Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Jackson
It seems the reason so many yeomanry outfits finished up as gunners etc was that the war office didn't know what to do with them in 1939.
I'm not sure that is correct. The process of reroling 33 Yeomanry cavalry regiments to Gunners started in 1922. I believe that one of the many problems facing the authorities when the decision was taken to mechanise the eight horsed Yeomanry cavalry regiments in 1 Cav Div was that there were insufficient battle-worthy tanks to go round. Hence the RWY manning searchlights and the SRY as Coast Gunners - on a temporary basis - and the NSY and Cheshire Yeomanry disappearing into the R Signals. Mike
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That's certainly a theory I could agree with. Even the Matruh Force was desperately short of battle worthy tanks in 1939, so I believe that, while your opinion may not be the sole reason, it could be the major one.
I don't know about you but I often find there are periods of indecision by the IGS in both world wars and I have this image in me head of bewhiskered old generals, recalled to service, sitting round a table after lunch when one of them suddenly says, "I know, lets turn the Cheshire Yeomanry into signallers!"
I find the Special Reserve yeomanry to be even more bizarre: consisting of only one regiment on paper (The North Irish Horse), containing one man for umpteen years and it's suddenly decided to resurrect it into an armoured car regiment.
Desperate times see desperate measures.