4th LHFA, AIF

4th Light Horse Field Ambulance

Initiating instructions for the 4th LHFA Formation

In January 1917, it was decided to split the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division (Anzac MD) into two division, the new Anzac Mounted Division and a new division called the Imperial Mounted Division. At the core of the new Imperial Mounted Division was the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade which was attached to the original division and the British Yeomanry formation, the 5th Mounted Division. One new Australian Light Horse Brigade was formed from the existing Camel Regiments [See: Imperial Camel Corps - units] which was re-named the 4th Light Horse Brigade. This was the reformation of an original 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade, 1915 which was disbanded in 1915 upon arrival at Gallipoli as reinforcements.

Part of the process was the creation of a specific Field Ambulance unit to service the immediate medical requirements of the Brigade. As no such unit existed, by necessity, the staffing had to come from experienced members of other Field Ambulance and Hospital formations. This process was seen as a potential dumping ground for the other operational units. To avoid this, the following instruction was issued:

4th LHFA Formation Instructions, 31 Janaury 1917, p.1.

[Click on page for larger version.]

Key information included a circumvention of utilising the new unit as a dumping ground with the following introductory paragraph:

1. As there is no reserve of Medical Officers of rank and file in this country, the intention is to form only one section at present, but this section will have 5 Officers; when personnel arrive from Australia the Ambulance will be brought up to strength.

For the first section it will be necessary to call on existing units for some of their personnel thus bringing them temporarily below establishment; the necessity for this is regretted bu I rely on the good feeling and spirit of fair play in commanding officers not to send their worst men to the new unit but to allow their drasft to be a fair average of their whole unit. These men will not be struck of the strength of the present units until their usefulness in the new unit has been ascertained. A definite period of probation will be fixed later.

Men who can ride are preferable and unless a sufficiency can pass the riding test the non riders will be returned to their units and others called for in their places.

To allow the gazetting of the new formation with the prescribed ration strength, orders were issued from AIF Headquarters in Egypt on 24 January 1917 to commence the process of formation.

Below is a copy of that letter.

4th LHFA Formation Order, 24 Janaury 1917, p.1.

[Click on page for larger version.]

[Click on page for larger version.]

The acknowledgement of low reinforcements to the Australian Army Medical Corps was indicative of the general manpower problems faced by the AIF as support for the war waned in Australia. To compensate for this, supplying the necessary manpower meant stripping members from existing formations. This included both officers and men.

The letter notes the newly funded positions which included:

• 1 Warrant Officer
• 2 Staff Sergeants
• 2 Sergeants
• 7 Corporals

To minimalise the impact of stripping down other formation, each unit in the AIF based in Egypt was asked to contribute personnel. The following is the detail contained in the letter:

• 1st LHFA - 5 Other Ranks
• 2nd LHFA - 5 Other Ranks
• 3rd LHFA - 5 Other Ranks
• 2nd Australian Starionary Hospital - 5 Other Ranks
• 14th Australian General Hospital - 6 Other Ranks
• 12 x Light Horse Regiments (1 man from each Regiment)  - 12 Other Ranks
• 3 x Machine Gun Squadrons (1 man from each Squadron)  - 3 Other Ranks
• Field Squadron - 1 Other Rank
• Signal Squadron - 1 Other Rank
• Divisional Headquarters - 1 Other Rank
• Training Camp, Moascar - 6 Other Ranks
• 4th Camel Regiment - 1 Other Rank
• 7th Sanitary Section - 8 Other Ranks

Total Composition of the 4th LHFA = 59 Other Ranks.

The process of assembling the 4th LHFA was finalised by early February 1917.

Further Reading:

4th Light Horse Field Ambulance, AIF 

4th Light Horse Field Ambulance, Roll of Honour

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Sunday, 28 March 2010 10:07 AM EADT

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Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance, Part 10

Frederick Allan Dove

3rd Light Horse Brigade Scouts in the hills at Tripoli, December 1918

In 1910, Major Frederick Allan Dove, DSO, wrote a book on a subject he was very familiar with through practical experience called Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance. This book set the intellectual framework for the formation of the Brigade Scouts during the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns as part of the Great War.

Dove, FA, Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance, 1910.

5. - Finding One's Way. General Remarks.

