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Several independent troops of cavalry in the Province of Canada's volunteer militia were formed in the Kingston area starting in 1855. Four of these troops (in Kingston, Napanee, Loughborough and Picton) were united under a regimental headquarters in 1875, becoming the 4th Provisional Regiment of Cavalry. This regiment adopted hussar uniforms (with buff facings[1]) and hussar customs in 1893, being Redesignated as the 4th Hussars.[6] In 1932, they were again Redesignated as the 4th Hussars of Canada.[7][8]
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the city's independent cavalry troop (formed in 1872) came under the patronage of the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, during her time there as vice-regal consort (1878–80), and the troop was expanded to an independent squadron named The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. During the Second Boer War, volunteers from the squadron fought with the Imperial forces in South Africa. The squadron was again expanded into a regiment in 1903 as the 5th "Princess Louise Dragoon Guards".[6][7][9]
The 4th Hussars and the 5th PLDG were not mobilized in the First World War, but they both contributed volunteers to and aided in the recruiting of the 8th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles. The 8th CMR did not enter combat as a unit, its personnel being absorbed by the reserves in England and the 4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, in France, but enough of its former members fought at the Battle of Mount Sorrel that the regiment qualified for a battle honour, which the PLDG perpetuates.[7]
In the 1936 reorganization of the Militia, the PLDG and the 4th Hussars were amalgamated as the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.[3][7]
4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards
Originated on 1 January 1903, in Ottawa, Ontario, as the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Redesignated on 1 February 1903, as the 5th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Redesignated on 15 March 1920, as The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Amalgamated on 15 December 1936, with the 4th Hussars of Canada and Redesignated as the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Redesignated on 11 February 1941, as the 2nd (Reserve) Regiment, 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Redesignated on 1 April 1941, as the 4th (Reserve) Reconnaissance Battalion, (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards).
Redesignated on 8 June 1942, as the 4th (Reserve) Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards), CAC.
Redesignated on 2 August 1945, as the 4th (Reserve) Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards), RCAC.
Redesignated on 19 June 1947, as the 4th Armoured Car Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards), RCAC.
Redesignated on 4 February 1949, as the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards (4th Armoured Car Regiment).
Redesignated on 19 May 1958, as the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
Reduced to Nil Strength on 12 February 1965, and transferred to the Supplementary Order of Battle.[2]
4th Hussars of Canada
Originated on 30 April 1875, in Kingston, Ontario, as the 4th Provisional Regiment of Cavalry.
Redesignated on 7 May 1886, as the 4th Regiment of Cavalry.
Redesignated on 1 January 1893, as the 4th Hussars.
Redesignated on 1 March 1932, as the 4th Hussars of Canada.
Amalgamated on 15 December 1936, with The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards and Redesignated as the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.[2]
The 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards was a Militia regiment activated for wartime service with the Canadian Army (Active) in 1941. It was assigned to the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps which itself had been activated in 1940. In 1942 it was redesignated the 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards), the same year the first of its soldiers sailed for the United Kingdom where 4th PLDG joined 1st Canadian Infantry Division at Camp Aldershot.
4th Recce immediately began expanding its ranks, taking volunteers from infantry regiments serving in the United Kingdom and a steady flow of reinforcements from Canada. Four squadrons were eventually raised in addition to the Regimental HQ Squadron. A reserve squadron, based in Ottawa continued to provide reinforcements throughout the war as well.
"A" Squadron of 4th PLDG landed in Sicily on July 13, 1943, as part of the Follow Up Forces. Only "A" Squadron, commanded by Major Arthur Duck actually took part in the Sicily fighting. B and C Squadrons were not fully equipped with the requisite number of "Otter" Light, and "Fox" Heavy Reconnaissance Cars and Universal Carriers until October, when the regiment was serving on the Italian mainland. D Squadron was raised that winter when heavy rains and freezing temperatures rendered the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards' vehicles all but useless and the personnel from the latter squadron patrolled their sector on horseback instead.
4th PLDG took part in virtually all of the major actions in the campaign, which lasted just 38 days. The regiment landed at Reggio di Calabria, on the Italian mainland on September 3, 1943, on the heels of 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade and immediately began providing 1st Canadian Infantry Division Headquarters with information with regard to the ground to the north including the condition of roads and bridges and the location and strength of enemy forces. Each of the squadrons was composed of three scout troops and assault troop, equipped with a combination of Otter Light Reconnaissance Cars and Fox Heavy Reconnaissance Cars. The Fox had a revolving turret fitted with a .50 calibre Browning machine gun as well as a Bren. 303 calibre light machine gun. The Otter mounted a single Bren as did the Universal Carriers used to transport the Scout and Assault Troops.
