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The Northumberland Hussars is a British Territorial Army Squadron equipped with FV107 Scimitar and FV103 Spartan armoured reconnaissance vehicles. The squadron is part of The Queen's Own Yeomanry (QOY), a Formation Reconnaissance Regiment. The 'Hussars' are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and are part of the 15th (North East) Brigade of the 2nd Division.

On mobilisation, the 'Hussars' would reinforce one of the regular formation reconnaissance regiments. Some personnel from the squadron were attached to regular Royal Armoured Corps units for Operations Tellic and Herrick.

 

In February 1940, the regiment transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) as the 102nd Light Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Tank Regiment, RA (Northumberland Hussars); two batteries were equipped with 2 pounder Anti-Tank Guns (2pdr A/Tk Guns), the other two were light anti-aircraft (LAA) batteries. Following conversion, the regiment joined the 2nd Armoured Division's 2nd Support Group.

In October 1940, the division set sail for the Middle East, arriving in the new year.Two months later, the 'Hussars' converted to a three-battery anti-tank regiment, with one LAA battery re-equipping with 2pdrs and the other, 'A' Battery, transferring to the 25th LAA Regiment. (Following the conversion, the regiment was unofficially considered to be a Royal Horse Artillery unit.)

In April, the 'Hussars', and other elements from the 2nd Support Group, joined the 1st Armoured Brigade for Operation Lustre, (the move to Greece). At this time, the regiment had a strength of 578 men, 168 vehicles and 48 x 2pdrs.

After their arrival, the regiment was deployed to hold the Metamorphos Pass in conjunction with the Greek Horse Artillery. On 22 April, they were subjected to dive bombing and tank attacks. Together with their New Zealand allies, the 'Hussars' acted as a rearguard. After a 12 hour battle and a 160 mile march through the night, they reached Athens on 25 April. The next day, they headed off to the nearby Rafina Beach and waited to be evacuated, having by now, destroyed their guns and equipment. Most of the unit were taken aboard HMS Havoc] on 27 April and landed at Suda on the island of Crete. However some elements were evacuated to Alexandria.

 

On the island, they were equipped with rifles and tasked to fight as infantry on the Akrotiri Peninsula between Canea and Suda. On 15 May, they again came under air attack; 11 German gliders also landed in the regimental area. By 26 May, the peninsula was under allied control and the gliders had all been destroyed. On 27 May, the allies decide to evacuate Crete; the regiment had to withdraw across the mountains from the town of Suda to the evacuation beaches at Sphakia, a distance of 50 miles. Many troops did get away, but owing to heavy shipping losses, the embarkation was stopped on 31 May and over 200 menfrom the regiment were left behind and ordered to surrender to the advancing German forces.

Evacuated to Egypt, the regiment began re-equipping and was brought back up to strength with men from the 106th (Lancashire Hussars) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, which unit had been suspended due to losses incurred in the fighting on Crete. The 102nd was attached to the 7th Armoured Division for Operation Crusader, in November 1941. By February 1942, the 'Hussars' had moved to the 1st Armoured Division, with whom they participated in the Battle of Gazala. In October 1942, they became part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, with whom they took part in the Second Battle of Alamein and fought in Sicily and at Salerno in Italy.

In October 1943, the 50th Division set sail for England, arriving at Liverpool on 5 November 1943; the 102nd had returned to the UK after an absence of almost three years. The Northumberland Hussars were, by this stage, a very experienced unit with six major battle honours, including two amphibious landings under their belts. They were an obvious choice to be placed at the forefront of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. For the next six months, they joined thousands of allied servicemen training in Britain for the assault on the French Coast.

In preparation for the assault, the Northumberland Hussars equipped their 99th and 288th batteries with eight 6pdrs and four M10 SP A/Tk Guns - a normal infantry division A/Tk battery had four 6pdrs and eight 17pdrs. In addition, the regiment was reinforced by the 198th and 234th SP A/Tk Batteries (both with 12 M10s), which were detached from XXX Corps's 73rd Anti-Tank Regiment RA.

The 50th (Northumbrian) Division was to assault Gold Beach with the 69th and 231st Infantry Brigades. The 69th Brigade, supported by the 99th battery, would land at La Rivière and move south toward Crépon and Creully to Saint-Léger, which was on the strategically important Bayeux-Caen road. The 231st Brigade would be supported by the 234th SP and 288th batteries. The 198th SP Battery was scheduled to land six hours after the first assault.

Once the lead Brigades had secured their objectives, they were to consolidate their position with the help of the 'Hussars' two other batteries. Meanwhile, the follow-up Infantry Brigades (the 151st and the independent 56th, which had been attached to the division for the assault) would continue the push inland, supported by the 8th Armoured Brigade and the rest of the anti-tank units.

The 50th (Northumbrian) Division was considered to have performed very well in Normandy; out of the three divisions that were veterans of the desert (the others being 7th Armoured Division and 51st Highland Division), it was considered to have performed the best. It was one of the driving forces behind the British advance, and was exhausted by the end of the battle. It later played a minor role in Operation Market Garden, where the 231st Infantry Brigade was detached to help support the advance of the Guards Armoured Division.

In December 1944, when the rest of the division returned to Britain, the Northumberland Hussars remained in Northern Europe as part of the 15th (Scottish) Division, with which it remained until the end of the war.

World War II timeline

  • UK 1940-1 - 2nd Armoured Division
  • Greece 1941 - 1st Armourd Brigade
  • N Africa 1941-2 - 7th Armoured Division
  • N Africa 1942-3 - 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  • El Alamein Oct 42 - 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  • Sicily 1943 - 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  • UK 1943-4 - 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  • D Day 1944 - 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  • NW Europe 1944 - 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division
  • NW Europe 1944-5 - 15th (Scottish) Division

 

Northumberland Hussars

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