{{Short description|Camel trained and guided by humans for combat}} [[File:The camel corps at Beersheba2.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] camel corps at [[Beersheba]] during the [[First Suez Offensive]] of [[World War I]], 1915.]] '''Camel cavalry''', or '''camelry''' ({{langx|fr|méharistes}}, {{IPA|fr|meaʁist|pron}}), is a generic designation for [[armed forces]] using [[camel]]s as a [[means of transportation]]. Sometimes [[warrior]]s or [[soldier]]s of this type also fought from camel-back with [[spear]]s, [[bow and arrow|bow]]s, or [[firearm]]s.
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 [[horse]]s 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]].<ref name=herodotus>{{cite book | author = Herodotus (440 BC) | others = Rawlinson, George (trans.)| title = The History of Herodotus | accessdate = 4 December 2012 | url = http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html|quote=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.}}</ref><ref name=historygroup-nz>{{cite web | publisher = History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage | title = Cameliers and camels at war | work = New Zealand History online | access-date = 5 December 2012 | date = 30 August 2009 | url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/camel-corps }}</ref>
==Early history== [[File:Camel Rider,.jpg|thumb|A [[Purbiya]] camel rider in [[Bihar]], [[India]] in 1825.]]
The first recorded use of the camel as a [[military animal]] was by the [[Qedarites|Qedarite Arab]] king [[Gindibu]] who employed 1,000 camels at the [[Battle of Qarqar]] in 853 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Álvarez |first=Jorge |date=2019-04-03 |title=Kurkh Monolith, the first documentary reference to Israel and the Arabs |url=https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/04/kurkh-monolith-the-first-documentary-reference-to-israel-and-the-arabs/ |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=LBV Magazine English Edition |language=en}}</ref> They were reportedly later used in the [[Battle of Thymbra]] in 547 BCE, between [[Cyrus the Great]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] and [[Croesus]] of [[Lydia]]. According to [[Xenophon]], Cyrus' cavalry was outnumbered by six to one. Acting on information from one of his generals that the Lydian horses shied away from camels, Cyrus formed the camels from his [[baggage train]] into an ''[[ad hoc]]'' camel-corps with armed riders replacing packs. Although not technically employed as cavalry, the camels' smell and appearance were critical in panicking the Lydian cavalry and turning the battle in Cyrus' favour.<ref>Jim Hicks, ''The Persians'', Time-Life Books, 1975, page 21</ref>
More than sixty years later, the Achaemenid emperor [[Xerxes I]] recruited a large number of Arab mercenaries into his massive army during the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]], all of whom were equipped with bows and mounted on camels. Herodotus noted that the Arab camel cavalry numbered as many as twenty thousand, including a massive force of Libyan charioteers. Recruited from the nomadic tribes of Arabia and Syria, the camel-mounted mercenaries in Achaemenid service fought as skirmishing archers, sometimes riding two to a camel.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jack |last=Cassin-Scott |page=34 |title=The Greek and Persian Wars 500-323 BC |date=June 1977 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=0-85045-271-6}}</ref>
According to [[Herodian]], the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian emperor]] king [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabanus IV]] ({{reign | {{circa}} 213 | 224}}) employed a unit consisting of heavily armored soldiers equipped with lances ([[kontos (weapon)|kontos]]) and riding on camels.<ref>Herodian of Antioch, History of the Roman Empire (1961) [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/herodian_04_book4.htm pp.108-134. Book 4]. CHAPTER XIV</ref>
