Cavalry charge

“ But although the critics oracularly pronounce that the day of cavalry charges has gone by, and blame the Germans for exposing their cavalry to the breechloader in their manœuvres, the Germans adhere to the conviction that in the teeth of the breechloader a cavalry charge is not only not an impossibility, but an offensive that may still be resorted to with splendid effect. They can point back to an actual experience. ”

“ If the charge starts at a distance of more than two feet, the cavalry loses one man for every five infantry-men charged, and the infantry loses one man for each sabre charging.
At less than two feet and more than one foot, the cavalry loses one man for every ten charged, and the infantry two men for each sabre charging. ”

“ Every leader should carefully watch the progress of a cavalry charge, and, as soon as he observes that friendly cavalry has succeeded in penetrating the hostile line or that the enemy is shaken and directs all of his fire against the charging cavalry, he should immediately advance to the attack and be upon the enemy with the bayonet before the latter recovers his senses. ”

“ General B., who had been a cavalry officer, insisted vehemently on the superiority of mounted men, declaring that it was simply nonsense to dispute the point, and that a cavalry charge would always break any square or infantry formation if made with sufficient impetuosity and pushed home as it might be. ”

“ The slightest cavalry charge on the flank of infantry will rout it.
3. As to a cavalry attack in front: If the infantry stand firm, the chances are against its success. If the infantry cannot be attacked in flank, the cavalry should therefore wait till it has been shattered by artillery, or has become exhausted, or demoralized, or till it begins to manœuvre.
4. If the infantry be in line, or in column, cavalry should attack it in flank; if in square, at one of its angles; if in several squares, at one of its flank ones, so as to avoid a cross-fire from the other squares. ”

“ In attempting to outflank an enemy with the mobile portion of his force, the general of the next war will find his flanking movement met by the mobile portion of his opponent's army. The result is to be either a return to the old cavalry charges against cavalry or an artillery duel. The latter, I believe, will be the case. The cavalry of the future will be a mixture of the mounted infantry men and the cavalry men, and as such will be able to stop with rifle fire any attempts at the old-fashioned charge, and the verdict will be pronounced by the gunners. ”

“ To describe a real cavalry charge, however, where sabres are crossed and skulls are cleaved, as was the case at Franklin on the 17th inst., and do it justice, is impossible. One may tell how hundreds of well-drilled, well-mounted men, with clean blades, seen through the clear morning air, moving like machinery, is a sight not often seen, and a splendid embodiment or representation of power, and in the rush of a charge may liken it to the tornado, that must sweep the earth unless averted. ”

“ I will say at once that I think it most undesirable, even under favorable circumstances, that cavalry should charge a formed square and men armed with the breech loader. At best the gain can be but local and partial, while the loss to the cavalry—an arm so difficult to keep up in numbers—must be disastrous, and it seems to me that if cavalry by its appearance can force infantry to form square, it has done enough, and that the artillery, infantry, and machine guns should do the rest. ”

“ Cavalry should have one pistol; heavy cavalry, with lances and sabres and some few carbines, should be employed to fight infantry, the light cavalry to finish. The hussar or light cavalry soldier will, single-handed, beat the lancer. Cuirassiers should be armed with the lance and straight sword. The first rank should charge with the lance couched, and the second rank with the sabre in hand. As soon as the shock is effected, and the ranks are mingled, the sabres must do their duty. Lancers are equally successful against cavalry in line, especially if the enemy have only sabres. ”

“ When the cavalry came upon us our lines were just thin enough for a splendid charge upon artillery, but too thin to venture against a formidable cavalry. Five thousand prisoners were turned over to General Lee’s provost-guard, a number of batteries and many thousand small-arms to the Ordnance Department, by my command. ”

“ In approach and deployment we must indeed ride stirrup to stirrup, and under certain circumstances in even looser formation. But for the charge against cavalry we need a closer formation, knee to knee as of old, which can be effected on the move by word of command, as in France, where the order "Serrez les rangs!" ”

“ Heavy bodies of mounted men dashed up to support the enemy's broken line, and for some minutes, with broken ranks, in confused order, and without leaders, we fought hand to hand. We were being forced back by the weight of superior numbers, when our support, the Thirteenth Regiment, came up, and, making a magnificent, dashing charge upon the enemy, enabled us to rally, reform our ranks, and charge again. This last charge was decisive, and we were victors on this part of the field, the enemy being driven back under cover of their infantry and artillery on Miller's Hill. ”

“ Without rifle power Cavalry lose all effective mobility. They can ride about in vacuo, so to speak; but directly they enter the zone of rifle-fire they are paralyzed, unless they can use their horses and their rifles in effective combination. Then they can do what they please. Then, if necessary, they can even charge mounted, though that function is no more inseparably associated with their action than the charge at the double is inseparably associated with the action of Infantry. ”

“ If cavalry can succeed, especially in battles of several days' duration, in interrupting the hostile supplies from the rear, in surprising the enemy's reserves with fire, causing him heavy loss and compelling him to deploy against it, or if any advancing portions of the enemy's army can be brought to a halt and prevented from reaching the battlefield at the right time, greater results will probably be obtained than by a doubtful charge. ”

“ The war has been full of surprising results as regards cavalry. It was popularly supposed that in facing such terrible modern weapons as the repeating rifle of long range, the machine gun and the automatic field pieces which have become so well known as the French "75s," any body of cavalry which attempted to charge the enemy would be annihilated. ”

“ A great fault in your cavalry is their not having their horses sufficiently under command: there must be something wrong in the bit, as on one or two occasions in a charge, they could not stop their horses: our troops opened to the right and left, let them pass through, and then closed their ranks again, when they were either killed or taken prisoners. ”

