Desert Mounted Corps
The Desert Mounted Corps was an army corps of the British Army during the First World War, of three mounted divisions renamed in August 1917 by General Edmund Allenby, from Desert Column. These divisions which served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign had been formed by Australian light horse, British yeomanry, and New Zealand mounted rifles brigades, supported by horse artillery, infantry and support troops. They were later joined by Indian cavalry and a small French cavalry detachment.
The Desert Mounted Corps comprised the ANZAC Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted Division and the Yeomanry Mounted Division, with infantry formations attached when required, as had Desert Column. In the first month of its existence, the corps continued training and patrolling no man's land preparing for manoeuvre warfare. Their first operations would be the attack, along with the XX Corps of the Battle of Beersheba. Having captured their objective they were involved in a series of battles, before the old Gaza to Beersheba line was finally broken a week later. During the pursuit they fought two Turkish armies at the Battle of Mughar Ridge before advancing to capture Jerusalem during the Battle of Jerusalem in December 1917.
In 1918, units of Desert Mounted Corps participated in the Capture of Jericho in February, the First Transjordan attack on Amman in March and the Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt in April, while occupying the Jordan Valley during the summer. As a result of the German spring offensive on the Western Front the corps went through a reorganisation, when the majority of the British yeomanry regiments were dismounted and sent as infantry reinforcements to France. The Yeomanry Mounted Division and the 5th Mounted Brigade were disbanded, to be replaced by Indian cavalry regiments, which formed the 4th Cavalry Division and 5th Cavalry Division. They arrived in the Jordan Valley in May to join the corps and in September with four divisions, participated in the major offensive operations of the Battle of Sharon, a section of the Battle of Megiddo. The subsequent pursuit to Damascus followed by the Pursuit to Haritan, advances of almost into Turkish territory, resulted in the capture of 107,000 prisoners and over 500 pieces of artillery. At the end of October, the Armistice of Mudros ended the war against the Ottoman Empire and the corps became an occupation force in Syria. By March 1919 units were patrolling Egypt during the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. The Desert Mounted Corps was disbanded in June 1919.
Background
The main responsibility of the British Empire forces in Egypt was the defence of the Suez Canal. Its passage greatly decreased the time at sea of men and materials from India, Australasia and the Far-East. The loss of the canal to the Ottoman Empire would be a huge propaganda coup for their opponents and increase the probability that Egypt would be reconquered by them.After previously commanding the Cavalry Corps and the Third Army on the Western Front in France. General Edmund Allenby assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force on 28 June 1917. At the time the situation in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was not promising. The British forces had withdrawn in defeat from Gallipoli and in the campaign in Mesopotamia had been surrounded and forced to surrender after the siege of Kut. In the Sinai campaign, the Turks had demonstrated their willingness to take the battle to the British, with their attack on the Suez Canal. Then after some initial British success at Romani, Maghaba and Rafa, they had just suffered two comprehensive defeats in the first and second battle of Gaza. Following which they had remained on the defensive.
Allenby's envisaged the employment of his mounted forces on a much larger scale than his predecessor had. So under the command of Lieutenant-General Harry Chauvel the Desert Mounted Corps was formed on 12 August 1917. It had been intended to use the name II Cavalry Corps, but the name was chosen in recognition of its predecessor the Desert Column. Chauvel outlined the reasons on 3 September 1920: "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." The corps initially had three divisions, the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division with the 1st Light Horse, 2nd Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades. The Australian Mounted Division with the 3rd Light Horse, 4th Light Horse and the 5th Mounted Brigade. Finally the Yeomanry Mounted Division with the 6th Mounted, 8th Mounted and the 22nd Mounted Brigades. Two other brigades the 7th Mounted and the Imperial Camel Corps were the corps reserve. However the dismounted strength of these brigades, of three regiments, was only the equivalent in rifle fire to an infantry battalion, as one men in every four was required to control their horses. Other components in the brigade were a horse artillery battery, a machine gun squadron, a signal troop, a field troop, a mobile veterinary section, a mounted field ambulance and an ammunition column.
