Desert Mounted Corps

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The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial at Mount Clarence, Albany, Western Australia. The memorial originally stood in Port Said, Egypt, until it was damaged in anti-British riots, during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Albany is also linked with the corps by the fact that among the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) were mounted units which left Australia from there in November 1914.

The Desert Mounted Corps was a World War I Allied army corps that operated in the Middle East (Sinai and Palestine) during 1917 and 1918.

Originally formed on 15 March 1916 as the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division (known as the Anzac Mounted Division) and commanded of Major General Henry Chauvel, this mounted division became part of Desert Column in December 1916 with the addition of 42nd (East Lancashire) Division and 52nd (Lowland) Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Philip W. Chetwode.[1][2][3][4]

Expanded to a full corps, Desert Mounted Corps when Chauvel took over commanded from Chetwode, in August 1917 following the reorganisation of the Allied forces by General Allenby after the failure of the Second Battle of Gaza. The Desert Mounted Corps contained several Australian, British, French, Indian and New Zealand mounted units.

The Anzac Mounted Division contained:

The Desert Column contained:

changed when the Imperial Mounted Division created to:

The Desert Mounted Corps contained:

Memorial for the horses of the Desert Mounted Corps located in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia

In mid-1918, the Corps was reorganised again. Two Indian cavalry divisions were transferred from the Western Front in France, and reorganised to incorporate some of the Yeomanry Mounted Division. The Anzac Mounted Division commanded by Chaytor became part of Chaytor's Force in September, 1918. The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade was reduced to a battalion and many of its personnel transferred to the Australian Mounted Division to form the 5th Light Horse Brigade. Commanded by Chauvel, the Desert Mounted Corps now consisted of: File:Desert Mounted Corps Horse Memorial

There were also seven batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery, an Armoured Car detachment and the 7th Light Car Patrol.

Contents

[edit] Order of battle September 1918

Main article: Battle of Megiddo (1918)

Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir H. Chauvel)

4th Cavalry Division (Major General Sir G. de S. Barrow)
10th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General W. G. K. Green/Howard-Vyse)
1/1 Dorset Yeomanry (ex 6th Mounted Brigade), 2nd Lancers, 38th Central India Horse (38th King George's Own Central India Horse)
11th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General C. L. Gregory)
1/1st County of London Yeomanry (ex 8th Mounted Brigade), 29th Lancers, 36th Jacob's Horse
12th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General J. T. Wigan)
1/1Stafford Yeomanry (ex 22nd Mounted Brigade), 6th Cavalry, 19th Lancers
20th Brigade RHA and Divisional Ammunition Column
12th LAM Battery
No. 7 Light Car Patrol
5th Cavalry Division (Major General H. J. M. MacAndrew)
13th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General P. J. V. Kelly)
1/1 Gloucester Yeomanry (ex 5th Mounted Brigade), 9th Hodson's Horse, 18th Lancers
14th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General G. V. Clarke)
1/1 Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (ex 7th Mounted Brigade), 20th Deccan Horse, 34th Poona Horse
15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General C. R. Harbord)
Jodhpur, Mysore and 1st Hyderabad Lancers [Regiments] (These regiments were all maintained by the Ruling Princes of their respective States in India.)
'B' Battery HAC and Essex Battery RHA with Divisional Ammunition Column
11th LAM Battery
No. 1 Light Car Patrol.[5][6]
Australian Mounted Division (Major General H. W. Hodgson)
3rd Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General L. C. Wilson)
8th, 9th, 10th Australian Light Horse Regiments
4th Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General W. Grant)
4th, 11th 12th Light Horse Regiments[7]
5th Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General C. Macarthur Onslow) (attached XXI Corps till 22 September)
14th, 15th Light Horse Regiments (ex Imperial Camel Corps Brigade)
16th Regiment Mixte de Marche de Palestine et Syrie (French Régiment Mixte de Cavalerie)
French Chasseurs d’Afrique (2 squadrons)
Spahis (1 squadron).[8][9][10]
19th Brigade RHA.[11]

Chaytor's Force (Major General E.W.C. Chaytor)

20th Imperial Service Infantry Brigade
Four Indian Battalions
1st Battalion British West Indies Regiment
2nd Battalion British West Indies Regiment
38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Jewish Battalion)
39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (Jewish Battalion)[12][13][14][15]
Anzac Mounted Division (Major General E.W.C. Chaytor)
1st Light Horse Brigage (Brigadier General C. F. Cox)
1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Regiments
2nd Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General G. de L. Ryrie)
5th, 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments
New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade (Brigadier General W. Meldrum)
Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiments
18th Brigade RHA (Inverness, Ayrshire and Somerset Batteries) and Divisional Ammunition Column[16]
A/263 Battery RFA
195th Heavy Battery RGA
29th and 32nd Indian Mountain Batteries
No. 6 (Medium) Trench Mortar Battery
3 anti–aircraft sections RA
Detachment No. 35 AT Company RE.[17]


[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bou 2009, pp. 150–2
  2. ^ Hill 1978, p. 67
  3. ^ Kinloch 2007, pp. 57–8
  4. ^ Powles 1922, p. 12
  5. ^ Preston 1921, pp. 331, 333-4
  6. ^ Wavell 1968 pp. 216
  7. ^ Preston 1921, p.332
  8. ^ Jones 1987, pp. 146–7
  9. ^ Preston 1921, p. 335
  10. ^ Massey 1920, p. 338
  11. ^ Preston 1921, p. 333
  12. ^ Keogh 1955, p. 240
  13. ^ Powles 1922, p. 236
  14. ^ Wavell 1968, p. 219
  15. ^ Massey 1920, p. 339
  16. ^ Preston 1921, p. 331
  17. ^ Powles 1922, p. 236

[edit] Sources

  • Jean Bou, A History of Australia's Mounted Arm Series: Australian Army History Series (Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
  • A.J. Hill, Chauvel of the Light Horse A Biography of General Sir Harry Chauvel, GCMG, KCB (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1978)
  • Jones, Ian (1987). The Australian Light Horse. Australians at War. Australia: Time-Life Books. OCLC 18459444. 
  • Keogh, E. G.; Joan Graham (1955). Suez to Aleppo. Melbourne: Directorate of Military Training by Wilkie & Co.. OCLC 220029983. 
  • Terry Kinloch, Devils on Horses in the words of the Anzacs in the Middle East 1916–19 (Auckland, Exisle Publishing, 2007)
  • William T. Massey, Allenby’s Final Triumph (London: Constable & Co., London 1920)
  • Powles, C. Guy The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine Volume III Official History New Zealand's Effort in the Great War (Auckland: Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, 1922)
  • Preston, R. M. P. (1921). The Desert Mounted Corps: An Account of the Cavalry Operations in Palestine and Syria 1917–1918. London: Constable & Co.. OCLC 3900439. 
  • Wavell, Field Marshal Earl (1968). E.W. Sheppard. ed. The Palestine Campaigns. A Short History of the British Army (3rd ed.). London: Constable & Co.. 
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