The Scout who gets lost is worse than useless. How is one to learn to find the way out and back in strange country and at the same time take all precautions against being killed or captured? By cultivating the powers of observation; developing the bump of locality; learning to read a map; understanding the use of the compass; and thoroughly realising the value of the sun, moon, and stars as guides. There are wonderful tales told here and elsewhere of the extraordinary feats of bushmen in travelling across country. In Africa, our best bushmen were frequently "bushed" in an absolutely open treeless country, probably the easiest in the world to keep one's direction in. Our bushmen only excelled the regular troopers in detached work in their faculty of observation of landmarks, thus being able to find their way back, and in a greater amount of craftiness in the presence of the enemy. When it came to sending a patrol from the camp to a drift, we will say, twenty miles away and south-east as the crow flies, starting after dark in entirely new country, there was something more than mere bushcraft required from the patrol leader, and that something was training and education. It is, of course, much easier to impart this training to a man who has been brought up in the country, accustomed to ride long distances, and hunt wild animals or muster stock, than it would be in the case of a city-bred man. Nevertheless, one or two town-reared youths became among the few very reliable Scouts that I had on service.

(1) Finding the Way Back Over a Route Already Traversed.

In this case the "bump of locality" is all-important.

During the outward journey mental note is taken of the general direction of the journey, the relative situation of landmarks, the general slope of the country, the direction the water runs. With practice, one gets to note all these almost unconsciously, together with many smaller details, such as the class of vegetation-here white gum predominates, further on a belt of ironbark, along the hollow oak trees are noticed ; the construction of fences; variations in the nature of the soil ; outcrops of rocks, and so on.

The Scout who is at all doubtful about finding the way back should occasionally halt and look at the way he has come. In bush or scrub country, when following a road or track, be careful to note other tracks joining your route at a small angle, thus:-

a, b, c, d is the outward road. At b and c, other tracks join it. The Scout going from a to d is not likely to notice these unless he is vary observant; but coming the other way back he is sure to see them, and may be confused as to which is his right road. To sum up, the "bump of locality" is a result of a trained and practised habit of observation.

(2) Coming Back by a Different Route.

In an enemy's country the Scout can seldom risk coming back the, way he went out, especially through defiles, passes, or fords. He must choose a different route. Again his habit of observation of landmarks, car., will greatly help him. His training in map-reading also is of use here. A patrol goes from

a to b about ten miles. There is a dangerous spot at c that the leader wants to avoid when returning. He moves out to d and then heads for camp. A little, diagram as I have drawn it and a brief calculation will enable him to strike his direction near enough for practical purposes, as on approaching the camp or outposts lie will be sure, to recognise landmarks. There is one thing requisite here, viz. that he should always have a pretty accurate idea of the distance travelled. I always did this by judging my rate of movement and noting the time taken from point to point. There is no better way that a know of unless you can identify your position on a map. Then, of course, everything is easy.

If his “Map Memory" has been developed, he can then close up the map and put it away, but for hours afterwards he has a complete mental picture of his intended route, with all adjacent topographical features. When launched on his journey he knows - here to look for hills; where to expect watercourses and how the water runs, if any; when he will strike a well-marked road, a railway, or a telegraph line; where there are bridges, swamps, and gullies; what villages or habitations he must avoid.

The would-be patrol leader must know that the only reliable map may be the property of the General, and that he will be lucky to be allowed five minutes' study of it; that even if he have a good map he cannot be constantly pulling it out when Scouting by day, and that at night it is almost impossible to refer to it. Therefore, cultivate the "Map Memory."

(4) The Use of the Compass.

This is sufficiently dealt with in the Manual of Field Sketching, and is easily learned in a few minutes.

(5) The Sun, Moon, and Stars.

A little instruction and practice will render the patrol leader independent of the compass so long as he can see the sun, moon, or stars. As to the sun: we are taught ill childhood that the sun rises ill the East and sets in the West. This is only true, however, at the time of the Equinoxes - that is, on the 21st of March and the 23rd of September in our (Southern) Hemisphere the sun rises.

(3) Finding the Way to a Given Point in Strange Country.

The chief aid in doing the above is what may be called "Map Memory." This can be cultivated in peace training. When acquired, it is invaluable to a Scout. What I mean may be explained thus: Before starting on a reconnaissance the patrol leader has a map spread out before him. He is told, or shown, or finds out where his present position is and the place lie has to go to. He studies the map for a few minutes and decides on his route further and further north of East (and sets north of West) from March 21st to June 22nd; then gradually rises and sets nearer East and West respectively till about September 23rd. After that it rises and sets south of East and East till about December 22nd, and then works back again. It may be taken that at 12 noon the sun is always due north and that all shadows point due south. By occasional observation and study for a few weeks one can get estimate accurately enough the bearing of the sun at and hour of the day, providing one has a watch; or vice versa, if one has a reliable compass and a table showing time of rising and setting of the sun, one can always tell the time. When marching by the sun (or by the shadow cast by oneself, or trees, etc.) regard must be had to its apparent motion from East to West.

