World War I
At the outbreak of World War I the 2nd Mounted Division were posted to guard the coast of Norfolk from an expected German invasion. In March 1915, in common with most TF units, the battery formed a second-line unit to take over home defence which would release the parent battery for overseas service. The 1st Notts thus became the 1/1st Notts. The 2/1st Notts RHA would also eventually fight abroad in Mesopotamia.
The battery left England on 9 April 1915 and joined the Imperial Mounted Division, which later became the Australian Mounted Division. It guarded the Suez Canal at Ismailia until 18 November 1915 and then fought the Senussi at Mersa Matruh until December 1916 with the Western Frontier Force. In January 1917 the division went to Palestine in time for the first battle of Gaza, and was the battery that supported the famous charge of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade at the Battle of Beersheba.
On 1st May 1918 the battery was supporting an attack in the Jordan valley when it (and other batteries of 19th Artillery Brigade) were overrun by Turkish forces. The Nottingham battery lost three of its six guns, and the two other batteries six in all.
Read more about this topic: 1st Nottinghamshire Battery Royal Horse Artillery
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Whoever lights the torch of war in Europe can wish for nothing but chaos.”
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)