17/21st Lancers (Famous Regiments S.)

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The 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). The Regiment eventually deployed to North Africa in November 1942. They were not however initially deployed with the Division but as part of ‘Blade Force’ under Lieutenant Colonel Hull, a 17th/21st Lancer. The plan was that Blade Force would act as a spearhead invasion force into Tunisia. The Force was to move from Algiers, in concert with the 8th Army who were moving west from Egypt, having advanced from El Alamein. The role of the 17th/21st Lancers within Blade Force was to provide a flank guard for the 78th Division, which was to occupy the city. Blade Force made a rapid advance of 300 miles before being held up at the T-roads between Sidi Nasir station and Mateur by strong German resistance. This delay allowed the Germans to reinforce and thus foil the bid to capture Tunis. As a result Blade Force was broken up and the 17th/21st Lancers were returned to 26th Armoured Brigade. The Fondouk Pass 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.

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.Chant, Christopher (2013). The Handbook of British Regiments. Routledge Revivals. ISBN 978-0415710763. 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 regiment was originally raised in Bengal by the East India Company in 1858 as the 3rd Bengal European Light Cavalry, for service in the Indian Rebellion. [1] As with all other "European" units of the Company, it was placed under the command of the British Crown in 1858, and formally moved into the British Army in 1862, when it was designated as a hussar regiment and titled the 21st Regiment of Hussars. [1] A detachment saw service in the 1884–5 expedition to the Sudan, with the Light Camel Regiment. In 1897 it was re-designated as a lancer regiment, becoming the 21st Lancers. [1] The Indian origin of the regiment was commemorated in its "French grey" facings - this distinctive light blue/grey shade having previously been the uniform colour of the East India Company's eight regiments of Bengal Native Cavalry. [2] Mahdist War [ edit ] Lt Winston Churchill 1898 Brighton, Terry (2004). Hell Riders: the Truth about the Charge of the Light Brigade. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-101831-3.

Featherstone, Donald F. (1978). Weapons and Equipment of the Victorian Soldier. Littlehampton Book Services. ISBN 9780713708479.The regiment was amalgamated with the 21st Lancers to form the 17th/21st Lancers in 1922. [3] Regimental museum [ 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.