Cavalry division

“ The board concluded that, except for distant reconnaissance by airplanes, the missions of mounted troops—screening, shock action, and tactical reconnaissance—remained important on the postwar battlefield. To conduct such missions, the cavalry division needed to capitalize on its mobility and firepower. Finding the 1917 unit of 18,000 men too large, the board entertained two proposals for reorganizing it. One called for a division of three cavalry regiments, an artillery regiment, and appropriate combat and service support units ”

“ The 3rd Cavalry Division, on the other hand, had no part or parcel in this Cavalry Corps, being a separate and independent organization, under General the Hon. J. Byng.
During the day the Cavalry Corps captured the high ground above Béthune after some stiff fighting, while the 3rd A.C. advanced and occupied Bailleul, which was found to be full of German wounded. ”

“ For the information of non-military readers, it is necessary for me to explain that a cavalry division fighting on foot is at a great disadvantage as compared with an infantry division. When horses cannot be used in the fighting, they have still to be looked after, and this takes many men away from the fighting line. ”

“ According to all appearances, our modern échelon is but the offspring of peace requirements. The troops were required to be mobile and capable of manœuvre, and a division was required to perform the same stereotyped evolutions as a regiment or a brigade. In the division the échelon of brigades met this requirement admirably, favouring as it did the change to line, a manœuvre which, on its part, was well suited to the necessities of drill in a limited area, and was regarded as the pièce de résistance of all cavalry divisional manœuvres. ”

“ Thus a small part of the cavalry force is attached to the infantry divisions, while the bulk of it is organized into divisions composed of mounted troops alone, two batteries of horse artillery being attached to each cavalry division. The entire military force is divided into “armies,” each consisting of from three to six army corps and two or more cavalry divisions. The cavalry has about one sixth and the artillery about one seventh of the numerical strength of the infantry. The German cavalry is armed with sabre, carbine, and lance. ”

“ A Cavalry Division will be directed to work on the front and flank of either Corps and well in advance. The Commander of the cavalry will remain in the closest concert with the Corps Commanders on the flank on which he is working.
"The Corps Commanders will send forward with the cavalry as much of their field artillery as can be usefully employed in harassing the enemy's retirement. They will place them under the direction of the Cavalry Commander for the day, the latter officer being responsible for their safety. ”

“ During this period the infantry division replaced the army corps as the basic combined arms unit. Growing in size and firepower, it acquired combat support and service elements, along with an adequate staff, reflecting visions of a more complex battlefield environment. The cavalry division, designed to achieve mobility rather than to realize its combined arms potential, underwent changes similar to those of the infantry division. Army leaders also searched for ways to maintain permanent divisions that could take the field on short notice. ”

“ The Allies argued that trench warfare, dominated by machine guns and artillery weapons, denied cavalry the traditional missions of reconnaissance, pursuit, and shock action. Mounted troops, possibly assigned to the division's headquarters company, might serve as messengers within the division but little more. The Allies further advised that the Army should not consider sending a large cavalry force to France. Horses and fodder would occupy precious shipping space, and the French and British had an abundance of cavalry. ”

“ I entirely agree with General von Bernhardi's conclusion that very important duties will fall to the lot of the divisional cavalry in war, and that the fulfilment of these duties has become more difficult of late years. The necessity for, and the value of, divisional cavalry are often not properly appreciated. What the strategical cavalry is to the Army in the greater sphere, the divisional cavalry is to the division in the lesser. ”

“ The new plan called for 2 cavalry and 7 infantry divisions. A cavalry division consisted of a headquarters, 3 brigades (each with 3 cavalry regiments) , a horse field artillery regiment, a mounted engineer battalion, a mounted signal battalion, an aero squadron, and the necessary trains: ammunition, supply, engineer, and sanitary. The remaining 7 authorized cavalry regiments were assigned to the 7 infantry divisions, a regiment to each division, to provide a mobile force capable of performing reconnaissance, counterreconnaissance, and security missions for the division. ”

“ Two cavalry brigades, with the divisional cavalry of the Second Corps, covered the movement of the Second Corps. The remainder of the cavalry division, with the Nineteenth Brigade, the whole under the command of General Allenby, covered the west flank. ”

“ The Lassiter Committee apparently devoted little attention to the cavalry division and recorded less about its rationale for retaining the unit. Mobility and firepower dominated the new organization. The Cavalry Journal, the official organ for the arm, had repeatedly condemned the 1917 organization as an absurdity. Burdened with more than 18,000 men and 16,000 animals, the division was too large and cumbersome. ”

“ The Guards Division was at Arras, and from various points in the Reserve-area, again working southwards from above the Scarpe, the 31st, 40th, 41st (west of Albert) , 25th (at Bapaume) , 19th, 2nd, 39th, 50th, 20th, and the 1st, 3rd and 2nd Cavalry Divisions (at Péronne, Athies and Guiscard respectively) were brought up and thrown into the line. The first battle-honours belong to these, and no sketch, however imperfect, of the conditions under which they were won, can miss the splendour of their winning, or the valour of the living and the dead. ”

“ After World War I the Army quickly demobilized its forces, but memories of the unpreparedness of 1917 caused the nation to change the way it maintained its military forces. Infantry and cavalry divisions, rather than regiments or smaller units, became the pillars that would support future mobilization. Officers examined the structure of those pillars and adopted a modified, but powerful, square infantry division designed for frontal attack and a small light cavalry division for reconnaissance. ”

