[78] German Cavalry Regulations, 1909, par. 398.
[79] The French Service de la cavalerie en campagne, 1909, at page 190, thus lays down the rôle of the commanding officer: “To direct his officers towards a common doctrine, that of resolves which are determined, even rash, but well considered; to develop in them initiative and personality, and to make them not merely carriers-out of orders, but leaders who know how to reflect, decide, and take responsibility on themselves.”
[80] Supplement No. 86 to the International Revue über die gesammten Armeen und Flotten, May 1907.
[81] Curély, the hero of countless brave deeds and daring reconnaissances in Napoleon’s campaigns, had by 1814 got as far as the command of a regiment, the 10th Hussars. On the 12th February at Château-Thierry he got an opportunity, and successfully threw his regiment at the flank of thirty squadrons of Landwehr. This gave an opportunity to Letort with the Dragoons of the Guard to charge the front. Napoleon in his bulletin only put: “Colonel Curély made himself conspicuous”; but he at once promoted him to the rank of general for this feat of arms.
[82] Langlois, Lessons from Two Recent Wars, p. 70.
[83] Von Schmidt, Instructions for Cavalry, p. 7.
[84] Von Schmidt, p. 227.
[85] Ibid. p. 73.
[86] Ibid. p. 13.
[87] Every manœuvre which is not founded upon the nature of the ground is absurd and ridiculous.—Lloyd’s Maxims.