5th Dragoon Guards

The Great War

The 5th Dragoon Guards was a Cavalry Regiment that would have had an MG Section as part of its Regimental Headquarters.

As a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division, it will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.

The Cavalry Division had no permanent existence before the outbreak of War. The units of which it was composed on mobilization were quartered at various stations in England and Ireland, viz:- the 1st Cav. Bde., VII. Bde., R.H.A., 1st Field Sqd., R.E., 1st Signal Squadron, and No. 1 Signal Troop, at Aldershot; the 2nd Cav. Bde. and No. 2 Signal Troop, at Tidworth; the 3rd Cav. Bde., II. Bde., R.H.A., 4th Field Troop, 4th Cav. Bde., and No. 4 Signal Troop, were stationed at Canterbury, Shorncliffe, and London. The division crossed to France between the 15th and 18th August, concentrated to the East and South-east of Mauberge between the 18th and 20th August, and began to move forward on the 21st.Throughout the War the 1st Cavalry Division served on the Western Front in France and Belgium, and was engaged in the following operations:-
1914
23 and 24 August Battle of Mons.
24 to 05 September RETREAT FROM MONS.
24 August Elouges.
25 August Solesmes.
26 August Battle of le Cateau [under II. Corps].
01 September Nery.
06 to 09 September Battle of the Marne.
12 to 15 September BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
12 October to 02 November Battle of Messines [Cav. Corps].
1915
BATTLES OF YPRES
09 to 13 May Battle of Frezenberg Ridge [Cav. Corps, until 12 May, then Cav. Force, Second Army].
24 May Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge [Cav. Corps, Second Army].

The MG Section was brigaded into the 1st Cavalry MG Squadron on 28 February 1916.

The Inter-War Period

In 1922, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded and the guns returned to the Cavalry Regiment as a Machine Gun Platoon.

In April 1922, the 5th Dragoon Guards (two squadrons) was amalgamated with The Inniskillings (1 squadron) to form 5th/6th Dragoons.

The Second World War

However, due to the lack of sufficient armoured vehicles and tanks at the start of the Second World War, this unit formed part of the 3rd MMG Bde. It joined the Brigade on 23 June 1940 and remained in it until 30 November 1940, when the Brigade was redesignated and reorganized as the 28th Armoured Brigade.

Sources