Both the 10th and 11th Hussars were heavily involved in the action in northern France in 1918.
In 1918, the cavalry was to come into its own. A massive German offensive towards Paris began in March, and British and French forces were pushed back many miles. Cavalry was the only mobile reserve available, and was used to plug gaps in the Line, counter-attack threatening situations, and generally act as a fire brigade to keep the enemy at bay.
On 23rd March, the 10th Hussars took part in a mounted charge on a wood near Amiens. With sabres drawn and cheering loudly, the charge was made across ploughed land into a heavy machine gun fire. Around 100 Germans became casualties and another 100 were captured with six machine guns. A German cavalryman wrote that the charge was “…so courageous and well carried out that we are proud to have witnessed it.” (The Germans had dismounted all their cavalry regiments and turned them into infantry, but the British cavalry showed them how wrong they were).
On 8th August the tide turned and the Allied armies began a series of attacks. The 10th and 11th Hussars took part in the Battle of Amiens on 8th August, with the 6th and 1st Cavalry Brigades. During the day the German line was broken and British cavalry and tanks ranged many miles beyond the front line. The 1st Cavalry Brigade took over 1,000 prisoners and innumerable guns and machine guns. On 2nd September 10th Hussars were involved in the battle of Drocourt–Quéant to capture the German defensive line consisting of numerous fortifications including concrete bunkers, machine gun posts and heavy belts of barbed wire.
The series of Allied attacks known as ‘The Hundred Days’ ended with an armistice on 11th November. At the conclusion of the pursuit to Mons, the 10th and the 11th Hussars finished the war where the fighting had started in August 1914, at Le Cateau (10th) and Mons (11th).
On 1st December the 11th Hussars crossed the German border as part of the Occupation Forces. During the First World War, 15 officers and 199 other ranks of the 10th, and 12 officers and 151 men of the 11th had fallen.
