The Lighthorsemen (1987) - Australian 4th Light Horse Charge

[zilcheynon]

fantastic movie and the charge......"they won't charge"

[aussiecheers]

they were aussies with their native bush brumbies....ofcourse they were going to charge... classic comment

[quinnthin12345]

My great grandfather was in the irish brigade cavalry in world war 1 and he got 3 or4 horses shot right under him

[chewie211171]

I can't imagine the terror the original charge must have on the Turks. What a great recreation this scene is.

[chewie211171]

Thanks for posting this. This movie was one of the greatest Aussie films made in the 80s; very well done.

[ArchdukeJames]

How are they striking horses from 1600 metres away with bullets from rifles.

I can see the Maxim Guns maybe. But 1600 metres away with what? Rifles equivalent to mausers? That doesn't sound legit!

[irishgodfatherchris]

@ArchdukeJames the rifleman aren't hitting them, the artillery is.

[skyscraper83]

I loved this movie but I always found it funny how the German officer at 0.49 has an Australian accent.

[TehAnxiety]

This is the last successful cavalry charge of the British army

[aussiecheers]

hang on, i thought it was the AUSTRALIAN light horseman who charged, the brits didnt have enough guts to do the job.....

[lebarosky]

Howitzers are not meant as direct fire weapons which is what he means by "under the guns."

[dunrudin]

@lebarosky

Most depressing!

[sufeewi]

They would still own on the modern battlefield

[higuma75]

@sufeewi They would be butchered within 10 seconds. Every gun would open at them, that's rapid fire from 5.56 up to .50. Marksmen would take down their horses at long range, creating additional obstacles. Then airsupport would start nailing them. Gunships with chainguns and rockets. They would be slaughtered.

[sufeewi]

@sufeewi look i was just saying

[justabrit]

@mattyboy..well never heard of this battle..never heard of the australian light horse...This is good video ..utube has brought a lot of stuff to light ..*S*

[justabrit]

Man i never knew!!! just never had this in history lessons!!!About time you guys done some Advertising...

[mattyboy4074]

@justabrit never knew what?

[aus1265]

i couldnt give a shit if this was or wasnt the last successful calvary charge.. the light horse were badass.. charged over open ground against artillery and rifle fire... the turks were owned.. simple as that.

[higuma75]

@aus1265 It was not a cavalry charge. It was mounted infantry that behaved different than expected. Mounted infantry (which was mounted because they were highly mobile) would ride in, dismount, and then attack like regular infantry. Except the Light Horse here continued on, much to the surprise of the jerry officer and his turkish gunners.

[dunrudin]

@aus1265

Cavalry, you twat. Calvary is where Jesus allegedly met his end. I don't think they chargedfor that.

[leemeires]

is this the movie after this charge and battle ........... 3 or 4 ozzy boys are about to go in to a bar 1 of them says lets fight some poms but when thay go into the bar the brits say 3 cheers for the light horseman? and thay dont fight i always remmber it as a kid ?

[Boethius51250]

This is so genius.

[nikeebe]

Makes me proud to be Austalian...

[Jamrty123]

@nikeebe Those stupid Turks did not stand a chance against our powerful troopers. Proud we should be to be Australian. There are no other soldiers like ours.

[fp470]

@Jamrty123 Those stupid turks had defeated 2 massive attacks in 2 previous battles by Australian 'powerful troops.' Also the town had under attack from Australian and New Zealand troops for some time before this. Also the British cavalry achieved awesome feats of their own in similiar confrontations - so yes there were other soldiers like ours.

Learn a bit of history before patriotic chest beating. It makes you look ignorant

[Jamrty123]

@fp470 Do not pass judgement upon me when you do not know me. That makes you look ignorant.

[fp470]

@Jamrty123 No you are just revealing your own ignorance. You made comments which are totally unmeasured. Your comments are questionable and once you put them out there you are exposing yourself to judgement.

[Jamrty123]

@fp470 Like I said, do not pass judgement when you do not know who I am understood? The comments I made were made in the light of the movie The Lighthorsemen. I am aware of the two previous battles the Australians had with the turks that suffered tremendous losses.

[Jamrty123]

@fp470 My comments were based purely on emotions that arose from a heroic victory nothing more and you are stupid enough to make a critical assessment of them. GROW UP BOY.

[fp470]

@Jamrty123 You are the one who has blown out of proportion here. Calm down

[Jamrty123]

@fp470 You make it sound like I have accused you of blowing out of proportion and that I am not calm. Why is that?

[grunt182820]

rules is rules fellas

not right maybe but .....

[grunt182820]

ya know what's not fair a niggers bum in war you do what you have to do with all means available.........

