page_title: The Royal Canadian Dragoons
section_title: South African War
hierarchical_section_title: The Royal Canadian Dragoons / History / South African War
caption_attribution_description: English: Boer War Monument Halifax Public Gardens Nova Scotia
context_page_description: The Royal Canadian Dragoons is the senior armoured regiment of the Canadian Army. It is one of three armoured regiments in the Regular Force and forms part of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.
  The colonel-in-chief of The RCD is Charles, Prince of Wales. The commanding officer is Lieutenant-Colonel E.A. Kerckhoff, and the regimental sergeant major is Chief Warrant Officer J. Leamon, CD. The colonel of the regiment is Brigadier-General Peter Atkinson.
  The regiment is composed of Regimental Headquarters, "A", "B", "C", "D" and Headquarters Squadrons. "A", "B" and "D" Squadrons, based at CFB Petawawa, are reconnaissance squadrons in the process of adopting the Textron-produced Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle to replace the Coyote Reconnaissance Vehicle. "C" Squadron, based at CFB Gagetown, is equipped with 21 Leopard 2 tanks and the squadron consists of both Dragoons and members of 12ᵉ Régiment blindé du Canada. Headquarters Squadron, based in Petawawa, provides first-line combat service support to the regiment.
context_section_description: The regiment was mobilized for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War as the 1st Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, and composed of 19 officers and 371 men and their horses, organized into two squadrons. The battalion embarked for South Africa on 21 February 1900, where it fought as part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Mounted Infantry Corps and as part of Maj.-Gen. Smith-Dorrien's column until its departure from the theatre of operations on 13 December 1900. The nucleus of each squadron was provided by the experienced regular officers, non-commissioned officers and men from The Royal Canadian Dragoons. For this reason on 1 August 1900, at the unit's own request, the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles were renamed the Royal Canadian Dragoons. By 12 November 1900 the regiment's strength was down to three officers and 83 other ranks.
  Two famous Dragoon casualties of South Africa were Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden, son of the then-Minister for Militia and Defence Frederick William Borden and Maj. A.L. "Gat" Howard, formerly the regiment's Machine Gun Officer, who remained behind in South Africa to command "Howard's Canadian Scouts." Gat Howard and was captured and murdered while a prisoner. During the regiment's service in South Africa every junior officer, except for one, was killed in action, died of disease or was wounded, the regiment marched more than 2700 kilometers (1700 miles) and had been in action on 41 separate days.
  Three Dragoons were awarded the Victoria Cross for the gallant stand at Leliefontein on 7 November 1900, a feat of arms never surpassed by Canadians.
caption: Royal Canadian Dragoons, Boer War Sculpture by sculptor Hamilton MacCarthy (1903), Halifax Public Gardens, Nova Scotia
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