The 5th Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade of the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) that served during World War I. The brigade was initially formed as a part-time militia formation in the early 1900s in Queensland. During World War I, the brigade was formed in Palestine in July 1918 following the disbandment of the Imperial Camel Corps. At this time, the brigade consisted of two Australian Light Horse regiments and a French cavalry regiment, and was supported by British and New Zealand artillery and machine gun troops. It served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign as part of the Australian Mounted Division, but only saw limited operations before the war ended, taking part in the capture of Damascus in September and October 1918. After the war, the AIF light horse regiments were demobilised and disbanded; however, the brigade briefly existed as a part-time militia formation in Victoria until 1921 when its regiments were reorganised into cavalry brigades.
History
Early formation
The 5th Light Horse Brigade was initially raised as part of the militia in the early 1900s, being formed sometime between 1902 and 1905. That formation was raised in Queensland, and consisted of only two light horse regiments – the 13th and 14th – both of which were part of the Queensland Mounted Infantry. The 13th had depots in Brisbane and its surrounds, spread out to Laidley and Gatton, while the 14th was based around Toowoomba, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Dalby, Roma and other smaller centres. In 1910, the brigade was reorganised when the 15th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) was added. This unit was based further north around Rockhampton, Bowen, Mackay, Townsville and other smaller depots.
By 1912, however, an Army wide reorganisation resulted in the brigade's constituent regiments being redesignated. The 13th Light Horse became the 2nd Light Horse Regiment (QMI), the 14th became the 3rd (Darling Downs) Light Horse Regiment and the 15th was split to provide troops for the 1st (Central Queensland) Light Horse Regiment, 27th (North Queensland) Light Horse Regiment and 4th (Hunter River Lancers) Light Horse Regiment; the last of these was based in New South Wales. Most of these regiments were reallocated to the re-constituted 1st Light Horse Brigade, with the 27th becoming a divisional cavalry regiment. The 5th Light Horse Brigade designation was then re-used for a formation based in Victoria, consisting of the 13th (Gippsland) Light Horse Regiment, the 15th (Victorian Mounted Rifles) Light Horse Regiment and the 16th (Indi) Light Horse Regiment.
World War I
At the outbreak of the war August 1914 the Australian Government decided to raise the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) consisting of 20,000 troops comprising an infantry division and a light horse brigade of three regiments to be used at the discretion of Britain. These regiments were raised from volunteers for overseas service, as the provisions of the Defence Act did not allow conscripts to be deployed overseas. Nevertheless, many of the recruits were drawn from the various militia light horse formations created as a consequence of the Kitchener Report 1910 and the introduction of Universal Training, although they were assigned to freshly raised units that were separate to the light horse regiments raised as part of the militia. Initial enlistments outstripped expectations and, as a result, a total of three light horse brigades as well as two divisional cavalry regiments were formed in the early part of the war. Later, this was expanded to include a fourth light horse brigade, although this was broken up in mid-1915 to provide reinforcements to the troops deployed to Gallipoli and was not re-raised until early 1917. After Gallipoli, the Australian light horse formations were used in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
The 5th Light Horse Brigade was raised as an AIF formation late in the war, coming into being in Palestine in mid-1918 as part of the expansion and reorganisation of the Desert Mounted Corps. This expansion was made possible by the release of Indian cavalry troops from service in France and the disbandment of the Imperial Camel Corps, which resulted in enough Australian troops to raise several new light horse regiments. Upon formation the brigade was commanded by Brigadier General George Macarthur-Onslow and consisted of two Australian Light Horse Regiments – the 14th and 15th – as well as a French cavalry regiment and a New Zealand machine gun squadron. The brigade's artillery support was provided by the British who assigned B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company.