BRITISH WWI CAMEL CORPS

British troops serving in the Middle East relatively quickly adapted camels as pack animals and for the transport of various goods. In 1914, the British army formed The Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which at the height of World War I had as many as 73,000 camels and - as the name suggests - was used for transport purposes. However, at the beginning of 1916, a combat unit was formed, which in December of the same year was transformed into the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade. This unit consisted of four infantry battalions and support units, including artillery batteries, a machine gun squadron and an engineer sub-unit. At its peak, the brigade numbered around 4,100-4,200 men and 4,800 camels. The unit was subordinate to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and took part mainly in actions in Sinai and Palestine against Turkish troops. The unit was disbanded in 1919.