5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1922 to 1992 , when it was amalgamated into the Royal Dragoon Guards . The beginning . The regiment was formed in 1922 , as the 5th / 6th Dragoons , at Cairo , Egypt by the amalgamation of the 5th Dragoon Guards ( Princess Charlotte of Wales ' s ) and The Inniskillings ( 6th Dragoons ) . In 1923 , the regiment was deployed to Risalpur , India . In 1927 , the regiment discarded the " 6th " and inserted Inniskilling into its title , thereby becoming the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards . In the following year , the regiment returned to the UK for the first time , as the 5th Dragoon Guards . In 1935 , it gained the Royal accolade to become the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards . In 1938 , as part of the preparation for the Second World War , the regiment was mechanised ; in the following year , it joined the newly formed Royal Armoured Corps ( RAC ) . Second World War . On 3 September 1939 , two days after Germany had invaded Poland , the UK , France and their Allies declared war on Germany . Equipped with Vickers Mk . VI , the regiment acted as the reconnaissance regiment of the British 4th Infantry Division of the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) that was deployed to the continent shortly after war broke out . On 10 May 1940 , the Germans launched their invasion of the Low Countries , thus ending what was known as the Phony War . The German invasion was swift and successful ; the Allied forces in Belgium having to retreat to the Scheldt River which the regiment was part of . Fierce fighting continued , the BEF continuing to withdraw further until the order was given for them to withdraw to Dunkirk in northern France . What followed , from 27 May to 6 June , known as Operation Dynamo , was the remarkable evacuation of more than 330 , 000 British and Allied troops back to the UK ; the regiment was successfully evacuated , with the exception of their equipment . In December 1940 , cadres drawn from the regiment and the 4th / 7th Royal Dragoon Guards were used to form a new regiment , the 22nd Dragoons , which was disbanded in December 1945 . The 5th Dragoon Guards remained in the UK until 1944 , when it landed in Normandy a month after the D - Day landings and joined the 22nd Armoured Brigade , 7th Armoured Division ( the famed ' Desert Rats ' ) . Heavy fighting was still raging in Normandy and the Regiment took part in actions in Mont Pincon in early August and , subsequently , at St Pierre La Vielle . The regiment saw further service in Northern France , including helping in the capture of Lisieux on 23 August , and later crossing the Risle , advancing rapidly to the Seine . Paris had been liberated on 25 August . The Inniskillings began their advance on Belgium on 31 August - the 7th Armoured Division ' s objective was the city of Ghent - and crossed the Somme , where the regiment ' s predecessor regiments had fought during World War I , and Authie rivers . The division ' s remarkable advance on the Franco - Belgian border could not be maintained as the enormous amounts of fuel consumed had depleted available supplies . Instead , a smaller force , including the Innsikillings , was employed in the effort to capture Ghent ; the Inniskillings and the 11th Hussars entered the city on 5 September . The 7th Armoured Division remained in Belgium to take part in operations against the remnants of the German forces and , thus , did not take part in Operation Market Garden . The regiment subsequently took part in heavy fighting around the Maas river that began in late October . The regiment saw action during Operation Blackcock , the plan to clear the west bank of the Roer of Germans , which commenced on 16 January 1945 . The 5th DG subsequently took part in the crossing of the Rhine , which began on 25 March , with the objective of heading eastward , straight for the city of Hamburg . The regiment was now firmly inside German territory , encountering fierce resistance from the Germans . The regiment took part in the capture of a number of towns during the rapid advance into Germany . In April the regiment took part in the efforts to capture Ibbenburen , seeing heavy fighting against the fierce defenders . The regiment saw further heavy fighting elsewhere before it , with the rest of its brigade , headed south for Bremen , where they helped capture Wildehausen . Later , the Inniskillings took part in the successful attack on Soltau before the advance on Harburg , a suburb of Hamburg , resumed . Towards the end of April , the Germans negotiated the surrender of Hamburg , a city that had been devastated by the Allied bombing campaigns ; the 7th Armoured Division entered the city on 3 May . Germany surrendered to the Allies , after almost six years of war , on 7 May and VE Day took place on 8 May . The regiment moved with the rest of the division to Berlin , taking part in the Victory Parade there in July . The 5th Inniskillings remained in Germany as part of the Occupation forces , known as the British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ) , for a number of years . When battle and theatre honour s were awarded to the British Army during the late 1950s , the regiment gained ten battle honours and two theatre honours . Post - WW II . In December 1951 , the regiment arrived in Korea to take part in the Korean War — a war that had been raging ever since North Korea had launched a surprise attack against South Korea — as part of the 1st Commonwealth Division . The Chinese launched a massive attack on ' The Hook ' , a tactically important position held by the British , on 18 November 1952 , commencing the second battle for ' The Hook ' . The Black Watch , having stoutly defended their positions , were forced back by the overwhelming Chinese attack . Subsequently , the British launched a counter - attack that supported the Black Watch as they began the methodical effort to dislodge the Chinese from ' The Hook ' ; B Squadron of the regiment , which was armed with the powerful Centurion main battle tank , was part of this attack . Fighting raged on into the early hours of 19 November but , as dawn broke , the Chinese retreated , unable to consolidate their position on ' The Hook ' . The 5th Inniskillings left Korea the following month , arriving in the Suez Canal Zone just prior to its handover to the Egyptians . It returned home to the UK the following year . In 1964 , the regiment had squadrons in the three British territories of Aden , Bahrain and Hong Kong ; the following year , the regiment was posted to the British military bases in Libya . In 1966 , A Squadron deployed to Cyprus to act in the reconnaissance role for the United Nations ( UN ) forces , which were there to prevent conflict from breaking out between the opposing Greek and Turkish Cypriots . In 1968 , the regiment returned home and shortly afterwards deployed to Herford , West Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine . In October 1973 , the regiment joined the UN forces in Cyprus ; returning to its base in May 1974 . In April 1981 , the regiment deployed to Northern Ireland on a 4 - month tour before returning to Osnabrück . In 1984 , the Inniskillings returned to the UK , to Tidworth . A Squadron was detached to serve as the armoured component of the United Kingdom Mobile Force , tasked with reinforcing the Baltic approaches in time of war . D Squadron was based in Warminster as the armoured support squadron to the school of infantry . The regiment returned to Germany ( Barker Barracks , Paderborn ) just two years later as part of 11 Armd Bde , 4 Armd Div . Another 4 - month Northern Ireland tour began in September 1989 . In 1992 , as a consequence of the Options for Change defence cuts , the regiment was amalgamated with the 4th / 7th Royal Dragoon Guards to form the Royal Dragoon Guards . Its traditions are carried on by the new regiment . Battle honours . " Pre - War " ( Battle Honours for predecessor regiments ) : Blenheim , Ramillies , Oudenarde , Malplaquet , Dettigen , Warburg , Beaumont , Willems , Salamanca , Vittoria , Toulouse , Peninsula , Waterloo , Balaklava , Sevastopol , Defence of Ladysmith , South Africa 1899 – 1902 Museum . The regimental museum , along with that of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers , is housed in Enniskillen Castle .