History
Shortly before the Battle of Waterloo, Major Count du Chastel de la Hovarderie was ordered by the King to form a Regiment of Carabiniers Land militia. When the Battle of Waterloo took place, the unit was not yet sufficiently trained so was in the 'Reserve Armee'. [1]
From 1816-67 the regiments designation successively changed. In 1841, it was transformed into a Dragoon regiment (2nd Dragoon Regiment), followed by another transformation in 1867, when it became the 2nd Hussar Regiment. [1]
The regiment fought with distinction against the Belgians during the Ten Day Campaign (Tiendaagse Veldtocht) in August 1831. From 1922 to 1939 the Dutch army went through severe cutbacks, and the 4 hussar regiments were halved.
In the mobilisation after 1939, the Dutch army wanted to improve its organisation, and a large move took place on May 1, 1941. This moved units around, meaning that the defenders advantage of knowing the terrain was often lost. There were only 2 squadrons of armoured cars in the regiment. Until May 1940 the cavalry was still partly on horseback. The unit fought through the whole time the Netherlands was in the war. The regiment had several clashes with Germans, and was often bombed by German planes. Their main action was defending the bridges at Geertruidenberg and Keizersveer, preventing an SS-Brigade from crossing the bridges despite heavy fighting. The regiment was disbanded after the armistice in 1940, but was raised again in 1978, as the Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje. [1] [2]
The 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army established in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales' Own) to form the Royal Hussars in 1969.
A hussar was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe (Hungary) during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European armies during the late 17th and 18th centuries. By the 19th century, hussars were wearing jackets decorated with braid plus shako or busby fur hats and had developed a romanticized image of being dashing and adventurous.
The Royal Netherlands Army is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the Staatse Leger was raised making the Dutch standing army one of the oldest in the world. It fought in the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, the Indonesian War of Independence and the Korean War, as well as served with NATO on the Cold War frontiers in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1990s.
The Regiment Infantry Prins Johan Willem Friso is a line infantry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army. Named after Johan Willem Friso of Orange-Nassau, it is the oldest and most senior regiment in the current order of battle. The regiment currently serves in the mechanized infantry role as 44 Armoured Infantry Battalion as part of 43 Gemechaniseerde (Mechanized) Brigade.
Regiment Limburgse Jagers is a light infantry regiment in the Royal Netherlands Army. It is named after the Dutch province of Limburg, and currently serves in the infantry role as part of 13 Motorized Brigade. It consists of 42nd motorised infantry battalion, which is made of three motorised infantry companies equipped with the Boxer APC and MB G280, and a heavy weapons company, consisting of a recce platoon, a mortar platoon with 9 81mm mortars and two anti-tank platoons with Spike anti-tank missiles.
The Regiment Huzaren van Boreel is an armoured regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army, named for Willem Francois Boreel. It currently serves in the armoured Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Reconnaissance (ISTAR) role; the regiment provides armoured reconnaissance squadrons assigned to the 43 Mechanised Brigade, 13 Light Brigade and 11 Airmobile Brigade. An STA artillery unit, an electronic warfare unit, Human Intelligence (HUMINT) unit and imagery intelligence unit are all formed into a single battalion attached to the Combat Support Brigade.
The Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander is an Armoured corps of the Royal Netherlands Army, named after Prince Alexander, the second son of King Willem II. This regiment represented the former 3rd Hussars Regiment, formed in 1814. It was known as the Red or Guards Hussars, but was never a Guards regiment.
The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) to form the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) in October 1969.
The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse.
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 4th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was initially assigned to The Cavalry Division before spending most of the war with the 2nd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.
The 5th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was initially independent before being assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.
The 6th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.
Willem Frederik count of Bylandt or Bijlandt was a Dutch lieutenant-general who as a major-general commanded a Belgian-Dutch infantry brigade at the Battle of Quatre Bras and the Battle of Waterloo.
Armoured reconnaissance is the combination of terrestrial reconnaissance with armoured warfare by soldiers using tanks and wheeled or tracked armoured reconnaissance vehicles. While the mission of reconnaissance is to gather intelligence about the enemy with the use of reconnaissance vehicles, armoured reconnaissance adds the ability to fight for information, and to have an effect on and to shape the enemy through the performance of traditional armoured tasks.
43 Mechanised Brigade is one of the three combat brigades of the Royal Netherlands Army, the others being the 13th Light Brigade and 11th Airmobile Brigade. The brigade has armored and non-armored vehicles at its disposal, and is tasked with conducting combat operations, peacekeeping and various ceremonial tasks.
Jean Marie Antoine Philippe de Collaert led the Dutch-Belgian cavalry division at the Battle of Waterloo. He became an officer in the Habsburg Austrian cavalry in 1778 and later served in the Dutch Republic army until 1786. After the armies of the First French Republic overran the Dutch Republic in 1795, Collaert became a lieutenant colonel of hussars in the new army of the Batavian Republic, a French satellite state. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Castricum in 1799 and was badly wounded fighting the Austrians in 1800. He was promoted colonel in 1803. Under the Kingdom of Holland he became a major general in 1806 and colonel-general of the King's Bodyguard in 1808.
Prins van Oranje or Prinses van Oranje may refer to:
The current structure of the Royal Netherlands Army is as follows:
The Regiment Huzaren Prinses Catharina-Amalia is a cavalry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army. The regiment was formed in late 2020 through the amalgamation of three other Dutch cavalry regiments that, at the time, existed in suspension - the Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander, Regiment Huzaren Van Sytzama and Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje. The new regiment took over the operation of the army's remaining main battle tanks, as well as two of the army's ceremonial units, the Cavalry Escort and the Mounted Units Regimental Band.
