Australian Light Horse
The Australian Light Horse was established as the outcome of a debate that took place in military circles in Australia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries concerning the future of mounted troops.
For Australia the reality was vast spaces with sparse populations making it difficult to consider anything that remotely looked like the European model.
The 1890s were wracked by drought and depression ensuring that none of the states were able to afford anything but the most token of armies supported by a large contingent of volunteers.
Volunteer Light Horse Regiments were established around Australia supported by the Rifle Club movement which provided semi trained reinforcements for the various formations.
The mounted infantry remained the key to the Australian defence posture until the Kitchener Report of 1910 (Archived 17 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine) which envisaged formations that could be slotted directly into an Imperial expeditionary force.
[citation needed] By the outbreak of World War I, there were 23 light horse regiments within Australia's part-time military force, consisting of 9,000 personnel.
In 1918, some light horse regiments were equipped with sabres,[4] enabling them to fight in a conventional cavalry role in the advance on Damascus.
When dismounting for combat, one man from each section would take the reins of the other three men's horses and lead them out of the firing line where he would remain until called upon.
Eventually they arrived in such numbers as to allow each troop to have a Hotchkiss gun, which considerably added to the mobile firepower of a regiment.
[8] The Australian Waler horse was the common mount for the light horsemen, as it was strong and hardy, which was needed in the harsh desert climate.
[18] Elements of the light horse brigades also undertook a campaign against the Senussi in the western desert region of Egypt with actions commencing in late 1915 and continuing through until 1917.
[19][20] These actions were largely limited though, and were overshadowed by the Light Horse's involvement in the fighting against Ottoman forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign from 1916 to 1918.
With the removal of most of the Yeomanry to France and the breakup of the Imperial Camel Corps, the newly formed 5th Light Horse Brigade took its place with the Australian Mounted Division.
In this case the carcasses were transported to a suitable site away from troops, where they were disemboweled and left to disintegrate in the dry desert air and high temperatures.
Animals which died or were destroyed in veterinary units at Kantara, Ismalia, Bilbeis, and Quesna were dealt with in this way and after four days' drying in the sun, the carcasses were stuffed with straw and burnt, after the skins were salved.
