Our Cavalry

by Michael Frederic Rimington

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INDEX

• Abd-el-Kader, [23]
• Abdur-Rahman, [2]
• Afghan War, officers of the 9th Lancers in the, [14]
• Afghans, Sir Montague Gerard and the, [11]
• Aids, conventional, [194];
• natural, [195]
• Alexander the Great, [1]
• Alexander, General, [26], [145]
• Amateur officers entirely out of place in war, [97]
• American Civil War, [73], [135]
• American view of British cavalry in South African operations, [8]
• Arab horses, a type bred for war, [23];
• proverb, [52]
• Arabs’ old-world wisdom as regards the horse, [23]
• Aristocracy in the armies of the French Republic, [97]
• Armament, [10]
• Artillery fire, relative effect of, [46]
• Artillery, horse, [26], [41]
• Atlanta campaign, [149]
• Attachment to other arms on the part of officers, [159]
• Attila with his Hunnish squadrons, [2]
• Australian Commonwealth, Manual of, [55]
• Australians as horsemen, [13]
• Ballistics from horseback, [5]
• Basuto pony, [21]
• Batteries of horse artillery, [5]
• Bayonet of German cavalry, [10]
• Bernhardi, Von, on bayonet, [11], [147];
• cavalry literature by, [17];
• Cavalry in Future Wars, [52], [77], [90], [94], [99], [169], [187];
• Cavalry in War and Peace, [62], [66], [95], [208];
• on fundamental principles of action, [101]
• Birch, Major Noel, [192]
• Boers, [71], [75], [82], [99], [133], [134]
• Boer system of training a horse, [197]
• Bloch, De, [5], [113]
• Blücher, [3], [85], [128]
• Bonie, Colonel, [6], [7]
• Botha, General, [75]
• “Boy Scouts,” [142]
• Brack, De, [7], [35], [37], [126], [135], [147], [171], [173]
• Brigade, the, [41–48]
• British cavalry ahead of continental cavalry in fire tactics, [17];
• ignorance of horses, [18];
• inflation of idea as to size of horse required, [21];
• horse bred for size, speed, etc., [23]
• Campaigning, horse-management in, [24]
• Canadians as horsemen, [13]
• Canterbury system of horse training, [196]
• Cape Colony as a source of horse-supply, [21]
• Carrago nose-band, [201]
• “Casse cou,” [87]
• Cavalry, expense of, [8];
• leader, [8], [73];
• brigade in action, [59];
• in the general engagement, [69];
• disposition of, in a campaign, [86];
• masses of, [99], [109];
• screen, [135];
• shooting and fire discipline of, [208]
• Cavalry Training, Manual of, [111]
• Cavalry v. Cavalry, [37]
• “Charge,” the, [2], [4]
• Cherfils, [69], [98]
• Chest measurement as sign of stamina of horse, [20]
• Chivalry, [2];
• Norman, [2]
• Colonials in the South African War, [75]
• Competition of squadrons, [212]
• Convoy duty, [144]
• Cooking, knowledge of, [211]
• Cossacks, [75], [150];
• activity of the, [135]
• Cost of horse-flesh in South African operations, [18]
• Country-bred men, [210]
• Cromwell, [3], [6], [34], [69]
• Cronje, General, [84]
• Culverwell, Professor, on teaching, [214]
• Curély, [3], [7], [134]
• Cyclists, [94], [96]
• Cynic, [143];
• cynicism, [217]
• Daumas, General, book on Arab horses by, [23]
• Delarey, [75]
• Denison on cavalry recruits, [208]
• Despatch-riding, [139]
• Detached duties of cavalry, [139]
• De Wet, raids of, [147]
• Direction of cavalry by higher leaders, [88]
• Dismounted action of cavalry, [57];
• work, [11], [73], [186]
• Disposition of cavalry in a campaign, [86]
• Dissemination of squadrons, [68]
• Divisional cavalry, [91]
• Doctrine, Langlois’, [171];
• Napoleon’s, [172]
• Dogger Bank, [131]
• Dragoons of Napoleon, [11]
• Drives in South Africa, [93]
• Drying tent, [125]
• Dundonald, Lord, Preface to his Cavalry Training, [55]
• Duty, sense of, [160]
• Echelon attack, advantages of the, [39]
• Elliot, on the possibilities of cavalry, [6];
