The Radetzky March is the regimental quick march of The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards of the United Kingdom.
The Radetzky March was composed by Johann Strauss Sr. in 1848. The march was dedicated to Field Marshal Johann Josef Radetzky von Radetz to commemorate Radetzky’s victory at the Battle of Custoza in July 1848. Strauss was commissioned to write the piece, which was first performed in Vienna on August 31, 1848.
Composer of waltzes, Composer of the Radetsky March
Johann Strauss Sr. (1804 – 1849) was an Austrian Romantic composer. He was famous for his waltzes. He is perhaps best known for his composition of the Radetzky March, named after Joseph Radetzky von Radetz.
Johann Josef Wenzel Anton Franz Karl, Graf Radetzky von Radetz (November 2, 1766 – January 5, 1858) was a Bohemian nobleman and Austrian field marshal. He retired at age 90, and was immortalized by Johann Strauss Sr.’s composition of the Radetzky March in 1848.
Radetzky is best known for the victories at the Battles of Custoza (July 24-25, 1848) and Novara (March 23, 1849) during the First Italian War of Independence.
As a young officer, Johann Josef Radetzky performed noteworthy service on the staff of Ernst Gideon von Laudon during the Siege of Belgrade in 1789. Radetsky also participated in the Habsburg occupation of Serbia from 1788 to 1792.
Radetzky performed noteworthy service at Belgrade, and later rose to high command during the wars with the French First Republic and the First French Empire in the period from 1792 to 1815.
During the Siege of Belgrade in 1789, Serbs in the Freikorps (Free Corps) fought effectively against the Turks. The Freikorps were military volunteer units of Serbs and other nationalities that fought faithfully by Austria’s side.
For Serbs who had served the Hapsburg Empire in the Freikorps, this was a disappointing period. Serbs who had served faithfully within the Habsburg armies were also disappointed.
Serbs had given their blood, and looked forward to better treatment under Habsburg rule.
Johann Josef Radetsky served as chief of the general staff in the Habsburg Monarchy during the later period of the Napoleonic Wars, and afterwards began military reforms.
The Radetzky March is disliked in Serbia, because it was seen as the unofficial anthem of the Austro-Hungarian army. Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia in 1914, and occupied Serbia from 1915 to 1918. Serbian people remember atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian army against Serbian civilians during the First World War.
Antipathy is even stronger in Vojvodina, a former part of Austria-Hungary, where Serbs endured internment camps during the war.
Since 1896, the Radetzky March has been the official presentation march of the Liberator Bernardo O’Higgins Military School of the Chilean Army.
RUSTY BUCKLES
‘Rusty Buckles’ is the regimental quick march of the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) of the United Kingdom. Published in 1952, ‘Rusty Buckles’ is a quickstep adaptation of the Regimental Slow March.
The name of the regimental march, ‘Rusty Buckles’, originated in the 18th century after the regiment returned to England from service in Ireland. During a parade, the regiment had old steel buckles on its saddlery and harness. All other cavalry regiments had changed to new brass buckles. Steel becomes rusty in damp, wet weather, hence the nickname, ‘Rusty Buckles’.
The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (QDG)
The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment recruits from Wales and the bordering English counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and is known as the ‘The Welsh Cavalry’.
The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards is the senior cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior regiment of the line of the British Army. The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards is part of the Royal Armored Corps, and is paired with the Royal Yeomanry.
The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, and the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays).
The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. It was raised in 1685 by Sir John Lanier as the 2nd Queen’s Regiment of Horse. The regiment was named in honor of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd King’s Own Regiment of Horse in 1714 in honor of George I. The regiment was renamed the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards in 1751.
The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards served in the First World War. The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanized with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armored Corps in 1939, and served in the Second World War. The 1st King’s Dragoon Guards was amalgamated with the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.
The regiment spent much of its history based in Germany. It served during the Aden Emergency in 1966 and 1967, and its squadrons were dispersed throughout the Middle East during that time. Perhaps the best known member in the 1970s was Captain Mark Phillips, one-time husband of The Princess Anne: they married in 1973.
In 1983, the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards was deployed to Lebanon in support of the allied Multinational Force. In 1990, the regiment was sent to the Middle East for the Gulf War. In 1996 it was deployed to Bosnia as part of NATO peacekeeping forces during the Yugoslav Wars.
In 2003, the regiment served in Iraq during the invasion of Iraq. It provided reconnaissance and light armor support in support of 3 Commando Brigade’s advance north to Basra.
The regiment celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 31, 2009 with a ceremony at Cardiff castle, and a parade through the streets of Cardiff city. Both events were attended by the Colonel-in-Chief The Prince of Wales. The regiment received a great response from the people of Cardiff. In 2009, the unit was awarded with the Freedom of the City of Swansea.
The 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards completed its second tour of Afghanistan (Operation Herrick XV) between October 2011 and April 2012.
The QDG is one of only three regiments historically associated with Wales, and one that still largely recruits from Wales.
