The Cavalry Corps was a cavalry corps of the British Army in the First World War. The corps was formed in France in October 1914, under General Sir Edmund Allenby. It was later broken up in March 1916, but re-established in the following September. It served as part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front throughout its existence.
Formation
The Corps consisted of the three cavalry divisions serving in France, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd divisions.
The cavalry division consisted of cavalry regiments in brigades. They were armed with rifles, unlike their French and German counterparts, who were only armed with the shorter range carbine. The cavalry division also had a high allocation of artillery compared to foreign cavalry divisions, with 24 13-pounder guns organised into two brigades and two machine guns for each regiment. However, when dismounted, the cavalry division was the equivalent of two weakened infantry brigades with less artillery than the infantry division.
Battles Battle of La Bassee Battle of Messines (1914) Battle of Arras (1914) Battle of Cambrai (1917) The Battles of the Hindenburg Line
Commanders RankNameDatesNotesRef. Lieutenant-General E. H. H. Allenby 10 October 1914 – 19 April 1915 Sick 19/4/15 Major-General Hon. Sir J. H. G. Byng 19 April – 4 May 1915 Acting Lieutenant-General E. H. H. Allenby 4–7 May 1915 Lieutenant-General Hon. Sir J. H. G. Byng 7 May – 16 August 1915 Lieutenant-General H. D. Fanshawe 16 August – 23 October 1915 Lieutenant-General Hon. C. E. Bingham 23 October 1915 – 12 March 1916 Lieutenant-General C. T. McM. Kavanagh4 September 1916 – 1919
See also British Army during World War I British Cavalry Corps order of battle 1914 British cavalry during the First World War
References
Bibliography
External links The British Corps of 1914-1918 on The Long, Long Trail