3rd Cavalry Division

The history of the 3rd Cavalry Division

The 3rd Cavalry Division was formed at Windmill Hill Camp at Ludgershall in early September 1914. It left there on 5 October and began to embark next day at Southampton. After some sailing delay due to suspected submarine activity in the English Channel, it arrived at Ostend on 8 October and proceeded to Bruges as part of IV Corps. The division then remained on the Western Front in France and Flanders, taking part in the following engagements:

Commanded by Major-General the Hon. J. H. G. Byng (from formation)

1914

  • The Antwerp operations (9 – 10 October)
  • The Battles of Ypres 1914 (“First Ypres”), in phases:
    • The Battle of Langemarck (21 – 24 October)
    • The Battle of Gheluvelt (29 – 31 October)
    • The Battle of Nonne Bosschen (11 November)

1915

  • Winter Operations 1914-15

Commanded by Brigadier-General D. G. M. Campbell (temporary while Byng took command of Cavalry Corps, 19 April – 4 May 1915)

Commanded by Major-General C. J. Briggs (from 7 May 1915, Byng having taken command of Cavalry Corps)

  • The Battle of Frezenburg Ridge (11 – 13 May, a phase of the Battles of Ypres 1915) (“Second Ypres”)
  • The Battle of Loos (26 – 28 September)

Commanded by Major-General J. Vaughan (from 15 October 1915, Briggs having been to moved command of 28th Division)

1916

  • No major engagements

1917

  • The First Battle of the Scarpe (9 – 12 April, a phase of the Arras Offensive)
  • The attack on Monchy le Preux (10 -11 April, a phase of the Arras Offensive)

1918

  • The Battle of St Quentin (21 – 23 March, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme in which the division was engaged until 5 April)

Note: between 22 and 25 March 1918 the division provided the 3rd Dismounted Division, organised into three dismounted brigades. It also provided a mounted detachment under “Harman’s Detachment” and then “Reynolds’s Force” between 23 and 29 March.

  • The actions at the Somme crossings (24 – 25 March, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme)
  • The Battle of the Avre (4 – 5 April, a phase of the of the First Battles of the Somme)

Commanded by Major-General A. E. W. Harman (from 15 May 1918, Vaughan having been to moved to a staff role. Harman had already taken temporary command of 3rd Cavalry Division as a Brigadier-General 17 October to 8 December 1917 and from 14 March 1918)

  • The Battle of Amiens (8 – 11 August)
  • The Battle of Cambrai 1918 (8 – 9 October, a phase of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line)
  • The Pursuit to the Selle (9 – 12 October)
  • The Final Advance in Flanders (9 – 11 November)

By 11 November the advance units of the division had reached the line of the River Dender at Leuze and Lessines.

The 3rd Cavalry Division was selected to advance into Germany as an advance screen for Second Army and form part of the Occupation Force. The move began on 17 November; Waterloo was reached four days later. Transport and supply difficulties caused a change of plan and the division remained in Belgium throughout the winter. The division ceased to exist at midnight 31 March / 1 April 1919.

The order of battle of the 3rd Cavalry Division

Divisional headquarters

6th Cavalry Brigade (began to form on 19 September 1914)

  • Brigade headquarters
  • 1st Royal Dragoons
  • 10th Hussars (left for 8th Cavalry Brigade 20 November 1914, rejoined from same 12 March 1918)
  • 6th Signal Troop, Royal Engineers
  • “C” Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (joined 19 October 1914)
  • 3rd Dragoon Guards (joined 4 November 1914)
  • 1/1st North Somerset Yeomanry (joined 13 November 1914, left for 8th Cavalry Brigade 13 March 1918)
  • 6th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron, Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) (formed 29 February 1916)

7th Cavalry Brigade (formed on 1 September 1914)

