4th Cavalry Brigade ( United Kingdom ) The 4th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army . It served in the Napoleonic Wars , notably at the Battle of Waterloo , with the 2nd Cavalry Division during World War I and the 1st Cavalry Division during World War II . Napoleonic Wars . The 4th Cavalry Brigade was formed for the Waterloo Campaign in 1815 and consisted of It was commanded by Major General Sir John Ormsby Vandeleur . The brigade took part in the Battle of Waterloo . During the battle , the 11th Light Dragoons suffered 63 casualties ( 12 killed , 28 wounded , 23 missing ) , the 12th Light Dragoons 111 ( 47 killed , 64 wounded ) and the 16th Light Dragoons just 30 ( 10 killed , 20 wounded ) . This represented a loss rate of about 15 % . World War I . Mobilization . 4th Cavalry Brigade was a peacetime formation of the British Army , based in Eastern Command . At the outbreak of the war , it was headquartered at Canterbury and commanded the 6th Dragoon Guards ( Carabiniers ) ( at Canterbury ) , 3rd ( King ' s Own ) Hussars ( at Shorncliffe ) and 4th Signal Troop , Royal Engineers ( at Canterbury ) . A number of units were attached to the brigade : the 19th ( Queen Alexandra ' s Own Royal ) Hussars at Hounslow , the Woolwich - based X Brigade , RHA ( P and R Batteries ) , II Brigade , RHA ( consisting of just C Battery and based at Canterbury ) and King Edward ' s Horse of the Special Reserve ( based at Chelsea ) . On mobilization , the brigade was brought up to its full – three regiment – strength with the addition of the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment ; 4th Cavalry Brigade Field Ambulance also joined and the attached units departed at this point . The brigade joined The Cavalry Division along with 1st , 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Brigades and moved to France in August 1914 . Early Actions . With The Cavalry Division , the brigade took part in a number of actions during the early war of movement : the Battle of Mons ( 23 – 24 August ) , the Battle of Le Cateau ( 26 August ) , the Action at Néry ( 1 September ) , the Battle of the Marne ( 6 – 9 September ) and the Battle of the Aisne ( 12 – 15 September ) . The brigade was transferred to the 2nd Cavalry Division on 14 October 1914 to bring it up to the standard three brigade strength . It remained with the division on the Western Front until the end of the war . 2nd Cavalry Division . In 1914 , the brigade , with the division , took part in First Battle of Ypres , notably the battle of Gheluvelt ( 29 – 31 October ) . On 11 November , the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment was broken up and its constituent squadrons rejoined their parent regiments . The 1 / 1st Queen ' s Own Oxfordshire Hussars , a Yeomanry regiment , joined in its place . In 1915 , the division was in action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle ( 10 – 12 March 1915 ) and the Second Battle of Ypres notably the Battle of St Julien ( 26 April – 3 May ) and the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge ( 24 – 25 May ) . On 28 February 1916 , a Machine Gun Squadron was formed from the machine gun sections of the brigade ' s constituent regiments . 1916 saw no notable actions , but in 1917 the division saw action in the Battle of Arras ( First Battle of the Scarpe , 9 – 11 April ) . and the Battle of Cambrai ( the Tank Attack of 20 – 21 November , the Capture of Bourlon Wood of 24 – 28 November and the German Counter - Attack of 30 November – 3 December ) . At other times , the brigade formed a dismounted unit and served in the trenches as a regiment under the command of the brigadier . War of movement . 1918 saw the return of the war of movement and the division took part in the First Battle of the Somme notably the Battle of St Quentin ( 21 – 23 March ) , the Battle of the Lys ( Battle of Hazebrouck of 14 – 15 April ) , the Battle of Amiens ( 8 – 11 August ) and the Second Battle of the Somme ( Battle of Albert of 21 – 23 August and the Second Battle of Bapaume of 31 August – 3 September ) . The division was then split up with the 4th Cavalry Brigade serving with Third Army . The brigade took part in the battles of the Hindenburg Line , notably the Battle of the Canal du Nord ( 27 September – 1 October ) and the Pursuit to the Selle ( 9 – 12 October ) . Its final action was to take part in the Advance in Picardy ( 17 October – 11 November ) including the Battle of the Sambre ( 4 November ) , still with Third Army . Armistice . At the Armistice , the brigade had reached Erquelinnes with Third Army . On 15 November , the division was re - assembled near Maubeuge and ordered to advance into Germany as an advance screen for Fourth Army and form part of the Occupation Force . The move began on 17 November , Ciney and Rochefort were reached five days later . In late December , the division moved to winter quarters south and south - east of Liège . It remained here until 30 January 1919 when it exchanged regiments with 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions then gradually moved back to England . The Division ceased to exist at midnight 31 March / 1 April 1919 . World War II . The 4th Cavalry Brigade was reformed in October 1939 and took command of a composite regiment of Household Cavalry and two Yeomanry regiments ( North Somerset Yeomanry and Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry ) . It joined the 1st Cavalry Division when it was formed on 31 October 1939 . With the 1st Cavalry Division , the 4th Cavalry Brigade departed the United Kingdom in February 1940 , transited across France , and arrived in Palestine on 20 February 1940 . It served as a garrison force under British Forces , Palestine and Trans - Jordan . From 6 May 1941 the brigade , together with a battalion of infantry from the Essex Regiment , a mechanised regiment from the Arab Legion and supporting artillery was organised as " Habforce " for operations in Iraq including the relief of the base at RAF Habbaniya and the occupation of Baghdad . Following this , in July 1941 it was placed under the command of I Australian Corps and was involved in operations against the Vichy French in Syria , advancing from eastern Iraq near the Trans - Jordan border on Palmyra to secure the Haditha - Tripoli oil pipeline . On 1 August 1941 , the Division was converted into the 10th Armoured Division and the 4th Cavalry Brigade into the 9th Armoured Brigade . 9th Armoured Brigade would later take part in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Italian Campaign . Units in WWII . Unlike in the First World War , when brigade compositions rarely changed , there was considerable movement of units between the 4th , 5th and 6th Cavalry Brigades in the Second World War . Of the three regiments with the brigade when it was converted to an armoured formation : Commanders . The 4th Cavalry Brigade had the following commanders during World War I : The 4th Cavalry Brigade had the following commanders during World War II :