17-й Лансерский полк: История и участие в Крымской войне

British Army cavalry regiment

The 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1759 and notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. The regiment was amalgamated with the 21st Lancers to form the 17th/21st Lancers in 1922.

In 1759, Colonel John Hale of the 47th Foot was ordered back to Britain with General James Wolfe's final dispatches and news of his victory in the Battle of Quebec in September 1759. After his return, he was rewarded with land in Canada and granted permission to raise a regiment of light dragoons. He formed the regiment in Hertfordshire on 7 November 1759 as the 18th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, which also went by the name of Hale's Light Horse. Colonel Hale chose for the regiment: the Death's Head with the motto "Or Glory". The regiment saw service in Germany in 1761 and was renumbered the 17th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons in April 1763 In May 1766 it was renumbered again, this time as the 3rd Regiment of Light Dragoons.]] Led by Lt Col Samuel Birch, the regiment was sent to North America in 1775, arriving in Boston, then besieged by American rebels in the American Revolutionary War. It fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill, a costly British victory, in June 1775. It fought at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776 and at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. the Battle of Crooked Billet in May 1778 and the Battle of Barren Hill later that month. With regimental pride, the regular dragoons of the 17th preserved an identity separate from the provincial unit. They kept their fading scarlet coats rather than adopting the green of the Legion. A lieutenant was killed and several private soldiers were killed or wounded at the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781. The Legion cavalry included many volunteers from prisoners captured at the Battle of Camden. These replacements refused orders to engage the enemy at Cowpens. Tarleton combined Legion officers with the men of the 17th and led about 50 in a charge, attempting to support the right flank. Although initially successful, the dragoons were counter charged by a larger force of concealed Patriot cavalry. The American War of Independence officially ended in 1783. An officer of the regiment, Captain Stapleton, had the distinction of delivering to George Washington the despatch confirming the declaration of the cessation of hostilities.

The regiment returned to Ireland, where it remained until 1795, when it sailed for the West Indies to reinforce depleted forces battling the French. Two troops were used to suppress an uprising by "Maroons" in Jamaica soon after arriving in the Caribbean. Other detachments were embarked aboard HMS Success as "supernumeraries". Their experience at sea has been suggested by regimental historians to have gained the regiment the nickname "Horse Marines". The regiment returned to England in August 1797. It was based in Ireland again from May 1803 to winter 1805.

In 1806, the regiment took part in the disastrous expeditions to Spanish controlled South America, then an ally of France during the Napoleonic Wars. Sir Home Riggs Popham had orchestrated an expedition against South America without the British government's sanction. This invasion failed, but a second invasion was launched. The regiment was part of this second force, under Sir Samuel Auchmuty. The British force besieged and captured Montevideo. The British force (including the regiment), was forced to surrender, and did not return home until January 1808. The regiment was sent to India shortly after returning home. It took part in the attack on the Pindarees in 1817 during the Third Anglo Maratha War. Disease ravaged the regiment during its residency. While in India, the British Army nominally re classified the regiment as lancers, and added "lancers" as a subtitle to its regimental designation in 1822. the lance had not been in British service for more than a century. Its reintroduction by the Duke of York, Commander in Chief of the British Army, owed much to the performance of Napoleon Bonaparte's Polish Uhlans. The lancer regiments adopted their own version of the Uhlan uniform, including the czapka style headdress. In 1826, Lord Bingham (later the 3rd Earl of Lucan) became the regiment's commanding officer when he bought its lieutenant colonelcy for the reputed sum of £25,000. During his tenure, Bingham invested heavily in the regiment, purchasing uniforms and horses, giving rise to the regimental nickname "Bingham's Dandies".

The regiment landed at Calamita Bay near Eupatoria in September 1854 for service in the Crimean War and saw action, as part of the light brigade under the command of Major General the Earl of Cardigan, at the Battle of Alma in September 1854. The regiment, commanded by Captain William Morris, was in the first line of cavalry on the left flank during the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854. The brigade drove through the Russian artillery before smashing straight into the Russian cavalry and pushing them back; it was unable to consolidate its position, however, having insufficient forces and had to withdraw to its starting position, coming under further attack as it did so. After the inception of the Victoria Cross in 1856, three members of the regiment received the award for acts of gallantry in the charge: These were Troop Sergeant Major John Berryman, Sergeant Major Charles Wooden, and Sergeant John Farrell.

In December 1857 the regiment arrived in India to reinforce the effort to suppress the Indian rebellion against British rule. By the time the regiment was prepared for service, the rebellion was effectively over, although it did take part in the pursuit of Tatya Tope, the rebel leader. During the course of the pursuit, Lieutenant Evelyn Wood earned the Victoria Cross for gallantry. The regiment returned to England in 1865. and arrived to Cape Town on the SS Victorian early the next month. The contingent missed the large pitched battles, but still saw action during the war. In 1900, Sergeant Brian Lawrence won the regiment's fifth and final Victoria Cross at Essenbosch Farm. The contingent's most significant action was at the Battle of Elands River (Modderfontein) in September 1901. C Squadron was attacked by a unit of Boers under the command of Jan Smuts; the Lancers mistakenly assumed the unit was friendly because of their attire. The Boers immediately opened fire, attacking from both the front and the rear. The Lancers suffered further casualties at a closed gate that slowed them down. Only Captain Sandeman, the squadron commander, and Lieutenant Lord Vivian survived. The regiment suffered 29 killed and 41 wounded before surrendering, while Boer losses were just one killed and six wounded. They stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which ended June 1902 with the Peace of Vereeniging. Four months later, 540 officers and men left Cape Town on the SS German in late September 1902, and arrived at Southampton in late October, when they were posted to Edinburgh.

The regiment, which was based in Sialkot in India at the start of the First World War, landed in France as part of the 2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Indian Cavalry Division in November 1914 for service on the Western Front. The regiment fought in its conventional cavalry role at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. It was the only British Army barracks to be captured during the war. In 1921, the title of the regiment was altered to the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own).