“ And there always recurs the most supreme question for the cavalry leader of masses on the battlefield, whether, apart from the cases in which a sacrifice is necessary, the anticipated results are in any way proportionate with the stake. Even the riding down of an infantry brigade will not always compensate for the expenditure of a cavalry division.
Langlois pictures “cavalry with its light batteries in the decisive attack moving by ways which are hidden from view and fire ... falling on the enemy in mass and surprising him. ”

“ Whether in a battle of encounter it will be always possible to detail a directing brigade I very much doubt. One brigade will often fight on foot, the other mounted, while the change from the advanced-guard rôle to deployment for battle [Pg 154] will generally render a handling of the division according to rule practically impossible. The idea that, with an independent army cavalry in the battle of encounter, one division can in some measure be handled as on the drill-ground, and can be put into the fight in proper cohesion, must be dismissed. ”

“ If the heavy baggage of a Cavalry Division is two and a half or five kilometres in length it is tolerably immaterial, but it is imperative, as we have seen, that they should be able to move and get out of the way. Hence, it is not the number of waggons which concerns us, but their individual lightness and mobility, so that on all roads they can follow their units at a trot, and only in the case of Divisional Cavalry can the other point of view be admitted. ”

“ A divisional aviation section, an armored car squadron, and tank company were added, and the field artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment. Divisional strength rose to 9,595. Although the new tables had little impact on the peacetime cavalry structure, the 1st Cavalry Division did eventually receive one troop of an experimental armored car squadron, and a field artillery regiment replaced its field artillery battalion.12
Even with austere conditions, the Army did not lose sight of its tactical missions. ”

“ The cavalry division—led by Lord Lucan, and composed of the Scots Greys, the Inniskillins, 1st Royal, 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, forming the Heavy Brigade, under General Scarlett; and the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, the 8th and 11th Hussars, with the 17th Lancers and ours, forming the Light Brigade, under the Earl of Cardigan—were to form between those Turkish redoubts and the Sutherland Highlanders, who were encamped under the cliffs, where the marines had a battery. ”

“ Also in 1927, for echelons above divisions in the Regular Army, the adjutant general constituted one army, one cavalry corps, and three army corps headquarters. In addition, the 3d Cavalry Division, a new Regular Army unit, was added to the rolls to complete the cavalry corps. No army corps, cavalry corps, or army headquarters was organized at that time, but moving these units in the mobilization plans from the Organized Reserve to the Regular Army theoretically made it easier to organize the units in an emergency. ”

“ For six miles across a perfect flat, without the slightest protection from any incident of ground, without artillery, and I might say without cavalry (for what were four or five squadrons to twenty or thirty?) did the 3rd Division continue its march. During the whole time the enemy’s cavalry never quitted them; a park of six guns advanced with the cavalry, and taking the 3rd Division in flank and rear, poured in a frightful fire of round-shot, grape, and canister. Many men fell in this way, and those whose wounds rendered them unable to march were obliged to be abandoned to the enemy. ”

“ A cavalry division consists of 3 cavalry brigades, 1 regiment of field artillery, 1 battalion of mounted engineers, 1 field signal battery, mounted; 1 aero squadron, 1 ammunition, 1 supply, 1 engineer and 1 sanitary train.
A brigade, in the main, consists of three regiments, the infantry having 5,500 men, cavalry brigade 2,500 and artillery brigade 2,500 men. ”

“ The division of cavalry brigades into two regiments is simply a traditional institution which has been thoughtlessly perpetuated. It has not been realized that the duties of the cavalry have completely changed, and that brigades of two regiments are, in addition to other disadvantages, too weak to carry these duties out. ”

“ They must keep off the enemy’s cavalry, guard the columns against surprise, cover their deployment, and seek every opportunity of intervening with effect in the combat.
3. The Divisional Cavalry may, in the combat, be the only troops on whom the divisional general can depend for safety from surprise: their commander must, accordingly, not only seek opportunities to use the bulk of his troops opportunely in the combat, but also give information and guard the division against surprise on its flanks and rear. ”

“ Corps frequently attached the groups to divisions- usually infantry divisions- for operations only. Divisional cavalry units included a mechanized cavalry reconnaissance squadron for each light armored division, an armored reconnaissance battalion for each heavy armored division, and a cavalry reconnaissance troop for each infantry division. The last horse cavalry unit of the Army to fight mounted was the 26th Cavalry regiment of the Philippine Scouts, which, in early 1942 after withdrawal to Bataan, was forced to destroy its horses and fight on foot. ”

“ Soon after moving from camp the heavy artillery firing and immense number of infantry stragglers making across the country to the Back road from our left, showed that it was in that direction the heavy force of the enemy was advancing. The Fifth U.S. cavalry attached to the division headquarters was deployed across the field and, together with the officers and orderlies of the division staff did much toward preventing the infantry going to the rear. ”

“ Rather should we lay down as a fixed principle that all Cavalry units must be able both to move and fight according to the same tactical principles, no matter in what order these units may be grouped together.
The question now arises whether our present formation of six regiments to a Division is really equal to all demands which may be made upon it; whether, in fact, in view of the strategical requirements it may be called on to fulfil, and the degree of resistance to their execution it is likely to encounter, six regiments will prove numerically equal to their task. ”

“ If the battery commander cannot from constant practice and usage actually foretell nine times out of ten what the cavalry brigadier will order at a certain stage of the attack, or if the officer commanding102 horse artillery of a cavalry division does not know by intuition his divisional general’s views, farewell to any idea of valuable combination between the two arms. ”