"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday movie
One of the last significant cavalry charges in history: Australian Lighthorsemen at Beersheba.
Pedantic historical note: (issued by the Pedantic Authentictaion and Correction Office)
The Australian Light Horse were (as stated in the film clip) not cavalry, but Mounted Infantry. However at Beersheba they did charge in the manner of cavalry.
An important distinction.
Declaration: I own a handed down packsaddle that sports a hole inflicted near Beersheba by a Turkish bullet.
I knew the man it belonged to. He was in the charge on Beersheba. Though at the time of his passing the charge hadn't entered Ozzie folklore, and he'd refer to it as merely a part of the Palestine campaign, as if I wouldn't know what Beersheba was (and I didn't).
Apparently (in the charge) they raised one helluva dustcloud just from the initial trotting that they couldn't see themselves. There were apparently a lot more horsemen in the actual charge than depicted in the movie. A lot more.
That's a classic movie -- I'd forgotten about it, until this posting. I need to order the DVD. Just because.
As I recall, Steve, that was the last (or one of the last, any way) major engagements where horses played a key role in battle.
Thereafter, horses were relegated to logistics and ceremony. The logistics support was critical in many campaigns (check out SGT Reckless), but the era of mounted infantry (let alone horse cavalry) was over before the end of World War I.
O/T,but not completely so. 70 years ago today, naval units of the United States and Australia were in action against forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Coral Sea. Both sides took significant losses, but the agressors were turned back. This battle was the first major setback for the Japanese in their bid for supremacy in this half of the world. I was three months old. My fathers action station was in the boiler room of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia. He has passed on. How many still live ? All must be 90+ or close. Are we deserving now of the heritage these brave men left for us? Watching the poisonous crap that now goes on day after day in our country, I find it increasingly hard to believe that we are.
Further to Beersheba, the lads were not armed with the traditional cavalry sabre..they wielded their SMLE bayonets!!! My daughter-in-laws paternal grandfather was a Light Horse wagon driver.
Thanks for bringing this sadly neglected chapter of military history to light Paco. The slaughter of the Western Front (and Galliopli) understandably overshadows the Palestine Campaign but it was by and large brilliantly executed and achieved the objective of destroying the Ottoman Empire in the Levant at relatively low cost.
The question of which was the last cavalry charge has consumed a lot of beer over the years. Steve is correct of course about the Light Course but most would credit it as a cavalry charge. The consensus is the charge of the Italian Savoie Cavalry on the Don in Russia in 1943 althought this was of lesser scale and ultimately futile (although note that cavalry does not have to be useful. As a British cavalryman once noted, the function of cavalry is to add tone and colour to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl).
Pedantic historical note: (issued by the Pedantic Authentictaion and Correction Office)
ReplyDeleteThe Australian Light Horse were (as stated in the film clip) not cavalry, but Mounted Infantry. However at Beersheba they did charge in the manner of cavalry.
An important distinction.
Declaration: I own a handed down packsaddle that sports a hole inflicted near Beersheba by a Turkish bullet.
I knew the man it belonged to. He was in the charge on Beersheba. Though at the time of his passing the charge hadn't entered Ozzie folklore, and he'd refer to it as merely a part of the Palestine campaign, as if I wouldn't know what Beersheba was (and I didn't).
Apparently (in the charge) they raised one helluva dustcloud just from the initial trotting that they couldn't see themselves. There were apparently a lot more horsemen in the actual charge than depicted in the movie. A lot more.
That's a classic movie -- I'd forgotten about it, until this posting. I need to order the DVD. Just because.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, Steve, that was the last (or one of the last, any way) major engagements where horses played a key role in battle.
Thereafter, horses were relegated to logistics and ceremony. The logistics support was critical in many campaigns (check out SGT Reckless), but the era of mounted infantry (let alone horse cavalry) was over before the end of World War I.
O/T,but not completely so.
ReplyDelete70 years ago today, naval units of the United States and Australia were in action against forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Coral Sea. Both sides took significant losses, but the agressors were turned back. This battle was the first major setback for the Japanese in their bid for supremacy in this half of the world.
I was three months old. My fathers action station was in the boiler room of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia. He has passed on. How many still live ? All must be 90+ or close.
Are we deserving now of the heritage these brave men left for us? Watching the poisonous crap that now goes on day after day in our country, I find it increasingly hard to believe that we are.
NB THe above Posted AM AEST 8th May
ReplyDeleteFurther to Beersheba, the lads were not armed with the traditional cavalry sabre..they wielded their SMLE bayonets!!!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter-in-laws paternal grandfather was a Light Horse wagon driver.
Great comments, folks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this sadly neglected chapter of military history to light Paco. The slaughter of the Western Front (and Galliopli) understandably overshadows the Palestine Campaign but it was by and large brilliantly executed and achieved the objective of destroying the Ottoman Empire in the Levant at relatively low cost.
ReplyDeleteThe question of which was the last cavalry charge has consumed a lot of beer over the years. Steve is correct of course about the Light Course but most would credit it as a cavalry charge. The consensus is the charge of the Italian Savoie Cavalry on the Don in Russia in 1943 althought this was of lesser scale and ultimately futile (although note that cavalry does not have to be useful. As a British cavalryman once noted, the function of cavalry is to add tone and colour to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl).