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Ottoman camel corps at Beersheba during the First Suez Offensive of World War I, 1915.
Camel cavalry, or camelry (French: méharistes, pronounced[meaʁist]), is a generic designation for armed forces using camels as a means of transportation. Sometimes warriors or soldiers of this type also fought from camel-back with spears, bows, or firearms.
Camel cavalry was a common element in desert warfare throughout history in the Middle East, due in part to the animals' high level of adaptability. They were better suited to working and surviving in arid environments than the horses of conventional cavalry. The smell of the camel, according to Herodotus, alarmed and disoriented horses, making camels an effective anti-cavalry weapon of the Achaemenid Persians in the Battle of Thymbra.[1][2]
^Herodotus (440 BC). The History of Herodotus. Rawlinson, George (trans.). Retrieved 4 December 2012. He collected together all the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse; behind them were to follow the foot soldiers and, last of all, the cavalry. When his arrangements were complete, he gave his troops orders to slay all the other Lydians who came in their way without mercy but to spare Croesus and not kill him, even if he should be seized and offer resistance. Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy's horse because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and cannot abide either the sight or the smell of that animal. By this stratagem he hoped to make Croesus's horse useless to him, the horse being what he chiefly depended on for victory. The two armies then joined battle, and immediately, the Lydian war-horses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off, and so it came to pass that all Croesus' hopes withered away.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Cameliers and camels at war". New Zealand History online. History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
Camelcavalry, or camelry (French: méharistes, pronounced [meaʁist]), is a generic designation for armed forces using camels as a means of transportation...
Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are...
loosely based on the U.S. Camel Corps titled Hawmps! Cariboo camelsCamelcavalry Douglas the camel Military animal Afghan cameleers in Australia Carroll,...
trampled over their own army. Next to elephants, camels were the tallest and heaviest animals available for cavalry. They are neither as agile nor as fast as...
The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB) was a camel-mounted infantry brigade that the British Empire raised in December 1916 during the First World War...
Turkish forces in a camelcavalry charge. The Corps fought in the Middle East in World War II, when it was supported by the camel-mounted Bijay Battery...
the Achaemenid Empire. The cavalry was separated into four groups. The chariot archers, horse cavalry, the camelcavalry, and the war elephants.[citation...
early modern period, featuring small swivel guns mounted on and fired from camels. Its operator was known as a zamburakchi. It was used by the gunpowder empires...
The Somaliland Camel Corps (SCC) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces unit which was raised in British Somaliland. It existed from 1914 until 1944...
the nyay hurry (war elephant), and the camelcavalry, called gu, was led by the guy, or cavalry chief. The cavalry mainly consisted of Berbers recruited...
the Second World War, though as pack or draft animals, not as mounts. Camelcavalry Jackson, Kevin (2009). Moose. Reaktion Books. p. 40. ISBN 9781861896285...
archer. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used other animals for mounts, such as camels or elephants. Infantry...
Company: Kanus 5th Company: Chamis and Churutabis 7th and 8th Company (camelcavalry), military hospital: Gochas and Arahoab 1st Battery: Narubis 3rd Battery:...
covered by chariots, cavalry, and infantry. Cyrus also used baggage camels to create a barrier around his archers. The smell of the camels disrupted the Lydian...
Coastal Mountain Range) – figures lost; King Gindibu of Arabia sent 1,000 camelcavalry; King Ba'asa, son of Ruhubi, of the land of Ammon sent 100 soldiers...
military demand for camels for which the lands near Medina no longer sufficed. David Nicolle also mentioned the use of distinct camelcavalry during the battle...
changed over the millennia but still continue, including for police work. Camelcavalry was used in deserts since they had better performance and survivability...
Camel Corps may refer to: Camelcavalry units in the Spanish, French, Italian and British colonial possessions in North Africa and the Middle East, for...
The Free French Camel Corps (French: Corps de Méharistes Français Libres) was a méhariste camelcavalry unit of the Free French forces, founded by among...
transportation. This is very similar to the camelcavalry used often by the Ottoman Empire. It is noted that camelcavalry was more commonplace as a result of...
Company: Kanus 5th Company: Chamis and Churutabis 7th and 8th Company (camelcavalry), military hospital: Gochas and Arahoab 1st Battery: Narubis 3rd Battery:...
defensive line while French cavalry and infantry units assaulted the Syrians' northern and southern positions. The camelcavalry were the first Syrian units...
with Italian officers and some NCOs. These forces comprised infantry, cavalry, camel-mounted and light artillery units. Somali personnel were later recruited...
Revolt forces to reach Damascus were Sharif Naser's Hashemite camelcavalry and the cavalry of the Ruwallah tribe, led by Nuri Sha'lan, on 30 September...
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed...
kingdoms." In 962, the city conquered Awgham with an army of 100,000 camelcavalry. Over 20 kings of the Sudan paid Awdaghost tribute. From Ibn Hawqal...
turma (Latin for "swarm, squadron", plural turmae), (Greek: τούρμα) was a cavalry unit in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire...
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