuous action,
being responsible for watching a long sector of the Maas
with a number of other units, involving much dismounted work
and foot patrols.

During this period the gun troops were pooled to form an
effective battery. Only in January 1945 did the Regiment have
a month in reserve, when they were together for the first time
since landing in France.

The final phase of the war saw The Royal Dragoons doing
bank control for the Rhine crossing, from 23rd to 28th March,
and thereafter advancing to the Elbe, where 'B' and 'C' Squadrons
controlled the crossing in late April.

In the German collapse that followed, the Regiment took
10,000 German prisoners and freed 16,000 Allied POWs
on 2nd May, and on 3rd May they pushed north to the Baltic,
where they captured General Cuentzler near Lubeck.

Immediately following the German surrender on
5th May 1945, The Royal Dragoons had the good fortune
to drive through Denmark and, as representatives of the
Second Army, to liberate Copenhagen, where they received
a tremendous welcome.

The Royals then embarked for Egypt, where they spent
three years on internal security duties, necessitated by the
Egyptian attitude towards the British in the Suez Canal Zone.

After three months in England, marked by the presentation
of their last Guidon at Tidworth in April 1954, The Royals
returned to Germany.

There followed five years' peaceful soldiering, ending with
six weeks in England in the autumn of 1959, and so out
to Arabia.

Here they spent a year, based on Aden, but with troops
ranging from the Western Aden Protectorate hill forts,
the Trucial States and the Oman, to Kenya.

In March 1969 the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)
amalgamated with The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons)
to form a new Regiment of Household Cavalry known as
'The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)'.

This amalgamation came about as a result of Government
pressure on the Ministry of Defence to reduce the size of
the army. The Household Cavalry had received a previous cut
when the 1st and 2nd Life Guards were amalgamated in 1922.