Cavalry Corps (United Kingdom)

Cavalry Corps
Active	October 1914 – March 1916 September 1916 – 1919
Country	United Kingdom
Allegiance	British Crown
Branch	British Army
Type	Cavalry
Size	Corps
Part of	British Expeditionary Force
Engagements	First World War Western Front
Commanders
Notable commanders	Edmund Allenby

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. ^[1] It served as part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front throughout its existence.

Formation

Further information: British cavalry during the First World War and British Cavalry Corps order of battle 1914

Edmund Allenby, the first commander

The Corps consisted of the three cavalry divisions serving in France, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd divisions. ^[2]

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. ^[3]

Battles

• Battle of La Bassee
• Battle of Messines (1914)
• Battle of Arras (1914)
• Battle of Cambrai (1917)
• The Battles of the Hindenburg Line

Commanders

Rank	Name	Dates	Notes	Ref.
Lieutenant-General	E. H. H. Allenby	10 October 1914 – 19 April 1915	Sick 19/4/15	[4]
Major-General	Hon. Sir J. H. G. Byng	19 April – 4 May 1915	Acting
Lieutenant-General	E. H. H. Allenby	4 May – 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. Kavanagh	4 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

1. Gudmundsson & Anderson 2007 , p. 21
2. Gudmundsson & Anderson 2007 , p. 29
3. Badsey 2008 , p. 198
4. Becke 1945, p. 123.

Bibliography

• Badsey, Stephen (2008). Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880-1918. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7546-6467-3.
• Becke, Major A.F. (1945). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 4. The Army Council, GHQs, Armies and Corps 1914–1918. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN   1-871167-16-7.
• Gudmundsson, Bruce I.; Anderson, Duncan (2007). The British Army on the Western Front 1916. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84603-111-3.

External links

• The British Corps of 1914-1918 on The Long, Long Trail