The [[Roman Empire]] used locally enlisted camel riders along the Arabian frontier during the 2nd century.<ref>{{cite book|first=Rafaele|last=D'Amato|page=41|title=Roman Army Units in the Eastern Provinces (1)|date=23 May 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-4728-2176-8}}</ref> The first of these, the {{lang | la | Ala I Ulpia Dromoedariorum Palmyrenorum}} from [[Palmyra]], saw service under the Emperor [[Trajan]]. Arab camel-troops or [[dromedarii]] were employed during the [[Later Roman Empire]] for escort, desert-policing, and scouting duties.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gabriele |last=Esposito |page=85 |title=The Late Roman Army |date=3 May 2016 |publisher=Winged Hussar |isbn =978-0-9963657-9-6}}</ref> Their normal weaponry included long swords of Persian style, bows, and daggers.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jack |last=Cassin-Scott |pages=37–38 |title=Roman Army Units in the Eastern Provinces (2) |date=2022 |publisher =Bloomsbury USA |isbn =978-1-4728-5049-2}}</ref>
The camel was used as a mount by pre-Islamic civilizations in the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book |first =David |last=Nicolle |pages=20 & 21 |title=Rome's Enemies 5. The Desert Frontier |date=26 March 1991 |publisher =Bloomsbury USA |isbn =1-85532-166-1}}</ref> As early as the 1st century AD [[Nabataean Kingdom|Nabatean]] and [[Palmyrene Empire|Palmyrene]] armies employed camel-mounted infantry and archers recruited from nomadic tribes of Arabian origin.<ref>{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Rocca |page=46 |title=The Army of Herod the Great |date=24 November 2009 |publisher =Bloomsbury USA |isbn =978-1-84603-206-6}}</ref> Typically, such levies would dismount and fight on foot rather than from camel-back.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |pages=34 & 37 |title=Rome's Enemies 5. The Desert Frontier |date=26 March 1991 |publisher =Bloomsbury USA |isbn =1-85532-166-1}}</ref> The initial campaigns of [[Muhammad]] and his followers made extensive use of camels.<ref name="sealednectar2">{{citation |title=The sealed nectar: biography of the Noble Prophet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_80rJHIaOMC&pg=PA246 |first=Saifur Rahman Al |last=Mubarakpuri |year=2005 |publisher=Darussalam Publications |isbn=978-9960-899-55-8 |page=246}}</ref> Subsequently, Arabs used camel-mounted infantry to outmaneuver their [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] enemies during the [[early Muslim conquests]].<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Nicolle |page=11 |title=The Armies of Islam 7th-11th Centuries |date=29 July 1982 |publisher =Bloomsbury USA |isbn =085045-448-4}}</ref>
The [[Göktürks]] used camel cavalry according to the [[Buddhist]] [[pilgrim]] [[Xuanzang]] from [[Tang China]] (d. 664), who visited the western Göktürk capital [[Suyab]] (in present-day [[Kyrgyzstan]]) and left a description of the [[Tong Yabghu Qaghan]] and his army. "The rest of his military retinue [was] clothed in fur, [[Serge (fabric)|serge]] and fine wool, the spears and [[Asena|standards]] and bows in order, and the riders of camels and horses stretched far out of [sight]."<ref>Adapted from Watters I:74,77.</ref>
==Modern era== [[File:Shaffron (Head Defense) for a Camel MET DP169744.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Shaffron]] (head defense) for a camel (Turkey, possibly 17th century).]] [[Image:Ikhwan.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bedouin]] soldiers of the [[Ikhwan]] army in the Arabian peninsula.]] [[File:Camillo Bechis alla testa delle truppe cammellate.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Dubats|Italian Dubats]] in Somalia in the 1930s.]] [[Napoleon]] employed a camel corps for the [[French invasion of Egypt and Syria]]. During the late 19th and much of the 20th centuries, camel troops were used for desert policing and patrol work in the British, French, German, Spanish, and Italian colonial armies. Descendants of such units still form part of the modern [[Moroccan Army|Moroccan]] and [[Egyptian Army|Egyptian]] armies and the paramilitary [[Indian Border Security Force]].
The British-officered Egyptian Camel Corps played a significant role in the 1898 [[Battle of Omdurman]];<ref>{{cite book|first=I. B.|last=Tauris|pages=84–85|title=Kitchener. Hero and Anti-Hero|date=28 April 2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-78453-350-2}}</ref> one of the few occasions during this period when this class of mounted troops took part in substantial numbers in a set-piece battle. The [[Ottoman Army]] maintained camel companies as part of its Yemen and Hejaz Corps, both before and during [[World War I]].
The Italians used [[Dubat]] camel troops in [[Italian Somaliland]], mainly for frontier patrol during the 1920s and 1930s. These Dubats participated in the Italian conquest of the [[Ogaden]] in 1935–1936 during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]].
