Devils on Horses

These are the opening words of Chris Pugsley's foreword to this book, a ringing endorsement of Terry Kinloch's brilliant account of the Anzac Mounted Rifles in the Middle East, a theatre of war that has been overshadowed by the terrible havoc wreaked on Anzac soldiers in Gallipoli and the Somme. Yet the story of the Mounted Riflemen in Sinai and Palestine is a truly fascinating one. Reunited with their horses after the frustrations of Gallipoli, the Mounted Rifles could at last pursue the style of warfare for which they had been trained.

Using the soldiers original letters and diaries wherever possible, Kinloch describes all the crucial battles against the Ottoman Turkish Forces, including Romani, Gaza, Bir el Abd and the massacre at Surafend. It is also the story of the horses; only one of the approximately 2500 New Zealand horses that travelled to the Middle East returned home. By then the war was over and the Turkish Empire had been destroyed. The Anzac soldiers and their horses had played a vital role in securing the victory.