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Remembered Today:

French and Italian units in Palestine


Thomas

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On 31/12/2003 at 12:14, michaeldr said:

Chris,

Do you [or does anyone] have any idea which particular mountain guns this battery were using in Palestine during WWI?

A few months ago I spotted a beautiful little French Mountain Gun [c.1910]

displayed in the garden outside the door of the Manager's office in a Tel Aviv public park

[in my ignorance at the time I thought that perhaps it was an old piece bought in for some later scrap]

Regards

Michael D.R.

 

The provenance of this would be interesting, as I gather some 65mm mountain guns were smuggled to the Haganah from Mexico in 1948, so would be interesting to see if it was from Mexico.

There is an IWM photo from this time which has a soixante quinze in the picture.

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On 06/12/2003 at 08:09, Robert Dunlop said:

I do not know of any Italian units. However, the 5th Light Horse Brigade did include a regiment of French cavalry known as 'Regimente Mixte de Cavalerie'. This comprised two Algerian Spahi squadrons and 2 Chasseurs d'Afrique. The regiment was armed with automatic weapons and they rode Moorish barbs, known for their ability as stayers. They were in action at Megiddo (captured an Austrian artillery battery), Kaukab, and El Mezze.

Robert

 

There is this link which refers to the Italian contingent, smaller than the French brigade-sized forces.

Palestine Italian Detachment

http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog?topic_id=1113823

With regard to the French, there were three infantry battalions of which one was from the 115th Territorial Regiment, and two were from the 1st and 2nd Algerian Tirailleur Regiments respectively. 
There was a Régiment de Marche de Cavallerie, which is mentioned on this thread.

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/9854-french-cavalry-regiment-in-palestine/?tab=comments#comment-75322

 

It would appear the survivors of the fourth squadron and the machine gun platoon fought dismounted for some of the campaign. They were part of the 5th Light Horse Brigade of the Australian Mounted Division. The IWM pics suggest that the two squadrons of Chasseurs D'Afrique were wearing Adrian helmets rather than pith helmets.

I would have remained ignorant of the nominal Italian and French involvement in this campaign, were it not for some of the centenary articles published recently.

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