The movements of the moon should also be studied, and particularly so when one knows that one may be required to go on patrol any night. Its time and direction of rising and setting should be known. Only twice in the month does it rise in the East and set in the West. It rises nearly an hour later each night. Almost every almanac contains the times of rising and setting of the moon.

The stars are the most reliable guides at night. It is not necessary to have even the slightest knowledge of astronomy. But the Scout should have a sort of nodding acquaintance with the principal constellations. Their names don't matter at all - get to recognise them as you do the face of a man you often meet, yet do not know. The most conspicuous of our constellations is the Southern Cross. Near it are the Centaurs (the "Pointers"), it must again be remembered that the stars, like the sun and the moon, have an apparent motion from East to West. The position of the Cross at different times and at different hours on the same night should be observed and noted. It will be seen that it is high in the heavens in the winter and low down in the summer months. On the same evening at different hours it will be seen not only to have moved but to have changed the inclination of its longer axis toward, the horizon. The following diagrams are sufficient to shoes how the position of South may be estimated from the position of the Cross:

(1) The "Pointers" and Southern Cross.-The Cross about upright. x is the approximate position of South; got by prolonging the main axis of the Cross 31 times, then a little to the left.

(2) The Cross on its side. Note position of “Pointers."

(3) The Cross on its side. Note the position of the "Pointers."

The relative brightness of the stars is shown by the number of rays.

The young Scout should got a sailor or other person who knows to point out the following: - Orion, Sirius, Canopus, Scorpio, Achernar, The Milky Way, Aldebaran. It will happen often when patrolling at night that Southern Cross may be temporarily or permanently hidden by clouds, but that there are patches of clear sky elsewhere. Hence the necessity of being able to recognise other star-groups.

In marching by the stars, one must allow for their apparent motion from fast to West. For further instructions vide Manual of M.R. and F.S., page 61.

Previous: Part 9, Scouting For Information 

Next: Part 11, Avoiding Detection 

Further Reading:

Obituary, Frederick Allan Dove

Brigade Scouts

The Light Horse

Australian Light Horse Militia

Militia 1899 - 1920

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 26 December 2009 4:26 PM EAST

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6th LHR, AIF

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment

Contents

The 6th Light Horse Regiment was formed as part of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, 2nd Contingent and attached to the Australian Division. Recruits went to the Liverpool Training Camp to the west of Sydney, New South Wales, during September 1914. The recruits were drawn from throughout New South Wales.

Structure

The Australian Light Horse – Structural outline

Australian Light Horse Order of Battle

Corps

Desert Mounted Corps (DMC)

Division

Anzac Mounted Division

Brigade

2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade

Regiment

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment

History

Unit History

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, AIF, Outline

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, AIF, Under Furred Hats 

 

Romani

Romani, Sinai, 4-5 August 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, War Diary Account

Romani, Sinai, 4-5 August 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, Unit History Account

Bir el Abd

Bir el Abd, Sinai, 9 August 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, War Diary Account

Bir el Abd, Sinai, 9 August 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, Unit History Account 

Bir el Mazar

Bir el Mazar, Sinai, 17 September 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, War Diary Account 

Bir el Mazar, Sinai, 17 September 1916, 6th LHR, AIF, Unit History Account 

Beersheba 

6th LHR, AIF account about the fall of Beersheba

6th ALHR, AIF, War Diary, account about the fall of Beersheba

Routine Orders

One of the best sources of information available for understanding the immediate challenges facing a regiment is to be found in the Routine Orders. They are a wealth of detail. The Routine Orders provide an unvarnished history of the Regiment.

6th LHR Routine Order No 47, 17 June 1916

Embarkation

Full Roll

Roll: A - C

Roll: D - F

Roll: G - J

Roll: K - L

Roll: M - Q

Roll: R - S

Roll: T - Z

 

Individual Rolls

Regimental Headquarters Section

"A" Squadron

"B" Squadron

"C" Squadron

Machine Gun Section

1st Reinforcement

2nd Reinforcement

3rd Reinforcement

4th Reinforcement

5th Reinforcement Bakara Group

5th Reinforcement Kabinga Group 

6th Reinforcement

7th Reinforcement

8th Reinforcement

9th Reinforcement

10th Reinforcement Themistocles Group 

10th Reinforcement Pera Group

11th Reinforcement Euripides Group

11th Reinforcement Hawkes Bay Group

12th Reinforcement Hawkes Bay Group

12th Reinforcement Persic Group 

13th Reinforcement

14th Reinforcement

15th Reinforcement Pera Group 

15th Reinforcement Orsova Group

16th Reinforcement

17th Reinforcement

18th Reinforcement

19th Reinforcement

20th Reinforcement

21st Reinforcement Kabinga Group

21st Reinforcement Anglo Egytian Group 

22nd Reinforcement

23rd Reinforcement

24th Reinforcement

25th Reinforcement

26th Reinforcement

27th Reinforcement

28th Reinforcement Port Lincoln Group 

28th Reinforcement Kyarra Group

29th Reinforcement

30th Reinforcement

31st Reinforcement

32nd Reinforcement

33rd Reinforcement

34th Reinforcement 

Roll of Honour

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Roll of Honour

Lest We Forget

Further Reading:

