Dragoon regiments - originally a type of troops capable of fighting both on foot and in horse riding. That is, dragoons are a universal fighter who knows different battle tactics.
Title
According to one version, the dragoon regiments got 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 of these factors influenced the name of the new type of troops.
Destination
Initially, dragoon regiments were considered, rather, a kind of infantry. The appearance of small arms negated the effectiveness of the heavily armed knightly cavalry, since armored soldiers no longer played a significant role on the battlefield, as was the case in the era of the Early and Middle Ages. Now clumsy knights were an excellent target for musketeers, whose weapons easily pierced iron armor.
Initial Application Tactics
The weakness of the infantry with the muskets was that it did not have mobility. Therefore, the idea appeared in the heads of French tactics: to put infantry on horses, so that they could quickly and maneuver appear on any sector of the front. In fact, this is the first appearance of mobile infantry, only horses were used instead of motor vehicles. Initially, the dragoon regiments dismounted in infantry battle formations as they approached the enemy, opening fire from the muskets.
Dragoons Transformation
In the XVII century, they finally abandoned medieval chain mail and armor. Now on the battlefield there were smells of gunpowder and canvases of guns and rifles were heard. At this time, there was a need for universal cavalry, which at the same time would differ in speed and could deliver a powerful blow to the enemy’s tight ranks. It was such a cavalry that the dragoon regiment became.
Ulan, Dragoon, Hussar regiments - these are different types of cavalry in the XVII - early. XX centuries And if ulans and hussars are lightly armed detachments in fast trotters, which, as a rule, were used to reconnoiter and pursue the enemy, then dragoons are full-fledged cavalry on strong hardy horses. Their main task was to find a weak spot in the defensive ranks of the enemy and break the united system of the enemy with the subsequent encirclement of groups separately. It was this tactic that allowed Napoleon Bonaparte to win many brilliant victories against the superior number of enemy troops.
Appearance in Russia
In our country, the first dragoon regiment was formed in 1631 from among foreigners: Swedes, Dutch and British. But the foreigners did not serve in Russia for long: in a year they all quarreled among themselves, with the local population and with the authorities, and left our country.
By the eighteenth century, all Russian cavalry was formed in a dragoon style. Since 1712, even police cavalry detachments from dragoons were formed. Toward the end of the 19th century, the line between the individual types of cavalry was obliterated. In 1907, the old names of Lancer, Hussar, Dragoons were restored, but they no longer differed from each other, as before.
Armament
Dragoons were armed with swords, muskets and short spears, unlike, for example, from the lancers, which had long peaks that hit the same dragoons in the distance. In our country, dragoon regiments were often armed with berdysh or axes, which distinguished the tactics of our infantry from the European.
Outfit
We have already said above that dragoons were originally used both on foot and in horseback. This feature was manifested in the uniform: it was the same with the infantry regiments, and only in the equestrian system did the dragoons put on big stupid boots with flaps and iron spurs.
Life Guards Dragoon Regiment
The service in the dragoon regiments was less prestigious than in the “purely” cavalry Uhlans or Hussars, therefore, impoverished nobles, numerous representatives of the “children of the boyars” and other dragoons, as a rule, went to the service there, as they were thrown into the most hell of battles, and often they themselves were the source of creating the hottest centers of battle, as they wedged into the enemy's superior foot ranks, creating a gap in the defensive ranks.
However, there was still one unit among the dragoons, in which absolutely all cavalrymen wanted to serve - the life guard of the dragoon regiment. Initially, the unit was called the Life Guards Horse Jaeger 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 unit was to become a living monument to the victory of Russian weapons over the invincible Napoleon. Each young man dreamed of getting into the service in this particular unit, since he was personally patronized by the imperial persons.
On April 3, 1833, the regiment received its final name - the Life Guards Dragoon, retaining this name until its disbandment in 1918. He participated in many military campaigns, including the Russo-Turkish war, 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 soldiers of the unit wore a distinctive sign of the Dragoon regiment - a badge 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
Narrating about the Dragoon regiments, one cannot but say about the Royal Scottish Dragoon Guards Regiment. The peculiarity of this unit is that in Scotland powerful cavalry units were not created 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 uniforms were stone-gray, 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 North British Dragoons," but it was not used in everyday life.
Scottish dragoons successfully fought for the British crown. So, for example, in the battle of Ramilla in 1706, they overturned the French Guards Grenadier Regiment of the King. At the Battle of Waterloo, “gray dragoons” shouting “Scotland forever!” in a swift attack, they attacked the French battalions, capturing many prisoners. One sergeant even captured the banner of the enemy’s line regiment. Since that time, the emblem of this regiment in the form of an eagle is depicted on the headdresses of Scottish dragoons and the inscription “Waterloo” flaunts.
The regiment 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 Nicholas II was the chief of this regiment. The Gray Dragoons were the first of the English units to meet with Soviet troops in Germany on May 2, 1945.