2nd Lieutenant F.W. Beadle, Royal Artillery gave this account of the Indian Decca horse at the Somme. "It was an incredible sight, they galloped up with their lances & with Pennants flying, up the slope to High Wood and straight into it.

Of course they were falling all the way because the infantry were attacking on the other side of the valley furthest away from us & the cavalry were attacking very near to where we were.

So the German machine guns were going for the infantry and the shells were falling all over the place. I've never seen anything like It!

They simply galloped on through all that, horses and men dropping to 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".

The cavalry had advanced in classic style and entered High Wood. They killed a number of infantry and machine gunners in the crops in front of it and captured 32 prisoners. When darkness fell they held  the road between Longueval and the corner of High Wood through the night.

The casualties that the cavalry inflicted on the Germans were precisely two less than the causalities they themselves had suffered.

As the battle continued the demand for troops led to the 'dismounting' of cavalry. Trooper Reg Lloyds, Cheshire Yeomanry gave this account "They were short of troops & no cavalry were wanted by then, so they dismounted us. It was a terrible come down. To be turned into infantrymen, was like being pole axed.

Of course, we weren't very good at walking at the best of times, never mind in those conditions. We'd just arrived in France & they gave us a couple of weeks infantry training in the Bull Ring until we were ready for the slaughter house".