AL072
King & Country
In appearance the uniform of the NZ Mounted Rifles volunteers was not dissimilar to the Australian Light Horse. Both wore a slouch hat although the ‘Kiwi’ trooper does not have an emu feather in his hat band but instead has the Khaki pugree (hatband) with a forest green stripe in the centre. In addition the New Zealanders wore cloth puttees instead of the Aussies leather leggings.
This figure is also in ‘shirtsleeve’ order wearing the army blue/grey collarless shirt together with braces and belt holding up his khaki trousers. Across his chest he wears the mounted troops ammunition bandoleer. His rifle is the standard SMLE (Short Magazine Lee Enfield) .303 rifle.
Fighting alongside the Australians in Palestine, Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front were their Antipodean ‘cousins’... The New Zealanders. Although then as now New Zealand is a relatively small country (in terms of population) it has provided many thousands of fine fighting men in both world wars and other conflicts. In 1914 it offered its best volunteers to help support the “Mother Country” in its war against Germany. Among those soldiers were the men of their own “Mounted Rifle Regiments” who performed in the same military role as Australia’s Light Horse units. After arriving in Egypt in 1915 they helped form the very first joint ANZAC * mounted division.
*Australian New Zealand Army Corps
Over the years since King & country has introduced their Light Horse figures we have been requested to design and release some of their Kiwi cousins ... and this is them.