CHAPTER 2
3rd Light Horse
Brigade
The 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade was not yet a year old when it faced its trial on Gallipoli. It had been formed in 1914, several weeks after the outbreak of war. On 4 August Great Britain had declared herself, and consequently the forces of her Empire, to be at war with Germany. In anticipation of this, Australia had been quick to offer her small navy and a volunteer army to assist, and on 6 August, this offer was accepted with a request that the force be prepared quickly. No one could then foresee how long and devastating this war would be, so initially a single division of infantry and one brigade of light horse, to be named the Australian Imperial Force – soon to be known simply by the initials ‘AIF’ – was prepared.
Although it drew on the former peacetime army for its first batch of officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs), the AIF had to be a new, distinct and entirely volunteer force. The existing home army was based on compulsory part-time service for all young men. However, this militia was intended only to fight in the nation’s defence and, in any case, the scheme was still in its infancy. Any hope that currently serving regiments would be accepted intact had to be dismissed. Barracks and drill halls opened to take the names of those now willing to enlist in the new national expeditionary force.
Men joining the AIF who could ride had a natural preference for the light horse over the infantry. The light horse was more selective and it had associations with military dash, together with the perceived characteristics of ruggedness and individuality, and the rural virtues of resource and mateship. Also, following the South African War, in which most of the Australians had served on horseback, the mounted regiments had a tradition and a good record in battle. As a consequence, more men sought to join the light horse than could at first be accepted.
The first division was quickly formed. The accompanying light horse brigade was made up of a regiment from New South Wales, one from Queensland, and another drawn jointly from South Australia and Queensland. A fourth regiment was raised in Victoria as divisional cavalry. On 3 September it was announced that Australia’s contribution would be expanded and arrangements were made to provide a second contingent. As a result, another light horse brigade was quickly raised and, as the expansion continued, a third brigade followed in October. Australia’s contribution would continue to grow, calling on more and more men to join up.
Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia supplied the men for the 3rd Light Horse Brigade. When the second brigade was being brought together, it was thought that Queensland and Victoria would each provide a second regiment and that the remaining one would be a joint contribution from South Australia and Western Australia. But once it was evident that there were sufficient willing men to have New South Wales provide two more whole regiments and another from Western Australia, it was decided to use the Western Australians, South Australians and the men still available in Victoria to form the third brigade under the command of Colonel Frederic Hughes, a Victorian, on the following basis:
8th Light Horse Regiment – Victoria
9th Light Horse Regiment – South Australia
(with one squadron from Victoria)
10th Light Horse Regiment – Western Australia
The light horse was not a cavalry force, nor was it, as sometimes described, made up of infantrymen on horseback. It was a force of trained and skilled horsemen who could fight dismounted. The light horseman’s mount gave him mobility, but in action he would dismount to fight on foot; in battle, one man in four was usually required to be a horse-holder. A light horse regiment was not nearly as strong as a battalion of infantry, and a troop had nothing like the firepower of a platoon. On the other hand, it was a highly mobile and flexible body, could travel distances, and also do some of the work traditionally given to cavalry, such as patrolling, reconnaissance and screening the main force.
Each brigade of three regiments included its own signal troop, field ambulance, machine-guns and transport. The basic unit was the troop (itself composed of small sections) consisting usually of one officer and 35 other ranks. Four troops made up a squadron, and three squadrons, plus a machine-gun section and headquarters, made up a regiment.
The early volunteers in Victoria were sent to a camp established in open paddocks at Broadmeadows outside Melbourne. The site was about two and a half kilometres from the railway station and lacked even a water supply until army engineers were able to extend a pipeline. Eventually tens of thousands of troops would pass through this camp. The first mounted men to go there were destined for the 4th Light Horse Regiment. The overflow volunteers for the 4th were drafted into an area at the eastern end of the camp and divided into training squadrons, each of about 150 men. Here they were put through their preliminary training and dismounted drill. In October they were formed into a second Victorian regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander White. The regiment, the 8th Light Horse, moved its camp over beside that of the 4th, whose grounds it took over when that regiment departed.
The scene at Broadmeadows was repeated at camps of the 9th and 10th Regiments outside Adelaide and Perth. Together, South Australia and Tasmania had provided men for the 3rd Regiment and there had been two senior Adelaide officers, both with service in the South African War and currently with militia regiments, available for that command. The appointment was given to Lieutenant Colonel Frank Rowell, while the other officer, Albert Miell, was to be his second-in-command. When it was decided that further light horse regiments were to be formed, Miell was retained to command one. He was a natural choice when the new South Australian regiment (the 9th Light Horse) became available.
