"Spahis form honour guard on way to cemetery", possibly post WW I. They are wearing white cloaks and riding horses. There are civilians lined up along the route. NOTE: It was originally mislabelled as "French Foreign Legion (legion etrangere) - Mounted Section." Spahis were light cavalry regiments of the French Army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now recruited in mainland France. Spahis were sent to France at the outbreak of war in August 1914. They saw service during the opening period of mobile warfare but inevitably their role diminished with the advent of trench warfare. During World War I the number of units increased with the creation of Moroccan Spahi regiments and the expansion of the Algerian arm. By 1918 there were seven Spahi regiments then in existence, all having seen service on the Western Front, in addition a detached squadron had served in Palestine against the Ottoman Empire.