15th Light Horse Regiment (Australia)

The 15th Light Horse Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment of the Australian Army during the First World War. The regiment was raised in Palestine in 1918, from soldiers that had been serving with the imperial Camel Corps Brigade, and assigned to the 5th Light Horse Brigade.

During the war the regiment fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire, in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and was awarded fourteen battle honours.

Formation
The 15th Light Horse Regiment was raised in Palestine in June 1918, from Australian soldiers serving in the disbanded Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, and comprised twenty-five officers and 497 other ranks serving in three squadrons, each of six troops. Each troop was divided into eight Sections, of four men each. In action one man of each section, was nominated as a horse holder reducing the regiment's rifle strength by a quarter. The Camel Corps were all trained infantrymen, and some of them had previously served with the Australian Light Horse regiments, but all required a period of training in horsemanship. Once formed the regiment was assigned to the 5th Light Horse Brigade, alongside a French regiment and the 14th Light Horse Regiment. All Australian Light Horse regiments used cavalry unit designations, but were mounted infantry armed with rifles, not swords or lances, and mounted exclusively on the Australian Waler horse.



Sinai and Palestine Campaign
By the time the regiment was ready for service, the war in the Middle East was almost over. The regiment fought in only one major battle at Megiddo in September 1918. Over ten days the 5th Light Horse Brigade advanced 600 km destroying, road and rail links, and pursuing the retreating Ottoman Army into Syria, and entered Damascus on 1 October 1918. When the war ended the regiment, was recalled to Egypt to assist in policing a riot that had broken out. The war had cost the regiment sixteen killed and only three wounded, but for their service they were awarded fourteen battle honours, most of them inherited from the disbanded Imperial Camel Corps.

Battle honours
Egypt 1915–1917·Romani·Magdhaba-Rafah·Gaza-Beersheba·El Mughar·Nebi Samwill·Jerusalem·Jaffa·Jericho·Jordan (Es Salt)·Jordan (Amman)·Megiddo·Nablus·Palestine 1917–1918

Commanding Officers

 * Lieutenant Colonel Arthur James Mills DSO VD