The 12th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted unit of the Australian Army. It was raised in New South Wales in 1915 as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) for service during the First World War. After fighting at Gallipoli as reinforcements, the regiment served in the Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire, seeing action in several notable battles including Beersheba, the capture of Jerusalem, Megiddo and the capture of Damascus. In the aftermath of the war, the regiment was used to suppress the 1919 Egyptian Uprising, before being disbanded in late 1919.
In 1921, as part of a re-organisation of Australia's military following the disbandment of the AIF, the regiment was re-raised as a part-time unit of the Citizens Force based in New South Wales. It remained in existence throughout the inter-war years until it was amalgamated with the 24th Light Horse Regiment in 1936 as a result of manpower shortages. The 12th Light Horse Regiment was re-formed in 1938 and undertook garrison duties in Australia during the Second World War, having been converted first to the 12th Motor Regiment and then to an armoured car regiment, the 12th Armoured Car Regiment. It was disbanded in 1943 without having seen action and was never re-raised. Its honours and traditions are perpetuated in the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers.
History
Formation and training The 12th Light Horse Regiment was established on 1 March 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales, and two days later began forming at Holsworthy as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was raised for service overseas during the First World War. Drawing the majority of its personnel from outback New South Wales, the regiment was assigned to the 4th Light Horse Brigade along with the 11th and 13th Light Horse Regiments and was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Abbott. Upon establishment, the regiment had an authorised strength of 25 officers and 497 other ranks, who were organised into a regimental headquarters and three squadrons, each of which consisted of six troops. Armed usually with standard infantry weapons instead of swords or lances, and mounted on Australian Waler horses, the Australian light horse regiments performed several roles and were similar to both cavalry and mounted infantry. They mainly fought dismounted, using their horses to obtain mobility that foot soldiers did not possess, but they could also conduct certain cavalry roles, such as scouting and screening, while mounted.
Following this, the regiment undertook basic training including weapons handling, ceremonial drill, mounted and dismounted tactics and regimental manoeuvres. In late April, they marched through the centre of Sydney as part of a farewell before deploying overseas. On 11 June, after the brigade had concentrated, the regiment embarked upon the troopship SS Suevic. After four days steaming, the ship put into Adelaide, South Australia, where the regiment disembarked their horses due to concerns about death rates among horses travelling at that time of year. The men continued on their journey three days later, undertaking rifle and signals training on deck during the day. They crossed the equator in the early afternoon on 5 July; a short time later an epidemic of measles broke out.
On 11 July, the 4th Light Horse Brigade received orders to interrupt its journey to Egypt and instead disembark at Aden, where an Ottoman attack was expected. They were briefly put ashore during this time and conducted a reconnaissance to the frontier, before undertaking a route march. The expected attack did not come and on 18 July the regiment re-embarked, arriving at Suez on 23 July. Moving into a camp at Heliopolis, near Cairo, after receiving a draft of 54 reinforcements and about 350 replacement horses, the regiment began a period of intense training and guard duties as they acclimatised to the local conditions.
Gallipoli Elsewhere, the Gallipoli campaign had developed into a stalemate. The regiments of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades had already been sent to the peninsula as reinforcements; however, the failed August Offensive had resulted in heavy casualties for the Australians and further reinforcements were required. As a result, the regiments of the 4th Light Horse Brigade were broken up to make up the losses in the other brigades. The troops were not initially informed of this, and following a train trip to Alexandria on 25 August they embarked upon the transport SS Marquette and sailed to Lemnos Island where they were transferred to Prince Abbas. Early on the morning of 29 August, the regiment went ashore at Anzac Cove upon lighters, and later that afternoon received the news that they were to be broken up and distributed among the other New South Wales light horse regiments that were already ashore. The Machine-Gun Section and 'A' Squadron were sent to the 1st Light Horse Regiment around "Walker's Ridge", becoming that regiment's 'B' Squadron; 'B' Squadron went to the 7th Light Horse Regiment at "Ryrie's Post", adopting the designation of 'D' Squadron; and 'C' Squadron went to the 6th Light Horse Regiment around "Holly Spur" and "Lone Pine", becoming their 'D' Squadron. The Regimental Headquarters was absorbed by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade's headquarters, while Abbott took command of the 10th Light Horse Regiment.
For the remainder of the campaign, about 600 men from the regiment – including a batch of reinforcements that arrived in early October – carried out mainly defensive duties before leaving with the last Australian troops to be evacuated from the peninsula on 20 December. They did not take part in any large-scale battles, but were involved in fighting off a number of sharp attacks. The exact number of casualties suffered is not known, but 18 men from the regiment are known to have been killed in this time.
