HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY INFORMATION

THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY -

BRIEF REGIMENTAL HISTORY

DURING WORLD WAR 2

The Second World War

1st and 2nd Household Cavalry Regiments

The Second World War marked the first time in history in which the Regiments
of Household Cavalry were really composite.

Hitherto, in Composite Regiments, squadrons had been made up entirely of
one particular Regiment.

In the Second World War, no single squadron was entirely composed of
members of one Regiment.

1st Household Cavalry Regiment

1940	The 1st HCR went to Palestine with horses in January 1940.
1941 - 1942	Shortly after becoming 'motorised' in Spring 1941, 1st HCR became part of the small British force which entered Iraq to effect the relief of the R.A.F. garrison at Habbanya. The Iraqi government was pro-Axis, and the force continued from Habbanya to Baghdad, which was invested 31st May, 1941. Early in June, with a small British Force, the 1st HCR entered Syria, the Vichy-French government of which threatened to allow the country to be taken over by Germany and Italy. Palmyra fell in July. 1st HCR were then sent to Persia, which was invaded by Russia from the east. 1st HCR met up with the Russion Army in Tehran in August. This was the first contact of any Allied troops with the Russians. The Regiment returned to Palestine, and then to Cyprus, where it began the process of conversion to an Armoured Car Regiment. The process was completed in Egypt just before the great battle of El Alamein in late October 1942.
1942 - 1945	At Alamein, the 1st HCR were on the extreme left flank of the 8th Army, deep in the desert. The Regiment did not take part in the subsequent advance from Alamein across the Western Desert but was sent to Syria to patrol the Turko-Syrian border, it being feared that Turkey would join the Axis powers. In April 1944, 1st HCR was shipped to Italy. The Italian campaign was at that time well under way. During the summer of 1944, 1st HCR were in action near Arezzo and in the Advance to Florence. The Regiment finally took a part in dismounted actions in the Gothic Line - the German defensive system in Northern Italy. After four years and ten months in the Mediterranean theatre of war, 1st HCR embarked for the U.K. in October 1944, and after a brief spell in U.K. went out to N.W. Europe, remaining in Holland from 13th March 1945, to 19th April 1945 - when the Regiment entered Germany - and ended the war with the Guards Armoured Division in N.W. Germany at Stade on the Elbe Estuary.

2nd Household Cavalry Regiment

1940 - 1944	After the departure of the 1st HCR for Palestine in 1940, the remnant of Household Cavalry in England was formed into a Reserve Regiment in London and a Training Regiment at Windsor. At the end of 1940 the Training Regiment was converted to a Motor Battalion. Early in 1941 the Motor Battalion was converted to an armoured car Regiment in the newly formed Guards Armoured Division: it was then renamed '2nd Household Cavalry Regiment'.
1944	The 2nd HCR landed at Graye-Sur-Mer in Normandy on 12th and 13th July 1944, and on 30th July 1944 an attempt to breach the German line succeeded near Mont Pincon. From then on, 2nd HCR were in the van of the British advance until September. The Regiment were first across the Souleuvre river, taking a vital bridge which led to the collapse of the Germans in Normandy. On 15th August, troops of the 2nd HCR were first in the Crossing of the Noireau, while on 31st August, near Amiens, three troops captured three bridges over the Somme, well ahead of the rest of the whole Army, and held them until the Guards Armoured Division crossed. Thereafter, 2nd HCR, leading the Guards Armoured Division (which spearheaded the 31st Army Group into Northern France), made rapid headway, and by the 3rd September became the first British troops to re-enter Belgium. On the same day, 'A' Squadron 2nd HCR entered Brussels at approximately 1730 hrs, and continued the advance on the following day as far as Louvain. On 10th September, 1944, a troop of 2nd HCR succeeded in reconnoitring the important bridge over the Escaut Canal, near Neerpelt, by means of which the British Army were to enter Holland. During the great airborne operation to take the large bridges at Grave, Nijmegen and Arnhem, 2nd HCR were constantly on forward patrols. Two troops managed to get through heavy German defences on the Neder Rijn and made contact with the Polish airborne near Driel, Arnhem. These troops joined the airborne in their gallant but unsuccessful fight, and eventually got back to their own Squadron.
1945	In February 1945, the Regiment was employed in the Nijmegen sector at a time when the Germans were desperately fighting the British advance to the Rhine. 2nd HCR crossed the Rhine at Rhees with the Guards Armoured Division, and began advancing to the North and West. Near Lingen (3rd April, 1945) a troop of 2nd HCR found a bridge over the River Ems, unblown but strongly held. The bridge was subsequently stormed by men of the Guards Armoured Division. The last battle honour of the 2nd HCR was in the fighting around - and capture of - Bentheim, on the German/Dutch frontier in April 1945. After this it continued the advance between Hamburg and Bremen and ended the war by entering the German naval base of Cuxhaven on 'VE' Day. It is worth noting that the Second Household Cavalry Regiment was described by General Sir Brian Horrocks as the ". . . finest armoured car regiment he had ever seen".