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25th Dragoons | |
---|---|
Active | 1941–1947 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Cavalry |
Role | Armoured |
Size | Regiment |
The 25th Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1941 to 1947.
Previous regiments bearing the number have been:
The 1941 regiment was raised in Sialkot, India, in February 1941 from a cadre of personnel taken from the 3rd Carabiniers along with volunteers from infantry regiments. It was initially assigned to the 4th Indian Armoured Brigade (which later became 254th Indian Armoured Brigade and, still later, the 254th Indian Tank Brigade). In 1943, it was reassigned to the Indian XV Corps and transported in great secrecy to Arakan prior to taking part in the Battle of the Admin Box, in which its M3 Lee tanks proved decisive.
The 25th Dragoons was the home of British communist, painter, and former International Brigadeer Clive Branson, who was killed by the Japanese at the Battle of the Admin Box.
It spent the remainder of the war in India and Burma. It was part of the 50th Indian Tank Brigade and based in Madras and Bangalore prior to being disbanded in 1947.
The Indian Army during World War II, a British force also referred to as the British Indian Army, began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men. By the end of the war, it had become the largest volunteer army in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in August 1945. Serving in divisions of infantry, armour and a fledgling airborne force, they fought on three continents in Africa, Europe and Asia.
The 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1922 as part of a reduction in the army's cavalry by the amalgamation of the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales's) and the Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards), to form the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards. It was renamed the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) in 1928 and amalgamated with the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons), forming the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) in 1971.
The 7th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army. The brigade is also known as the "Desert Rats", a nickname formerly held by the 7th Armoured Division, of which the brigade formed a part of during the Second World War until late 1941.
The 24th Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army that existed from late 1940 to mid-1944. Assigned to the 8th Armoured Brigade, the regiment fought during the Invasion of Normandy before being disbanded in July 1944. After disbandment, the regiment's personnel were sent to other cavalry regiments as reinforcements.
The 22nd Dragoons was the title held by five separate Cavalry regiments of the British Army raised and disbanded between 1716 and 1945. The last regiment of this name existed during the Second World War, from 1 December 1940 until 30 November 1945.
The 30th Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation of the British Army that served in Western Europe Campaign as part of the 79th Armoured Division. After the reformation of the Territorial Army in 1947, the brigade was re-created within the Territorials based in Scotland and finally disbanded by 1967.
The 8th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army formed in August 1941, during the Second World War and active until 1956. The brigade was formed by the renaming of 6th Cavalry Brigade, when the 1st Cavalry Division based in Palestine converted from a motorised formation to an armoured unit, becoming 10th Armoured Division.
The 10th Armoured Division was an armoured formation of division-size of the British Army, raised during the Second World War and was active from 1941–1944 and after the war from 1956–1957. It was formed from the 1st Cavalry Division, a 1st Line Yeomanry unit of the Territorial Army (TA) which had previously been serving in Palestine. The division was converted from cavalry to armour and redesignated from 1 August 1941.
The 1st Armoured Brigade, raised as the 1st Light Armoured, later the 1st Armoured Brigade Group, was an armoured formation of the British Army.
There are 13 Cavalry Regiments of the British Army each with its own unique cap badge, regimental traditions, and history. Of the currently nine regular cavalry regiments, two serve as armoured regiments, three as armoured cavalry regiments, three as light cavalry, and one as a mounted ceremonial regiment. There are also four yeomanry regiments of the Army Reserve, of these, three serve as light cavalry and one as an armoured regiment. Each yeomanry light cavalry unit has been paired with a regular unit of the same role, the armoured yeomanry unit is paired with the two regular armoured units. All except the Household Cavalry are part of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps.
The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but following the 1957 Defence White Paper, it was amalgamated with the 3rd The King's Own Hussars, forming the Queen's Own Hussars in 1958.
The 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) is one of the oldest and a highly decorated armoured regiment of the Indian Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of two of the oldest regiments of the Bengal Army – the 2nd Royal Lancers (Gardner's Horse) and the 4th Cavalry.
The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (FFY) was an Armoured Yeomanry Regiment of the British Army formed in 1793. It saw action in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. It amalgamated with the Scottish Horse to form the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse in 1956. The lineage is maintained by "C" Fife and Forfar Yeomanry/Scottish Horse Squadron of The Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry based in Cupar in Fife.
The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1794 as volunteer cavalry. It served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War before being reduced to squadron level in 1956. It ceased to have a separate existence in 1971.
The 7th Light Cavalry previously the 28th Light Cavalry, was a regular army cavalry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1784 under the East India Company. The regiment later saw service on the North West Frontier and in World War I and World War II. In 1947, it was allocated to the new Indian Army, where it continues to exist as the 7th Light Cavalry
The 16th Light Cavalry is a regiment of the Armoured Corps, a primary combat arm of the Indian Army. Prior to India gaining independence from the British in 1947, it was a regular cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1776 and is the oldest armoured regiment raised in India. The 16th Light Cavalry saw service in a number of conflicts ranging from the Second Anglo-Mysore War in 1781 to World War II. It has a number of battle honours including "Punjab 1965" earned during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
The 254th Indian Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade of the Indian Army during World War II.
The 32nd Indian Armoured Division was an armoured division of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in April 1941 as the 2nd Armoured Division and renamed the 32nd in December. It never saw any combat and was broken up to form the 44th Armoured Division in February 1943.
149th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in the Burma Campaign during World War II.