Turning now to the practical education in larger units, it is necessary that the fundamental principles guiding the distribution of the men in attack or defence in the typical kinds of encounter should be taught and practised on the drill ground. The corresponding positions of the led horses must also be represented. As typical situations I would enumerate the following:
Attack on localities, with or without the tendency to outflank.
Attack by surprise, or after preparation.
Defence of a section or of a locality, with known direction of the enemy's advance, or when the flanks may be threatened.
Obstinate defence and maintenance of an isolated locality.
Keeping open the entrance of a defile, and its utilization for a further offensive or retreat.
Deployment for surprise fire action, in order to disappear again immediately.
Combined action of dismounted men with a mounted reserve, to ward off an attack or pursue a retreating enemy.
In all these cases we require not only fundamentally different methods, but the methods themselves will be different according to whether the led horses are mobile or immobile, because in each case the strength of the tactical units is an entirely different one.
These more or less elementary exercises, after the squadron inspections, both mounted and on foot, have been concluded, must be principally carried out in the regiment, which also when dismounted remains the true tactical unit of the Cavalry; but they must be continued by the brigade, in which the employment of the regiments formed side by side—i.e., by 'Wings'—must be represented under most varying circumstances.