"The Horses Stay Behind"
FROM http://www.lighthorse.org.au/resources/history-of-the-australian-light-horse/the-mounted-soldiers-of-australia
Victory had a sour note for the men of the
Light Horse. Many had planned to buy their horses from the army.
They dreamt of the good times they and their beloved walers could
enjoy back home.
But the word quickly spread. "The horses stay
behind." Because of quarantine regulations, it was impractical
to take tens of thousands of army horses back to Australia.
Major Oliver Hogue of the 14th Regiment, who wrote
as "Trooper Bluegum", summed up the feelings of many
men in one of his poems.
I don't think I could stand the thought of my
old fancy hack
Just crawling around old Cairo with a Gyppo on his back.
Perhaps some English tourist out in Palestine may find
My broken-hearted waler with a wooden plough behind.
No: I think I’d better shoot him and tell a little lie”
“He floundered in a wombat hole and then lay down to die.
Maybe I’ll get court-martialled; but I’m damned if
I’m inclined
To go back to Australia and leave my horse behind.
Then an order was issued that all walers were to be
classified A, B, C and D, according to their condition and age.
All C and D horses were to be shot.
They were first to have their shoes removed and their
manes and tails cut off. Iron and horse hair were saleable. Worse,
the horses were to be skinned after being shot. Seven pounds of
salt was allowed for the salting of each hide, to be sold as leather.
Horrible as these orders seemed, many men thought
that this would be better than leaving their horses to be cruelly
treated. Some tried to have their walers included in the C and
D group.
Others asked permission to take their horse for a
last ride and returned carrying saddle and bridle, with the explanation:
"He put his foot in a hole and I had to shoot him".
Hundreds of the walers who had charged Beersheba or
endured the Sinai or carried their Billjim on the last great advance,
were taken to olive groves outside Tripoli and tethered in picket
lines.
They were then given a last nosebag of fodder and
shot. Without panic. To the last they trusted the familiar uniformed
figures. And gunfire held no fear for them.
Soon after, the men prepared to return to Australia.
But most would be delayed for months, helping suppress a rebellion
in Egypt. Some were killed.
Before the Light Horse left for Australia, Allenby
wrote a remarkable tribute to them. It concluded: "The Australian
lighthorseman combines with a splendid physique a restless activity
of mind. This mental quality renders him somewhat impatient of
rigid and formal discipline, but it confers upon him the gift
of adaptability, and this is the secret of much of his success
mounted or on foot. In this dual role . . . The Australian lighthorseman
has proved himself equal to the best. He has earned the gratitude
of the Empire and the admiration of the world."
Eventually, late in 1919, the last of the Light Horse
were back in Australia. The regiments broke up. The men returned
to homes and families and farms and jobs.
The Light Horse of the 1st AIF had existed for five
remarkable years. |
