the Jordan Valley before leading the British offensive in the final Battle of Megiddo. The 10th Light Horse Regiment was the first Allied unit to reach Damascus. A total of 331,814 Australians were sent overseas to serve as part of the AIF, which represented 13% of the Australian male population. About 2,100 women served with the 1st AIF, mainly as nurses. 18% (61,859) of those who served in the AIF were killed or died. The casualty rate (killed or wounded) was 64%, reportedly the highest of any country which took part in World War I. The AIF remained a volunteer force for the duration of the war—the only British or Dominion force to do so. Two referendums on conscription had been defeated, preserving the volunteer status, but stretching the reserves towards the end of the war. The AIF also had a desertion rate larger than Britain, mainly because the death penalty was not in force. Interwar period After the end of the First World War, the wartime Australian Imperial Force was demobilised and officially disbanded on 1 April 1921. In the post war period, the Army was reorganised with the focus being placed on the part-time Militia, which was rebuilt to consist of four infantry divisions (the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th), and two cavalry divisions (the 1st and 2nd). In addition, three mixed brigades were raised in Queensland outside the divisional structure (the 11th), Tasmania (the 12th), and Western Australia (the 13th), which would come under the 5th Division's command in the event of a war. The part-time force was maintained through a mixture of volunteers and compulsory service until the compulsory service scheme was suspended in 1929. A small regular force was maintained during this period, based around the Australian Instructional Corps and the Staff Corps, as well as a limited number of engineer, medical, artillery, ordnance, service support personnel. Training and manning through the interwar years was hampered by limited funding as a result of the Depression, as well as limited and obsolete equipment, and many units during this period were well below full strength. The contingent of soldiers sent to Britain for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937 became the first Australian soldiers to mount the King's Guard in London. In 1938 the first moves towards the establishment of a regular infantry force were undertaken with the establishment of the Darwin