[HMservant]

HEY, that's not fair! Bringing aircraft into an infantry-cavalry fight; it's just not done!

[fp470]

Its modern warfare, ground attack aircraft is a perfectly valid tactic. The idea is to wait for the ALH to dismount then bomb the horses so they scatter and then that leaves the ALH stranded to be cut down by small arms fire. Brilliant

Oh and dont be shitty about us, your Australian cousins, We fought together at anzac and in this campaign the New Zealand Mounted Rifles really kicked ass. A good book for it is Kinloch, Devils on Horses- its a good study of the NZMR

Kiaora - Cooee

[HMservant]

Right yes I was just being sarcastic but you have to admit that aircraft in a cavalry-infantry fight isn't exactly fair!

And about the Australians, I do apologise, the egotistic side of my personality must've been in charge last night when I made that comment. We do make a pretty good team though (you should read a book called "A Man & His Donkey"), what do you think about that new Key-Rudd plan about a combined ANZAC contingent?

Again I apologise for my callous(?) comment.

[fp470]

No dramas mate I can be a prick at the best of times. Also I am inclined to agree that a certain 1981 incident was well..just not cricket.

I think an Anzac contingent is about the only sane Idea our 'illustrious' leader has come up with. There would probably have to be some doctrine and organisational re-adjustment but it could work.

Also might make supply easier we use alot of the same stuff (at least in infantry)

[gnarkillkicksass]

Actually New Zealand also played a part in the battle. The Kiwi infantry took the highlands surrounding the town.

[HMservant]

you know, i've never really liked the australians, probably something to do with NZ-AU rivalry and perhaps the Underarm Incident of 1981, but you definitely have to give them credit for that brave charge against that Turkish line!

[aussiecheers]

yeah well regardless whether you like or dislike aussies, this movie describes the raw guts that aussies have fighting for their country...our native horses 'whalers' fought with our soligers and unlike many countries who bought horses over with them, our light horse brigade chose to distroy our horses so they wouldnt end up in the wrong hands....unlike the poms...if it wasnt for the aussie guys and their fello whalers beersheba would never have been taken....

[kooger666]

thats it come and get youre cold steel turk

[Fritztoons]

The best film of a horseback charge i´ve ever seen! I´ve seen it many times. And...i...have.. to confess i´m German.

Baa, no worries!

[JuanCarandell]

@Fritztoons But the bads guy in the movie are turkeys! xD

[Fritztoons]

@JuanCarandell

Right, but German liason officers and they, the turks, where our allies. So i should stand to it. But luckiely we are talking about history anyway. And as a keen horseman i admire good cavallery man of every country and nation.

[4kNIghtmare]

What for a type of cannons did they use to bombard the charging cavalry? Never saw this one before they look like some artillery form the 2nd WW

[fp470]

They look like Howitzers. German made which probably make them either 6-8 inch guns.

Also must remember that WW1 was the first modern war. Most WW2 armaments are only upgraded version of WW1 developments and technology.

[4kNIghtmare]

Thank you! Now i know a bit more :D

[Veneil]

It has to be remembered that the Australian Light Horse regiments of World War I were not "cavalry" in the strictest sense of the word. They were in fact mounted infantry, who rode into battle on horseback but would dismount when the fighting started. This movie is in fact historically correct in this respect because you see the Australians do exactly that. The insane charge was inspired by the belief that the Turks were about to poison the wells in Beershaba.

[fp470]

They arent exactly mounte infantry either. They are actually mounted rifles, a minor distinction but important. They were tactically used as mounted rifles rather than mounted infantry. The three big areas being;

a. Size

b. Used tactically as a harassing force

c. Their drill was different from mounted infantry, as was their organisation.

Light Horse are probably closer to what Dragoons were intended to be. Also they make the final evolution to cavarly in 1918.

[IIOllOII]

why do they attak like this when they have rifles!?

[D04S02B04]

I'm wondering... but who actually charges at 25 00 metres out? Its really nice and inspiring when someone shout charge but I don't really think you need 25 00 metres to maintain the momentum of the charge.

Anyone care to educate me on this???

[ThaMahstah]

I thought that too.

The usual order for cavalry charges was walk, trot, canter, followed by a charge for the last 100 meters. Sometimes less. You can't charge the whole way or your horses would be blown and useless by the time you reached the line.

But I don't know the details of this particular charge.

[ThaMahstah]

It may very well be they charged early to get "under the guns", and since they fight dismounted they wouldn't need their horses anyway.

But like I said, I don't know.

[thomasrdotorg]

Pretty logical thinking. You'd want to get under the gun's "umbrella".

