17/21st Lancers (Famous Regiments S.)

Product Information

Protected only by the inferior armour of the Valentine and out gunned by the German tanks, the cost was high. Although the pass was held, the 17th/21st Lancers was reduced to only twelve tanks. It was after this encounter that the Regiment was withdrawn from the line and re-equipped with the American Sherman tank mounting a 75mm gun. This represented a great improvement on the old ‘Tommy Cookers’ (Valentines), both in terms of firepower and armoured protection. The regiment, which was based in Sialkot in India at the start of the First World War, landed in France as part of the 2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Indian Cavalry Division [53] in November 1914 for service on the Western Front. [54] The regiment fought in its conventional cavalry role at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. [45] The regiment was transferred to the 7th Cavalry Brigade, part of the 3rd Cavalry Division in February 1918 and was used as mobile infantry, plugging gaps whenever the need arose, both as cavalry and as infantry during the last-gasp German spring offensive. [45] History [ edit ] Seven Years War [ edit ] Officers of the 17th Lancers in 1825 John Hale by Joshua Reynolds The 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1858 and amalgamated with the 17th Lancers in 1922 to form the 17th/21st Lancers. Perhaps its most famous engagement was the Battle of Omdurman, where Winston Churchill (then an officer of the 4th Hussars), rode with the unit. In 1806, it was sent to assist an attempt to capture the Spanish colony of Buenos Aires, which proved unsuccessful. After moving to garrison Cape Colony, it then sailed to India in 1808. During its time there, it fought in the Third Maratha War (1817-18).

The regiment was amalgamated with the 21st Lancers to form the 17th/21st Lancers in 1922. [3] Regimental museum [ edit ]Omdurman" was the regiment's only battle honour, giving rise to the satirical regimental motto of "thou shalt not kill." [6] That same year, the regiment was given the title 21st (Empress of India's) Lancers, taking the name from Queen Victoria who was the Empress of India. [1] Service in Ireland and India [ edit ] A troop from the 21st Lancers passing Marlborough House, circa 1911 History [ edit ] The 21st Lancers aboard a Nile steamer connecting the Egyptian railway at Asyut with the newly built Sudanese system during the 1898 campaign of the Mahdist War. The charge of the 21st Lancers in the Battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898 Formation [ edit ] The regimental collection is held at The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum which is based at Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire. [9] Victoria Crosses [ edit ] Raugh, Harold E. (2004). The Victorians at War, 1815-1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576079256. The main operational commitment post war for the Regiment was in Northern Ireland. Since 1969 and the beginning of the ‘troubles’, the 17th/21st were regularly deployed to the Province in both mounted and dismounted roles. The Regiment was employed in Saladin, Saracen and Ferret armoured cars during the first two and bloodiest years of the troubles. The Regiment also conducted dismounted four-month emergency tours. The Gulf War 1991

