1st Indian Cavalry Division
ActiveSeptember 1914 – March 1918
CountryBritish India
AllegianceBritish Crown
BranchBritish Indian Army
TypeCavalry
SizeDivision
Part ofIndian Cavalry Corps
EngagementsWestern Front in World War I
Battle of Cambrai
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Henry Peregrine Leader
Michael Rimington

The 1st Indian Cavalry Division was a division of the British Indian Army which was formed at the outbreak of the First World War. It served on the Western Front, and was renamed the 4th Cavalry Division on 26 November 1916.[1] In March 1918, the 4th Cavalry Division was disbanded; the British units remained in France and the Indian units were sent to Egypt to help form the 1st Mounted Division.[2]

History

Three men on horseback in front of other mounted men
Lt. Gen. Michael Rimington, commander of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division and later of the Indian Cavalry Corps, riding with Sajjan Singh and Sir Partab Singh in Linghem, France, on 28 July 1915

The division sailed for France from Bombay on 16 October 1914 under the command of Major General Hew Fanshawe. The division was re-named the 4th Cavalry Division in November 1916. During the war, the division served in the trenches as infantry. A large number of early officer casualties affected the division's later performance. British officers who understood the language, customs and psychology of their men could not be quickly replaced and the alien environment of the Western Front affected the soldiers.[3] The division served in France and Flanders, held in reserve for the expected breakthrough. It provided dismounted parties for trench duty and in 1917 fought as a division in the Battle of Cambrai during the German counter-stroke of 30 November – 3 December. In March 1918, the division was broken up and the Indian regiments were combined in Egypt with the Yeomanry Mounted Division to form the 1st Mounted Division (later the 4th Cavalry Division).[4]

Order of battle

Horses and a large group of soldiers
English and Indian soldiers of the Lucknow Cavalry Brigade's Signal Troop relaxing in a farmyard at brigade headquarters, 28 July 1915

See also

References

  1. ^ Perry 1993, p. 14
  2. ^ Perry 1993, p. 16
  3. ^ Haythornthwaite 1996
  4. ^ "Warpath". Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2008.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Indian Army Divisions in World War I
Indian Expeditionary Forces 1914–1918
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