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{{Short description|British cavalry regiment}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=Calcutta Light Horse
|image=
|caption=
|dates= 1872–1947
|country= British India
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Indian Army]]
|type= Cavalry Regiment
|role=
|size=
|command_structure=
|garrison=Calcutta
|garrison_label=Headquarters
|nickname=
|patron=
|motto=
|colors=
|colors_label=
|march=
|mascot=
|equipment=
|equipment_label=
|battles=Boer War<br/>Second World War
|anniversaries=
|decorations=
|battle_honours=
|disbanded=
}}
The '''Calcutta Light Horse''' was raised in 1872 and formed part of the Cavalry Reserve in the [[British Indian Army]]. The regiment was disbanded following [[India]]'s independence in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2013-10-20-83-39|title=Button, Calcutta Light Horse, 1887-1901|website=Online Collection {{!}} National Army Museum, London|access-date=2020-04-18}}</ref>

==Operation Creek==
{{Main|Operation Creek}}
On [[Military reserve|reserve]] since the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]], they are most noted for their part (with members of the [[Calcutta Scottish]])<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leasor|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umKaH9xkZskC|title=Boarding Party|date=1978|publisher=House of Stratus|isbn=978-0-7551-0135-1|pages=vii|quote=This book tells how fourteen of them, with four colleagues from the Calcutta Scottish, another Auxiliary Force unit, volunteered for a hazardous task which, for reasons the author makes plain, no-one else was able to undertake. This happened shortly before my arrival in India in 1943, as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia, and immediately saw how valuable were the results of this secret operation. }}</ref> in [[Operation Creek]] against the [[Nazi Germany|German]] merchant ship {{Interlanguage link|Ehrenfels (1936)|lt=''Ehrenfels''|de|Ehrenfels (Schiff, 1936)|WD=}}''.'' The operation was organised by [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]]'s [[Force 136|India Mission]]. It was kept covert, to avoid the political ramifications of contravening [[Portugal|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-boat]]s from [[Mormugao]] harbour in [[Portugal]]'s [[Neutral territory|neutral]] territory of [[Goa]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/soe-enlists-an-over-the-hill-gang-for-a-mission/ |title=Operation Creek: SOE Enlists an "Over the Hill Gang" for a Mission |first=Dwight Jon |last=Zimmerman|work=Defense Media Network |date=12 August 2013 |accessdate=31 July 2014}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/operation-creek-going-to-war-on-a-river-barge/ |title=Operation Creek: Going to War on a River Barge |first=Dwight Jon |last=Zimmerman|work=Defense Media Network |date=12 August 2013 |accessdate=31 July 2014}}</ref>

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.''"<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081470/trivia |title=The Sea Wolves (1980) - Trivia |work=IMDb |year=2014 |accessdate=31 July 2014}}</ref>

== Members ==
* Honorary Colonel [[Louis Mountbatten]] (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]], [[Trevor Howard]], [[Roger Moore]] and [[Patrick Macnee]].<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0081470|title=The Sea Wolves: The Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.saturday-club.com/history.html |title=History |work=The Saturday Club |year=2014 |accessdate=31 July 2014}}</ref>
* 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==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Ashley |title=The British Empire and the Second World War |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |year=2006|location=London |isbn=1-85285-417-0 |page=260 }}
* {{cite book |last=Leasor |first=James |title=Boarding Party, the Last Charge of the Calcutta Light Horse |publisher=Heinemann |year=1978 |location=London |url=http://www.jamesleasor.com/boarding-party-filmed-and-republished-in-paperback-as-the-sea-wolves/ |oclc=4191743 |isbn=0-434-41026-8 }} 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}}

[[Category:19th century in Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th century in Kolkata]]
[[Category:British Indian Army cavalry regiments|Calcutta]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1872]]
[[Category:Indian World War II regiments]]
[[Category:1872 establishments in India]]

Calcutta Light Horse - Revision history

Bot at 01:42, 26 October 2022