The Great War
The Royal Horse Guards was a Household Cavalry Regiment that would have had an MG Section as part of its Regimental Headquarters. These weapons would have been brigaded when the Machine Gun Corps was formed in 1915. The guns, and crews, would have been formed into a Machine Gun Squadron.
The RHG was part of the 7th Cavalry Brigade on its formation on 01 September 1914. It transferred to the 8th Cavalry Brigade on 21 November 1914.
As a unit of the respective Brigades of the 3rd Cavalry Division, the MG Section will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1914 | |
| 09 and 10 October | Antwerp Operations [IV. Corps]. |
| 19 October to 20 November | BATTLES OF YPRES |
| 21 to 24 October | Battle of Langemarck [IV. Corps]. |
| 29 to 31 October | Battle of Gheluvelt [I. Corps]. |
| 11 November | Battle of Nonne Bosschen [I. Corps]. |
| 1915 | |
| 11 to 13 May | Battle of Frezenberg Ridge [Cav. Corps, until 12 May, then Cav. Force, Second Army]. |
| 26 to 28 September | Battle of Loos (Defence of Loos) [IV. Corps, First Army]. |
On 10 May 1918, the Guards Machine Gun Regiment was formed and the Royal Horse Guards were converted in their entirety to become the 3rd Battalion of the Regiment.
The Inter-War Period
They remained as a Machine Gun Battalion until 26 February 1920 when the Regiment was disbanded. The guns were returned to the Cavalry Regiment as a Machine Gun Platoon and then formed as a Machine Gun Squadron in the early 1930s.
The Second World War
During the Second World War, the Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards formed the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment. It remained mounted and formed part of the Garrison troops serving in Palestine until 1941 when it began undertaking operations and was mechanised by the First Battle of El Alamein in 1942; however, the use of Vickers machine guns on armoured cars and tanks had largely been phased out by this time.
