Three minority reigns followed that of Jaswant Singh II; those of his son Sardar Singh (1895–98-1911), grandson Sumer Singh (1911-16-1918) and younger grandson Umaid Singh (1918–1923) but with Sir Pratap Singh as the Regent (1895–98, 1911–1916 and 1918–1922)), Marwar's development remained top priority. In 1914 Pratap took the Rathore cavalry, The Jodhpur Lancers, to the First World War. After a three years of trench warfare in France they moved to the Middle East. There they covered themselves with glory. Indeed, their charge and capture of Haifa (now in Israel) in 1918 against Turkish machine gun fire, with quicksand and a river to negotiate, is regarded by many as the finest cavalry action ever in the history of warfare.
The Jodhpur Lancers would return to the Middle East in the Second World War to protect oil fields and pipelines.
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