New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, consisting usually of four units of mounted infantry
, fought in World War I
and World War II
. Initially a milita, under the instruction of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Henry Banks
they formed the core of the New Zealand Army
following successful service in the Boer Wars. During World War I, it was a part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
(ANZAC) during the Gallipoli Campaign
serving in the New Zealand and Australian Division
. The brigade also fought in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
as part of the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division also known as Anzac Mounted Division
. Throughout this campaign the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade consisted of the Auckland Mounted Rifle, the Canterbury Mounted Rifle and the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiments. The Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment was sent to Europe and served on the Western Front
. After World War I, the brigade shrunk. By 1944 the brigade ceased to exist, as individual units were absorbed into other regiments.
The following officers served as the brigade's commanding officer
:
Mounted infantry
Mounted infantry were soldiers who rode horses instead of marching, but actually fought on foot . The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry...
, fought in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Initially a milita, under the instruction of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Henry Banks
Joseph Henry Banks
Lt.-Colonel Joseph Henry Banks was the British Commandant and instructor of the Auckland Militia through whose capacity the first six of the ten contingents of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles were raised and trained for overseas combat in the Boer Wars, becoming the core of the modern New Zealand...
they formed the core of the New Zealand Army
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...
following successful service in the Boer Wars. During World War I, it was a part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial...
(ANZAC) during the Gallipoli Campaign
Battle of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...
serving in the New Zealand and Australian Division
New Zealand and Australian Division
The New Zealand and Australian Division was formed at the start of the Battle of Gallipoli as a composite division under the command of New Zealand general Alexander Godley. At the start of World War I New Zealand had mustered insufficient infantry battalions to form their own division while...
. The brigade also fought in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and...
as part of the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division also known as Anzac Mounted Division
Anzac Mounted Division
The ANZAC Mounted Division was a mounted infantry and mounted rifles division formed in March 1916 in Egypt during World War I following the Battle of Gallipoli when the Australian and New Zealand regiments returned from fighting dismounted as infantry...
. Throughout this campaign the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade consisted of the Auckland Mounted Rifle, the Canterbury Mounted Rifle and the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiments. The Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment was sent to Europe and served on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. After World War I, the brigade shrunk. By 1944 the brigade ceased to exist, as individual units were absorbed into other regiments.
World War I formation
During World War I, the brigade consisted of the following units:- Canterbury Mounted Rifle RegimentCanterbury Mounted Rifle RegimentThe Canterbury Mounted Rifle Regiment was a New Zealand Mounted Regiment formed for service during World War I.It was formed from Units of the Territorial Force consisting of one squadron each from the 1st Mounted Rifles , the 8th Mounted Rifles and the 10th Mounted Rifles.They served in the...
- Auckland Mounted Rifle RegimentAuckland Mounted Rifle RegimentThe Auckland Mounted Rifle Regiment was a New Zealand Mounted Regiment formed for service during World War I. It was formed from units of the Territorial Foirce consisting of the 3rd Mounted Rifles the 4th Mounted Rifles and the 11th Mounted Rifles.They served in the Middle Eastern theatre of...
- Wellington Mounted Rifle RegimentWellington Mounted Rifle RegimentThe Wellington Mounted Regiment was a New Zealand Mounted Regiment formed for service during the Great War. It was formed from units of the Territorial Force consisting of the Queen Alexandra's 2nd Mounted Rifles the 6th Mounted Rifles and 9th Mounted Rifles.They served in the Middle Eastern...
- Otago Mounted Rifle RegimentOtago Mounted Rifle RegimentThe Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment was a New Zealand Mounted Regiment formed for service during the Great War. It was formed from units of the Territorial Force consisting of the 5th Mounted Rifles the 7th Mounted Rifles and the 12th Mounted Rifles.They saw service during the Battle of Gallipoli,...
