New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade

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.

World War I formation

During World War I, the brigade consisted of the following units:

• Canterbury Mounted Rifle Regiment
• Auckland Mounted Rifle Regiment
• Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment
• Otago Mounted Rifle Regiment

The following officers served as the brigade's commanding officer:

• Brigadier-General Andrew Russell later Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.
• Brigadier-General Edward Chaytor 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

World War I battles

During World War I, the brigade took part in the following battes:

Gallipoli campaign Battle of Romani Battle of Magdhaba Battle of Rafa First Battle of Gaza Second Battle of Gaza Third Battle of Gaza Battle of Beersheba

Battle of Mughar Ridge (Action at Ayun Kara) Battle of Jerusalem Action at Jericho First Transjordan attack on Amman Raid on Es Salt Second Transjordan attack on Amman Battle of Megiddo (1918)

Notes

1. ^ Kinloch 2007 pp. 242–3
2. ^ Kinloch 2007 p. 243

Bibliography

Kinloch, Terry (2007). Devils on Horses in the words of the Anzacs in the Middle East 1916–19. Auckland: Exisle Publishing. OCLC 191258258. 

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