1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry

The 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry was the active service unit formed by the Hertfordshire Yeomanry during World War I. It was sent to garrison Egypt and then served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign. On return to Egypt it was engaged in the Senussi Campaign in the Western Desert. The regiment was then split into independent squadrons acting as divisional cavalry to different infantry divisions. These served in Palestine, on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia, where one of its squadrons were the first troops to enter Baghdad. Later in the war two of the squadrons fought alongside each other in XXI Corps Cavalry Regiment during the final victory in Palestine and the advance into Syria, while the other operated with the North Persia Force and on peacekeeping duties in India.

Mobilisation

On the outbreak of World War I on 4 August 1914, the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, a cavalry regiment of Britain's part-time Territorial Force (TF), had recently completed its annual training camp. The regiment mobilised under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abel Henry Smith at its regimental and squadron headquarters (HQs) next day:Frederick, p. 30.Sainsbury, pp. 127–32.Hertfordshire Yeomanry at Long, Long Trail. Regimental HQ (RHQ) at Yeomanry House, 23 St Andrew's Street, HertfordHertfordshire at Great War Drill Halls.Sainsbury, p. 127. A Squadron at 32 Market Street, WatfordWatford at Drill Hall Project. B Squadron at Yeomanry House C Squadron at Ramsbury Road, St AlbansSt Albans at Drill Hall Project. D Squadron at 51 Salisbury Road, High BarnetHigh Barnet at Drill Hall Project.

The men were billeted near the drill halls until they had been equipped and the horses requisitioned. They then set off on the two-day march to their war station at Mountnessing, Essex, to link up with Eastern Mounted Brigade to which the Herts Yeomanry was attached for peacetime training. The regiment was moved around Essex and Suffolk, finally reaching Culford, near Bury St Edmonds, on 21 August.James, p. 20.Sainsbury, pp. 131–2.

Under the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 that brought it into being, the TF was intended as a home defence force and its members could not be compelled to serve outside the United Kingdom. However, after the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. The Herts Yeomanry held squadron parades at Culford on 22 August where the officers and other ranks (ORs) were invited to volunteer, and more than 80 per cent of the regiment did so at once. On 31 August 1914, the War Office authorised the formation of Reserve or 2nd-Line units for each existing TF unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered. Initially these were formed from those men who had not volunteered or were unfit for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. The 1st and 2nd Line units were distinguished by '1/' and '2/' prefixes. In this way duplicate units were created, mirroring those being sent overseas. Later the 2nd Line were mobilised for active service in their own right and 3rd Line units were created to supply reinforcement drafts to the 1st and 2nd Lines.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Frederick, pp. viii–ix.Sainsbury, pp. 132–3.

Service

Egypt On 31 August the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry was warned for embarkation to Egypt. Lieutenant-Col Abel Smith was not passed medically fit for overseas service, so Colonel T.E. Harrison, DSO, retired from the Leicestershire Yeomanry, was 'dug out' to take the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry overseas. Lieutenant-Col Abel Smith took command of 2/1st Herts Yeomanry. The war establishment of a cavalry regiment was three rather than four squadrons, so C Sqn was broken up and the manpower distributed to the other three; its officer commanding, Major Reginald Halsey, formed the Regimental Depot at RHQ, but had rejoined 1/1st Herts Yeomanry before it sailed.Sainsbury, pp. 201, 214.

The regiment moved by train to Southampton where the men embarked on the SS Ionian while the horses for a single squadron were put aboard the SS Messaba. They sailed on 10 September as part of a convoy carrying the East Lancashire Division (TF) and the 1/2nd County of London Yeomanry (the Westminster Dragoons) to Egypt to relieve Regular units from the garrison for active service on the Western Front. The Ionian docked at Alexandria on 25 September and the Herts Yeomanry proceeded to Abbassia Barracks near Cairo to relieve the 3rd Dragoon Guards and take over two squadrons-worth of their horses; the Herts Yeomanry's own horses arrived two days later. The cavalry barracks at Abbassia also housed the Westminster Dragoons and A Sqn 1/1st Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry (DLOY), the East Lancashires' divisional cavalry squadron. Here the yeomanry underwent training for men and horses. Colonel Harrison proved to be an alcoholic and was relieved; Maj Samuel Gurney Sheppard was promoted to succeed him in command of 1/1st Herts Yeomanry, with his brother Maj E.B. ('Ted') Sheppard as his second-in-command.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 9–17.Gibbon, pp. 6–9.Sainsbury, pp. 133–7.

In January 1915 a Turkish force advanced to make a Raid on the Suez Canal. Its attack on 3 February was beaten off, but next day the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry, Westminster Dragoons and A Sqn DLOY were sent by train to Ismailia to form an ad hoc Yeomanry Mounted Brigade. The brigade joined the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade and the Bikaner Camel Corps, recruited from the Princely states of India, which were reconnoitring the east bank of the canal where the Turks were retreating. This reconnaissance into the Sinai desert could not go far because of the shortage of water and had no contact with the enemy. The Herts Yeomanry spent a further two weeks at El Ferdan in the Suez Canal defences, with B Sqn detached to the ISC Brigade in the Kantara area, then returned by train to Cairo on 24 February, having gained two battle honours (Suez Canal and Egypt 1915) without firing a shot.Gibbon, pp. 13–4.MacMunn & Falls, pp. 47–9.Sainsbury, pp. 137–41.Westlake, p. 259.

