Royal Canadian Dragoons

Royal Canadian Dragoons
Cap Badge of The Royal Canadian Dragoons
Active	21 December 1883 – present
Country	Canada
Allegiance	Canadian Forces Regular Force
Branch	Canadian Army
Type	Line Cavalry
Role	Reconnaissance
Size	One Regiment
Part of	Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQ	Petawawa
Motto	Audax et Celer (Bold and Swift)
March	Monsieur Beaucaire Light of Foot (Dismounted)
Mascot	Springbok
Anniversaries	Leeuwarden Leliefontein
Equipment	See equipment (below)
Engagements	Leliefontein
Battle honours	See Battle honours (below)
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	HRH The Prince of Wales
Colonel of the Regiment	Brigadier General D.M. Dean
Commanding Officer (CO)	Lieutenant Colonel Daryl Cross
Regiment Sergeant Major (RSM)	Chief Warrant Officer W. Richards
Insignia
Abbreviation	RCD

The Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) is an armoured regiment of the Canadian Army. It is one of three armoured regiments in the Regular Force and forms part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.

The colonel-in-chief of the RCD is HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. The current commanding officer is Lieutenant Colonel D.J. Cross, and the current regimental sergeant-major is Chief Warrant Officer W. Richards.

History

The Royal Canadian Dragoons is the most senior cavalry regiment in Canada, having been formed on December 21, 1883, 3:03 pm, as the Cavalry School Corps, as a result of the Militia Act of 1883, which also created the Infantry School Corps (now The Royal Canadian Regiment). The Militia Act of 1883 emphasized the need for a fully trained army to defend Canada, as its defences had been pierced during the Fenian raids. In 1887 it was renamed the Royal School of Cavalry. In 1892 the regiment was renamed as the Canadian Dragoons and in 1893 it became The Royal Canadian Dragoons.

The camp flag of The Royal Canadian Dragoons.

The RCD's Great War Canadian Cavalry Brigade identifying flash.

It served in the North-West campaign of 1885, the Second Boer War, First World War, Second World War, past peacekeeping (such as Somalia, Korea, and Kosovo among others) and Afghanistan with distinction.

The regiment currently serves as part of Land Force Central Area's 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group based at CFB Petawawa, Ontario, and is a dedicated reconnaissance regiment. It converted to this role in April 2003, and was equipped solely with Coyote light armoured reconnaissance vehicles.

In late 2006 the regiment was once again equipped with the Leopard tank. In March 2007, a Tank Troop was stood up and attached to C Squadron Lord Strathcona's Horse Royal Canadians for service on deployed operations in Afghanistan Roto 4 with the Leopard 2A6M. C Squadron was reformed and stationed in CFB Gagetown with the promise of tank capability in 2012.

The springbok cap badge

In armies of Commonwealth Realms, most other "royal" regiments feature St Edward's Crown on their cap badge. The cap badge of The Royal Canadian Dragoons is special; it features a springbok with no crown.

During the Second Boer War (1899–1902), during the advance to Pretoria, the RCD set up camp in a field. Regimental legend has it that one of the sentries noticed that some springbok were behaving erratically, and alerted the officers, who ordered a stand-to. This resulted in the defeat of Boer forces that had been trying to sneak up through the fields to attack the Canadian force.

There is no documentary evidence of this incident. The Commanding Officer at that time, Lt.-Col. Louis Lessard, makes no mention of it in his personal papers or his official reports. It is more accurate to state that the RCD wear the springbok as a recognition for the regiment's sterling service in South Africa. Three members of a single unit winning the Victoria Cross in a single action on a single day has been surpassed only once, at Rorke's Drift in 1879.

The commander of the RCD then put a request to King Edward VII, the reigning monarch, to officially have their cap badge changed to the springbok, which was finally accepted in 1913.

The guidon of The Royal Canadian Dragoons.

Battle honours

• North West Canada 1885
• South Africa 1900
• The Great War: Festubert 1915, Somme 1916 '18, Bazentin, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1915–18
• The Second World War: Liri Valley, Gothic Line, Lamone Crossing, Misano Ridge, Sant' Angelo-in-Salute, Fosso Vecchio, Italy 1944–45, Groningen, Bad Zwischenahn, North-West Europe 1945

Victoria Crosses

Lieutenant Cockburn's VC

On November 7, 1900, during the Second Boer War, the Royal Canadian Dragoons engaged enemy Boers in the Battle of Leliefontein, where they rescued a minimum of three British guns from capture during a retreat from the banks of the Komati River. Three Victoria Crosses were later awarded to men of The Royal Canadian Dragoons for their actions during the course of the day:

• Lieutenant H.Z.C. Cockburn
• Lieutenant R.E.W. Turner
• Sergeant E.J.G. Holland

Regimental alliances

• United Kingdom – The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)
• United States – 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment (Light Horse) (Bond of Friendship)

Order of precedence

Preceded by First in order of precedence of Canadian armoured regiments

The Royal Canadian Dragoons

Succeeded by Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians)

See also

• List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage
• The Canadian Crown and the Canadian Forces
• Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance
• List of units of the Canadian Army
• Authorized marches of the Canadian Forces
• Canadian Forces order of precedence

External links

• History and Uniform of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, 1883 to 1970
• RCD Website