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While the Australian Mounted Division, which was advancing along the coast as part of the main drive towards Damascus, had received swords and cavalry training in August 1918, the ANZAC Mounted Division did not, and continued in the mounted rifles role until the end of the war. [155] Galloping New Zealand troops in the Jordan Valley
The division's name was abbreviated to the A. & N. Z. Mounted Division, [16] to the ANZAC Mounted Division, [17] and to the Anzac Mounted Division by the Australian, [18] and the New Zealand official history. [19]
The ANZAC Mounted Division was formed in March 1916 with four cavalry brigades, each of three regiments: the Australian 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. Four British Territorial Force horse artillery batteries were assigned to the division to provide artillery support, one per brigade. [3]
The division's mounted units were sent to Gallipoli in mid-May without their horses, to serve as dismounted infantry, making up for previous losses. Later that month, the division helped repel an Ottoman counter-attack at Anzac Cove, after which it occupied the line until August, when the Allies launched an offensive designed to break the deadlock.
During the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I, Allied forces gradually pushed the Ottoman military out of the Middle East.In 1918, the ANZAC Mounted Division, consisting of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Australian 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades set camp near the village of Sarafand al-Amar in Palestine.
The First Battle of Amman was fought from 27 to 31 March 1918 during the First Transjordan attack on Amman of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. The 60th (London) Division and the Anzac Mounted Division attacked the Ottoman garrison at Amman deep in enemy occupied territory, 48 kilometres (30 mi) from their front line, after capturing Es Salt and Shunet Nimrin.
During this effort, the Anzac Mounted Division’s main role was to prevent Ottoman reinforcements from breaking through, [30] although the 2nd Light Horse Brigade was warned to be prepared to launch a mounted attack. Two of its regiments – the 5th and 7th – came under attack from mounted forces while holding a position south of Wadi Imleih.
With a reduction to three brigades, there was a corresponding reduction in the artillery to three batteries. The Leicestershire Battery, RHA (T.F.) departed on 20 June to join XX Brigade, RHA (T.F.) in the Yeomanry Mounted Division. [13] [b] This led to a reorganization of ANZAC Mounted Division's artillery.