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Reunited with their horses in Egypt after the shattering experience
of Gallipoli (a story recounted in Terry Kinloch's earlier book,
Echoes of Gallipoli), the Anzac mounted riflemen and light horsemen
were initially charged with the defence of the Suez Canal, then
with the clearance of the Sinai peninsula, and finally with the
destruction of the Turkish armies in Palestine and Syria. At last
they could pursue the style of warfare for which they had been
trained: on horseback. The First World War battlefields in the
Middle East have long been overshadowed by those of Gallipoli and
the Western Front. Yet the story of the mounted riflemen in Sinai
and Palestine is a truly fascinating one. Using the soldiers'
original letters and diaries wherever possible, Kinloch vividly
describes every battle and skirmish in the long campaign against
the Turks: the crucial Battle of Romani, the defeats at Bir el Abd,
Gaza and Amman, and the successes at Beersheba, Ayun Kara and
elsewhere. He explains the reality of tactical operations in the
harsh desert environment, the ever-present necessity of securing
water for the precious horses and the remorseless tenacity of the
enemy. The horses play a major part in the story, but of the
thousands of faithful animals involved, only one would ever return
home after the war. Devils on Horses is a gripping read that offers
new information about a theatre of war that has been overlooked for
decades. Based on original research, it is sure to be the standard
reference work on New Zealand's Middle East campaign for years to
come.
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