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The Desert Mounted Corps was an army corps of the British Army during the First World War, of three mounted divisions renamed in August 1917 by General Edmund Allenby from Desert Column. These divisions which served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign had been formed by Australian light horse, British yeomanry, and New Zealand mounted rifles brigades, supported by horse artillery, infantry and support troops. They were later joined by Indian cavalry and a small French cavalry detachment. The Desert Mounted Corps comprised three mounted divisions, the ANZAC Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted Division, and the Yeomanry Mounted Division with infantry formations attached when required, as had Desert Column. In the first month of its existence the corps continued training and patrolling no man's land preparing for manoeuvre warfare. Their first operations would be the attack, along with the XX Corps, the Battle of Beersheba. Having captured their objective they were involved in a series of battles before the old Gaza to Beersheba line was finally broken a week later. During the pursuit they fought two Turkish armies at the Battle of Mughar Ridge before advancing to capture Jerusalem during the Battle of Jerusalem in December 1917. In 1918 units of Desert Mounted Corps participated in the Capture of Jericho in February, the First Transjordan attack on Amman in March and the Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt in April while occupying the Jordan Valley during the summer. As a result of the Spring Offensive on the Western Front the corps went through a major reconstruction, when the majority of the British yeomanry regiments were dismounted, and sent as infantry reinforcements to the trenches of France. The Yeomanry Mounted Division and the 5th Mounted Brigade were disbanded to be replaced by Indian cavalry regiments, which formed the 4th Cavalry and 5th Cavalry Divisions. They arrived in the Jordan Valley in May to join the corps and in September with four divisions, participated in the major offensive operations of the Battle of Sharon section of the successful Battle of Megiddo. The subsequent pursuit to Damascus followed by the Pursuit to Haritan, advances of almost into Turkish territory, resulted in the capture of 107,000 prisoners and over 500 pieces of artillery. At the end of October the Armistice of Mudros ended the war against the Ottoman Empire and the corps became an occupation force in Syria. By March 1919 units were patrolling Egypt during the Egyptian Revolution of 1919. The Desert Mounted Corps was disbanded in June 1919. ==Background== The main responsibility of the British Empire forces in Egypt was the defence of the Suez Canal. Its passage greatly decreased the time at sea of men and materials from India, Australasia and the Far-East. The loss of the canal to the Ottoman Empire would be a huge propaganda coup for their opponents and increase the probability that Egypt would be reconquered by them.〔Mortlock 2010, p.3〕 After previously commanding the Cavalry Corps and the Third Army on the Western Front in France. General Edmund Allenby assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force on 28 June 1917.〔Powles 1922, p.122〕 At the time the situation in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was not promising. The British forces had withdrawn in defeat from Gallipoli and in the campaign in Mesopotamia had been surrounded and forced to surrender after the siege of Kut. In the Sinai campaign, the Turks had demonstrated their willingness to take the battle to the British, with their attack on the Suez Canal.〔Woodward 2006, p.4〕 Then after some initial British success at Romani, Maghaba and Rafa, they had just suffered two comprehensive defeats in the first and second battle of Gaza.〔Preston 1921, p.1〕 Following which they had remained on the defensive.〔Gullett 1941, p.354〕 Allenby's envisaged the employment of his mounted forces on a much larger scale than his predecessor had.〔Preston 1921, p.7〕 So under the command of Lieutenant-General Harry Chauvel the Desert Mounted Corps was formed on 12 August 1917.〔Powles 1922, p.12〕〔Preston 1921, pp.8–9〕 It had been intended to use the name II Cavalry Corps, but the name was chosen in recognition of its predecessor the Desert Column.〔Bou 2009, p.166〕 Chauvel outlined the reasons on 3 September 1920: "The name of the original Desert Column was preserved as far as possible in the title of the new Cavalry Corps, as most of the troops composing it had fought throughout the Sinai Campaign, and by them much had already been accomplished."〔Preston 1921 p. viii〕 The corps initially had three divisions, the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division (ANZ MTD DIV) with the 1st Light Horse, 2nd Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades. The Australian Mounted Division (AUS MTD DIV) with the 3rd Light Horse, 4th Light Horse and the 5th Mounted Brigade. Finally the Yeomanry Mounted Division (YEO MTD DIV) with the 6th Mounted, 8th Mounted and the 22nd Mounted Brigades. Two other brigades the 7th Mounted and the Imperial Camel Corps were the corps reserve.〔 However the dismounted strength of these brigades, of three regiments, was only the equivalent in rifle fire to an infantry battalion, as one men in every four was required to control their horses.〔Preston 1921, p.168〕 Other components in the brigade were a horse artillery battery, a machine gun squadron, a signal troop, a field troop, a mobile veterinary section, a mounted field ambulance and an ammunition column.〔Powles 1922, p.3〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Desert Mounted Corps」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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