Early history The South Alberta Light Horse traces its beginnings to the period of the
Riel Rebellion of 1885. During this conflict the
Rocky Mountain Rangers (RMR) of
Fort Macleod, which comprised 150 officers and men, were tasked with the protection of the area ranging from the U.S. border to the
High River and from the
Rockies to
Medicine Hat. The RMR saw no action during their three months of existence during the rebellion, and the SALH carries the battle honour "North West Canada, 1885" on their colours. This
irregular light cavalry unit is seen as the true genesis of the regiment. The
15th Light Horse, the official direct ancestor of the SALH, was raised in
Calgary on July 3, 1905. It consisted of four newly organized cavalry squadrons: Calgary (A Squadron),
Fort MacLeod (B Squadron),
High River (C Squadron), and
Cochrane (D Squadron). From this point until the mid-1950s the regiment's history can be described as a series of complicated amalgamations and redesignations of Alberta army reserve units of all arms until the regiment as it is now was formed in Calgary in 1954. At the beginning of the First World War, the Alberta militia units destined to become part of SALH were four cavalry regiments – 15th Light Horse in Calgary,
19th Alberta Dragoons in Edmonton, 21st Alberta Hussars in Medicine Hat and 23rd Alberta Rangers in Fort Macleod – and two infantry regiments (
101st Regiment "Edmonton Fusiliers" and
103rd Regiment "Calgary Rifles").
WWI and interregnum In the
First World War, instead of mobilising the Canadian militia to send overseas, new units were formed from volunteers of the militia and general public. The militia units generally became organizations for recruiting, induction and preliminary training for the new units. The 19th Alberta Dragoons recruited the 1st Divisional Cavalry Squadron,
CEF, which landed in France in February 1915. After other divisions joined the
1st Canadian Division in France and the
Canadian Corps was formed, the squadron was attached to the corps and became
A Squadron, Canadian Light Horse, CEF.Also recruited by SALH's predecessors were three regiments of Canadian Mounted Rifles (CMR): the 3rd, 12th and 13th. The
3rd Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF, was mobilized at Medicine Hat and landed in France in September 1915 as part of the 1st CMR Brigade. At the end of 1915, the CMR units in France were converted from two cavalry brigades (six regiments) into one infantry brigade (four battalions). The troopers of the 3rd Regiment were split up, half going to the 1st CMR Battalion and half to the 2nd CMR Battalion; both these battalions fought in the
3rd Canadian Division. The 12th and 13th Regiments CMR were broken up for reinforcements in England. Of the eight infantry battalions recruited by the SALH's predecessors, only one entered combat as a unit. The
31st Battalion, CEF, landed in France in September 1915 with the 2nd Canadian Division. It was awarded 22
battle honours, including such notable actions as
Vimy and
Passchendaele. The other seven battalions –
9th,
66th (Edmonton Guards),
113th Battalion (Lethbridge Highlanders), CEF,
138th (Edmonton),
175th (Medicine Hat),
187th (Central Alberta) and
202nd (Sportsman's) – were broken up for reinforcements in England. while A Squadron, Canadian Light Horse, made the last cavalry charge in Canadian history at the battle of Iwuy on 10 October 1918. This means that among the predecessor units of the SALH, one participated in the first military operation involving the tank and another mounted the last cavalry charge in Canadian history. The period between the world wars saw two major reorganizations of the Canadian Militia, the first from 1920 to 1924 and the second from 1935 to 1936. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the ancestors of the SALH were two cavalry regiments (15th Alberta Light Horse in Calgary and 19th Alberta Dragoons in Edmonton) an independent artillery battery (
22nd Field Battery, RCA, in
Gleichen) and two infantry battalions (
The Edmonton Fusiliers and the
South Alberta Regiment in Medicine Hat). and the SALH reroled back to Armoured Reconnaissance, equipped with the Mercedes-Benz
G Wagon - Light Utility Vehicle Wheeled (LUVW). The regiment exercised its
Freedom of the City of Medicine Hat In 2006, the SALH formally amalgamated with the nil-strength
19th Alberta Dragoons, a regiment that had been on the
Supplementary Order of Battle since 1965, and now officially maintains the battle honours and traditions of its Edmonton predecessors. In the Spring of 2015, the regiment sought and received permission to detach 3 Troop, A Squadron from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge, as recruiting in the Lethbridge region had been successful enough to support several troopers travelling to Medicine Hat on a weekly basis for training. As this group grew, it became possible to detach 3 Troop to its own lines co-located with the 20th Independent Field Battery, RCA, at the Vimy Ridge Armoury in Lethbridge. The regiment is presently training with the new
Textron Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle, which was delivered to
3rd Canadian Division units in the Spring to Summer of 2017. == Lineage ==