Colonial authorities in the [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco]] used locally recruited camel troops in the northern part of the protectorate, mainly for frontier patrol work from the 1930s until 1956. Forming part of the ''Tropas Nomades del Sahara'', these camel-mounted units had a limited local role in the [[Spanish Civil War]] during 1936–1939.<ref> Jose M. Bueno, pages 155–156, ''Uniformes Militares de la Guerra Civil Espanola'', Liberia Editorial San Martin, Madrid 1971</ref>
[[Bikaner State]] (now [[Bikaner]], [[Rajasthan]]) maintained a unit called the [[Bikaner Camel Corps]] that fought in [[China]] during the [[Boxer Rebellion]] in 1900, in [[Somaliland]] from 1902 to 1904 during the [[Somaliland Campaign]], in [[Egypt]] during the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I]] in 1915 where they destroyed the Turkish forces during the [[Raid on the Suez Canal]] with a camel cavalry charge and in the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II]].
=== Post-WWII === The auxiliary defense forces of the [[Kingdom of Jaisalmer]], which had by then become a part of India, also established a camel-mounted defense battalion in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sukhdev |date=2024-07-25 |title=The Bhati Rajputs of Jaisalmer |url=https://studentera.in/the-bhati-rajputs-of-jaisalmer/#Military_Organization |access-date=2024-12-31 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="apelle" /> They were used for transportation purposes during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948]]. Both the camelry units were handed over to the [[Indian Army]]'s [[The Grenadiers|Grenadiers Regiment]] during the 1951 merger of the local Rajasthani armies with the Grenadiers. They were incorporated into the regiment as its 13th battalion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-05 |title=Rajputs State forces to modern Indian Army: A millennium of military service |url=https://www.rajputcommunity.in/t/rajputs-state-forces-to-modern-indian-army-a-milllenium-of-military-service/250 |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Rajput Community Forum |language=en}}</ref> The Grenadiers used them for both transportation and fighting during the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965]] where they prevented Pakistani forces from infiltrating and capturing territory intended to be used as negotiating chips in the Bikaner and Jaisalmer sectors both before and after the ceasefire. Major Jai Singh carried out a camel-mounted raid inside the Pakistani post of [[Ghoriwala]]. Another camel-assisted Indian attack at [[Tanot]] led to the deaths of 102 Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, and successfully regained a large amount of Indian territory.<ref name="apelle" /> Many Indian Army camels were also given to the [[Border Security Force]] (BSF) upon its conception in the aftermath of the 1965 war.<ref name="sten" />
In 1966, the Grenadiers added another camelry battalion, the 17th battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel KS Harihar Singh.<ref name="apelle" /> In 1967, a camel artillery regiment, the [[1851 Light Regiment (India)|185 Light Regiment (Pack)]], was also raised. The 185 Light Regiment (Pack) gave away its camels to the Border Security Force in 1971 on the insistence of [[Major General (India)|Major General]] [[J. F. R. Jacob]], the then-commander of the army's [[Eastern Command (India)|Eastern Command]] and a major advocate for mobile warfare who found camels to be too old fashioned for modern military use and had them replaced with gun-towing vehicles,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1971 Battle of Longewala: A night of confusion, Sam Manekshaw's order, Pakistan's folly |date=3 December 2019 |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/the-1971-battle-of-longewala-a-night-of-confusion-sam-manekshaws-order-pakistans-folly/329321/}}</ref> however the 13th and 17th Grenadier battalions<ref name="apelle" /> and the Border Security Force<ref name="sten" /> continued to use camels for infantry purposes. In the same year, camels were once again used in the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]] by both the grenadiers as well as the BSF, who fought alongside the army in the Eastern Theatre.<ref name="sten" /> The 13 and the 17th camel-mounted Grenadier battalions fought in the Bikaner and [[Gadra Road railway station|Gadra]] sectors where they captured a significant amount of territory.<ref name="apelle" /> Five BSF camels were killed in the [[Battle of Longewala]], one of the most significant battles of the war.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Years-later-Longewala-reminds-the-do-or-die-battle/articleshow/27554710.cms|title = Years later, Longewala reminds the do-or-die battle | Jaipur News – Times of India| website=[[The Times of India]] | date=18 December 2013 }}</ref> The Indian Army finally stopped using camels in 1975. A local officer rejected a subsequent attempt to convert the 13th Grenadiers battalion and the 24th Rajput battalions into camel-mounted units.<ref name="apelle">{{cite web |url=http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/india/camel_1948-75.html |title=The Indian Army's Camel Troops 1948–75 |first=Ravi |last=Rikhye |year=2003 |work=Orders of Battle |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614005707/http://orbat.com/site/history/historical/india/camel_1948-75.html |archive-date=14 June 2006}}</ref>