At first it was thought that Western Australia could provide just a squadron, and many disappointed horsemen there were directed to the infantry. Lieutenant Colonel Noel Brazier, who commanded the state’s only militia light horse regiment, had enough of his own officers and men wanting to transfer to the AIF that he had no trouble achieving the required numbers for the squadron. He was prepared to drop his rank if necessary to lead it. With the decision made that the contribution would be expanded and a complete regiment would be supplied, Brazier undertook to raise and command it. The original squadron had already gone into camp at Guildford outside Perth, where it was joined by the new ones after they finished their initial training.
Western Australians had already played a useful role in the South African War. The state boasted sending a higher number of mounted men, proportionate to its population, to that war than any other. Its citizen force light horse regiment was descended from the former Western Australian Mounted Infantry, and in 1912 it was named the 25th Light Horse. When the war started, almost half of the serving officers sought to join the AIF, and several of them were accepted into the 10th Light Horse.
The volunteers from South Australia were medically examined and went into camp at Morphettville, where they were put through their riding tests. After some training they paraded through Adelaide before moving by train to Melbourne, where they were joined by the local squadron in camp at Broadmeadows.
In the early months of the war there was no shortage of willing recruits. Australian-born and immigrants, bushmen and city clerks, professional men and street larrikins all found their way into the AIF, attracted by the prospect of adventure, comradeship, overseas travel and adult pay, and by the reassurance that their countrymen had declared this war to be a noble and just cause.
Some men were remarkable for their efforts to get into the AIF. In the west one young man rode over 500 kilometres to Wyndham to catch a boat for Fremantle to find a recruiting office. He was taken into the 10th Light Horse. Walter McConnan, a 28-year-old Australian, was touring Britain when the war broke out. He was well-educated and considered seeking a commission in a British regiment, but decided to come home. He joined the 8th Light Horse in camp. Before returning he had written to his father:
I was nearly into the army for the term of the war last week. I cabled Melbourne for permission and got it but on further consideration thought it wiser to return next week and if it is necessary go with the Australian forces with your approval. I have no desire for the life but what can one do in the face of the ‘call to arms’. It seems that the only thing which will bring the war to a speedy end is the landing on the Continent of a huge trained force. It is quite a usual thing for fellows like myself to go off to some or other regiment as privates.1
Soldiering had greater appeal to Douglas Bethune, a Boer War veteran, already over 30, who was one of two brothers also accepted into the 8th Regiment. He explained his reasons for joining up: ‘I am not overcome with patriotic fervour and the desire is purely selfish. I’d give anything for the excitement of it all again.’2 With his experience he did not expect any problem in getting promotion.
Early training at Broadmeadows was limited to rifle drill, bayonet practice, physical exercises, lectures, guards, piquets, and excursions to the Williamstown rifle range for shooting. Men slept on straw-filled palliasses and in their free time mixed at the newly opened garrison institute, visited friends in neighbouring units, or perhaps went to the camp photographer’s tented studio to have a final portrait taken. Visitors were often allowed into the camp. In the second week of November the horses arrived, and the men felt that at last they were truly mounted soldiers.
Quickly the men were transformed from civilians. The first uniforms issued were shapeless blue cotton-drill jackets and trousers and floppy white hats for work around the camp. Civilian clothes were sent home or handed in to the Salvation Army. Eventually proper service dress was received. The uniform for the light horse was workmanlike and not very different from that worn by the infantry. Both had the loose comfortably fitting woollen jacket with breeches, with slight variations in the latter. What did make the horsemen distinctive were their spurs and polished leather leggings, belts, pouches and bandoliers. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade also wore the slouch hat, topped with plumes of emu feathers. The plumes mostly appeared on parades and had previously been associated with the Queenslanders. In the following years most other light horse regiments followed the brigade’s example, and the plume became an admired symbol of the light horse.
The light horseman was expected to fight on foot, and so his main weapon was the rifle rather than the sword, lance or carbine of the cavalry. Although they served on Gallipoli without their horses, it was not a role they liked. One of the brigade’s officers was to express his concern at the change: ‘In doing this we are giving everything. For [us] to go as infantry is a great sacrifice.’3 Above all else, they still prided themselves on being horsemen.
