| abstract | - The Desert Mounted Corps was an army corps of the British Army during the First World War, of three mounted divisions renamed in August 1917 by General Edmund Allenby from Desert Column. These divisions which served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign had been formed by Australian light horse, British yeomanry, and New Zealand mounted rifles brigades, supported by horse artilleryinfantry and support troops. They were later joined by Indian cavalry and lancers and French chassaur. The Desert Mounted Corps comprised three mounted divisions, the ANZAC Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted Division, and the Yeomanry Mounted Division with infantry formations attached when required, as had Desert Column. In the first month of its existence the corps continued training and patrolling no man's land preparing for manoeuvre warfare. Their first operations would be the attack, along with the XX Corps, the Battle of Beersheba. Having captured their objective they were involved in a series of battles before the old Gaza to Beersheba line was finally broken a week later. During the pursuit they fought two Ottoman armies at the Battle of Mughar Ridge before advancing to capture Jerusalem during the Battle of Jerusalem in December 1917. In 1918 units of Desert Mounted Corps participated in the Capture of Jericho in February, the First Transjordan attack on Amman in March and the Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt in April while occupying the Jordan Valley during the summer. As a result of the Spring Offensive on the Western Front the corps went through a major reconstruction, when the majority of the British yeomanry regiments were dismounted, and sent as infantry reinforcements to the trenches of France. The Yeomanry Mounted Division and the 5th Mounted Brigade were disbanded to be replaced by Indian cavalry regiments, which formed the 4th Cavalry and 5th Cavalry Divisions. They arrived in the Jordan Valley in May to join the Corps and in September with four divisions, participated in the major offensive operations of the Battle of Sharon section of the successful Battle of Megiddo. The subsequent pursuit to Damascus followed by the Pursuit to Haritan, advances of almost into Turkish territory, resulted in the capture of 107,000 prisoners and over 500 pieces of artillery. At the end of October the Armistice of Mudros ended the war against the Ottoman Empire and the corps became an occupation force in Syria. By March 1919 units were patrolling Egypt during the Egyptian Rebellion. The Desert Mounted Corps was disbanded in June 1919.
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