Page 10 - Chiron Issue 2 2014

The Military Police have had a long established history with Mounted Units. In the early 1800s Wellington raised the Staff Corps of Cavalry as a Military Police Corps. Until a uniform was approved members of the Staff Corps of Cavalry were identified by a red scarf tied around the right shoulder of their original uniform, which could well be the origins of the red cap which identifies the modern Military Policeman.
The Australian Mounted Corps had several specialist units within its formation, one being the Mounted Military Police (MMP). From its beginnings in Egypt on 3 April 1916 in the Middle East the AIF Police Corps, later renamed ANZAC Provost Corps in February 1917 distinguished itself in various theaters during WW1. By the end of WWI they had won the following awards: Distinguished Service Order, 3 Order of the British Empire, 1 Member of the British Empire, 5 Military Cross, 1 Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1 Military Medal, 26 Meritorious Service Medal, 27 Mentioned in Dispatches, 52 (Details provided by Geoff Barr, RACMP Historian).
Brigadier General C.B.White of the Australian and New Zealand Forces in a CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM number 29, A.I.F., Cairo stated the military police of the A.I.F. will hereafter form a Corps. So on the 12th May 1916, 21 Officers and 589 other ranks, selected from all units of the A.I.F., were marched into barracks Abbassia. Thus began one month of intensive training in all aspects of military police duties and soldiering. Those men who failed to meet the rigid requirement of the new Corps, were marched out, and returned to their units.
From inception it had been decided that only A class men would be accepted into the new Corps. Also to eliminate the perception amongst other units in the A.I.F., that men joining the new Corps were doing so to evade Active Service. Those men who had not seen service in the face of the enemy
By Nigel Allsop
were transferred to the Desert Mounted Corps, on completion of their training. Commanded by, Major General H.G. Chauvel CB, CMG., they remained with the Desert Corps, until they had seen service in the face of the enemy, and were capable of taking their place with the ANZAC Provost Corps (APC). After the initial intake, all new recruits must have seen service in the face of the enemy. By 1917, the requirements for entry into the APC were the strictest of any unit in the A.I.F.
One example of these type of men was a report written by W. Grant, Brigadier- General.
I desire to bring to your notice the excellent services rendered by No 4341 Sgt. H.J.Barr, during his attachment to the 4th L.H. Brigade as N.C.O. i/c Brigade Police. I particularly wish to mention his service during the operations 29th April - 6th May at Jisraed Damieh. It was necessary on the 1st May, when the enemy counter-attacked, to make use of every available rifle for fire power, and every mounted man available for keeping up communications. At a critical period Sgt, Barr was one of a party which was collected and sent to a position to prevent the enemy approaching our left flank. Several times during the action he was called upon to carry messages through heavy fire, which he did with all possible speed and coolness, reporting compliance to Brigade Headquarters. His Routine work throughout was carried out in a very capable manner. He was always keen and smart and without a doubt was a good example to the personnel under him.
In July 1917 Major General Chauvel, in writing to HQ AIF in London, on his staff’s decision to grant temporary rank said ‘The ANZAC Provost Corps in Egypt has to provide for policing of 4 towns, a large training center, a long L of C, and an advanced forward Army HQ in a thickly populated enemy country as well as Divisions and Brigades in the field. (18000
AIF and a considerably greater number of Imperial Troops). 50% of the unit are allowed temporary NCO rank for the following reasons:
• They have to practically carry the duties of an NCO,
• They have considerably more work to perform that the ordinary troopers, and
• It was very difficult, originally, to get volunteers’.
The AAG, AIF Egypt, in a letter 133/196 of 28 January 1918, the GOCs of ANZAC Mounted Division, Australian Mounted Division and the Imperial Camel Brigade wrote
• ‘The GOC requests that you impress upon CO’s the necessity, in the interests of the AIF, of keeping this unit (ANZAC Provost Corps) a corps d’elite. It should be regarded as an honour and a reward for good service to be selected for it’.
Apart from the distinguishing hat band, shoulder titles and armlets, it would appear that mounted military police wore the dress and colour patches of their parent units, many of which were Light Horse Regiments. It is fitting, therefore, that the current Corps colours (red over black) and vehicle unit signs are identical to those of the 7th Light Horse Regiment.
The MMP of the ANZAC Mounted Division were divided into five detachments of ten men, under the command of a SGT, and were allocated to Divisional HQ, and to
The Anzac Mounted Military Police (MMP)
10 Chiron Calling