  • Brigade headquarters
  • 1st Life Guards (left 10 March 1918)
  • 2nd Life Guards (left 10 March 1918)
  • Royal Horse Guards (left for 8th Cavalry Brigade 21 November 1914, rejoined from same 7 November 1917)
  • 7th Signal Troop. Royal Engineers
  • “K” Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (joined 1 October 1914)
  • 1/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry (joined 12 November 1914, left for 8th Cavalry Brigade 7 November 1917)
  • 7th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron, Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) (formed 29 February 1916, broken up 14 April 1918)
  • 7th Dragoon Guards (joined 10 March 1918)
  • 6th Inniskilling Dragoons (joined 10 March 1918)
  • 17th Lancers (joined 10 March 1918)
  • 8th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron, Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) (joined from 8th Cavalry Brigade 11 March 1918)

8th Cavalry Brigade (formed 20 November 1914, left 14 March 1918)

  • Brigade headquarters
  • Royal Horse Guards (joined from 7th Cavalry Brigade 21 November 1914, rejoined same 7 November 1917)
  • 10th Hussars (joined from 6th Cavalry Brigade 20 November 1914, rejoined same 12 March 1918)
  • 8th Signal Troop, Royal Engineers
  • “G” Battery, Royal Horse Artillery (joined 25 November 1914, left for 5th Cavalry Division 13 March 1918)
  • 1/1st Essex Yeomanry (joined 11 December 1914)
  • 8th Cavalry Brigade Machine Gun Squadron, Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) (formed 29 February 1916, left for 7th Cavalry Brigade 11 March 1918)
  • 1/1st Leicestershire Yeomanry (joined from 7th Cavalry Brigade 7 November 1917)

Canadian Cavalry Brigade (attached to division between 10 April and 17 June 1916, joined 13 March 1918)

  • Brigade headquarters
  • Royal Canadian Dragoons
  • Lord Strathcona’s Horse
  • Fort Garry Horse
  • Canadian Signal Troop, Canadian Royal Engineers
  • Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Brigade
  • Canadian Cavalry Machine Gun Squadron

Divisional artillery

  • XV Brigade and Ammunition Column, Royal Horse Artillery (formed 1 October 1914 and renamed IV Brigade RHA in May 1915)

Divisional Royal Engineers

  • 3rd Signal Squadron (formed 12 September 1914)
  • 3rd Field Squadron (joined 19 October 1914)

Divisional Royal Army Medical Corps

  • 6th Cavalry Field Ambulance (formed 14 September 1914)
  • 7th Cavalry Field Ambulance (formed 3 October 1914)
  • 20th Cavalry Field Ambulance (joined ?, left 23 December 1914)
  • 8th Cavalry Field Ambulance (joined 23 December 1914, left 14 March 1918)
  • No. 12 Sanitary Section (joined 9 January 1915)
  • 7th Canadian Cavalry Field Ambulance (joined 13 March 1918)

Divisional Army Veterinary Corps

  • 13th Mobile Veterinary Section
  • 14th Mobile Veterinary Section
  • 20th Mobile Veterinary Section (joined 9 March 1915, left 14 March 1918)
  • “A” Canadian Veterinary Section (joined 13 March 1918)

Other divisional troops

  • 3rd Cavalry Divisional HQ, Army Service Corps (81 (Horsed Transport) Company, formed 14 September 1914)
  • 3rd Cavalry Division Field Ambulance Workshop (joined 14 May 1915, absorbed into Divisional Supply Column 1 April 1916)
  • 3rd Cavalry Divisional Auxiliary (Horse), Army Service Corps (576 (Horsed Transport) Company, formed 23 September 1915)
  • 3rd Cavalry Divisional Supply Column, Army Service Corps (73 and 414 (Mechanical Transport) Companies, formed 4 and 16 September 1914 respectively. 73 absorbed 414 on 10 October 1916)
  • 7th Motor Machine Gun Battery, Machine Gun Corps (Motors) (joined 30 March 1916, left 18 July 1917)
  • 773rd Divisional Employment Company, Labour Corps (formed 16 September 1917)

Divisional memorials

There is no memorial to the 3rd Cavalry Division.

Divisional histories

There appears to be no published history of the 3rd Cavalry Division but it receives much coverage in Anglesey’s history of the British cavalry on the Western Front.

“The history of the 6th Cavalry Brigade” by John Bickersteth is available online from archive.org and can be downloaded as a PDF file. Book link

Links

Other Cavalry Divisions