• inspiriting regulation mentioned by, [178]
• En bondes, to work towards the enemy, [59]
• Enemy, in contact with the, [122]
• Engineering, Manual of Military, [211]
• English cavalry, [59]
• Europe, supply of food for horses when campaigning in, [21]
• Expenses in cavalry, [154], [155]
• Expensive, want of cavalry is, American view, [8]
• Exploration, cavalry of, [90]
• Fanaticism, religious, [215]
• Field Service Regulations, [90], [94]
• Fire action in tactics, [50];
• action by cavalry, German opinion on, [57];
• effect, horse artillery, compared with rifle fire, [117]
• Fixed principles of the great cavalry leaders, [3]
• Flags, use of, [78]
• Flank, forming to the, [37]
• Forage supply and its carriage, [95], [96]
• Forming to the flank, [37]
• Frederick the Great, [3], [6], [90];
• sayings of, [25], [105], [177];
• his horses duly considered, [27];
• on the rapid rallying of squadrons, [33];
• success of the cavalry of, [81];
• horse artillery and cavalry of, [102], [103];
• and his officer Seydlitz, [193]
• Free-jumping lane, [198]
• French, General Sir John, [84]
• French cavalry, [7], [209];
• regulations, [90], [134], [136], [159], [171]
• French dragoons in the Peninsular War, [15];
• nation and the war of 1870, [7];
• Republic, the armies of the, [97];
• Manuel du gradé de cavalerie, [160], [217]
• Frossard, General, and the episode at Vionville, [73]
• Galliffet, General, [6], [31], [88]
• Gambling spirit necessary in cavalry leader, [9]
• Gerard, Sir Montague, [11]
• German cavalry, bayonet substituted for the sword in, [10];
• and the lance, [16];
• rifle and fire tactics, [16];
• at Loigny-Poupry, [72];
• regulations, [70], [71], [79], [80], [92], [107], [109], [115], [170];
• considered too weak, [95]
• German officers in the 1870 war, [139];
• opinion on mounted infantry, [56];
• opinion on fire action by cavalry, [57]
• Goltz, Von der, his Nation in Arms, [10], [69], [93], [97], [161], [162], [167]
• Gordon, Lindsay, poem by, [32]
• Gourko, General, his raid across the Balkans, [146]
• Grumbling—the soldier’s privilege to grumble, [217]
• Gustavus Adolphus, [3]
• Haig, General Sir D., [35], [38], [51], [67], [71], [78], [113]
• Haute école, [196], [197], [203]
• Henderson, Colonel, in Science of War, [56], [117], [118], [128]
• Hood, General, and Wheeler’s raid, [149]
• Horse, the, [18];
• Arab, [23];
• in South African operations, [82];
• what will the cavalry horse live on? [86];
• despatch-riding, [139];
• loss of many overriden, [149];
• exhaustion of, [151];
• Frederick the Great and his, [178];
• efficiency for war in, [181];
• training of the, [191]
• Horse artillery, [26], [41], [76], [78], [93], [101];
• batteries of, [5];
• German, [72];
• and cavalry, [101];
• co-operation of, with cavalry, [108];
• fire effect compared with rifle fire, [117]
• Horse-management, good system of campaigning, [205];
• theory of, [25], [26]
• Horse, training of the, [191];
• economy in, [204]
• Hunting as an exercise for a cavalry officer, [159], [168], [197]
• Hutton, General Sir E., [55]
• Imagination, want of, [165]
• Inaction, [61]
• Independent cavalry, [94]
• India, cavalrymen in, [184]
• Infantry attack, cavalry practising the rôle of, [57]
• Infantry Training, Manual of, [114]
• Information and security, the two functions of cavalry, [87–88]
• Instruction, general, [140];
• theoretical, [214]
• Instructional rides, manœuvres, etc., [77]
• Irish horse, beau-ideal for cavalry, [19]
• Japan, Emperor of, order by, [202]
• Japanese, [8], [75], [146], [149–51], [173]
• Jena, campaign of, [89]
• Katzbach, pursuit after battle of, [85]
• Kleber, General, and cowardice, [217]