[fp470]

Need to charge that far out, keeping in mind that since Napoleonic times horse bloodlines had been improved. These are a type of stock horse used to run aroun quiet alot on farms to round up cattle and wild horses.

They are now an extince breed I think, they have a modern version that is slighter. They were called Australian Whalers and used by alot of British Empire forces for cavarly.

Also the carry a very light load in comparriso to other cavarly

[WhiteCamry]

@fp470

Pedantry alert: it's spelled 'Waler' as in 'New South Waler.' Or so sayeth the Gospel According to St. Wiki.

[fp470]

@WhiteCamry LOL, you are correct. Good going English Teacher 101. It was my mistake, sometimes I type faster than I think

[Apis4]

Yes as stated, they could charge from 25,000 out, because of the Whaler. Read up about this amazing horse, its probably the hardiest horse ever bred, and unlike most breeds as military horses, could easily race that distance at charge even after two days, in this case, without water or even adequate food. That was in fact, probably why this was successful, when by all accounts it shouldnt have been, war horses in combat of WWI being proved to be totally superceeded.. well except the Whaler ;-)

[fp470]

The Whaler was indeed a sound military animal for the Middle Eastern theatre, yet it was not the sole animal serving in the AIF. A number of breeds of horses entered the ALH after 1916 when horses were sourced from the British army supplies rather than shipments from Australia. The British Yeomanry and NZ mounted Rifles also acheived equal feats of horsemanship with a number of breeds. It was rather superior horse management of the Entire British forces in the Middle East that made such progress

[DoctorXProducer]

I am sorry to "sdrigromMaciek", I had accidentally clicked 'remove' instead of 'reply'.

His message was:

'Excuse me but the last succesful cavalry charge was in 1920 at Komarowo in Poland when Polish Cavalry Corpse destroyed the Red Horse Army leaded by Budyonnyi. '

[DoctorXProducer]

My reply:

The same could be said of the Italian Savoia cavalry against Soviet artillery on 23 August, 1942 and many other cavalry charges of the 20th century. The Battle of Komarow was the largest and last cavalry battle in history, but the difference is the use of weapons (traditional cavalry with sabres vs mounted infantry in most cases since 1813) and whether you consider the simultaneous destruction of and inability to regroup by the Polish Cavalry as 'successful'.

[fp470]

@DoctorXProducer Cavalry is not defined by wheather it uses traditional weapons or not but the role it plays. In late 1800s cavalry was expected to attack dismounted and mounted with rifle and white weapons equally. Shock action can be achieved without needing the lance or sabre. Also do not confuse mounted infantry (infantry who move fast) with mounted rifles (cavalry). As shown above the ALH use both rifle and bayonet (later get swords) to affect a shock action.

[DoctorXProducer]

@fp470 Thanks for the clarification.

[higuma75]

@fp470 Wrong. That was mounted infantry. American military doctrine, for example, used cavalry as scouts and raiders. And they were very successful with it (see Jeb Stuart.) Light Horse, as the Aussies here, are essentially mounted infantry.

[fp470]

@higuma75 No, your incorrect. They are mounted rifles, which is not the same as mounted infantry. Mounted infantry are infantry, mounted rifles are cavalry. Just saying that they have a gun is not a valid military observation. For clarification I suggest you consult Jean Bou, Light Horse A History of Australia's Mounted Arm, 2010- currently working out of Canberra War memorial. He quotes things like evidence, documents and military papers at the time. They areindeed a form of cavalry.

[irishgodfatherchris]

@fp470 but the 4th Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry unit there was a reason why the charge was so successful and its because the German command presumed that the brigade would dismount and then resume on foot as they traditionally did and they were not prepared for the possibility that the brigade could charge as a cavalry unit

[fp470]

@irishgodfatherchris Read the statement closely. I said they were Mounted Rifles, which is a form of cavalry- not mounted infantry. The only mounted infantry Australia had was the Imperial Camel Corps, mounted Rifles were even used by Chauvel who called his Division 'cavalry.' This idea of them being mounted infantry is technically incorrect. The Light Horse failed when they attempted to act as Mounted Infantry, but succeeded when they acted as mounted rifles (aka a form of cavalry).

[Caldwell1820]

Brave men!

[hoolg]

That's a very well composed charge.

[wattlebough]

It was actually a last hour improvisation after all other attempts to capture the town through out the day were unsuccessful. The history of the strategic importance of this battle (Battle of Beersheba/ Third Battle of Gaza) to the success of the Palestine Campaign of WW1 is very interesting. The town was vital because of it's wells (an army in the desert with a hundred thousand men and as many horses and camels isn't much of an army without water).

[coolturtledude]

GO AUSSIES! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!