The following officers served as the brigade's commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
:
- Brigadier-General Andrew RussellAndrew Hamilton RussellMajor General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell KCB, KCMG was a World War I general from New Zealand, who rose swiftly to high command during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915–1916 and to prominence as the inspirational commander of the New Zealand Division on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918.-Early life...
later Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. - Brigadier-General Edward ChaytorEdward ChaytorMajor General Sir Edward Walter Clervaux Chaytor KCMG, KCVO, CB was a farmer, and a military commander of New Zealand troops in the Boer War and World War I....
later Major-General Sir Edward Walter Clervaux Chaytor KCMG, KCVO, CB
Training in New Zealand
In New Zealand mounted rifles reinforcements trained at Featherston Camp north of Wellington where there were about 8,000 men were housed in nearly 300 buildings, including three billiard rooms, a post office, a movie theatre, 16 dining halls, six cookhouses and stables for 500 horses. The training programme included eight weeks of dismounted drill, two weeks of shooting, eight weeks of mounted drill and lectures on sanitation, military law and discipline, animal management and stable duties. All mounted reinforcements had to pass confirmatory riding tests before being cleared to go overseas.Shipping of New Zealand horses
After the New Zealand Division was shipped to war, reinforcements for the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade were shipped to Sydney or Melbourne, where they embarked on Australian troopships bound for Suez. They did not take horses with them.World War I battles
During World War I, the brigade took part in the following battes:- Gallipoli campaign
- Battle of RomaniBattle of RomaniThe Battle of Romani was fought east of the Suez Canal, near the Egyptian town of Romani and the site of ancient Pelusium on the Sinai Peninsula during the First World War...
- Battle of MagdhabaBattle of MagdhabaThe Battle of Magdhaba took place on 23 December 1916 south and east of Bir Lahfan in the Sinai desert, some inland from the Mediterranean coast and the town of El Arish...
- Battle of RafaBattle of RafaThe Battle of Rafa took place on 9 January 1917 at el Magruntein to the south of Rafa, close to the frontier between the Sultanate of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Ottoman Empire, and in the area to the north and east of Sheikh Zowaiid...
- First Battle of GazaFirst Battle of GazaThe First Battle of Gaza was fought in and around the town of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast in the southern region of Ottoman Palestine on 26 March 1917, during World War I...
- Second Battle of GazaSecond Battle of GazaThe Second Battle of Gaza, fought in southern Palestine during the First World War, was another attempt mounted by British Empire forces to break Ottoman defences along the Gaza-Beersheba line...
- Third Battle of GazaThird Battle of GazaThe Third Battle of Gaza was fought in 1917 in southern Palestine during the First World War. The British Empire forces under the command of General Edmund Allenby successfully broke the Ottoman defensive Gaza-Beersheba line...
- Battle of Beersheba
- Battle of Mughar RidgeBattle of Mughar RidgeThe Battle of El Mughar Ridge , took place on 13 November 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War...
(Action at Ayun Kara) - Battle of JerusalemBattle of Jerusalem (1917)The Battle of Jerusalem developed from 17 November with fighting continuing until 30 December 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I...
- Action at Jericho
- First Transjordan attack on AmmanFirst Transjordan attack on Amman (1918)The First Transjordan attack on Amman was part of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. Between 21 and 30 March 1918, three separate engagements occurred which together form the First Transjordan attack...
- Raid on Es Salt
- Second Transjordan attack on AmmanSecond Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt (1918)Officially known by the British as the Second attack at Es Salt and by the Germans as the Second Battle of the Jordan, the Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt was fought between 30 April and 4 May 1918 in the Middle East during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I...
- Battle of Megiddo (1918)Battle of Megiddo (1918)The Battle of Megiddo took place between 19 September and 1 October 1918, in what was then the northern part of Ottoman Palestine and parts of present-day Syria and Jordan...
External links
- New Zealand Mounted Rifles Association
- http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Anzac_Mounted_Division.html
- http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-nz/nzef.htm