Sabretache badge, Calcutta Light Horse, 1887-1901

Silver plated badge with Guelphic crown over unit monogram.

A sabretache is a type of satchel strapped to a cavalry or horse artillery officer's belt. Although originally a container for orders and maps, by the mid-nineteenth century most sabretaches had a purely decorative role.

Raised in 1872 as the Calcutta Volunteer Lancers, the Calcutta Light Horse was an auxiliary unit within the British Indian Army Cavalry Reserve.

The Calcutta Light Horse achieved notoriety during World War Two, when personnel from the unit participated in Operation CREEK in 1943. CREEK was a sabotage mission, organised by the Special Operations Executive, to blow up German shipping involved in transmitting intelligence from a neutral port in Portuguese Goa.

The unit was disbanded in 1947 when India gained Independence.

From the Field Marshal Sir John Chapple Indian Army Collection.