Light Horseman and his Horse

Light Horseman and his Horse - awm.gov.au
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Chapter III - The Light Horseman and his Horse
The Australian Light Horse, to which this volume gives particular attention, was in body and spirit the true product of the wide Australian countryside. On its peace footing before the war, it represented the mounted arm of the Commonwealth Military Forces. It was then composed of twenty-three - regiments, with a total strength of 456 officers and 6,508 men of other ranks. Some of the regiments, whose recruiting areas were close to cities and towns, included a small number of townsmen; but the light horse as a whole was essentially a force of countrymen, most of whom actually bred and owned the horses on which they did their few weeks of compulsory annual training. Its members were not armed with sword or lance. They were mounted riflemen, or in other words, mounted infantry, and their horses were intended merely to give them the greatest range of activity as a mobile body. The men were not trained in shock tactics - a point to be borne in mind in order to follow intelligently their work in Sinai and Palestine. Many of them, including a large number of their officers, had served with distinction as mounted riflemen in the South African War, only twelve years earlier, and the lessons learned against the elusive Boers had a strong influence upon their efficiency.