Prince of Orange Hussars Bastille Day 2007

The Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje was an

armoured regiment Armoured regiments are units provided by the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army. History The first armoured regiments - known at the time as "tank battalions" - were formed in the First World War, first in the Machine Gun Corps and later a ...

of the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

, named after Prince Willem, Prince of Orange, eldest son of King Willem II. The regiment served as part of

43 Gemechaniseerde (Mechanized) Brigade 43 Mechanised Brigade () is one of the three combat brigades of the Royal Netherlands Army, the others being the 13th Light Brigade and 11th Airmobile Brigade. The brigade has armored and non-armored vehicles at its disposal, and is tasked with ...

operating the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

. The

Regiment Huzaren Prinses Catharina-Amalia The Regiment Huzaren Prinses Catharina-Amalia is a cavalry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army. The regiment was formed in late 2020 through the amalgamation of three other Dutch cavalry regiments that, at the time, existed in suspension - the ...

, which is a company in the 414th Panzer Battalion plus Cavalry Mounted Escort Squadron and Mounted Units Regimental Band, is a cavalry regiment formed in late 2020 through the amalgamation of three other Dutch cavalry regiments that, at the time, existed in suspension - the

Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander The Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander is an Armoured corps of the Royal Netherlands Army, named after Prince Alexander, the second son of King Willem II. This regiment represented the former 3rd Hussars Regiment, formed in 1814 (origins date back ...

, Regiment Huzaren Van Sytzama and Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje.

History

Shortly before the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

, Major Count du Chastel de la Hovarderie was ordered by the King to form a Regiment of Carabiniers Land militia. When the Battle of Waterloo took place, the unit was not yet sufficiently trained so was in the 'Reserve Armee'. From 1816-67 the regiments designation successively changed. In 1841, it was transformed into a Dragoon regiment (2nd Dragoon Regiment), followed by another transformation in 1867, when it became the 2nd Hussar Regiment. The regiment fought with distinction against the Belgians during the Ten Day Campaign (Tiendaagse Veldtocht) in August 1831. From 1922 to 1939 the Dutch army went through severe cutbacks, and the 4 hussar regiments were halved. In the mobilisation after 1939, the Dutch army wanted to improve its organisation, and a large move took place on May 1, 1941. This moved units around, meaning that the defenders advantage of knowing the terrain was often lost. There were only 2 squadrons of armoured cars in the regiment. Until May 1940 the cavalry was still partly on horseback. The unit fought through the whole time the Netherlands was in the war. The regiment had several clashes with Germans, and was often bombed by German planes. Their main action was defending the bridges at

Geertruidenberg Geertruidenberg () is a city and municipality in the province North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The city, named after Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, received city rights in 1213 from the count of Holland. The fortified city prospered u ...

and Keizersveer, preventing an SS-Brigade from crossing the bridges despite heavy fighting. The regiment was disbanded after the armistice in 1940, but was raised again in 1978, as the Regiment Huzaren Prins van Oranje.

History

Battle honours

References

External links