Gallipoli The regiment returned to garrison duty, and supplied a number of officers and men to the various departments and staffs that were being set up:Sainsbury, pp. 141–2. among those who left was Capt Arnold Ward, Member of Parliament for Watford, who was appointed to command a convalescent camp in Cyprus. On 9 August 1915 1/1st Herts Yeomanry received a warning order to prepare to sail to Gallipoli as reinforcements for the bogged-down Dardanelles Campaign. Together with the Westminster Dragoons in the former Yeomanry Mounted Brigade (redesignated as the 5th Mounted Brigade) they were to be attached to the 2nd Mounted Division – all operating dismounted in the infantry role. Each regiment left the equivalent of a squadron HQ and two Troops to look after the horses, and on 14 August the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry embarked on HMS Knight Templar at Alexandria. It arrived on 17 August at Lemnos, where it left behind a further party at the base at Mudros with the regimental transport It then trans-shipped to the SS Queen Victoria, which ferried the regiment to Suvla Bay, where a fresh landing had been made on 6 August. The regiment landed after dark and spent the next two days building dugouts and roads. On 21 August the 2nd Mtd Division was in reserve for the Battle of Scimitar Hill. The Yeomanry moved out of their bivouacs at Lala Baba at 15.30 towards Chocolate Hill, expecting then to pass through the attacking 29th Division on Scimitar Hill to secure the final objective. However, after two gallant attempts to take Scimitar Hill, 29th Division's attack had died out by 17.00 and the Yeomanry came under heavy converging fire as they crossed the salt lake and approached Chocolate Hill. The Herts Yeomanry lost their CO, Lt-Col Gurney Sheppard, who was killed, and about 40 ORs, of whom 11 died. 5th Mounted Bde stayed in reserve on Chocolate Hill while the rest of 2nd Mtd Division made another disastrous attack on Scimitar Hill. After this had failed, the division was withdrawn after dark to Lala Baba. Major Halsey took over temporary command of 1/1st Herts Yeomanry until Maj Ted Sheppard could be summoned from Egypt. After a day's rest the regiment went up the following night to take over defence of the trenches forward of Chocolate Hill, where it remained until 28 August.Aspinall-Oglander, pp. 335, 345–53, 492.Sainsbury, pp. 144–8.

Even at full strength a cavalry regiment was considerably smaller than an infantry battalion, and after detaching horse and transport parties at Abbassia and Lemnos, and then the casualties at Scimitar Hill, the yeomanry regiments were deemed too small to be effective and the brigades had to be reformed as composite battalions. 1/1st Herts Yeomanry and the Westminster Dragoons were temporarily combined under Lt-Col Ted Sheppard as 5th Yeomanry Regiment in 1st Composite Mounted Brigade. The regiment continued to suffer a trickle of casualties from Trench warfare and sickness, and when it was pulled out of the front line into reserve on 25 September the Herts Yeomanry contingent was down to fewer than 160 men. On 29 September Lt-Col Sheppard reported that he had only 44 men fit for digging. Nevertheless, they carried out one more tour of duty in the line from 8 to 20 October, even though the combined regiment amounted to less than a squadron and was absorbed into the 2nd Yeomanry Regiment (Buckinghamshire, Dorset and Berkshire Yeomanry). On 31 October, the remnant of 5th Mtd Bde was evacuated to Mudros for rest. Together with the transport party and a draft of 52 men from home, the total strength of the Herts Yeomanry on the island was 10 officers and 158 ORs. This composite squadron trained for a return to the front, but the decision had been made to evacuate Suvla, and on 27 November 1/1st Herts Yeomanry embarked on HMS Hannibal for Egypt. The regiment had lost its CO and 23 men killed or died of wounds or disease, and many more had been evacuated sick. It received the battle honours Gallipoli 1915, Suvla and Scimitar Hill.Aspinall-Oglander, p. 424.Sainsbury, pp. 149–51.

Senussi campaign The 1/1st Herts Yeomanry disembarked at Alexandria on 28 November and went to Mena Camp, near Cairo, where it rejoined its rear party with the horses. Meanwhile, fighting had broken out in the Western Desert when the Senussi attacked Sollum, and a Western Frontier Force (WFF) was being formed to deal with the situation. This included a Composite Mounted Bde with detachments from some 20 different yeomanry regiments. 1/1st Herts Yeomanry moved to Mex Camp outside Alexandria where it was able to reform two mounted squadrons. B Squadron under Maj de Falbe entrained on 9 December for the WFF's railhead at Dabaa. The squadron was then pushed ahead to guard and patrol round the wells at Abu Gerab, one of only three watering points along the WFF's line of communications (LoC) between Dabaa and its forward base at Mersa Matruh. Regimental HQ, A Sqn and the Machine Gun Section followed on 10 December and took up similar duty at Dabaaa itself. By 23 December B Sqn had been moved up to strengthen the garrison of Mersa Matruh, where air reconnaissance showed a Senussi concentration about to the south-west.MacMunn & Falls, pp. 106–9.Sainsbury, pp. 151–2.