17/21st Lancers (Famous Regiments S.)

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The regimental collection is held at The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum which is based at Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire. [56] Battle honours [ edit ] 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. Military unit Irish Cavalrymen, 17th Regiment of Light Dragoons, in the War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783 May saw the final action of the North Africa campaign 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, thousands of prisoners were taken, and thus ended the campaign. 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 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 ] RW Smith (2004). "Modderfontein, 17 September 1901". Military History Journal. 13 (1). Archived from the original on 3 April 2009 . Retrieved 2 August 2009. 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

Legacy

Raugh, Harold E. (2004). The Victorians At War, 1815–1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576079256. In 1922, the regiment, as the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own), was amalgamated with the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's) to form the 17th/21st Lancers.

Featherstone, Donald F. (1978). Weapons and Equipment of the Victorian Soldier. Littlehampton Book Services. ISBN 9780713708479. Its first overseas service came when a detachment of the unit was sent to Germany during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Early wars: Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Central India, South Africa 1879, South Africa 1900–1902The whole regiment then deployed to the American War of Independence (1775-83), fighting at Bunker Hill (1775), Long Island (1776), White Plains (1776) and Crooked Billet (1778). Later, it was the only regular unit in Tarleton’s Legion in the southern colonies, where it served at the Battle of Cowpens (1781), but was interned after being captured at Yorktown (1781). Babits, Lawrence Edward; Howard, Joshua B. (2009). Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807832660. With the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the deployment of 1st (UK) Armoured Division to the Gulf came the only opportunity for desert warfare since the North Africa campaign of 1943. Although the 17th/21st did not deploy as a Regiment; it did however furnish more than two Squadrons of men and most of its equipment to reinforce the Royal Scots Dragoons Guards and the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars. The 17th/21st Lancers Band were deployed in their wartime role as medics.