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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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SMALL WARS

Chapter XXIII.
Camel corps.

Camel corps a form of mounted infantry.

CAMEL corps have many of the properties of mounted infantry. Troops on camels differ, however, from mounted infantry in the very important particular that they have little mobility in actual action--they cannot be manoeuvred with the freedom of mounted troops on the battle-field. For, besides being slow in moving from one part of the ground to another relatively to other mounted troops, the difficulty and delay involved in mounting and dismounting prevents their being able to fight effectively unless they have had a little time to prepare for action.

Object to be able to traverse long distances.

The object of camel corps is rather to enable troops to move long distances through the theatre of war than to transfer them from point to point when in close contact with the enemy. Their mobility is strategical rather than tactical. The French have made satisfactory use of camel corps in Senegal. Abd el Kader depended very largely upon camels in making the rapid movements which were the feature of his guerilla warfare against the conquerors of Algeria. The Turkomans and Kirghiz have carried out very effective raids against the Russians and against tribes friendly to Russia, on camels. But in all these cases the camels have generally been left in some safe place before actual fighting took place, and in the main the camel corps, whether on the side of the regular army or on that of the enemy, have been designed with a view to strategical and not to tactical mobility. This was well shown in the march of Sir H. Stewart's force from Korti to Metemma, where the principle was to

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form a zeriba in which the riding camels were left with the baggage, and to go out and fight on foot.

Difficult position of camel corps in action.

The celerity of the movements of irregular warriors has been commented on frequently in earlier chapters. Camels cannot keep up with them in pursuit and cannot evade them in retreat. In action against such adversaries camels are in fact somewhat out of place, their security is a source of anxiety unless they are protected by the position of other troops engaged. The camels will of course often be perfectly safe on the battle-field when the camel corps is merely part of a mixed force; but the idea of a camel corps as a rule is for it to work more or less independently or, as has been very general in the Egyptian army, with the cavalry. It should be noted that during Sir H. Rose's Central Indian campaign in 1858 a small camel corps was organized and performed excellent service in conjunction with the other troops.

 

At Kalpi this corps acted moat effectively at a critical juncture. The rebels had skilfully concealed their strength. For a time they only pretended to threaten the British left, but then they suddenly developed a strong attack against Sir H. Rose's right. The infantry were being forced back by stress of numbers and even the guns were in danger, when the camel corps was rapidly transferred thither from another part of the field. The men dismounted, charged, and completely changed the situation, the rebels being in the end defeated with heavy loss.

 

That camel corps are not very well adapted for working with cavalry on the battle-field was shown at the battle of Khartum, what occurred suggests that it is not desirable to expose a force which possesses so little tactical mobility to the danger of combat with very superior bodies of fanatics capable of very rapid movement.

 

At Khartum the camel corps, while operating on one flank with part of the cavalry and a battery, had to bear the brunt of a resolute advance of a mass of Dervishes. The slow movements of the camels placed the whole force in some jeopardy. Two guns were temporarily lost, many casualties occurred, and had it not been for the enemy coming under fire of the gunboats the affair might have had a serious ending.

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Their helplessness when mounted. How to act if suddenly attacked.

Lord Wolseley's instructions to the camel corps in the Nile Expedition of 1884-85 laid great stress on the point that troops so organized were helpless if attacked when on the move. It was laid down that the men were never to be taken mounted over ground where there appeared to be any likelihood of an attack being made on them--it must be remembered that, during the march across the desert, practically the whole force consisted of camel corps except for the small cavalry force which proved so valuable for scouting purposes. These conditions were essentially different from those of the Central Indian campaign, where the camel corps could rely upon the active support of all arms of the service. In no case in the campaign on the Nile in 1884-85 were the camel troops exposed to an attack when mounted. A sudden onslaught can best be met by the men dismounting and forming a square round the camels as far as circumstances permit, but the essential principle of camel corps tactics is that they must not be placed in such a position, because, if they are, there is grave risk of disaster. It should be noted that very small parties cannot form a square possessing any. defensive strength round their camels; in the case of a small detachment being assailed the camels must be used as a parapet, the men inside--a plan which the Turkomans used very successfully on one occasion, shortly before General Lomakin started for Denghil Tepe in 1879. This incident gives a remarkable illustration of camelry operations and deserves to be narrated.

The affair of Burnak as illustrating camel operations.

A large number of camels had been collected around Burnak near Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea for the impending expedition, and were scattered over the plains, very insufficiently guarded by Kirghiz and a few irregular horsemen. There was a detachment of infantry at Burnak.

 

One morning a force of Tekkes suddenly appeared, seized a large number of the camels and drove them off. The garrison of Burnak promptly turned out to recover the spoil. The enemy had, however, got a good'start, and the Russian infantry, toiling on foot after the marauders, suffered greatly from thirst and soon began to tail off. The chase was becoming hopeless

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when, with ready resource, the officer in command collected some of the camels which were browsing in the vicinity and mounted his men on them, and then the pursuit was resumed and pushed with vigour.

 

The troops came up with the freebooters towards evening and found them drawn up on a hill, and within a laager formed of the camels which they had captured. Made to lie down in the form of an oval, the camels provided an effective rampart behind which the enemy was in comparative security. This improvised fortress the weary Russians were obliged to attack, and the assault on it completely failed. During the night reinforcements arrived from Krasnovodsk, but when day broke it was found that the Turkomans had, under cover of darkness, withdrawn with most of their booty and had disappeared.

 

This little affair is of singular interest in connection with the question of camel corps. One side found itself into a camel corps on the spur of the moment for a rapid march. The other made a zeriba of camels and stood an assault in it.

Camel corps only suitable in certain theatres of war.

Camels are only suitable in certain theatres of war and therefore the question of camel corps does not often arise. Their extraordinary capacity for dispensing with water enables them to be used when horses would break down altogether, and there is no other method of pushing troops unaccompanied by transport rapidly across long stretches of desert. Camels moreover thrive on scrub and bushes which other animals will not eat. But on the other hand they cannot travel over rough country on account of their feet, and they are quite helpless on slippery ground. Camel corps are in fact of use only under given conditions. The small camel corps which exists as part of the Egyptian army, and which played an effective part in most of the engagements fought by the Khedive's troops against the followers of the Khalifa, serves as a model for such forces.

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2011