Cavalry has been termed “The Arm of Surprise,” owing to the rapidity with which it can move. This gives it the power to act with little warning, and from an unexpected direction, against the enemy, and thus to take advantage of the fleeting opportunities which occur in war for sudden attack and surprise. It is par excellence the mobile Arm, and the one best adapted for taking the offensive.
Its power of making long and rapid marches enables it also to be thrown far to the front, so as to give to the Army protection from surprise, and to gain the information as to the movements and dispositions of the enemy, without which the Commander will be at a loss in forming his plans.
Cavalry is required too for the effective pursuit of a beaten foe who would elude the slow-moving Infantry. It is also the best Arm to cover a retreat, as it can check the pursuit and then effect a rapid withdrawal before being completely over-powered.
ITS WEAK POINTS
The disadvantage of Cavalry is that it is very dependent on the nature of the country for its action. It is useless in steep, rocky, or marshy ground, or among enclosures, and in woods. Cavalry is also costly to raise, and requires long training for efficiency. It suffers too from great wastage of horses in war, due to unavoidable fatigue, short rations, and bad weather, from which causes horses suffer even more than men.
ITS MODE OF FIGHTING
In the combat, Cavalry acts both by shock and by fire, the latter action being now more developed than of old. Indeed the main difference between the horse-soldiers of the different armies of to-day is whether their training is directed rather to mounted shock-action, or to fire-action dismounted; in the latter case, their rapidity of movement is mainly helpful in getting them to the right place at the right time to use their fire. The ideal Cavalry would be equally capable of shock and fire action, and could be employed either mounted or dismounted, as circumstances and the judgment of the leader might dictate. The British is perhaps the only Cavalry (as General Négrier, Chief of the French General Staff, once said) which is trained to this ideal. The Cavalry of Russia, Japan, and the United States tends rather to action by fire on foot; that of most Continental armies to shock action mounted.