6th Light Horse Regiment, AIF

6th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Roll of Honour

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Friday, 22 January 2010 12:42 PM EAST

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Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance, Part 11

Frederick Allan Dove

3rd Light Horse Brigade Scouts in the hills at Tripoli, December 1918

In 1910, Major Frederick Allan Dove, DSO, wrote a book on a subject he was very familiar with through practical experience called Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance. This book set the intellectual framework for the formation of the Brigade Scouts during the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns as part of the Great War.

Dove, FA, Scouting or Protective and Tactical Reconnaissance, 1910.

6. - How to Avoid Detection.

(1) By Day. - Whether moving or halted, avoid the skyline. Hills must be ascended for purposes of observation. This can be done in such a way as to obviate risk of being by hostile Scouts. In any arse, only one or two men should actually go to the crest. When there, keep away from single bushes, trees, or rocks. Undergrowth and long grass give the surest concealment. Get into a shadow if you can, hilt be careful of your background. Always take it for granted that flare is an enemy looking out for you, and act accordingly. When observing, remember that eyes were made before field-glasses. Use your eyes well and quickly first, sweeping the country from dose to you to far array. Then take up the glasses to examine, anything doubtful. When finished, slip carefully back below the crest, still believing that you are being watched for.

Movements straight forward or straight back are not so liable to betray you as movements to a flank. Before leaving your concealment, decide on your next halting place and how to get there.

Avoid roads, tracks, clearings, bare ground. If tracks of men and horses, &c., are to be looked for, do so on foot, some of the patrol keeping a sharp look out.

There is no more risky operation in Scouting than that of following up an enemy's trail, as it is so easy for him to lay an ambush for the trackers. Only one or two should do the tracking, the remainder Scouting in advance and to the flanks, thus:

The advances of patrols should be by successive movements from one point of observation to another. While halted the Scouts select the next position and the most covered approach. They should not mind going a considerable way back or making a wide circuit to attain their object. If there is no other way than by crossing clear open ground, one or two should do so quickly, making for different points, the rest remaining concealed until their mates signal “All clear."

In low brush or scrub about saddle high, movements are best made on foot; the Scouts mount occasionally to get better view around them.

Hollows, gullies, gorges give concealment but are very bad places to be discovered in. In such places the, patrol should be strung out rather than closed up, and no time should be lost in at least one Scout getting on to high ground.

(2) By Night. - Avoid making any noise, striking matches, etc. Ride in hollows, and on soft or sandy soil for preference. It is fatal to extend men by night, as calling, whistling or "cooeeing" will be most likely required to bring them together again. If anything suspicious is seen or heard, everyone should halt and dismount. One or two Scouts proceed to investigate, on foot if it is near. These men take a very careful note of their surroundings and the direction (by star, if possible) before leaving the patrol.

It must be understood that if they do not return in a reasonable time the patrol will proceed. No audible signals are to be allowed, unless for a very urgent reason indeed. Avoid habitations, unless it is part of your duty to search them. Dogs barking, cocks crowing, &c. may betray your presence. On moonlit nights, take advantage of the shadows of hills or belts of timber. Do all close examination work on foot. If your men are getting drowsy, make them dismount and lead horses for a few minutes. Most horses are wonderfully quick at night in detecting the presence or approach of strange men or animals, and will notice physical dangers, such as precipices, boggy ground, &c., before their riders. The night Scout will do well to note and heed the mute warnings given by his horse.

7. - Contact with the Enemy.

(1) When the patrol has seen without being seen: Endeavour to ascertain his numbers and arm of the service: look around for a better observation point; as soon as something definite has been ascertained, send off one mall who call find his way back; if the matter is very urgent, send two men, but not together or by the same route, if they can be safely separated. Go on observing.

 (2) When your are discovered: possible, "bluff" them as to your real intentions; try to draw their attention away from the direction in which you mean to move. If they are aggressive and too strong to be fought, divide the patrol and retire by different routes to a prearranged rallying place.

(3) At all times be prepared for an emergency, and when it comes, try to be cool. If you have been observant of the nature of the country, you will know where the nearest good cover is to be found.

