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Postcard: After the first cavalry charge, July 1916

 

 

The reverse of this postcard reads: "A way-side group of gallant Indian cavalrymen, some of whom greatly enjoyed their share in the charge through the cornfields at High Wood on July 14th, 1916, with the Dragoon Guards."

This attack, by the 20th Deccan Horse and 7th Dragoon Guards, was described eloquently by an eyewitness:

"It was an incredible sight, an unbelievable sight, they galloped up with their lances and with pennants flying, up the slope to High Wood and straight into it. Of course they were falling all the way ... I've never seen anything like it! They simply galloped on through all that and horses and men dropping on the ground, with no hope against the machine-guns, because the Germans up on the ridge were firing down into the valley where the soldiers were. It was an absolute rout. A magnificent sight. Tragic." (2nd Lieutenant F.W. Beadle, Royal Artillery, in Lyn Macdonald, Somme, pp.137-38)