ONE hundred years ago to the week, Southampton’s members of the 17th Lancers were sent to France to support soldiers in the First World War.
Originally stationed in India, the 17th Lancers, better known as the ‘Death or Glory Boys’, thought that they would miss the entire war before they were sent out to Marseilles, France.
With several Southampton-born members, the 17th Lancers were sent to occupy the trenches and relieve infantry battalions from the front line in November 1914.
Present at Cambrai when tanks were employed en masse for the first time, the ‘Death or Glory Boys’ are remembered as one of the finest mounted corps in the Army after they charged more than 600 yards under fire to help rescue units of the 9th Australian Infantry Brigade.
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