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Category: Conflicts/WW1/Lt Horse

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4th/19th PRINCE OF WALES’S LIGHT HORSE

Lineage. 
  • Kyneton District Mounted Rifle Corps
  • Royal Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, 
  • 17th Light Horse, 
  • 17th Prince of Wales Light Horse, 
  • 19th Yarrowee Light Horse, 
  • 20th Corangamite Light Horse, 
  • 4th Corangamite Light Horse, 
  • 4th Light Horse AIF, 
  • 2nd/4th Armoured Regiment.
 
The 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse has a long and proud history. As the name implies, the origin of the Regiment is in 3 separate organizations, the 17th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse, the 19th Yarrowee Light Horse and the 4th (Ex 20th) Corangamite Light Horse. The amalgamation which occurred in 1948 is a relatively recent change in the history of the three Regiments.
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Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, 1965-08-18. Gunners of 161 Field Battery  Royal New Zealand Artillery, manhandle a 105mm l5 pack howitzer into a M113 of 1 APC troop, Prince of Wales Light Horse, as the battery prepares to move to a temporary firing position six kilometres north of Bien Hoa airbase. The guns of 161 Fd Bty were carried to the firing site inside APC's to conceal the nature of the operation. This was the first occasion that the l5's of 161 Fd Bty were carried inside APC's. (donor H M. Lander)

Vung Tau, Vietnam. 1965.

An M113 APC of the 4/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse Regiment moves up the loading ramp of a US C130 Hercules aircraft to be airlifted to Bien Hoa airbase twenty miles from Saigon

Bien Hoa, Vietnam. 1965-08.

An M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier from 4/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse, a detachment from which is operating in support of 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR). 

It is on a main road at the entrance to a village, possibly Ong Huong.

 

Like many of Australia’s proudest Regiments, the 17th Light Horse was raised as part of the volunteer movement which began during the Crimean War. On the first of October 1860 one of the first Victorian Mounted units was raised, the Kyneton District Mounted Rifle Corps, which was to form part of the Royal Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. This unit was granted the title “Prince of Wales’s” in 1862. The unit badge at this time was based on the Prince of Wales’s personal crest and together with the motto “Ich Dien” (I serve), the ostrich plumes have survived to be the basis of the Regiment’s badge today.

In common with the 17th Light Horse, the 19th Light Horse descends from the Royal Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and also has suffered many changes in name and in role. By 1885 the Victorian Mounted Rifles had been raised and members of this unit went to South Africa. There was no 17th or 19th Light Horse in the 1st AIF, however in recognition of the service of the men of these units in South Africa and the Great War, both have been granted battle honours for South Africa, Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine.

The record of the 4th Light Horse in the 1914-18 war is without equal in the AIF. It was the only Australian unit to see service on all three fronts, France, Gallipoli and Palestine and was granted a total of 24 Battle Honours of which only 10 can be carried on the guidon. Probably the most notable action of the 4th Light Horse was the Charge at Beersheba on 30 October, 1917, an action which is commemorated each year by the serving soldiers of the Regiment.

For most of the Second World War the three Regiments served in Australia under various other Regimental titles as home troops. Only the 2nd/4th Armoured Regiment, which is deemed to be the successor of the 4th Light Horse from the 1st AIF, saw active service late in the war.

When the Citizens Military Forces were reformed in 1948 it was decided to perpetuate the traditions of the 4th Light Horse, the 17th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse and the 19th Light Horse. During the Vietnam conflict the first Australian Armoured Corps troops into action in the mid 60’s were from 1 APC Troop which was formed from A Sqn, 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse.

  • Today the Regiment is based in Melbourne and has two sabre squadrons, one in Gippsland and one in Melbourne, with a troop in Kyneton. The regiment is proud to have been granted the Freedom of Entry to 4 cities of 
    • Melbourne, 
    • Kyneton, 
    • Traralgon and 
    • Sale.
 

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