“ The division of six regiments, under circumstances where its full strength can be employed in the charge, represents, even against troops using the rifle, a very considerable fighting power, which can, if judiciously handled and launched at the right moment, have a decisive effect, even in a battle of armies. ”

“ The most effectual mode of protecting the flank of a line or column of cavalry is by means of squadrons in rear, formed in echelons extending outwards; as this exposes the enemy's cavalry that may attempt to charge the main body in flank to be immediately charged in flank themselves; which would be destruction. For this purpose, irregular cavalry may be as effective as any other.
3. This cavalry support or reserve behind the flanks may sometimes play an important offensive part. The enemy's first line, the instant after either making or receiving a charge, is always in greater or less disorder ”

“ A regiment was ordered up mounted to make a charge. I heard the colonel giving his orders. "Men," he said, "use the saber only; I will cut down any man who fires a shot." This was to prevent shooting our own men in the melee, and in the darkness. Inquiring, I learned it was the First (West) Virginia cavalry. This regiment which belonged in the First brigade had been ordered to report to Custer. At the word, the gallant regiment rushed like the wind down the mountain road, "yelling like troopers," as they were, and good ones too, capturing everything in their way. ”

“ It was then perceived that the high land to our left commanded the whole field, and was a strategic point of great importance. The regiment, which was resting in column of fours, was ordered to charge up the hill to save the dismounted men. They came up in column, forming rapidly into line as they approached near to that of the enemy. The last squadrons did not halt on the alignment, but dashed upon the foe with the sabre, who broke, and were driven off in confusion. ”

“ This means for the cavalry, in by far the greater number of cases, always at least where a charge is in prospect, the simultaneous engaging of its whole fighting strength, naturally in that tactical formation which the conditions of weapons demand. If in its independent operations cavalry must be dealt with as a strategical body, and thus employed in the fight, it is in the main battle a purely tactical body, which must be engaged en masse, and not in detail. ”

“ Being then suddenly charged in flank by the Russian cavalry, they were driven back with heavy loss; the Allies recapturing twenty of the twenty-six guns they had lost.
The troopers employed to scout the ground before a charge would not be in much danger from the enemy, who would hardly fire on a horseman or two, especially when expecting a charge.
11. Cavalry must never pursue, unless its supports are close at hand.
In pursuing, it must be circumspect, and not go too far. Union and order are indispensable; for, without them, a slight resistance may suffice to cause a repulse. ”

“ While the British and French horsemen were warmly engaged, the twenty-seventh and fortieth regiments, supported by a Portuguese brigade, came rushing down the hill and broke the French infantry with an impetuous bayonet charge; the Fourteenth and German hussars had, in the meantime, driven back the French cavalry, and the two regiments charged the broken infantry, and sabred some, and made others prisoners. The regiment had eighteen men and twenty horses killed; Captain Brotherton, Lieutenants John Gwynne, Francis Fowke, thirty-four rank and file, and eighteen horses wounded. ”

“ The cavalryman can only strike to his right, and in this way each one strikes. Against ancient infantry such charges would have been as valuable as against modern infantry. This officer saw with his own eyes excellent examples of this attack in the wars of the Empire. I do not doubt either the facts he cites or the deductions he makes. But for such charges there must be officers who inspire absolute confidence in their men and dependable and experienced soldiers. There is necessary, in short, an excellent cavalry, seasoned by long wars, and officers and men of very firm resolution. ”

“ I believe the whole Army would rejoice if they would cross the River and attack us, as I am quite confident we should beat them, though they have 80 pieces of cannon. Their Cavalry is much inferior to ours in every respect, and they have such want of horses that they have taken all the Infantry officers’ horses to mount their cavalry, and which has given great disgust, and would, I should think, benefit them very little. ”

“ My personal observations have led me to believe that aside from their uses in reconnoissance, the principal value of cavalry is as mounted infantry held in reserve. When fighting, cavalry must dismount. Early in the war there were occasions when cavalry fought while mounted, [Pg 337] and whether against artillery, infantry, or other cavalry, the chief result was the killing of nearly all the horses.
In the Austrian, Hungarian, and French armies many cavalry regiments have been converted into infantry. ”

“ As the artillery had not yet come up, the cavalry were to open a passage for the infantry through these Imperialists; and to us was reserved the honour of attacking the enemy's cavalry if our comrades failed, for it has been a maxim in war since the days of Julius Cæsar to keep the best troops in reserve. ”

“ No man or woman of any sensibility can help feeling proudly stirred when a Cavalry regiment goes by. The clean, alert, upright men, with their sure seat; the massive war-horses champing their bits and shaking their accoutrements: the rhythmic thud of hoofs, the keen glitter of steel, and the general air of power, all combine to form a spectacle that sets the pulses beating faster. ”

“ In order to get freedom of manœuvre for our squadrons to a flank, cavalry are bound to meet an enemy’s cavalry force, possibly belonging to an enemy whose cavalry does not leave its horse artillery behind with the corps artillery in a great general engagement. ”

“ You send out one of our mounted regiments to look for a mounted rebel regiment, and the moment it finds what it's lookin' for the rebs give a pleased sort of yell, and ours turn tail. Because it's become a habit: that's why our cavalry runs! And then the fun begins! Lord God Almighty! what's the matter with our cavalry?"
"You can't make cavalry in a few months," observed a colonel of heavy artillery, stretching his fat, scarlet-striped legs in his stirrups. "What do you expect? Every man, woman, and child south of Mason and Dixon's Line knows how to ride. The Southerners are born horsemen. ”

“ It is obvious, then, that in the attack of infantry, whether unshaken or shaken, the extended line of charging cavalry will find their most reliable support in horse artillery and machine-gun fire and not in the fire of dismounted men. ”