When a reporter asked the Officer Commanding, C-Squadron, Major Harold Parker as to what he and his men did in Italy he replied: "We keep driving until the enemy shoots at us. Then we know he is there". Parker was doing just that when his armoured car was struck by a 75mm shell on the Torella-Duronia road. The major was killed and his crew badly wounded. The scouts, frequently operated well behind enemy lines: During the Hitler Line battles in May 1944 during which 4th PLDG's War Diarist noted, proudly that it was "the first unit in 8th Army" to penetrate the latter fortifications at Pontecorvo Sergeant Hubert Ditner, a farmer from Petersburg, Ontario, and his men took the opportunity to catch a few hours sleep in a roadside ditch where he awoke to find that he and his comrades were just yards from a fighting hole filled with grenadiers from 44th Reichsgrenadier "Hoch und Deutschmeister" Division. Ditner, who spoke fluent German managed to get all ten to surrender without firing a shot. In a letter to his younger brother, Simon Sgt. Ditner confessed that he "didn't know who was shaking more, Jerry or me."[citation needed]
One of the most notable engagements fought by 4th PLDG took place at Miglionico. Numbers 4 and 8 (Assault) Troops, under Lieutenant Don White used a rail tunnel to infiltrate the rear area of positions held by Oberst Ludwig Heilmann's 3rd Fallschirmjager Regiment and launch the attack that killed an estimated 50 paratroopers and destroyed several trucks, an armoured car and a large quantity of ammunition.
All three squadrons were active on the Italian mainland by the time the regiment was transferred to the Infantry Corps. The regiment was assigned to 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the recently arrived 5th Canadian Armoured Division on July 13, 1944. The decision was the result of 8th Army commander General Montgomery's concern that the division lacked the sufficient number of infantry battalions to protect the division's tanks against attacks by enemy infantry armed with shoulder fired anti-tank weapons and self-propelled guns. The regiment, having established a reputation for courage and tenacity while operating as scouts, soon distinguished itself in its new role. It was ordered to take Monte Peloso on September 1, 1944, also known as Point 253. The hill, part of the enemy's Gothic Line was targeted by 1st Division's gunners for the better part of an hour before C-Squadron began closing on the position at 13:10. As the Princess Louise began climbing it they ran headlong into paratroopers from 3rd Fallschirmjager Regiment, preparing to mount a counterattack on nearby Point 204 and there was a furious, close-quarters gun battle prior to Lord Strathcona's Horse joining 4th PLDG in the assault on the main German defences, a handful of farm buildings midway up the slope. The Shermans blasted the startled paratroopers from the buildings and the waiting Princess Louise cut them down with small arms fire. By last light Point 253 was in Canadian hands. The first battle as infantry had cost the regiment dearly, however: 35 men were dead and another 94 wounded.
A message penned by 8th Army's commander, General Leese, congratulated the Princess Louise for their victory, made that much more remarkable based on the unit's very brief training as infantry.
On a humorous note, members of the unit were once urged by General Simonds (GOC 1st Canadian Infantry Division) to beat a U.S. Army unit into the Sicilian village of Enna and thus take credit for its capture. A mixed bag of NCO's and troopers mounted their armoured cars and headed for the town only to be halted by a demolished culvert. Not to be denied, the soldiers commandeered a mule and continued the race arriving in the village just as troops from 1st Infantry Division did so. Though the weary Canadians were only too happy to clamber aboard one of the latter unit's jeeps and ride the rest of the way into town, the regimental history of the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards maintains that Corporal Jackson was first to dismount in Enna's piazza rendering the Canadian Army as the rightful liberators of the town.
The regiment was returned to its reconnaissance role, and Armoured Corps status on 15 March 1945 and finished the war in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after being transferred to the theatre as part of Operation Goldflake. Fighting in a number of engagements with the heavily armoured German divisions as they fled, a role the unit had performed with some distinction in Italy, 4th PLDG suffered heavy losses. Battlefield deaths, all ranks, for the entire year of 1944 were 150. In the four months 4th Recce fought in North West Europe, a third of the time it was in Italy, it lost some 187 men (4th PLDG History Page 306).
Since the 1870s, the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards wore a full-dress uniform similar to that of the Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards). This consisted of a dark blue dragoon tunic with white collar and cuffs, facings and piping, and dark blue trousers with white double stripes.[11] The regimental headdress consisted of a brass cavalry helmet with a white horsehair plume. Their undress dark blue peaked cap had a scarlet band and piping, which was a unique distinction granted to this regiment.[11]
Though transferred to the infantry in July 1944, 4th PLDG retained the black beret of the Canadian Armoured Corps and continued to refer to its sub-units as "squadrons" and "troops" instead of "companies" and "platoons", the traditional infantry designation. Its motto was pro aris et focis (for our altars and for our homes).
Battle honours
In the list below, battle honours in small capitals were awarded for participation in large operations and campaigns, while those in lowercase indicate honours granted for more specific battles. The battle honours in bold type are emblazoned on the regimental standard.
