Other ranks' cap badge, 3rd Carabiniers, c1963.
NAM. 1991-08-259-1Introduction
The regiment was formed in 1922 by merging the 3rd and 6th Dragoon Guards, then both in India. The new unit's title was originally the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards, but this was amended to the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) six years after its formation, retaining elements of both predecessor regiments' names.
The new unit was stationed in England from 1925 to 1936, when it again embarked for southern India. Two years after its arrival there, it mechanised. For the first four years of the Second World War it remained in southern India to guard against a Japanese invasion and in February 1941 a small section, or cadre, was split off from it to form the 25th Dragoons, though that unit only lasted until 1947. The 3rd Carabiniers' first action came in June 1944, when it was deployed to north-east India and from there to Burma, where it fought at Imphal and in the recapture of the Nunshigum Ridge.
John Rhodes, a lance corporal in the 3rd Carabiniers during the Second World War.
NAM. 2002-12-9-5From Burma it returned to India, remaining on garrison duty until partition in 1947. It then alternated between England and West Germany for the rest of its existence. That routine was interrupted in 1961, when a single squadron was sent to Aden, followed later that year by a whole-regiment deployment to the Middle East to deter Iraqi threats to annex Kuwait.
In 1967 it switched from tanks to a reconnaissance role, then four years later the regiment returned from Germany and amalgamated with the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragooons) at Edinburgh to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys).
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Ich Dien' (meaning 'I Serve')
Titles to date:
- 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards
- 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards)
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)
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