page_title: Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment
section_title: Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment / History / Formation
caption_attribution_description: English: Auckland Mounted Rifles marching along Upper Symonds Street, Auckland, September 1914
context_page_description: The Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment was a mounted infantry regiment from New Zealand raised, in August 1914, for service during the First World War. It was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
  The regiment was established with twenty-six officers, 523 other ranks and 600 horses. It was formed from three squadrons belonging to pre war Territorial Force regiments: the 3rd Mounted Rifles, the 4th Mounted Rifles and the 11th Mounted Rifles. It included a small headquarters and, until 1916, a Maxim machine-gun section. During the war, the Maxim guns were withdrawn but the regiment's fire-power increased until each squadron had four Hotchkiss machine-guns, one per troop, by the end of the war.
  As mounted infantry, the regiment rode into battle on their horses but were expected to dismount and fight on foot. The regiment fought predominantly against the forces of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Their first engagement was in the Gallipoli Campaign between May and December 1915, during which they participated in the largest battle of that theatre at Chunuk Bair and the fighting for Hill 60.
context_section_description: The Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment was raised in August 1914, at the start of the First World War, from the region around Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand. The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Ernest Randolph Mackesy,  and comprised a headquarters, a machine-gun section and three squadrons formed from Territorial Force regiments. The New Zealand Territorial Force included a compulsory training system and New Zealand's four military districts were required to supply a mounted regiment for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. To meet that obligation, each of the Territorial Force regiments provided a squadron, which kept its own regimental badges and traditions. The squadrons for the Auckland Mounted Rifles came from the 3rd (Auckland) Mounted Rifles, the 4th (Waikato) Mounted Rifles and the 11th (North Auckland) Mounted Rifles.
  Upon its establishment, the regiment comprised twenty-six officers and 523 other ranks, who were mounted on 528 riding horses, seventy-four draught horses and six pack horses. Each squadron of 158 men had a field headquarters and four troops. Although the regiment used horses, they were not cavalry but mounted infantry, and were expected to ride to the battlefield, dismount and fight as traditional infantry. The regiment was assigned to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, serving alongside two other mounted infantry regiments—the Wellington Mounted Rifles and the Canterbury Mounted Rifles.
caption: Auckland Mounted Rifles marching along Upper Symonds Street, Auckland, September 1914.
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