the FIRST AND LAST Story of 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 1939-1945

In 1939, equipped with Vickers Mk.VI light tanks, the 4th/7th deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, as the reconnaissance regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division under I Corps. It participated in the Battle of France, fighting in northern France and Belgium, and evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. The personnel of the regiment landed in England on 3 June 1940, having abandoned their vehicles.After re-equipping with Beaverette armoured cars, the regiment was posted to the 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade and then, in December 1940, to the 27th Armoured Brigade, part of 9th Armoured Division, equipped with Covenanter tanks. At this time, a small group of personnel was detached to form the cadre of a new regiment, the 22nd Dragoons. In 1943, the regiment joined 79th Armoured Division, equipping with amphibious Valentine tanks, and later re-equipping with M4 Sherman DD tanks.Under command of the 8th Armoured Brigade, the regiment landed on King Green, Gold Beach, at 07:20 on 6 June 1944 as part of the D-Day landings, supporting the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. The regiment later participated in the Battle for the Falaise Gap, and as part of the armoured forces in Operation Market Garden - the regiment pushing as far as Driel, on the south bank of the Rhine a couple of miles from Arnhem. Among other notable achievements, it was the first armoured unit to cross the Seine.