Horserifle and bayonet (Yeomanry armed with swords) 1916–1918. After the Yeomanry were sent to the Western Front, from mid-1918 a sword was added to the Light Horse along with Mixte de Cavalerie du Lavant Regiment
The 4th Light Horse Brigade was formed in Australia in February 1915 with the 11th, 12th, and 13th Light Horse Regiments and was posted to Egypt in July 1915. The brigade was broken up:[8] the 11th Light Horse Regiment was dismounted and served in Gallipoli as reinforcements to other regiments;[9] the 12th Light Horse Regiment was dismounted and attached to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade in Gallipoli (August – December 1915) and 2nd Light Horse Brigade in Egypt (April 1915 – January 1917);[10] and the 13th Light Horse Regiment remained mounted and joined the 2nd Australian Division. The brigade was reformed in January 1917 – with the 4th Light Horse Regiment in place of the 13th – and joined the division on formation.[8]
XIX Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.) was formed for the division in January 1917 with four British Territorial Force horse artillery batteries: the 1/1st Berkshire and 1/1st Nottinghamshire Batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery, and 1/A and 1/B Batteries of the Honourable Artillery Company.[15] All four batteries had originally gone out to Egypt with the 2nd Mounted Division in April 1915, but did not proceed to Gallipoli with the division. Instead, they variously served on the Suez Canal Defences,[16] as part of the Western Frontier Force in the Senussi Campaign,[17] or in Aden where 1/B Battery HAC and 1/1st Berkshire RHA fought a sharp action at Sheikh Othman that removed the Turkish threat to Aden for the rest of the war.[18] They rejoined 2nd Mounted Division on its return from Gallipoli in December 1915,[19] however, the dismemberment of the division began almost immediately as units were posted to the Western Frontier Force, Suez Canal Defences or to various other commands.[16] Initially, each battery was equipped with four[20]Ehrhardt 15-pounder guns[21] but were re-equipped with more modern 18 pounders (four per battery) in time for the First Battle of Gaza (26 – 27 March 1917).[22] In practice, the batteries were tactically attached to the mounted brigades, for example, 1/1st Nottinghamshire RHA to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade[23] and 1/A Battery HAC to the 4th Light Horse Brigade.[24]
The division was also provided with support units, mostly assigned or attached directly to the brigades, but including an engineer squadron, a signals squadron, and train.[15]
Service history
The division joined the Desert Column[4] alongside the ANZAC Mounted Division.[7]
During the First Battle of Gaza, the division (as the Imperial Mounted Division) provided protection from counter-attack on the eastern flank while the main infantry assault was underway. The brigades became the rearguard during the withdrawal from Gaza after the attack was called off.
By July 1918, the division had been redesignated and reorganized almost entirely with Australian units.[15][25] Non-Australian units and formations are shown in italics.
^The basic organic unit of the Royal Artillery was, and is, the Battery.[2] When grouped together they formed brigades, in the same way that infantry battalions or cavalry regiments were grouped together in brigades. At the outbreak of World War I, a field artillery brigade of headquarters (4 officers, 37 other ranks), three batteries (5 and 193 each), and a brigade ammunition column (4 and 154)[3] had a total strength just under 800 so was broadly comparable to an infantry battalion (just over 1,000) or a cavalry regiment (about 550). Like an infantry battalion, an artillery brigade was usually commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel. Artillery brigades were redesignated as regiments in 1938. Note that the battery strength refers to a battery of six guns; a four-gun battery would be about two thirds of this; a brigade of four four-gun batteries would be approximately the same strength as a brigade of three six-gun batteries.
^ abOriginally the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Train, designated 3rd Supply Section from February 1916 and 35th Company, Australian Army Service Corps from February 1917.[23]
^ abOriginally the 4th Light Horse Brigade Train, designated 4th Supply Section from February 1916 and 36th Company, Australian Army Service Corps from February 1917.[24]
^Originally the 5th Light Horse Brigade Train, designated 37th Company, Australian Army Service Corps from July 1918.[28]
Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN1-871167-12-4.
Clarke, Dale (2004). British Artillery 1914–19 Field Army Artillery. Vol. 94 of New Vanguard Series. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN1-84176-688-7.
Falls, Cyril; MacMunn, George (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine From the Outbreak of War With Germany to June 1917. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. 1. London: HM Stationery Office. OCLC610273484.
Farndale, General Sir Martin (1988). The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914–18. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Woolwich: The Royal Artillery Institution. ISBN1-870114-05-1.
Frederick, J.B.M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978. Wakefield, Yorkshire: Microform Academic Publishers. ISBN1-85117-009-X.
Perry, F.W. (1992). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A. The Divisions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and those in East Africa. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN1-871167-25-6.
Perry, F.W. (1993). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5B. Indian Army Divisions. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN1-871167-23-X.
