Fighting Vichy from Horseback - Military History Book - Paperback

This book starts with the story of a division that was never intended to fight; the British 1st Cavalry Division in the Second World War. 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. One of their only upgrades in the 20th century had been the change from leather sabre grips to rubber. When war came in 1939 the only plans that existed for them were to duly mobilise with horses compulsorily purchased from the civilian population. This combination of territorials and civilian horses of unknown pedigree impressed no-one at first. 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 each patrol's point man nervously clutching his rubber-gripped sabre. The leading patrols were soon under fire, and an entire regiment was swimming the Litani river, with some elements taking on aircraft.

Incredibly, by the end of the campaign, these horsemen had proved themselves so effective that the British had completely rewritten their doctrine for mounted cavalry. That the horsemen were able to adapt and overcome in 1941, mounted throughout the campaign as they were, is one of the most remarkable aspects of their saga. The fact that they were ever mobilised as cavalry is probably the second.

Ever since the reorganisation of the reserve forces in 1920, the yeomanry had been theoretically destined for mechanisation. When war broke out in September 1939 the vehicles and training had still not materalised and these yeomanry were fit for very little; over half the troopers were townsmen who had never ridden before joining in April 1939.