The Calcutta Light Horse was raised in 1872 and formed part of the Cavalry Reserve in the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. The regiment was disbanded following India's independence in 1947.

Operation Creek

On reserve since the Boer War, they are most noted for their part (with members of the

Calcutta Scottish The Calcutta Scottish was a regiment of volunteers of Scottish descent raised in 1914 as an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment formed part of the army reserves of the Auxiliary Force, India (AFI). The regimental dress unifo ...

) in

Operation Creek Operation Creek (also known as Operation Longshanks) was a covert military operation undertaken by Britain's Special Operations Executive in World War II on 9 March 1943. It involved a nighttime attack by members of the Calcutta Light Horse a ...

against the German merchant ship ''.'' The operation was organised by

SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Opera ...

's India Mission. It was kept covert, to avoid the political ramifications of contravening Portuguese neutrality in Goa, and was not revealed until thirty-five years afterwards, in 1978. The ''Ehrenfels'' was known to be transmitting information on Allied ship movements to U-boats from Mormugao harbour in Portugal's neutral territory of Goa. The Light Horse embarked on the barge ''Phoebe'' at Calcutta and sailed around India to Goa. After the ''Ehrenfels'' was sunk in March 1943 by the team of British saboteurs, British intelligence dispatched an open message over the air falsely warning that the British would invade Goa. The crews of the other two German merchant ships in the harbour, the ''Drachenfels'' and ''Braunfels'', received the message and scuttled their ships in Goa's harbour in the belief that they were protecting their ships from capture by the British. Italian ships in the harbour were also destroyed. In 1951 all three German merchant ships were salvaged. As the end credits of the 1980 film '' The Sea Wolves'' state, "''during the first 11 days of March 1943, U-boats sank 12 Allied ships in the Indian Ocean. After the Light Horse raid on Goa, only one ship was lost in the remainder of the month.''"

Members

* Honorary Colonel

Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of German ...

(1947) * Colonel Archie Pugh 1890-1922 (1912-1922 as Colonel) * Colonel Bill Grice * Colonel John Pugh * Corporal John Raymond * Sir Owain Jenkins * Ralph Wesley Dennis

Media

In 1978 James Leasor wrote an account of the ''Ehrenfels'' mission in the book ''Boarding Party: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse''. The film '' The Sea Wolves'' based on the book was made in 1980, with actors David Niven,

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

, Trevor Howard, Roger Moore and Patrick Macnee.

Legacy

* The ''Light Horse Bar'' at the Saturday Club (Kolkata), Saturday Club in Kolkata is named after the regiment. The club was founded in 1878 and is located on Wood Street. The bar houses a collection of regimental memorabilia. * The ''Calcutta Light Horse Bar'' at the Oriental Club in London is named after the regiment. * British Eventing presents a ''Calcutta Light Horse Trophy'' to the owner of the British horse gaining the highest number of points during a horse racing season.

Notes

References

* * Republished in paperback as ''The Sea Wolves'' (1980) with a special foreword by Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Lord Mountbatten of Burma. {{Authority control 19th century in Kolkata 20th century in Kolkata British Indian Army cavalry regiments, Calcutta Military units and formations established in 1872 Indian World War II regiments 1872 establishments in India