KING EDWARD'S HORSE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 35, 10 August 1936, Page 9

KING EDWARD'S HORSE

VETERANS' PILGRIMAGE TO

BATTLEFIELDS

LONDON, August 8.

A party of veterans of King Ei ward's Horse, through whose rank» 2000 Dominion soldiers passed in war time, recently made a pilgrimage to the battlefields of France, led by Lieut.Colonel George Gray Russell, a native of Timaru and a former commander of the regiment, and attended a service at the regimental memorial stone at Vieille-Chappelle, where the regiment made a heroic stand in the Battle of Lys in 1918.

Colonel Lionel James, another former commander of the regiment, informed the Australian Associated Press news agency that he hoped shortly to reconstitute the regiment, as it carried the name of the present King.

King Edward's Horse played an important role in preventing an extension of the German gains in the great* offensive at the Battle of the Lys in 1918. Nine German divisions had beea thrown against two British divisions and one Portuguese division. The German 19th and 55th Corps overwhelmed the Portuguese 2nd Division and both corps advanced steadily towards their objectives. The right of the Bavaria-,1 2nd Corps was held by the 40th British Division, but the left succeeded in penetrating past the flank of the defenders. On the right the 55th Division opposed stout resistance, withdrawing slowly to the main line of resistance, just east of Festubert All available British reserves were hurried up. The 11th Cyclist Battalion and King Edward's Horse were rushed up to Lacouture, Vieille-Chappelle, and Huit Maisons, and by their heroic resistance checked any further advancs to the south.