but had each lost an experienced company, which had been replaced by recruits. Ten battalions were formed from experienced troops who had never fought or trained together. The other 22 had not seen any prior service in the war, in total almost a third of the troops were recruits. Within 44 British Indian Army battalions, the "junior British officers were green, and most could not speak Hindustani. In one battalion, only one Indian officer spoke English and only two British officers could communicate with their men." Two British Indian Army divisions arrived in January and April 1918 from the Mesopotamia campaign. They were the 7th (Meerut) Division followed by the 3rd (Lahore) Division. Only the 54th (East Anglian) Division remained, as previously, an all British division. Reorganisation of EEF cavalry The British Indian Army's 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions, which had fought on the Western Front since 1914, were disbanded. They were reformed in the Middle East, with yeomanry regiments replacing British regular cavalry regiments, which remained on the Western Front. Nine British yeomanry regiments from the Yeomanry Mounted Division (Desert Mounted Corps) were sent to France to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force fighting the Spring Offensive. Three of the remaining yeomanry regiments, the 1/1st Dorset Yeomanry, the 1/1st County of London Yeomanry, and the 1/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry, which had previously formed part of the 6th, 8th and 22nd Mounted Brigades, along with newly arrived British Indian Army units transferred from France, formed the 4th Cavalry Division. Another two of the remaining yeomanry regiments, the 1/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and 1/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry which had belonged to the 5th and 7th Mounted Brigades, with newly arrived British Indian Army units transferred from France, and the renamed 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, formed the 5th Cavalry Division. The 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade had served during the Ottoman Raid on Suez Canal and in the Sinai and Palestine since December 1914, as the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade. Both the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions were assigned to the Desert Mounted Corps which had lost the Yeomanry Cavalry Division during the reorganisation. Five of the six brigades in the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions were composed of one British yeomanry and two Indian cavalry regiments. The sixth brigade (in the 5th Cavalry Division), the 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, consisted of three regiments of Imperial Service Troops, which represented and were