page_title: East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry
section_title: North West Europe
hierarchical_section_title: East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry / Second World War / 1st East Riding Yeomanry / North West Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Normandy 1944 Major W Holtby, commanding 'C' Squadron, East Riding Yeomanry, 27th Armoured Brigade, briefs troop commanders in front of his HQ Sherman tank, 28 June 1944.
context_page_description: The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed in 1902.
  Units of Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 18th and early 19th centuries at times of national emergency: the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. These were stood down once each emergency was over.
  The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, was established in 1902, and this saw action during the First World War both in the mounted role and as machine gunners.
  It was converted to armoured regiment in 1920, and fought in the Battle of France and the campaign in North West Europe during the Second World War, while some of its personnel served as paratroopers in the Normandy landings and the Rhine Crossing. In 1956, it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
context_section_description: The training all came to fruition on 6 June 1944, when the Regiment landed on Sword Beach on D Day supporting 9th Infantry Brigade in 3rd British Infantry Division, After the failure to seize Caen on D-Day, 3rd Division's task was to capture the high ground north of the town. Next day 1ERY supported an unsuccessful attack by the 2nd Bn Royal Ulster Rifles on Cambes-en-Plaine, one of the enemy's strongest positions in this part of the front. Two days later the two units had to advance over 1,000 yards (910 m) of flat, open land under artillery, mortar and machine gun fire. They were supported by four AVREs of 79th Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers, and Sherman Crab flail tanks of A Squadron of the Westminster Dragoons from 79th Armoured Division. The infantry suffered over 200 casualties and 1ERY lost four tanks, while all the AVREs (forced to act as infantry tanks) were knocked out, but after hard fighting the battle group gained their objective.
  For 50 days after the landings 1ERY took part in the bridgehead battles. During this period, it also supported 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division. Because of casualties, 27th Armoured Brigade was broken up on 29 July, and on 16 August 1ERY joined 33rd Armoured Brigade, taking over the petrol Mk1 & II Shermans of 148 Regt RAC. The regiment was now attached to 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, for the final Falaise Pocket Battles, the advance to the River Seine, its crossing and the taking of St Valery-en-Caux; after which the Regiment transferred to 49th (West Riding) Division for the Battle of Le Havre.
  In October, the regiment supported 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, in the Netherlands fighting around 's-Hertogenbosch and the later crossing of the Maas. However, during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944, it was hurried away to reinforce the pressure being put on the German "Bulge".
caption: Major W Holtby, commanding 'C' Squadron, East Riding Yeomanry, 27th Armoured Brigade, briefs troop commanders in front of his HQ Sherman tank, 28 June 1944.
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