Devils on Horses
In the Words of the ANZACS in the Middle East 1916-19

By Terry Kinloch
Published by Exisle Publishing
www.exislepublishing.com
RRP $39.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781775592631

First published in 2007, this absorbing book by LTCOL Terry Kinloch details the experiences of New Zealand’s Mounted rifles regiments in the Sinai/Palestine campaign of World War I.

The motivation for this book was simple. Kinloch felt that these brave men were ‘the forgotten men of a forgotten campaign’ and he wanted to ensure that they were forgotten no longer.

Kinloch found a wealth of material in the diaries and photographs of the troops held by their families. Coupled with the official history, this enabled him to examine the individual battles as well as the overall campaign.

From their withdrawal from Gallipoli to their reunion with their horses at Zeitoun Camp near Cairo, Kinloch traces their battles, including Romani, Gaza, Bir el Abd and the massacre at Surafend.

Only one of the estimated 2,500 New Zealand horses that travelled to the Middle East returned home.

Christopher Pugsley, Department of War Studies, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, writes in the foreword that this is a very important book for New Zealanders and for those who read military history. He says this account at last ‘does justice to their story’, commending the book also to students of warfare, citing the author’s professional understanding of the campaign.