The advantages of camels in a desert environment are well known, However the British Army forces serving in Egypt at the start of the First World War did not possess their own camel formation.

The first units of what became the Imperial Camel Corps, were four company sized formations, deployed on long range patrols around the Suez Canal and the Sinai Desert.

They were raised in Egypt in January 1916, from Australians returning from the failed Gallipoli Campaign. The first camels were supplied by the Indian princely state of Bikaner, the same animals that were used by the Bikaner Camel Corps.

These camels were later only used as draught animals and the lighter Egyptian camel was the mount chosen for carrying troops. The camels could cover an average distance of 3 miles (4.8 km) an hour, or 6 miles (9.7 km) an hour trotting, while carrying a soldier, his equipment and supplies.

Camels Filing Through Abandoned Trenches

The elephants of all major zoos - and circuses - in Britain, France and Germany were put to work during the war - due to the lack of horses, which were being conscripted.

Elephant Towing Heavy Machinery in Sheffield

French Working Elephant