Australian Light Horse (1939)

Full titles read: "AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE"
L/S's of thousands of Australian cavalry men a the Broadmeadows camp in Victoria. L/S's of the Governor General Lord Gowrie inspecting the regiment. Various shots of the horsemen on parade.
Cataloguer's note: Soundtrack for this item is missing.
FILM ID:993.41
A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. www.britishpathe.tv/
FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT www.britishpathe.com/
British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. www.britishpathe.com/

[@sleepisabella]

My great grandfather would have been somewhere in amongst these brave men. I've never seen a photo of him. 😢

[@johnsimpsonkirkpatrickhist1372]

A fascinating and very informative film.

[@malcolmmcgregor7966]

This was in 1939, probably at Goulburn, NSW near where the Big Merino is now situated. My father joined the Light Horse, an equivalent of the current Army Reserve then, trained at Goulburn and was stationed on the Illawarra plateau south of Wollongong in the early months of the war against the Nazis looking for supposed fifth columnists suspected of signalling to raiders of shipping into Port Kembla. He always doubted there were any fifth columnists at all, it was just a panic beaten up in the press. The Light Horse was disbanded soon after and most men went on to train as an Armoured Division in preparation for service in North Africa and the Middle East. Later Churchill wanted to send them to Burma but eventually they served in New Guinea, Bougainville and Borneo. The horses for the most part were the property of the members, not the Army. My father told me that he was paid "5 bob (shillings) per day for him and 6 bob for the horse)". On disbandment the horses were the responsibility of their owners to dispose of as they liked.

[@alessandrogm9658]

My due respect to these legendary man-soldiers and horse-soldiers.

[@CJArnold-hq3ey]

One of the most feared units in WW1 - Lest We Forget- Salutee - 🇦🇺

[@darrenmonks4532]

Best of the best of the best.

[@Cyclone-Enoch]

The real Horse Soldiers.❤

[@johnbozich5300]

Is it coincidental that the sound has been quelled

[@gordonbates5108]

Heroes

[@tomhughes3130]

Australians, God Bless.

[@westaussie965]

More horses sent overseas, never to return 😡

[@wattlebough]

The Australian Light Horse didn’t deploy in WW2. In the age of armoured warfare horse infantry were canon fodder as the Polish found out in 1939 when the German Panzer Divisions slaughtered them wholesale. No horses were sent overseas from Australia for WW2 between 1939- 1945. All the men who fought were leg infantry or light armour, light tanks and Bren Gun Carriers.

[@dannie2712]

​@@wattlebough she's talking about in WW1 though

[@wattlebough]

@@dannie2712 Not so sure. The video says 1939 which is the beginning of WW2, and she wrote “more” horses sent overseas. Unless Australian horses were destroyed at the end of the 2nd Boer War in 1901. I’m only aware of it happening the once, at the end of WW1 in 1918.

[@dannie2712]

@@wattlebough so what actually happened to the good horse after they defeated the Ottomans?

[@wattlebough]

@@dannie2712 That was the end of WW1 in 1918. This footage is of the Australian Light Horse at the beginning of WW2 in 1939. The Australian Light Horse were not deployed over seas during WW2. During WW2 the Light Horse units were either disbanded or converted to motorised armoured vehicle units or light tank units. The horses in these images weren’t sent to war.