Westminster Dragoons

The Westminster Dragoons (WDs) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army Army Reserve, located in central London. Its lineage is continued by one of the Royal Yeomanry's six squadrons. Formed in the aftermath of Second Boer War as part of the County of London Yeomanry, the WDs fought in the Battle of Gallipoli and led British forces onto the beaches during the Normandy Invasion in 1944. The squadron most recently saw action in Operation Telic for which it was mobilised for the 2003 war in Iraq.

Precursors

thumb|upright| engraving of a London and Westminster Light Horse trooper

The first predecessor unit of the Westminster Dragoons was raised in London in 1779 as the London and Westminster Light Horse. Drawing its recruits from local merchants and bankers, The unit was raised as part of a wave of military volunteer units formed to defend Britain from foreign invasion during the American War of Independence. The London and Westminster Light Horse was disbanded in 1783, though Britain's entry into the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 led the unit to be raised again in 1794 as part of the newly established British Volunteer Corps. Renamed the Westminster Volunteer Cavalry in 1797 with George III's permission, a barracks was built on Gray's Inn Road in 1812 to accommodate the unit. The regiment was disbanded again in 1829 and the barracks were decommissioned in 1830.

One such unit was the 24th (Metropolitan Mounted Rifles) Battalion, consisting of 94th, 95th, 96th and 97th (Metropolitan Mounted Rifles) Companies raised in London for the second contingent on 30 March 1901. Later in 1901 the 28th (Westminster Dragoons) Battalion, was raised, with 127th–130th (Westminster Dragoons) Companies.

In 1901, 16 new IY regiments raised from veterans of the first IY contingent returning from South Africa were added to the existing Yeomanry Cavalry. The 2nd County of London Imperial Yeomanry was formed on 24 August 1901 with four squadrons and a machine gun section, perpetuating the 24th (Metropolitan Mounted Rifles) Battalion. Over 800 members of the regiment served in South Africa, and the regiment was awarded the Battle Honour South Africa 1902. On 2 August 1902 Westminster Council granted permission for the regiment to adopt the subtitle '(Westminster Dragoons)' (to perpetuate the 1779–1829 units) and to use the city's coat-of-arms as its cap badge. The King approved this addition early the following year.

From the start it was smart regiment filled with wealthy gentlemen from the City and the West End. Their attitude and attire was such that, as they strutted across West London, members became known as the 'Piccadilly Peacocks'. Several of the unit's first officers were former officers of the 1st The Royal Dragoons, forerunners of the Blues and Royals; one of the first troop leaders was Raj Rajendra Narayan, Maharaj Kumar (Prince) of Cooch Behar. They brought with them the Royals' pre-Waterloo cap badge, which was later adopted by Colonels and Brigadiers of the staff, which is why, until a common Royal Yeomanry capbadge was adopted in 2006, young WD officers often found themselves amused at being saluted by officers of higher rank. The WD stable belt (worn in barracks) bears the Royal racing colours – the imperial hues of purple, gold and scarlet as a result of the personal friendship of its first commanding officer, Colonel Charles Rosedew Burn, with King Edward VII, whose Aide-de-camp Burn had been when he was Prince of Wales.

As an urban regiment, the yeomen were unable to supply their own horses, so the senior Westminster officers made use of their links to the highest ranks of Society to borrow mounts from the Household Cavalry for summer training camps. Later horses were hired.

In 1907 the regimental headquarters (RHQ) was at 102 Victoria Street, but by 1914 it had moved to 1 Elverton Street, Westminster. The decision to accept immediate conversion was that of its then commanding officer, Lord Howard de Walden. On 11 March 1920, the regiment reformed with the title 4th Armoured Car Company (Westminster Dragoons), but this was quickly changed to 22nd (London) Armoured Car Company (Westminster Dragoons), Tank Corps in the retitled Territorial Army (TA), thus forming its link with the Tank Corps (Royal Tank Corps from 18 October 1923, and Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) from 11 April 1939).

The armoured car company was expanded to a full battalion (22nd (Westminster Dragoons) Battalion, RTR) in January 1938.

Specialist armour

thumb|left|Sherman Crab under test. The flail has been lowered to work in a dip in the ground.

The regiment regained its combat status on 11 November 1940, when it became 2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons) in the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) – always known as simply the Westminster Dragoons.

The Germans planted over four million mines along the French coast to hinder the Allied landings in 1944. To break through these defences at the start of the Normandy Invasion, the British produced a number of novel armoured fighting vehicles under Hobart's ingenious direction, including the Sherman Crab. The Crab bore a rotating drum with dozens of chains attached; these detonated mines in its path to produce a beaten passage through the thickest of minefields.

On 1 January 1944, then under the command of Lt-Col W.Y.K. Blair-Oliphant, the regiment moved to Thorpeness in Suffolk to begin flail training, though no flail tanks had yet arrived. In the meantime it received a draft of men who had experience with the Scorpion flail, and some tanks equipped with anti-mine rollers. By February the regiment had a mixed roster of tanks for training: 19 Sherman V, 17 Centaur 1, 4 Cromwell, 6 Valentine II Scorpions, but only 3 of the Sherman Crabs that they would take into action. The slow, unsafe Scorpions were too unlike the Crab to be much use for training. The regiment practised driving on and off a concrete mock-up of a tank landing craft (LCT), the entrance of which was only wider than the rotor of the Crab. It also practised indirect gunfire techniques controlled by a Forward Observation Officer (FOO).

In March the regiment received its orders to mobilise, and training intensified. The last major exercise ('Fabius') was held in early May, but there were still too few Crabs: the regiment collected more Sherman V 'Quick Fix' gun tanks that could be fitted as 'pilot' roller tanks, but in the event these were used as command tanks. Later in the month the regiment concentrated in camp at Stanswood in Hampshire, ready to embark for Normandy with 56 Crabs, 26 Shermans, 3 Armoured recovery vehicles (ARVs) and 13 Scout cars; it still had 6 Scorpions on charge, but these were left behind, as were the 'Rollers'.

Part of A Sqn, WD, and 80 Sqn, 5 Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers (RE)) with 8 Canadian Brigade (Nan Beach)
W and Y Breaching Sqns (13 Crabs of B Sqn, WD, and 82 Sqn, 6 Assault Regiment, RE) with 231 Bde (Jig Beach)
X and Z Breaching Sqns (13 Crabs of C Sqn, WD, and 81 Sqn, 6 Assault Regiment, RE) with 69 Bde (King Beach)

The LCTs were supposed to be preceded by Sherman DD 'swimming' tanks, but in Gold sector the surf was too bad and they were not launched, so the breaching teams were the first vehicles ashore at H-Hour (07.25). They then got to work. For example, Lt Pear leading two Crabs with No 1 Breaching Team of X Breaching Sqn drove off the LCT and waded to the beach, where his rear tank got bogged in clay. Pear flailed a lane across the beach up to the lateral road and turned left as planned. His role now was to remain in reserve, giving covering fire. However, the team at No 3 Lane had failed, and Pear was ordered to carry on inland. He crossed a stream and an anti-tank ditch, finding to his surprise that the bridges had not been blown by the enemy. He was then stopped by a large crater (probably from a British shell or bomb), but this was quickly bridged by an AVRE and Pear continued to flail a lane up the hill so that the DD tanks go move inland. No 2 Team was held up beyond the lateral road by boggy ground and craters, despite making a 'sporting effort to get past'. Both Crabs of No 3 Team got to the beach but were hit in the rotor by a German 88 mm gun on the sea wall at La Rivière.