The light horseman’s service rifle was modern and accurate. Following the war in South Africa, the British army decided that one firearm was needed for both the infantry and mounted troops, removing the distinction between rifle and carbine and providing a weapon which was shorter, lighter and faster to load than the Lee-Enfields then in use. The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) was the result, and this sturdy bolt-action rifle was eventually to serve the Australian soldier in two world wars and Korea. It fired .303-inch rounds, which were loaded into a magazine using clips, or charges, of five rounds each. These were carried in bandoliers slung across the shoulders and in leather pouches on belts. The shorter length SMLE was compensated for by its having a bayonet with a 43-centimetre blade.
Training and camp routine became more strenuous in the last several weeks leading up to Christmas. Mounted cross-country work provided an opportunity for men and horses to become familiar with military commands and movements. Officers and NCOs attended special courses and sat examinations. Groups now began to move as troops, to act as part of a squadron and to understand their place within the regiment, while most of the misfits had already been discharged or had deserted.
Trooper McConnan provided some insight into camp life in a letter home:
Every evening finds me tired and every meal time I am hungry. Most of last week was spent at Williamstown for shooting. We left here at 6 am and got back at 6 pm. Long days! We had the usual tedious church parade … it is a good sight to see the various regiments march up with bands playing. Our daily programme will be quite different now the horses are here. There is more work but now we feel more like a mounted regiment. The food is not at all bad. We get roasts occasionally – Bread and jam with tea is the usual 5.30 bill of fare; last night they gave cheese instead of jam [and] one can buy butter and milk.4
More efforts seem to have been made within the 3rd Light Horse Brigade than in most others to develop a pride and an identity; the plumed slouch hat was just one demonstration of this. Both the 9th and 10th Regiments held public parades at which handsome embroidered unit flags or unofficial ‘colours’ were accepted from the local citizens. The 8th Regiment sought a distinctive appearance with its horses: the chestnuts went to A Squadron, the bays and light browns to B, and the dark browns and blacks to C. The regiment also formed a mounted band; something rarely seen in Australia. The officers went further, having tailored uniforms made and unofficial enamelled badges struck.
It was unfortunate that the 8th Light Horse, which started with such high hopes, should end the war with a reputation as an unlucky regiment. Jack Dean, who joined upon its formation as an 18-year-old, was interviewed 70 years later. He still recalled his old regiment with affection: ‘It was a particularly good one, well formed with good officers. A very good lot. But they had more than their fair share of disasters.’5 He was right. The 8th suffered the most severely at The Nek, and fared little better in the later campaigns in the Middle East. It had more casualties in the course of the war than any other light horse unit; the losses included its three commanding officers.
By the end of 1914 the brigade, minus the 10th Regiment, was concentrated at Broadmeadows, ready to be sent overseas. The 9th Light Horse had arrived from South Australia in pouring rain, and the wet weather continued through December, frustrating the training, making living in tents uncomfortable, and turning the lines into avenues of mud. Major Carew Reynell of the 9th Regiment, recently arrived from an officers’ course, reported the appearance of a general ‘fedupness’ and complained that it was ‘impossible to preserve any proper standard of personal cleanliness or smartness of turnout’.6 This mood quickly passed as Christmas approached and most of the men were given leave to spend some time with family and friends.
In Western Australia the 10th Light Horse marched mounted and fully equipped through Perth to a camp at the Agricultural Society’s showground at Claremont, where a public review and sports day was held. The citizens turned out to see their state’s only AIF light horse regiment. When the men returned from the Christmas–New Year leave they were sent to a new camp at Rockingham, south of Perth. A month later the regiment made its last move, back to the dusty camp at Claremont.
The brigade was now fully formed, had undergone its basic training, and was anxiously waiting to be sent overseas to the front. The early volunteers for the AIF had imagined that they would soon be fighting the Germans in France, but events took a different twist. While the first contingent was at sea, news was received that it would not go to Britain but instead land and stay in Egypt, where the Australians and New Zealanders would be formed into a corps and placed under the command of Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood.
An Indian-born Englishman, Birdwood had attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and been first commissioned in 1885. He served as a staff officer in numerous Indian frontier campaigns and the South African War, where he became a favourite of Lord Kitchener, Britain’s imperial hero and now Secretary of State for War. His appointment to command the AIF was fortunate both for his career and for the Australians, with whom he developed a unique and enduring relationship. After the war he returned to the Indian army and ultimately, in 1925, attained the rank of field marshal.
The change of destination for the Australians had been caused by a delay in constructing suitable camp accommodation in Britain, and by the entry of Turkey into the war and the consequent threat to Egypt. By mid-December the last units of the first contingent had landed and gone into Mena Camp, outside Cairo. The men of the second contingent could now expect that they too would be sent to Egypt. The destiny of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was set.