MECHANISED CAVALRY

Evening Star, Issue 23374, 18 September 1939, Page 14

MECHANISED CAVALRY

TWO REGIMENTS STILL HORSED The most significant item at -the Aldershot Tattoo this year was a ceremonial interpretation of the handing over of the duties of national defence by Britain’s old Regular Army to the modern mechanised forces. The item showed in spectacular manner how the brave, colourful trappings of yesterday' have become the khaki of to-day, how the glitter of steel accoutrements has been replaced by the grey of armourplating, and how the horse has been led off the field, the tank driven on. . . No part of Britain’s land forces has been affected by mechanisation, more than the Corps of Cavalry of the Line: of the 20 regiments of which it is composed, only two —the 1 Ist The Royal Dragoons and The Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) remain horsed. Each of tltfe other 18—each a regiment known and honoured throughput the world—has been, or is about to be, mechanised. The Ist King’s Dragoon Guards, the Uueen’s Bays, the sth Royal Iniskilling Dragoon Guards, the 3rd The King’s Own Hussars, and the 15th Royal Lancers are examples. All have adapted themselves to the needs of 1939, but though their service life has been so radically changed their traditions of achievement go on uninterruptedly. The qualities and high standard of service demanded of them are unaltered, and though the glamour of the old order has gone, recruiting returns show that the new attractions of the life the regiments offer are no less keenly realised. For, as tlje Army expresses it. the cavalry remains w’hat it was, whether the man is mounted on a horse or- in a tank. . . While a man may still join either of the horsed regiments, recruits are chiefly enlisted, obviously, for the mechanised units, and training in theni teaches a man to be not only an efficient soldiei , but gives him the opportunity of specialised knowledge that will earn him extra pay in the Army and equip him with qualifications of value in civil me. After the initial training through which every new soldier, whatever, his branch of the Array, must go— dnl '; lectures on discipline, the handling ot weapons, Army routine, and the .iike—the recruit to a mechanised unit is taught how a motor engine works, how to maintain it, how to drive a tank, armoured car, or motor cycle, how to use the weapons with which Ins vehicle is armed. Then he may pass on to one of the specialised courses, and ultimately become a wireless operator, driver-mechanic, or technical storeman. As his service progresses—he enlists for terms of six years with the colours and six in the reserve—he is, of eligible for promotion in rank and for proficiency pay.