Major-General Harry Wickwire Foster (Harold Wickwire Foster), commander of both 4th Canadian Armoured Division (North West Europe) and 1st Canadian Infantry Division (Italy). In 1941, (then) Lieutenant-Colonel Foster assumed command of 4th Reconnaissance Regiment - 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, the recently activated scout formation assigned to 1st Canadian Infantry Division in England.
Major-General Clive Addy joined the regiment as a reserve Trooper in the early 1960s.
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback. While their use goes back to the late 16th century, dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the 17th and early 18th centuries; they provided greater mobility than regular infantry but were far less expensive than cavalry.
The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Army's armoured regiments, both the Royal Tank Regiment and those converted from old horse cavalry regiments. Today it comprises twelve regiments, eight regular and four reserve. Although the Household Cavalry Regiment provide an armoured regiment, they are not part of the RAC.
The South Alberta Light Horse (SALH) is a Canadian Army armoured cavalry regiment of the Canadian Army Reserve. It traces its complicated lineage to the Rocky Mountain Rangers, and claims its direct ancestry to the 15th Light Horse, along with various other Alberta based cavalry units. The "Light Horse" designation comes from its light cavalry and mounted infantry origins.
The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal) (abbreviated as RCH) is an armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Primary Reserve in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is one of the oldest cavalry regiments in North America, tracing a direct history to the Montreal Volunteer Cavalry formed in the late eighteenth century. Its Colonel-in-Chief is Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, and its allied regiment is the Queen's Royal Hussars. Its mission consists of supporting the Regular Force in operational deployments, peacetime tasks, and supporting the civilian authorities.
The Governor General's Horse Guards is an armoured cavalry regiment in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 4th Canadian Division's 32 Canadian Brigade Group and is based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the most senior reserve regiment in Canada, and the only household cavalry regiment of Canada's three household units.
The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) is the senior armoured regiment of the Canadian Army by precedence. It is one of three armoured regiments in the Regular Force and forms part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.
The 1st Hussars is an armoured Primary Reserve regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces, based in London and Sarnia, Ontario.
The 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) (VIII CH) is a reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment in the Canadian Army, with two squadrons. It was formed on 4 April 1848 in the then-colony of New Brunswick, which remains the regiment's home to this day, its regimental headquarters (RHQ) and A Squadron being in Moncton, with B Squadron in Sussex.
The British Columbia Dragoons (BCD) is a Primary Reserve armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Canadian Army. It is based in Kelowna and Vernon, British Columbia, and is part of 3rd Canadian Division's 39 Canadian Brigade Group.
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The 12th Manitoba Dragoons is an armoured regiment of the Canadian Army that is currently on the Supplementary Order of Battle.
The 19th Alberta Dragoons was a cavalry regiment and later an armoured regiment of the Canadian Militia and later the Canadian Army. It was placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle in 1965. In 2006, it was taken off the Supplementary Order of Battle and amalgamated with the South Alberta Light Horse.
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 8th Reconnaissance Regiment , commonly abbreviated to 8 Recce, VIII Recce or 8 Canadian Recce, was the reconnaissance arm of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division during World War II. The core of the regiment was formed from the militia unit the 14th Canadian Hussars.
The 2nd/10th Dragoons was a militia regiment of the Canadian Army, based in the Niagara, Wentworth, and Brant regions of southern Ontario. It was formed in 1936 by amalgamating the 2nd and 10th Dragoons, both of which had served previously as cavalry units in the Canadian militia. After World War II the regiment was converted into an anti-aircraft artillery unit. In 1962 the regiment was converted into a field howitzer unit and in 1968 amid a downsizing of the Canadian Armed Forces the regiment was reduced drastically before eventually being completely disbanded in the mid-1990s. The regiment is currently on the Supplementary Order of Battle.
The 14th Canadian Hussars was a light cavalry and later light armoured reconnaissance regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia and later the Canadian Army. First raised in 1910 as the 27th Light Horse, the regiment was Redesignated in 1920 as the 14th Canadian Light Horse and again in 1940 as the 14th Canadian Hussars. On 31 March 1968, the regiment was reduced to nil strength and placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle.
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.
The 2nd Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia. In 1936, the regiment was Amalgamated with the 10th Brant Dragoons to form the 2nd/10th Dragoons – today now part of the 57th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA.
The 4th Hussars of Canada was a light cavalry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia. In 1936, the regiment was Amalgamated with The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards to form the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
The Princess Louise Dragoon Guards was a heavy cavalry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia. First formed in 1872 as an independent cavalry troop, in 1903 it became a full regiment. In 1936, the regiment was Amalgamated with the 4th Hussars of Canada to become the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards.
1 2 3 4 "4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards". Volume 3, Part 1: Armour, Artillery and Field Engineer Regiments – Armour Regiments. Directorate of History and Heritage. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
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