Light Horse: A history of Australia's mounted arm: Jean Bou

[Crunchy]

Light Horse: A history of Australia’s mounted arm

By Jean Bou.

Cambridge University Press: the Australian Army History Series

Cambridge. 2010.

Attaining a place in Australian folklore far beyond its representation in Australia’s wars, the Australian light horse is the most romanticised group in Australian military history. Re-enactment groups of Australian military units are almost exclusively sections of reconstituted lighthorsemen; although it may be that the public’s love affair with this bygone arm has more to do with the horses than any knowledge of the light horse itself.

Refreshingly, there are a growing number of Australian historians who are taking a more mature approach to this country’s military history and looking beyond the mythology that so distorts many Australian’s perceptions of our military contribution. Jean Bou, an Army reservist with an armoured corps background, is one of them. In this highly readable and meticulously researched work, he has produced an excellent analytical account of the history of Australia’s mounted forces stretching from the early but tentative steps of the small volunteer units raised during the latter half of the nineteenth century to the demise of horsed units during the Second World War. Bou’s focus is on the development of the mounted arm, and he covers a broad canvas. Against a backdrop of history he considers the impetus for raising these units, their doctrinal background and evolution, social foundations, their performance in war, and the difficulties of attaining sufficient numbers and of creating a credible force during peacetime. In doing so he offers a much needed corrective to several of the more outlandish claims surrounding this force.

These include the view of the bushman as a natural born soldier needing only a rifle and a pillow case full of bullets to defeat the country’s enemies; rather hard training was required to mould them into competent soldiers. This is highlighted by a generally indifferent performance of the poorly trained Australian contingents in the South African War, compared with that of the light horse in the Great War, where by 1916-17 they had become a competent force. Bou also places the famous charge at Beersheba in context, eschewing that it won the battle, or was a “turning point” in the Palestine campaign, but was the last throw of a battle already won by British infantry and yeomanry, Australian light horse and New Zealand mounted rifles. Nor was it, as some Australians claim, the last cavalry charge in history, there being several more in the Palestine as the war ground on. In a very persuasive appendix Bou provides the best examination of the famous and much disputed photograph of the charge I have read, and reaches a conclusion, based on a thorough and detailed consideration of the evidence and other accounts, that would be hard to refute.

Light Horse traces the debates and doctrinal development of Australia’s mounted troops from the late 19th Century to the outbreak of war in 1914. In this he , highlights the difference between cavalry, mounted rifles and mounted infantry; the difference between the first two being only a matter of degree as the reforms of the British cavalry had them trained to fight dismounted, as well as employing the arme blanche. Ironically the difference between them and mounted infantry, which so many erroneously ascribe as the function of the light horse was much greater. The campaigns in which the lighthorsemen made their mark is discussed in detail. But rather than being a narrative of their battles, Bou uses those actions to discuss the tactical development of the light horse. Organised and trained as mounted rifles before the Great War, the light horse operated as such during the Sinai and early part of the Palestine campaign, although Bou identifies they also fought as mounted infantry in the larger battles. Following battlefield experience and debate, by 1918 the Australian Mounted Division was issued with swords and fought largely as cavalry, giving them greater tactical flexibility than mounted rifles, a role the Anzac Mounted Division maintained until the end of the war. He gives due credit to the British RHA batteries that were integral to the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions, and to the British yeomanry and infantry units that fought alongside them.

Following the war the light horse were re-roled as cavalry, but the story between the wars is one of under funding, hollow units and demise. Bou clearly identifies why the militia light horse units never attained a degree of military proficiency in peacetime, either before the Great War or in the 1920’s and 1930‘s. When other armies, including the British were converting to an armoured role in the 1930’s, Australia stuck to horsed cavalry and only gave them up in 1944. The lighthorseman's glory years were 1916-18.

Light Horse is a fine addition to Australia’s military historiography. Very readable, thoroughly researched, convincing in its argument and supported throughout by quotations from contemporary accounts and documents, it should be read by all Australians with an interest in the development of their army, and especially by those with a strong interest in the light horse. Highly recommended.

The Australian Army History Unit should be congratulated for encouraging and sponsoring the Army History Series ( Cambridge University Press) and the Army Campaign Series (Big Sky Publishing). They have brought a new and mature dimension to this country’s military history, which has resulted in a wide range of well researched topics devoid of hyperbole and parochial nationalism.

Cheers

Chris