Desert Mounted Corps

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Desert Mounted Corps
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 Memorial at Mount Clarence, Albany, Western Australia.
Active 1917–1918
Country  Australia
 British Empire
 British India
 France
 New Zealand
Branch army
Type cavalry, light horse, mounted rifle
Role mounted infantry, lancer, shock troop
Part of Egyptian Expeditionary Force
Engagements World War I
Palestine
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Henry G. Chauvel

The Desert Mounted Corps was a World War I British Empire army corps which operated in the Middle East (Sinai, Palestine and Syria) during 1917 and 1918.

Desert Mounted Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Henry Chauvel was established in August 1917 after General Edmund Allenby took command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The mounted corps contained several Australian light horse, British yeomanry, French chassaur, Indian lancer and New Zealand mounted rifles units. These included the Anzac Mounted Division, Australian Mounted Division and Yeomanry Mounted Division which had formerly been part of Desert Column.

The name of the original Desert Column was preserved as far as possible in the title of the new Cavalry Corps, as most of the troops composing it had fought throughout the Sinai Campaign, and by them much had already been accomplished.
—Chauvel, 3 September 1920[1]

Contents

Order of battle October 1917 [edit]

Main articles: Third Battle of Gaza, Battle of Mughar Ridge, Battle of Jerusalem (1917), First Transjordan attack on Amman, and Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt

Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir Henry G. Chauvel)

Anzac Mounted Division (Major General E.W.C. Chaytor)
1st Light Horse Brigade (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
Australian and New Zealand Field Squadron Engineers.[2]
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[3]
5th Mounted Brigade (Brigadier General P. D. Fitzgerald)
1/1st Warwick Yeomanry
1/1st Gloucester Yeomanry
1/1st Worcester Yeomanry
19th Brigade RHA (Notts Battery RHA, "A" and "B" Batteries HAC
Australian Mounted Division Field Squardon Engineers.[4]
Yeomanry Mounted Division (Major General G. de S. Barrow
6th Mounted Brigade
1/1st Bucks Yeomanry
1/1st Berkshire Yeomanry
1/1st Dorset Yeomanry
8th Mounted Brigade
1/1st City of London Yeomanry
1/1st County of London (Middlesex) Yeomanry
1/3rd County of London Yeomanry
22nd Mounted Brigade
1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry
1/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry
1/1st East Riding Yeomanry
20th Brigade RHA consisting of three 18 pounder batteries (Berks, Hants, and Leicester Batteries)
No. 6 Field Squadron RE.[5]

Corps Troops

Machine Gun Corps
Nos 2, 3, 11 and 12 Light Armoured Motor Batteries
Nos. 1 and 7 Light Car Patrol

Attached

7th Mounted Brigade
1/1st Sherwood Rangers
1/1st South Notts Hussars

Imperial Camel Corps Brigade

2nd (Imperial) Battalion
3rd (Australian and New Zealand) Battalion
4th (Australian and New Zealand) Battalion

Hong Kong and Singapore Mountain Battery.[6]

Order of battle September 1918 [edit]

Main article: Battle of Megiddo (1918)

Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir Henry G. 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)
1/1st Stafford 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)
1/1st Gloucester Yeomanry (ex 5th Mounted Brigade)
9th Hodson's Horse
18th Lancers
14th Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General G. V. Clarke)
1/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (ex 7th Mounted Brigade)
20th Deccan Horse
34th Poona Horse
15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade (Brigadier General C. R. Harbord)
Jodhpur Imperial Service Lancers
Mysore Imperial Service Lancers
1st Hyderabad Imperial Service Lancers
'B' Battery HAC and Essex Battery RHA with Divisional Ammunition Column
11th Light Armoured Motor Battery
No. 1 Light Car Patrol.[7][8]
Memorial for the horses of the Desert Mounted Corps located in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia
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[9]
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).[10][11][12]
19th Brigade RHA.[13]

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

Anzac Mounted Division (Major General E.W.C. Chaytor)
1st Light Horse Brigade (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[14]
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.[15]
20th Imperial Service Infantry Brigade
Alwar I. S. Infantry, Gwalior I. S. Infantry, Patiala I. S. Infantry, 110th Mahratta L. I. 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)[16][17][18][19][20]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ in Preston 1921 p. viii
  2. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 2 pp. 660–1
  3. ^ Preston 1921, p.332
  4. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 661
  5. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 661 and note
  6. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 662
  7. ^ Preston 1921, pp. 331, 333-4
  8. ^ Wavell 1968 pp. 216
  9. ^ Preston 1921, p.332
  10. ^ Jones 1987, pp. 146–7
  11. ^ Preston 1921, p. 335
  12. ^ Massey 1920, p. 338
  13. ^ Preston 1921, p. 333
  14. ^ Preston 1921, p. 331
  15. ^ Powles 1922, p. 236
  16. ^ Keogh 1955, p. 240
  17. ^ Powles 1922, p. 236
  18. ^ Wavell 1968, p. 219
  19. ^ Massey 1920, p. 339
  20. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 673

Sources [edit]

  • Jean Bou, A History of Australia's Mounted Arm Series: Australian Army History Series (Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
  • Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972. 
  • 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). In E.W. Sheppard. The Palestine Campaigns. A Short History of the British Army (3rd ed.). London: Constable & Co. 
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