The 17th and 21st Lancers were amalgamated in 1922 to form the 17th/21st Lancers. During the Second World War the Regiment fought in North Africa and Italy. Later the 17th/21st became part of NATO’s front-line force in West Germany. Inter-War Years The 17th served in Ireland, England and the West Indies during the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802), helping to take Santo Domingo (1796) in the Caribbean. The regiment was moved to Dublin in 1899, and served in Ireland for several years. In 1912 it was again posted to India. The 21st Lancers did not see service on the Western Front during the First World War, being the only regular cavalry regiment of the British Army to spend the duration of the war in India. The regiment did however see action on the North-West Frontier during 1915–16, with one trooper, Charles Hull, receiving the Victoria Cross. [7] A single squadron made up of reservists served in France in 1916–17, attached to XIV Corps. [8] Disbandment [ edit ]Anglesey, Marquess of (1997). A History of the British Cavalry, 1816–1919, Volume VII, The Curragh Incident and the Western Front 1914. Pen & Sword. In November 1942, the division was deployed to Tunisia for Operation Torch. Now equipped with Valentine Mk III and Crusader Mk III tanks, the regiment saw action in the Tunisia Campaign for some time, including taking heavy losses defending Thala in the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943 during which fourteen tanks were put out of action. Despite these losses the pass was held and the Germans retreated. [2] After the losses during this battle, the regiment was withdrawn from the front line. The Valentine tanks they were using were inferior to the German counterparts in both armour and weaponry, so the lancers were refitted with M4A2 Sherman tanks that carried a 75mm main gun. In April, the regiment attempted to take the Fondouk Pass during which thirty-two tanks were put out of action. Although this left the regiment with only a handful of tanks, it allowed command to send in the 16th/5th Lancers, and the pass was taken. [2] The campaign in Tunisia came to an end in May 1943, with the capture of the Cap Bon Peninsula. The Germans were trying to delay its capture long enough to allow evacuation of their Army by sea. The Regiment conducted a 'charge' along the beach totally out manoeuvring the German defensive positions. Enemy resistance crumbled, with the surrender of thousands of German and Italian soldiers who subsequently became prisoners of war (POWs). Most of the 6th Armoured Division (minus the 1st Guards Brigade) then deployed to the Italian Front in March 1944, and fought to breach the Gustav Line, taking part in Operation Diadem, the fourth and final Battle of Monte Cassino. [2] The regiment advanced to the Gothic Line, and spent the winter there—at points, serving as infantry rather than as an armoured unit, due to the static nature of the trench warfare there. [2] After the final breakthrough in April 1945, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, the regiment ended the war in Austria. [2] Post-war [ edit ]

Fortescue, Sir John William (1895). A History of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own). Macmillan and Co. Its first overseas service came when a detachment of the unit was sent to Germany during the Seven Years War (1756-63). After the French revolution of 1789, Britain, Holland and Spain sought to undermine the Republic, because they saw republicanism as a threat to their own monarchies. The French declared war on all three countries in February 1793. In response, Britain again increased the size of the standing army and in February 1794 the 21st Light Dragoons was raised for a third time. In 1898 the regiment served in Sudan during the Mahdist War, as the only British cavalry unit involved. It was there that the full regiment charged with lances in the classic cavalry style during the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898. Of less than 400 men involved in the charge 70 were killed and wounded [3] and the regiment won three Victoria Crosses. These three were Private Thomas Byrne, [4] Lieutenant Raymond de Montmorency [4] and Captain Paul Kenna. [4] This spectacular encounter earned considerable public attention and praise for the regiment, though it was also criticized as a costly and unnecessary anachronism - since the 2,000 Dervish spearmen dispersed by the 21st Lancers could have been destroyed by rifle fire with few if any British losses. [3] Winston Churchill (then an officer of the 4th Hussars), rode with the unit. [5] Brighton, Terry (2004). Hell Riders: the Truth about the Charge of the Light Brigade. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-101831-3.The advance north of Rome proved itself even harder than in the south. There were only three routes capable of supporting armoured formations with the Germans covering all of them with direct and indirect fire. The delaying action the Germans fought was so effective it took the Allies four months to reach the Gothic Line. The winter of 1944/1945 saw the 17th/21st taking their turn as infantry on the Gothic Line in The Apennine Mountains, not only manning trenches but machine guns and mortars. For the Regiment the battle of The Po Valley proved to be the final action of the war. By VE Day the 17th/21st Lancers had lost 21 officers and 135 other ranks killed. Greece, Egypt, Palestine 1945-1948 RW Smith (2004). "Modderfontein, 17 September 1901". Military History Journal. 13 (1). Archived from the original on 3 April 2009 . Retrieved 2 August 2009.

In 1806 the 21st was deployed to Cape Town, to protect the Indian trade route. In fact the closest the regiment came to Napoleon and his armies was after the war ended in 1815, when the 21st furnished a troop to guard and escort the Emperor on the remote Atlantic island of St Helena. The main role of the 17th/21st Lancers service after the war was as part of the British Army of the Rhine serving as part of NATO’s conventional deterrent against the Warsaw Pact Armies of Eastern Europe. It also served throughout the world with both squadron and troop deployments to Hong Kong, Borneo, Aden, Libya, Belize, Kuwait and Cyprus.The Army in South Africa - Troops returning Home". The Times. No.36888. London. 2 October 1902. p.4.