• Kraft, Prince, on cavalry dismounting, [58];
• Letters on Cavalry, [108], [119];
• on expenses of cavalry officer, [157]
• Lance, [13], [14], [16]
• Lancers, 9th, in the Afghan War, [14]
• Langlois, General, in Lessons from Two Recent Wars, [69], [71], [76], [88], [102], [165], [171], [175]
• Lasalle, [3], [131], [169]
• Leading, sticky, condoned in the past, [78]
• Lewal, [78]
• Liberty of manœuvre, [98], [100]
• Lindsay Gordon, poem by, [32]
• Line of communication, raid on a, [152]
• Liubavin, General, [76]
• Lloyd’s Maxims, extract from, [179]
• Loigny-Poupry, German cavalry at, in 1870, [72]
• Lonsdale Hale, Colonel, [72]
• McClellan, General, [145]
• Machine guns, [103], [109]
• Makarov, Admiral, [132]
• Mamelukes, [15], [193]
• Man, training of the, [202]
• Manchuria, Russians in, [7]
• Manchurian War, [75], [146]
• Map-reading, [184]
• Masses of cavalry, [99], [109];
• column of, [46]
• Maude, Colonel, Cavalry: Its Past and Future, [110], [112], [148]
• May, General, Guns and Cavalry, [114]
• Mêlée, [14], [209]
• Michel’s brigade at the battle of Woerth, [112]
• Mischenko, General, [149], [150]
• Moltke, Yon, sayings of, [8], [155]
• Moral, [1], [5], [30], [49], [217]
• Mosby, [7]
• Mounted infantry, [56], [73], [75], [117], [205]
• Mounted infantry horse see finish of campaign, [22]
• Mukden, battle of, [110], [146]
• Murat, [3], [24], [82], [98], [141], [206]
• Nansouty and Murat, [24]
• Napier, on sword, [14]
• Napoleon and his dragoons of 1805, [11];
• the mamelukes formidable antagonists to, [15];
• light cavalry horse of, [20];
• in Russian campaign, [24];
• his lack of consideration for the horse, [27];
• maxims of, [71], [88], [122], [167];
• discerns the impossibility of co-ordinating the two functions of cavalry—information and security, [88];
• horse artillery and cavalry of, [102], [103];
• sayings of, [108], [112], [167], [190];
• and Lasalle, [131];
• information easily gained by the French cavalry for, [135];
• extensive use of despatch-riders in several of his campaigns, [141];
• his doctrine of moral, [172];
• on the mamelukes, [193];
• his loss of horse in the invasion of Russia, [206]
• Napoleonic era, [3]
• New Zealanders as horsemen, [13]
• Ney, “the bravest of the brave,” [84]
• Napoleon’s appreciation of, [167]
• Night attack, a, [124]
• Norman chivalry, [2]
• Officer, cavalry, the training of the, [154], [167]
• Officers, amateur, [97]
• Officers’ want of experience in horse-flesh on joining a regiment, [18]
• Paardeberg, [82], [149]
• Pace, exercise in, [140]
• Pamirs, horse food in the, [25]
• Parthian tactics, [1], [82]
• Patriotism, [6], [97]
• Peace-time theorists, [79]
• Pelet Narbonne, Von, [111], [151]
• Peninsular War, [15], [135], [159]
• “Pepper-box” system, [93]
• Personal weapon, [209]. See also [Armament]
• Personnel, [82]
• Petersburg, [27]
• Picard, [89], [206], [214]
• “Picket the enemy,” [133]
• Picq, Ardant du, [29], [49], [80], [87], [174]
• Pioneering, every man should possess a good knowledge of, in all its forms, [211]
• Polo-playing as an exercise for cavalry officers, [168], [197]
• Polo pony, [20], [192]
• Pompom, use of the, [68]
• Pony, the, as adjunct to squadrons, [20–21]
• Preuil, General de, [73]
• Prince Imperial, death of, in Zululand, [191]
• Principles of cavalry leading, [3]
• Prisoners, Spanish, [10],000 captured by the French, [85];
• the taking of, very desirable, [128];
• as a means of obtaining information, [143]
• Problems, practical, and their proposed solutions, [188]
• Protective cavalry, their duty to secure positions for infantry columns following them, [92]
• Punchestown, training horses, [198]