Sinai Following their evacuation from Gallipoli, the regiment was reconstituted on 22 February 1916 when all three squadrons assembled at Heliopolis. Under a new commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Royston – a veteran of the Boer War who had replaced Abbott after the latter had been sent to England – the regiment began to re-form. At the time of re-forming, it had been intended that the 12th would be assigned to the 5th Division as its divisional light horse regiment; however, it was decided to reduce the size of divisional light horse components to a squadron, and the 12th were removed from the 5th Division's order of battle. Although other units, such as part of the 4th and all of the 13th Light Horse Regiment, were sent to Europe to fight on the Western Front, the 12th, along with the bulk of the Australian light horse units, were to remain in the Middle East, where they would take part in the Sinai and Palestine campaign. Initially, the regiment was not brigaded and served as a detached unit.
After conducting infantry training around Tel-el-Kebir in early April, the regiment crossed the Suez Canal along a new railway that was being constructed through the Sinai towards Palestine. Here it was established around Kantara and a position known as "Hill 70". The following month, Ottoman forces clashed with positions around the railhead and on 14 May, a British garrison was attacked at Dueidar, about away from the regiment's positions at Hill 70. Tasked with relieving the Royal Scots Fusiliers, two squadrons were dispatched. Delayed by a navigational error, and suffering from heat, the regiment arrived in some disorder. After this, they began work on constructing defences, while one squadron was detached to garrison Kasr-el-Nil; in early July they were sent on to Moascar.
Later that month, the 12th were relieved at Dueidar and moved back to Heliopolis. While there, Lieutenant Colonel Harold McIntosh took command of the regiment following Royston's elevation to temporary commander of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. On 27 July the regiment, without its machine-gun section which had been detached to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, was sent to Gebel Habeita to relieve the 9th Light Horse Regiment. After undertaking the first part of the journey to Seraphum by train, they marched the rest of the way. In early August, Ottoman forces launched an attack in the Battle of Romani. During this fighting, the 12th Light Horse Regiment provided flank protection, carrying out patrols, and was not directly engaged except for its machine-gun section.
In early September, the regiment moved to Bayoud where they were attached to a British column along with the 11th Light Horse Regiment, a regiment from the City of London Yeomanry, and an artillery battery. Under the command of Major General A.G. Dallas, they carried out a raid in the Maghara Hills on an Ottoman position away. Upon arrival, after discovering that the Ottoman force was greater than expected, Dallas decided to limit the operation to a demonstration rather than a full attack. Within this plan, the 12th was allocated the task of advancing on the right flank during the attack. They proceeded to advance across the open ground on their horses, before dismounting to ascend towards the high ground. As the Ottoman fire increased, the 12th provided covering fire with machine-guns and rifles while the 11th came forward using their bayonets to clear the defenders from the forward position. The light horsemen were then ordered to withdraw, instead of assaulting the main position.
In early October, while at Mageibra, the regiment received orders that they were to be remounted on camels and be re-designated as the "2nd Australian Camel Regiment", but largely the regiment continued to refer to itself by its old designation. This was due to a plan to convert both the 11th and 12th Light Horse Regiments to cameleers; however, it did not occur. In late October, the 12th were sent to the rear to rest, arriving at the railhead at El Ferdan on the Suez. 'A' Squadron established itself there, while 'B' and 'C' Squadrons and the Machine-Gun Section were sent to Ferry Post. During this time they undertook frequent patrols, with 'A' Squadron permanently detaching a troop to Badar Mahadat.
Palestine In early 1917, the 4th Light Horse Brigade was reconstituted at Ferry Post on 13 February under the command of Brigadier General John Meredith. Assigned to the brigade along with the 4th and 11th Light Horse Regiments, the regiment's time of operating as a detached unit came to an end; they officially readopted the designation of 12th Light Horse Regiment at this time. For the next month they undertook training exercises before joining the advance into Palestine, while some men from the regiment were also detached to join Dunsterforce in Persia. In April, the regiment took part in the Second Battle of Gaza. Assigned the task of attacking the Atawineh Redoubt early in the morning of 19 April, the regiment dismounted about from it and advanced on foot. Initially, they made good progress and captured a ridge about from their objective without even firing a shot. As the defensive fire grew more intense, the men were forced to the ground and began fire and movement drills. Spread thinly across a front with just 500 men, the 12th was dangerously exposed as machine-gun fire began to inflict casualties, checking the Australians' advance. Nevertheless, the regiment held its position throughout the day until being withdrawn to a nearby hill that night, by which time it had suffered more than 30 percent casualties. These included the commanding officer, McIntosh, who was gravely wounded and subsequently died of his wounds. He was replaced by the second-in-command, Major Donald Cameron, who was later promoted to lieutenant colonel.