Publisher's Synopsis
Few people today have heard of the Great Ride, let alone remember it as the last triumph using massed cavalry. What most people remember is Lawrence of Arabia's version, that it was this romanticised figure who virtually single-handed led the Arab troops to victory and took Damascus in the name and authority of Arab army chief Prince Reisal. The truth is different. The Australian Light Horse was the critical factor. At dawn on 1 October 1918 they galloped through gunfire and took the city. Some of the Turkish and German troops had already fled, realising that they could not hold out against twenty miles of horsemen who had already taken 75,000 prisoners in a fortnight.
Jill Hamilton tells how Damascus was defended by the same Turkish general who had headed the defence of Gallipoli, and how for many of the Australian troops, the taking of Damascus was a 'getting even' for that defeat. She describes the courage, endurance and mateship that made the desert crossing possible and pays homage to the deep and important bond between horse and rider that enabled so many men and animals to survive.