• Pursuit, [83];
• parallel, [84]
• Rafts, [211]
• Raids, [145]
• Rally, the, [32];
• instantaneous, [14]
• Rearguards, [1], [144], [189], [214]
• Recruits, [136], [207]
• Reich, Emil, [169]
• Rennenkampf, his reconnaissance to Kuan-tien-cheng, [150]
• Resolute offensive, [78]
• Revolver as a weapon in place of a sword, [15]
• Riding, methods of teaching, [202]
• Rifle, the, [16];
• magazine, cavalry armed with, [50]
• Rifle fire compared with horse artillery fire effect, [117]
• Romer, General, [204]
• Royal Artillery Mounted Rifles, [12]
• Rozhestvenski, fleet of, [131]
• Rupert, his defeat, [34]
• Ruskin, sayings of, [25], [155]
• Russian successes in Central Asia, [7];
• officers, [76], [217];
• campaign of 1812, [89]
• Russians, [146], [149–51]
• Saddles, General Romer on, [204]
• St. Cyr, General, [85]
• Samsonov, General, [8]
• Sands, seaside, digging hasty field fortifications at, [213]
• Scabbard, steel, [10]
• Schmidt, Von, his Instructions for Cavalry, [4], [5], [29], [33], [38], [41], [108], [164], [177], [178]
• Scouts, [127], [130], [142]
• Section leaders, competition of, [184–185]
• Seydlitz, [3], [80], [193]
• Shaikh Sadi, sayings of, [128], [154]
• Shakespeare, [128], [167]
• Sherman, General, [149]
• Shock action, [4];
• tactics, [4], [13], [52]
• Shooting of cavalry, [208]
• “Show” teams, [182]
• Small horse for war, [20];
• wars distract attention from essentials, [18]
• South Africa, cost of horse-flesh in, [18];
• mounting of our cavalry in, [21]
• South African War, [59], [74], [81], [97], [106], [134], [147], [161], [213];
• operations, 1899–1902, erroneous conclusions from, [8]
• South Africans, [13]
• Sowars, [12]
• Spaits, Captain, [110]
• Squadron, the training of a, [177];
• leader, [179–80], [200]
• Squadrons, competition of, [212]
• Stamina of horse essential, [22]
• Sticky leading, [78];
• action, [80]
• Stuart, General, [145], [146]
• Swimming as an exercise for cavalrymen, [210–11]
• Sword, [10–16]
• Tactics of Cavalry v. Cavalry, [29]
• Tactics, Parthian, [1], [82];
• Zulu, [4]
• Tax-payer of Great Britain and lessons from war, [8]
• Telissu, cavalry at battle of, [8]
• Theoretical instruction, [214]
• Tracking, etc., [141]
• Ulm, campaign of, [98], [141];
• despatch-riding in, [141]
• Union of arms, [88]
• Unison of arms, [50]
• Verdy du Vernois on the possibilities of cavalry, [6];
• on the sword, [12]
• Veterinary Department and their book, Animal Management, [25]
• Volley firing, [17]
• Von der Goltz, [10], [69], [93], [97], [161], [162], [167]
• Walers (Australian), horses, bred for size, speed, etc., [23]
• Waterloo, battle of, [3]
• Weaker cavalry, rôle of, [95]
• Wellington, Duke of, [42], [185]
• Wet saddle-blankets to be carefully avoided, [204]
• Wheeler’s raid, [149]
• Wolseley, Lord, [122]
• Wood and Edmonds, their Civil War in the United States, [149]
• Wrangel, in Cavalry in the Japanese War, [135]
• Xenophon, advice re stable management, [1];
• on purchasing of horse, [23];
• and Argesilaus, [208]
• Yeomanry as a national and imperial asset, [97]
• Yinkov, raid to, [150]
• Ziethen, [3], [80]
• Zulu tactics, [4]
• Zulus, modus operandi of the, [190]

THE END

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Blücher, two days before Waterloo and then seventy years of age, but as hard as nails and quite indefatigable, was charging at the head of the Treskow Brigade, when his horse fell on him and he was left at the mercy of the French cuirassiers. Luckily he was not recognized, and when his own side again charged, he was pulled from under his horse and got away on that of a sergeant.

[2] Von Schmidt, p. 229.

[3] Von Schmidt, p. 188.