1. In front of armies under the generalissimo an independent cavalry, in one or more bodies, to insure liberty of offensive action to the generalissimo.
2. In each army a division of cavalry to ensure to it the liberty of defensive action by giving time to concentrate and take up favourable positions.
3. In each army corps a regiment or half-regiment to ensure tranquillity and freedom from surprise.
Nor did they fail to bring to notice that Napoleon’s system was to find a cavalry leader, and let him organize his cavalry to help the plan of campaign, and not to waste his cavalry in a sort of insurance policy.
The essence of cavalry is offence, “offensive résolue, offensive quand même offensive à outrance, qui fut le plus souvent la seule règle de tactique,” not defence and shepherding infantry divisions;[49] this latter work does not demand the most highly trained cavalry.
By these steps gradually the principle, which is clearly stated in our F.S. Regulations, was arrived at, viz.:
The main force of cavalry will usually be organized in one or more cavalry divisions, and retained as the instrument of strategical reconnaissance under the immediate orders of the commander-in-chief.—Part II., British F.S.R., 1909, p. 25.
At the present date the French, German, and Austrian organization is practically identical in this respect. All recognize that “we must fight to reconnoitre, and fight to screen.”[50]
The rôle of cavalry, as defined at p. 182 of the French Service de la Cavalerie, 1909, is as follows:
1. The Cavalry of Exploration (answering to our own independent cavalry), the personal agent of the generalissimo, is sent where he wishes, in quest of the news he desires. This news the leader of this cavalry must send in good time; his independence is limited to the means he employs to get news. The cavalry of exploration may also be sent on special missions against the columns or convoys of the enemy, and ought, whilst observing its instructions and carrying out its important rôle, to seize any opportunity of destroying the enemy’s cavalry.
Cavalry is the arm, above all, of surprise, and consequently may often obtain the greatest results by a sudden attack on the wings or rear of the adversary.
2. The Cavalry of the Army Corps (answering to our protective cavalry) and the divisional cavalry find out and inform their commander what is happening in the zone allotted to them.
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.