Fighting Vichy from Horseback: British Mounted Cavalry in Action, Syria 1941 Washington Jonathan
Fighting Vichy from Horseback: British Mounted Cavalry in Action, Syria 1941 Washington Jonathan This book starts with the story of a division that was never intended to fight; the British I Cavalry…
Specifikacia Fighting Vichy from Horseback: British Mounted Cavalry in Action, Syria 1941 Washington Jonathan
Fighting Vichy from Horseback: British Mounted Cavalry in Action, Syria 1941 Washington Jonathan
This book starts with the story of a division that was never intended to fight; the British I Cavalry Division in World War Two. One of their only upgrades in the 20th century had been the upgrade from leather saber grips to rubber. It was composed almost exclusively of yeomanry horsemen from Britain's Territorial Army - a force that had been ignored by Whitehall's military reforms since 1920.
This combination of territorials and civilian horses of unknown pedigree impressed no-one at first. When war came in 1939 the only plans that existed for them were to duly mobilize with horses compulsorily purchased from the civilian population. Even today, outside regimental histories and war diaries, its fighting contribution is barely credited.
Yet in May 1941, an incongruous saga of deception, desperation and reinvention, saw British horsemen advancing into Syria on Operation "Exporter", with