Where did the dragoon regiments go from?

Dragoon regiments are originally a kind of troops capable of fighting both on foot and in horse ranks. That is, a dragoon is a universal fighter who knows different tactics of combat.

Name

According to one version, dragoon regiments received their name from the French word "dragon". The image of this mythical creature was on the banners of the first regiments. According to another version, the name comes from the term "dragon" - a short French musket of the 16th century. It is possible that both these factors influenced the name of the new type of troops.

Purpose

Originally dragoon regiments were considered, rather, a kind of infantry. The appearance of small arms reduced the effectiveness of the heavily armed knight cavalry, as soldiers in armor no longer played a significant role on the battlefield, as it was in the era of the Early and Middle Middle Ages. Now the clumsy knights represented an excellent target for the musketeers, whose weapons easily penetrated the iron armor.

Initial tactics of application

The weakness of the infantry with muskets was that it did not have mobility. Therefore, in the minds of the French tactics, the idea arose: to put the infantry on horses so that they could quickly and maneuveredly appear on any sector of the front. In fact, this is the first appearance of mobile infantry, but horses were used instead of motor vehicles. Originally dragoon regiments dismounted into infantry fighting formations as they approached the enemy, opening fire from muskets.

Transformation of Dragoons

In the XVII century, finally abandoned medieval armor and armor. Now the smell of gunpowder was on the battlefield and guns and rifles were heard. At this time, there was a need for a universal cavalry, which at the same time would be different in speed and could deal a powerful blow to the dense ranks of the enemy. It was such a cavalry that the regiment became dragoon.

Ulansky, dragoon, hussar regiment - these are different types of cavalry in the XVII - beginning. XX centuries. And if the lancers and hussars are lightly armed detachments on fast trotters, which, as a rule, were used for reconnaissance and pursuit of the enemy, the dragoons are a full-fledged cavalry on strong hardy horses. Their main task was to find a weak spot in the defensive ranks of the enemy and to break down the enemy's uniform structure with the subsequent encirclement of the factions separately. It was this tactic that enabled Napoleon Bonaparte to win many brilliant victories against the enemy's superior troops.

Appearance in Russia

In our country, the first dragoon regiment was formed in 1631 from among foreigners: Swedes, Dutch and English. But the foreigners did not last long in Russia: a year later they all quarreled among themselves, with the local population and with the authorities and left our country.

By the 18th century, the entire Russian cavalry was formed in a Dragoon type. Since 1712, even police cavalry detachments of dragoons are formed. By the end of the XIX century, the line between separate types of cavalry eroded. In 1907, the former names of the Ulan, the hussar, and the dragoon were restored, but they no longer differed from each other as before.

Armament

The dragoons were armed with swords, muskets and short spears, unlike, for example, from the lancers, who had long peaks that hit the same dragoons in the distance. In our country, dragoon regiments often armed with bulldogs or axes, which distinguished the tactics of our infantry from the European one.

Outfit

Above we have already said that the dragoons were originally used both on foot and in the cavalry. This feature manifested itself in the uniform: it was the same with the infantry regiments, and only the mounted dragoons wore large stubbed boots with valves and iron spurs.

Life Guards Dragoon Regiment

The service in the dragoon regiments was less prestigious than in the "purely" Cavalry Lancers or the hussars, so there were usually impoverished noblemen, numerous representatives of the "boyar's children", etc., and the dragoons were more likely to die, as they were thrown into the very The scorching of battles, and often they themselves were the source of the creation of the hottest hotbeds of the battle, as they wedged themselves into the enemy's larger numbers on foot, creating a gap in the defensive ranks.

However, there was still one unit among dragoons, in which absolutely all the cavalrymen wanted to serve - the Life Guards of the Dragoon Regiment. Initially, the unit was called the Leib-Guard Horse Guards Regiment. The unit appeared by decree of April 3, 1814, signed in the suburbs of the French capital - Versailles. According to the plan of the Russian Emperor Alexander the First, the new division was to become a living monument to the victory of Russian arms over the invincible Napoleon. Every young man dreamed of getting into the service in this unit, since he was personally patronized by the imperial people.

On April 3, 1833, the regiment received its final name - Dragoon Life Guards, retaining this name until its disbandment in 1918. He participated in many military campaigns, including Russian-Turkish wars, defended the border during the Crimean War, in the Polish campaign of 1831, in the East Prussian operation as part of the First Army of General P. K. Rennenkampf during the First World War.

All the unit soldiers wore the distinctive sign of the dragoon regiment - a breastplate in the form of a red-black wreath with the capital letter "B" in the center and with the imperial crown at the top. This symbol meant the personal belonging of the regiment to the imperial dynasty.

Royal Dragoon Regiment of Scotland

Telling about dragoon regiments, we can not say about the Royal Scottish Dragoons Guards Regiment. The peculiarity of this unit is that in Scotland there were not created powerful cavalry units due to the historical, geographical and cultural characteristics of this nation. However, in 1861 King Charles II signed a decree on the formation of six squadrons of a regiment of Scottish dragoons. Their outfit was of a stone-gray color, and therefore the unit was often called the "gray regiment", and in 1702 it received its unofficial name "Gray Dragoons" after the unification of the armed forces of England and Scotland. The official name of the regiment was "The Royal Regiment of the North British Dragoons," but it was not used in everyday life.

Scottish dragoons successfully fought for the British crown. For example, in the Battle of Ramil in 1706, they overthrew the French Guards Grenadier Regiment of the King. In the Battle of Waterloo, the "gray dragoons" screaming "Scotland for ever!" In a swift attack attacked the French battalions, capturing many prisoners. One sergeant even captured the banner of the enemy's line regiment. From this time on, the headdresses of the Scottish dragoons depict the emblem of this regiment in the form of an eagle and the inscription "Waterloo" flaunts.

The regiment also participated in the Crimean War, and in the Boer War, as well as in the First and Second World Wars. It is curious that our last emperor Nikolai II was the chief of this regiment. "Gray dragoons" were the first of the English units, who met with Soviet troops in Germany on May 2, 1945.