Reorganisation
In April 1918 in response to the German spring offensive in France, every available man that could be spared was sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. The Desert Mounted Corps lost the majority of its yeomanry regiments, who were dismounted and retrained to serve as infantry or machine-gun companies. This necessitated the disbandment of the Yeomanry Mounted Division. Which could have had serious consequences on the corps future operations. But the yeomanry were replaced in theatre by experienced British Indian Army cavalry regiments, that had been fighting in France since 1914. Allenby used these new regiments to raise two new divisions. The 4th Cavalry Division with the 10th Cavalry, 11th Cavalry and 12th Cavalry Brigades. The 5th Cavalry Division was slightly different having the 13th Cavalry, 14th Cavalry and the 15th Cavalry Brigades.Each of the cavalry brigades had one yeomanry and two Indian regiments, except the 15th Cavalry Brigade which had three regiments of Indian Imperial Service Troops. With the move from the Sinai desert into southern Palestine there was now no need for a camel force. In June the Imperial Service Camel Brigade was also disbanded, its battalions were instead mounted on horses and used to form the 5th Light Horse Brigade. Which replaced the yeomanry 5th Mounted Brigade in the Australian Mounted Division, bringing that division back up to full strength. The corps now comprised four divisions but had lost its mounted reserve force, and there was no increase in the ten horse artillery batteries, it did however gain its own infantry sub unit, the 20th Indian Brigade.
Formation
Between General Murray's recall in early June, and the arrival of Allenby late in June 1917, Chetwode as commander of Eastern Force gave Chauvel as commander of Desert Column, oversight for the establishment of the Yeomanry Mounted Division.On 21 June, the Imperial Mounted Division became the Australian Mounted Division. On 26 June the 6th Mounted Brigade was transferred from the Australian Mounted Division, and the 22nd Mounted Brigade from the ANZAC Mounted Division, and along with the recently arrived 8th Mounted Brigade, formed the Yeomanry Mounted Division. The 7th Mounted Brigade with the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade were corps troops.
Desert Column was reorganised from two mounted divisions of four brigades, into three mounted divisions of three brigades: The ANZAC Mounted Division, Australian Mounted Division and the Yeomanry Mounted Division.
Allenby indicated to Robertson on 12 July, that he planned to reorganise the EEF into two infantry and a mounted corps, directly under General Headquarters. The structure of the EEF, would resemble the organisation of the force Allenby had commanded in France, which had reflected contemporary British combat doctrine, in the middle of 1917. Further, in order for him to directly command these corps in the field, Allenby created two EEF headquarters. His battle headquarters was established near Khan Yunis, while the remainder of his headquarters staff stayed in Cairo, so they could deal with the political and administrative aspects of control of Egypt and martial law.
On 12 August a conventional corps headquarters, designated the XX Corps and commanded by Lieutenant General P. W. Chetwode replaced Eastern Force. The headquarters of the XXI Corps commanded by Lieutenant General E. S. Bulfin was formed, while the headquarters of Desert Column was renamed Desert Mounted Corps commanded by Lieutenant General H. G. Chauvel.
Service history
1917
The first operation planned for the Desert Mounted Corps was to break through the Turkish lines, in southern Palestine, which stretched for from Beersheba in the east to the Mediterranean coast at Gaza in the west. Once Beersheba was secured the mounted troops would be concentrated on the British right to cut off and destroy the retreating Turkish forces. Any mounted attack on Beersheba would require a march of over dry and unknown country. So prior to the attack a reconnaissance of the Turkish positions was carried out mapping tracks and wadi crossings. Chauvel deployed his corps, with one division forward occupying a lightly held line between Shellal and El Gamli. Which was also responsible for short patrols into no man's land and longer patrols to reconnoitre the Turkish defences. A second division supported the front line based around Abasan el Kebir. While the third division was resting at Tel el Marrakeb. Each month the divisions moved around so no one division spent longer at the front than was necessary.To prepare for the coming offensive each man was issued an officers-style saddle wallet, in which they could carry three days' rations and some spare clothing. Attached to the saddle were two nosebags with or two days of grain for the horse. A third day's grain and two days' rations for the men were carried with the divisional train. Every two weeks the forward division would move en masse towards Beersheba; leaving in the afternoon they marched all night to be in a position on the high ground in front of town by dawn the next day. There they remained all day and returned to their base the following night. These long-range patrols got the men and horses used to desert travel, with no water available for the horses from the afternoon they left until they returned. These patrols were not without danger and they were often attacked by Turkish aircraft and artillery which had previously registered approach routes, wadi crossings and the high ground. The patrols accustomed the Turks to the appearance of British troops in front of Beersheba, without them taking any offensive action before withdrawing again. This patrol routine continued until the end of October when the corps moved forward for the coming offensive.
