Can anyone tell me when the "Dancing Girls" left North Africa for Cyprus, and for how long they were upon that island? Thanks, David.
Among the regular cavalry, The 1st King's Dragoon Guards were never in Cyprus. The 3rd The King's Own Hussars, the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, and the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars served on Cyprus at various times.
Thank you David. It would seem that my notes are incorrect. Could I trouble you for their movements 1940 - 1942. Thanks in advance, David.
Sorry David, I should have made myself clearer. KDG movements 1940 - 1942. If I've got the Cyprus bit wrong, the whole lot could be wrong. Thanks, David.
Here is what I have: An advanced party of the regiment was dispatched to Egypt on 30 October 1940. The rest of the regiment embarked for Egypt on 16 November and arrived on 25 December 1940. ‘B’ Squadron served in the western desert under the command of the 11th Hussars from 27 January until 18 February 1941 and under 2nd Armoured Division from 24 January until 19 May 1941. ‘C’ Squadron arrived in the desert on 18 February and ‘A’ Squadron followed on 27 February. By 1 April 1941 the regiment was in the area of Gfafia. The KDGs served under command of 3rd Armoured Brigade in Tobruk Fortress from 8 April 1941. On 3 May 1941, RHQ, ‘A’ and ‘B’ Squadrons were evacuated by sea. ‘C’ Squadron and the Dismounted Squadron were left behind under 18th Indian Cavalry along with two light tank troops under command of ‘A’ Squadron, 1st Royal Tank Regiment. The Dismounted Squadron occupied part of the perimeter from 20 May to 4 June 1941. ‘C’ Squadron of 8 troops stayed under command of 32nd Army Tank Brigade located at Lysander, Fortress HQ, until 21 November 1941. It was withdrawn on 9 December 1941 and entered Cairo on 20 January 1942 on its way to Abassia. It joined the rest of the regiment by February 1942. When the rest of the regiment had left Tobruk on 3 May 1941 it went to Alexandria and then to Polygon Barracks, Abassia. On 1 September 1941 it was to take over from 11th Hussars in the western desert and it came under command of 7th Support Group on 15 September. On 6 November it was relieved by the 11th Hussars so that it could reequip and on 18 November it came under 4th Armoured Brigade with ‘C’ Squadron of 6th South African Armoured Car Regiment attached until 13 January 1942. In addition one squadron of 4th South African Armoured Car Regiment was attached on 19 November. The regiment advanced to Bengasi on 23 December and during the first week of 1942 it rejoined 7th Support Group. It was relieved by the 1st Royal Dragoons on 20 January 1942, but this was cancelled on 27 January and the regiment came under command of XXX Corps. By 30 January it came under 4th Indian Infantry Division and returned to Cairo by 6 February 1942. Between February and March 1942 the regiment was resting and refitting at Abassia in Egypt. On 19 March ‘C’ Squadron went to the western desert, followed by the rest of the regiment on 28 March. ‘C’ Squadron served under 4th Armoured Brigade from 19 to 28 March, while the entire regiment was under 7th Armoured Division from 28 March to 24 April. It then joined 7th Motor Brigade until 29 June 1942. ‘C’ Squadron was detached to 4th Armoured Brigade from 20 May to 30 June. By 30 June the regiment left to reequip. On 27 June 1942, ‘A’ Squadron came under command of the 1st Royal Dragoons. ‘C’ Squadron was also sent to the Royals for three weeks starting on 30 June. On 13 July ‘B’ Squadron and RHQ came under command of XIII Corps and 7th Motor Brigade. The whole regiment was sent to the front on 21 July, but handed over to the 11th Hussars on 12 September 1942. It returned to Qassassin, Egypt and remained there from September to November 1942 with the exception of ‘B’ Squadron, which came under command of 8th Armoured Division from 5 to 11 November 1942, returning to Qassassin. By 12 November 1942 the regiment returned to the western desert, joining X Corps on 16 November. It joined 7th Armoured Division on 26 November 1942 and served under command of 4th Light Armoured Brigade from 3 December 1942 until 11 March 1943. Between 28 February and 11 March 1943 ‘B’ Squadron came under command of the Royals while the rest of the regiment was reequipping. Between 11 March and 14 April the KDGs were under command of the New Zealand Corps and 2nd New Zealand Division. It joined XIX French Corps from 14 to 30 April and from then until July 1943 it was under 1st Armoured Division in North Africa.
Thank you David. I have updated my records accordingly. Do you (or anyone else) know with what armoured cars the squadrons were given when they withdrew to re-equip in November 1941, then again in March and June of 1942?
The regiment was equipped as follows: September 1939-January 1941 with Light Tanks Mk VIB, January 1941-February 1943 with Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars, November 1942-May 1943 with AEC Armoured Cars, February 1943-November 1943 with Humber Armoured Cars, November 1943-May 1945 with Daimler Armoured Cars, and December 1943-May 1945 with Staghound Armoured Cars. When ‘B’ Squadron fought with 11th Hussars it was equipped with 20 of the new Marmon-Herrington armoured cars. Between 16-18 February 1941, No. 2 Armoured Car Company, RAF was under command with Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. ‘C’ Squadron at Tobruk had 30 Marmon-Herrington II armoured cars in 8 troops. By 15 June 1941 the regiment was down to 16 armoured cars. Between February and March 1942 the regiment reequipped with Marmon-Herrington III armoured cars. By late 1942 the regiment had received Daimler armoured cars at one car per troop, making 2 Marmon-Herringtons and 1 Daimler per troop. On 12 September 1942 it handed their equipment over to the 11th Hussars and received new Daimlers and Marmon-Herringtons.
Thank you David. My data is on 3x (Commonwealth, Italian & German) Excel files. They are huge and unwieldy. They are also proving to be less than 100% accurate. eg KDG & Cyprus. However, I am always using them to answer folks questions on other WWII forums. Less so on this one, as I know less about Commonwealth than say Italian, and the folks here are smarter than your average bear! But I will share what I have with any interested parties. As you may have gathered, North African desert is my thing. Although I have stopped short of Tunisia, as it is not strictly desert, and outside of my 1940 - 1942 framework. One day perhaps! Thinking back a few years, the host of the now defunct Afrikakorps.org site did put the Italian ones up, as they were the most complete, but sadly I was not able to edit them myself, so they quickly became outdated as I updated my own as and when new material came to light. Best wishes, and thanks for ALL your answers. David Wormell.
Thanks for the explanation. I have accumulated so much Commonwealth data over. 45 years of research. I managed to get some published on the 'British Armies' series. I am now working on a series on the Canadian Army and hope to get it published some day. Back in the day I put together the order of battle for an old Strategy and Tactics war game, Campaign for North Africa 1940-43. In fact that was my first publishing credit.
David. A friend of mine I the U.S. says that they are updating and revising that game for a re-release, will you be getting involved?
