High‐voltage electron microscopy (HVEM) has been used for the investigation of the defect structure in cw laser‐annealed silicon. We report for the first time a (HVEM) analysis of the formation processes involved in the nucleation and glide of slip dislocations during epitaxial regrowth by cw laser annealing of ion‐implantation damaged silicon layers. Based on the combined optical and HVEM observations a model of the dislocation generation and glide processes is presented.