After dark 30 October the ANZ MTD DIV headed for Beersheba securing their first objectives by 08:00 the next morning. The 2nd Brigade moved on Tel el Sakaty hill, the New Zealand Brigade towards Tel el Saba, while the 1st LH Brigade was the reserve. At 10:00 the Australian Division reached their start point the Khashim Zanna hill overlooking Beersheba, sending patrols forward to reconnoitre a way into the town. At the same time the advancing 7th Brigade was forced to dismount in the face of heavy opposition from well constructed Turkish defences. Now the ANZ MTD DIV was also facing heavy resistance and it was not until 13:00 that the 2nd Brigade captured Tel el Sakaty and at 13:30 cut the road north to Jerusalem. Around the same time that XX Corps secured their objectives in the west.
By now the New Zealand Brigade was unable to proceed being pinned down by Turkish artillery and machine-gun fire. The 3rd LH Brigade with the divisional artillery were sent to assist the attack from the south. Major-General Edward Chaytor in command of the ANZ MTD DIV, committed his reserve 1st Light Horse Brigade to support the southern attack. The 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Regiments unable to approach their objectives under cover, charged in the open through artillery and machine-gun fire, until they reached a depression in the ground short of their target where they were able to dismount and fight forward on foot. At 14:00 the 2nd Light Horse Regiment captured their objective and relieved the pressure in front of the New Zealanders, who carried out a bayonet charge capturing their own objective, 120 prisoners and several machine-guns. The last defences in front of Beersheba had been taken, but there was still a large expanse of open ground to be crossed in front of the town itself.
The two divisions, less the 5th MTD Brigade, were ordered to mount up and capture Beersheba before dark. The 4th LH Brigade, away, which until then had seen no fighting received the order at 16:30. Brigadier-General William Grant in command of the brigade, realising that sunset was only half-an-hour away decided to charge the town from the south-east. Asking for artillery support he set out with his two available regiments. The 1/1st Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery and 1/A Battery, Honourable Artillery Company galloped into the open, halted short of the town and opened fire. Which was the signal for Grants brigade to charge the Turkish defences. Jumping the two lines of trenches the brigade dismounted and within ten minutes had captured the position. Grant rallied his brigade, left a small guard force behind and charged into Beersheba and by 18:00 had secured the town, capturing 1,200 prisoners and fourteen artillery guns.
File:HACBelah.jpg|thumb|A Battery, Honourable Artillery Companys 13-pounder guns
The AUS MTD DIV occupied the town while the ANZ MTD DIV put out a skirmish line to the north and north-west. With Beersheba secure phase two the attack on Gaza began at 23:00 1 November and by 06:30 the next morning the front line had been penetrated and the Turkish defenders withdrawing. Phase three was an attack on the open Turkish left flank, supported by the 53rd Division and the Camel Corps Brigade. The ANZ MTD DIV advanced to the Hebron road, near Bir el Makruneh, capturing 200 prisoners and several machine-guns en route. Operations were curtailed by lack of water in the region which necessitated the corps keeping the AUS MTD DIV in Beersheba. The town did originally have an ample water supply from seven wells but five of them had been destroyed by the Turks during the battle.
Over the next five days the ANZ MTD DIV, the 5th, 7th Mounted and the Camel Corps Brigades and the 53rd Division pushed northwards and held out at Tel Khuweilfeh against a Turkish counter-attack from the 3rd Cavalry Division, the 19th, 27th and part of the 16th Divisions. With all the Turkish reserves concentrated on the Desert Mounted Corps front, on 6 November when XXI Corps attacked in the west they captured all their first day objectives. That evening the AUS MTD DIV moved to the Sharia region in preparation for the expected breakthrough and pursuit of the retreating Turkish forces. The ANZ and AUS MTD DIVs were ordered to move into the Turkish rear area as soon as their path was clear, the ANZ MTD DIV on the right. The YEO MTD DIV would remain behind with the 53rd Division. In part the deployment was influenced by the available water supplies to their front.
On 7 November the AUS MTD DIV was fighting dismounted in support of the 60th Division and darkness had fallen before they could mount up and pursue the retreating Turks. The ANZ MTD DIV had better luck and had found a hole in the Turkish front and had advance to the train station at Umm el Ameidat on the Junction Station-Beersheba rail line, capturing 400 prisoners and a large quantity of ammunition and stores. By that night the division had moved forward a further east and engaged a strong Turkish rearguard position. Elsewhere on 7 November the XXI Corps had eventually succeeded in capturing Gaza.