The QDG moved from Germany to Robertson Barracks, Swanton Morley, Norfolk in June 2015. The regiment operates in a light cavalry role, and is equipped with Jackal armored fighting vehicles. Most British units based in Germany will return to the UK as part of the Army 2020 plans.
In 1896, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards. He allowed the regiment to wear the Austrian imperial coat of arms. The Austrian imperial coat of arms is still used as the regiment’s cap badge today. The collar badge is that of The Queen’s Bays.
Franz Joseph I, Francis Joseph I (1830 – 1916) was Emperor of Austria, and King of Hungary. He was also King of Bohemia, and monarch of many other states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He reigned for nearly 68 years from December 2, 1848 to his death on November 21, 1916.
Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary was the longest reigning Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as the third longest reigning monarch of any country in European history, after Louis XIV of France and Johann II of Liechtenstein.
The regiment adopted the Radetzky March, an Austrian military march, as its quick march. The current Regimental March is the Radetzky March and Rusty Buckles, the latter being the Regimental March of The Queen’s Bays.
Battle honors
Combined battle honours of 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, and 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays), plus: Wadi al Batin, Gulf 1991
Alliances
Commonwealth Canada – The Governor General’s Horse Guards
Australia – 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers
South Africa – 1 Special Service Battalion
Pakistan – 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force)
Sri Lanka – 1st Reconnaissance Regiment
Royal Navy – HMS Monmouth
Non-Commonwealth
Austria – Panzergrenadierbataillon 35
France – 1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie
The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays)
The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough’s Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse.
Renamed several times, the regiment was designated the Queen’s Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1746, as it evolved into a dragoon unit. Dragoons are highly mobile mounted infantry equipped with lighter, faster horses, and carrying firearms. In 1767, the regiment was renamed the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) to reflect the custom of its soldiers riding only bay horses.
The regiment served in the First World War. It served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanized with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armored Corps in 1939. After service in the Second World Wars, the regiment was amalgamated with the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.
The regiment was stationed at Aldershot at the start of the First World War. It landed in France as part of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division. As part of the Expeditionary Force, in August 1914, it served on the Western Front.
The regiment took part in the Great Retreat, and the Battle of Le Cateau, in August 1914. It participated in the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. It was engaged in the Battle of Messines, and the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914. The regiment participated in the Battle of the Somme in Autumn 1916, and the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. The regiment participated in the Battle of the Scarpe in August 1918, and the final advance of Autumn 1918.
Inter-war
The regiment was renamed the Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) in 1921. The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanised with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armored Corps in 1939.
Second World War
The Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) participated in the advance through the Gabes Gap, Tunisia on April 7, 1943
In September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War, the regiment was in England. It was assigned to the 2nd Light Armored Brigade. It served alongside the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, and the 10th Royal Hussars, of the 1st Armored Division.
In May 1940, the Bays went to France and was heavily engaged on the Somme during the Battle of France. In mid June, with the collapse of French resistance, the regiment was evacuated to England through the port of Brest.
The regiment was deployed to the Middle East in November 1941, equipped initially with the Crusader tank. It took part in the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, where its men were in action for 19 days, a record for an armored regiment in the Western Desert.
The regiment participated in the First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942, and the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. It participated in the Battle of the Mareth Line in March 1943, and the Tunisia Campaign in May 1943. The regiment was deployed to the Italian Front in May 1944. Its men took part in the Battle of the Argenta Gap in April 1945, during the final offensive of the Italian Campaign.
Post war
After the war, the regiment remained in northern Italy, at Pegi on the River Isonzo. It then moved to Egypt in June 1947, before returning to Dale Barracks in Chester in October 1947.
The regiment moved to Bad Fallingbostel in Germany in 1949. It then returned to Tidworth Camp in September 1954, before deploying to Aqaba in Jordan later that year.
The regiment deployed to Libya in February 1956, and then returned to Perham Down in August 1957. It was then transferred to Northampton Barracks in Wolfenbüttel in 1958.
The regiment was amalgamated with the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards.
Battle honors
Early Wars
Warburg
Willems
Lucknow
South Africa 1901-02
The First World War
Mons
Le Cateau
Retreat from Mons
Marne 1914
Aisne 1914
Messines 1914
Armentières 1914
Ypres 1914-1915
Frezenberg
Bellewaarde
Somme 1916-1918
Flers-Courcelette
Arras 1917
Scarpe 1917
Cambrai 1917-1918
St. Quentin
Bapaume 1918
Rosières
Amiens
Albert 1918
Hindenburg Line
St. Quentin Canal
Beaurevoir
Pursuit to Mons
France and Flanders 1914-18
The Second World War
Somme 1940
Withdrawal to Seine
North-West Europe 1940
Msus, Gazala
Bir el Aslagh
Cauldron
Knightsbridge
Via Balbia
Mersa Matruh
El Alamein
Tebaga Gap
El Hamma
El Kourzia
Djebel Kournine
Tunis
Creteville Pass
North Africa 1941-43
Coriano
Carpineta
Lamone Crossing
Defence of Lamone Bridgehead
Rimini Line
Ceriano Ridge
Cesena
Argenta Gap
Italy 1944-45
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