The 23rd Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

raised during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and in existence from 1940 to 1946. It had no lineal connection with the earlier

23rd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons The 23rd Light Dragoons was a cavalry regiment of the British Army which existed several times. 1st existence It was created in 1781 as the 23rd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons by Sir John Burgoyne, Bt. at Bedford but renumbered in 1786 as the 19 ...

(1794–1802).

History

The regiment was raised in December 1940 from a cadre of personnel taken from the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) and the

15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars The 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it was a ...

. It was assigned to 29th Armoured Brigade of

11th Armoured Division The 11th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army which was created in March 1941 during the Second World War. The division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of the German panzer divisions. The 11th Armour ...

The 11th Armoured Division landed in France in June 1944, taking heavy casualties in the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...

. It spearheaded Operation ''Epsom'', reaching the Odon river between Mouen and Mondrainville. It was embroiled in Operation ''Goodwood'', where its assault on Bourguébus Ridge on the first day was brought to a halt. After ''Goodwood'', the losses of armour within the division were so high that the 24th Lancers were disbanded and its remnants absorbed by the 23rd Hussars. The Regiment then took part in Operation ''Bluecoat'', intended to secure the key road junction of

Vire Vire () is a town and a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Vire Normandie. Geography The town is located on the river Vire. Much o ...

and the high ground of Mont Pinçon, which would allow the American exploitation of their breakout on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead. The 11th Armoured Division was subsequently attached to XXX Corps, which captured Flers, Putanges and

Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France. As of 2019, Argentan is the third largest municipality by population in the Orne department.

in the battle of the

Falaise pocket The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (; 12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, c ...

. Once the Falaise pocket was sealed, the Regiment remained with the 11th Armoured Division as it liberated

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction ...

on 23 August. It crossed the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

on 28 August and, after an advance of 60 miles in one day, liberated

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

on 1 September and

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

on 4 September. It was not directly involved in the ground actions of Operation ''Market Garden'', but covered the right flank of the advancing XXX Corps. The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 BU3194

The British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 BU3194

It was in reserve, being re-equipped with

Comet tank The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the World War II, Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell ta ...

s, at the time of the

Ardennes Offensive The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

, but was rapidly deployed into a defensive line along the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

with its old tanks. In 1945, it took part in Operations ''Veritable'' and ''Blockbuster'' and liberated

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

before crossing the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

and capturing

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

.Memorial Montormel – 11th Armoured Division “Taurus Pursuant”
It was disbanded at the end of January 1946.

Battle honours

The Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

'': The Odon, Bourguébus Ridge, Le Perier Ridge, Amiens 1944, Antwerp, Venraij, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, North-West Europe 1944-45

Notable members

John Addison John Mervyn Addison (16 March 19207 December 1998) was a British composer best known for his film scores. Early life Addison was born in Chobham, Surrey to a father who was a colonel in the Royal Field Artillery, and this influenced the de ...

, film music composer *

Cecil Blacker General (United Kingdom), General Sir Cecil Hugh Blacker (4 June 1916 – 18 October 2002) was a senior British Army officer and a former Adjutant-General to the Forces. Military career Educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, Wellington Col ...

, later

Adjutant-General to the Forces The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...

* John da Cunha, barrister and later judge. Part of the British delegation to the

Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

* Sir

Alan Glyn Sir Alan Jack Glyn (26 September 1918 – 5 May 1998) was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament. He was educated at Westminster School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read medicine. He proceeded to St. Bartholomew's ...

, Member of Parliament

References

Sources

* * * {{RAC armoured regiments of the Second World War Cavalry regiments of the British Army Hussar regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1940 Hussars 023 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946