Let me give one more illustration of how a small patrol may get out of a difficulty.

A patrol of three are at A (see Sketch), six miles from our Outposts, and making for a point ten miles further west. It is in the afternoon of a bright day. The country is known to contain many small prowling parties of the enemy. The patrols are under cover. Half a mile in front across the creek is a group of houses on the side of a low hill. From the houses the inmates can see along the clear banks of the creek for a mile and a half. The patrol must get on, and cannot afford the time to make a wide detour.

Around the houses are some saddled-up horses, about a dozen, mostly loose and grazing, with a man or two lounging around. Presently there is activity, but not ostentatious. The horses are caught and led behind the houses. Our patrol leader scents danger. A spur leads down towards his left front into broken low ground; but he does not want to go that way. He mounts his men and they all canter, just showing over the crest, down the spur for a hundred yards or so; one shows again lower down; they all move rapidly left about wheel, and round to their proper right. A pause is made to observe. The enemy have mounted, all of them, and are galloping diagonally to head off the patrol lower down the creek. Our men then make a bolt of it across the open to reach scrubby hill country ahead. In this they are successful. The enemy discover their mistake too late, and the patrol easily eludes the subsequent pursuit. The risk had be-en great. In war one must take risks, but every effort should be made to reduce these to a minimum when you have made what you consider the best preparations to avoid defeat, act with boldness and determination.

8. - Reporting Information.

This subject is dealt with fully in Field Service Regulations, Chapter 11, Secs. 9, 15, 16. I have also gone into it in Part I. of this book, (A)7, Communication.

Scouts and patrol leaders when being trained should have much practice in making verbal and written reports and rough sketches to illustrate their reports. They must above all try for accuracy in fact and detail. Some authors speak of the scout as an, amateur Sherlock Holmes, capable of writing a whole story about a few withered leaves, lying on the roadside, etc. The reading of such stuff can only tend to spoil men why might otherwise become good reconnoitrers. Our Scouts should bear in mind that the officer to wholly, they report wants Facts, not Fancies. He can form deductions if it pleases him.

9. - Section and Training of Scouts.

Presuming that the risen - in our regiments are already efficient soldiers - disciplined, well trained in musketry and skirmishing - those appearing to possess all or most of the following characteristics should be, selected for training as Scouts: - Strong, wiry build; active sport-loving character; brought up in a country district; good marksman (including judging distance); in Mounded Corps, a lover of his horse and a good rider; cool, quiet disposition, not prone to excitement nor exaggeration; fair amount of education.

The special training should include: Protective Scouting; patrolling; map-reading and sketching; marching on a bearing; by day and by night; finding way cut and back with and without compass or map, both by day and by night, and in familiar and in strange country; swimming rivers, etc., with and without horse ; development of the bump of locality, and the powers of observation ; hasty demolitions; what and how to report; first aid to wounded and treatment of injuries the result of accident and snake bite.

Previous: Part 10, Finding One's Way 

Next: Brigade Scouts

Further Reading:

Obituary, Frederick Allan Dove

Brigade Scouts

The Light Horse

Australian Light Horse Militia

Militia 1899 - 1920

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 26 December 2009 4:28 PM EAST

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2nd New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron

5th Australian Light Horse Brigade

Nominal Roll

The following Nominal Roll for the 2nd New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron, 5th Light Horse Brigade, Desert Mounted Corps (2nd NZMGS) comprises the men known to have served with that formation during the Great War. Note: There are many names missing and as time goes on these gaps will be filled.

Nominal Roll

12573 Trooper Richard William BEAL, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

12574 Trooper Cyril BEECROFT, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

12579 Trooper Joseph Dick BRITTEN, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

12591 Trooper James DONNELLY, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

12599 Trooper Charles Walter HALL, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

12601 Trooper Thomas HAMILTON, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

12609 Trooper William KEATING, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

11488 Trooper Kenneth William KERR, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

12613 Trooper Charles William LARSON, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

13671 Trooper Edward MCCARTHY, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

12630 Trooper James MCGOVERN, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

 

12657 Lance Corporal Herbert WATT, 4th Battalion, Headquarters.

12668 Trooper William WOODS, 4th Battalion, 15th Company.

Acknowledgement: Many thanks to Steve Becker who provided much of the raw material that appears in this item.

Further Reading:

2nd New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron

5th Australian Light Horse Brigade

Imperial Camel Corps, AIF

Imperial Camel Corps, Roll of Honour 

Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920

Posted by Project Leader at 12:01 AM EADT

Updated: Saturday, 19 December 2009 8:46 AM EAST

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