=== 21st century === Camels are still used by the [[Border Security Force]] for patrolling the remote areas of the [[Thar Desert]] lying along the [[India–Pakistan border]] in [[Rajasthan]]. Camels are purchased between ages five and six and trained at the Camel Training Centre at the BSF Frontier Headquarters at [[Jodhpur]]. They serve for 15–16 years and are retired from service at the age of 21. The camels used by the BSF are from three different breeds. The ''Jaisalmeris'' and the ''Bikaneris'' are used for border patrol, while the ''Nachnas'' are used for ceremonial duties. The BSF is also known for the yearly participation of its camel contingent in the [[Delhi Republic Day parade|Delhi Parade]] for the occasion of the [[Republic Day (India)|Indian Republic Day]] since 1976. Inspector General KS Rathore is credited with enhancing the band's capabilities during his years as an inspector general from 1986 to 1989. The camel contingent has two groups, one consisting of camels ridden by border guards and the other being [[Border Security Force Camel Band]], consisting of camels walking along with musicians who march on foot. Both of these elements perform together during the march of the camel contingent. The contingent generally consists of 90 camels.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-12-29 |title=BSF to buy over 300 camels for patrolling Indo-Pak border |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/bsf-to-buy-over-300-camels-for-patrolling-indo-pak-border/articleshow/96584208.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-07-16 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref name="sten">{{Cite web |last=Menon |first=Aparna |date=2015-12-01 |title=Did you know The Border Security Force has a camel band? Here's all about BSF and Its Camels. |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/39521/border-security-force-bsf-camelry-camel-band/ |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=The Better India |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=News Headlines, English News, Today Headlines, Top Stories |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>
During the [[2011 Egyptian revolution]] on February 2, 2011, pro government [[Baltagiya]] riding camels and horses using swords and machetes attacked protesters in [[Tahrir Square]] in a [[medieval]]-like cavalry charge, it is the last recorded use of camel cavalry in an attack.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Egypt's 'Battle of the Camel': The day the tide turned - Politics - Egypt |url=https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/33470.aspx |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Ahram Online}}</ref>
The Jordanian Desert Patrol still uses camels.<ref>[http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2010/10/2010101671526265438.html Jordan's Bedouin 'desert forces' - Middle East - Al Jazeera English. 2010<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
[[Image:BSF-Republic day.jpeg|thumb|India's [[Border Security Force]] [[Border Security Force Camel Band|Camel Contingent]] during the annual [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]] Parade.]] [[Image:UN Soldiers in Eritrea.jpeg|thumb|In reconnaissance duties, camels may still be used. Here, [[United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea|United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea peacekeeper]]s on patrol in [[Eritrea]].]]
==Examples== *[[Bikaner Camel Corps]] (Indian) *[[Dromedarii]] (Roman) *[[Imperial Camel Corps]] (British Empire) *[[Méhariste]] (French) *[[Somaliland Camel Corps]] *[[Sudan Defence Force]] *[[Tropas Nómadas]] (Spanish) *[[United States Camel Corps]] *[[Zaptié]] (Italian) *[[Zamburak]] (camel-mounted artillery)
==See also== *[[War wagon]] *[[Camel train]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Military animals}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camel Cavalry}} [[Category:Camel cavalry| ]] [[Category:Desert warfare]] [[Category:Combat occupations]] [[Category:Combat occupations of the late modern period]] [[Category:Military animals]]