• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

c , I I BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWARD A. GODWIS. UIXTBD BTATPS ARYY. RETIBED. (Late Colonel Fourteenth IT. R.Cavalry.\ ! L I i JOURNAL OF THE United States Cavalry Association. VOL. XIY. JANUARY, 1909. No. 71. SVGGESTED CHANGES IN THE CAVALRY DRILL REGULATIONS. BY COLONELJAMES PARKER, ELEVENTHCAVALRY. GENERAL REMARKS. ri ssiim'lntion. ,. ,. CERTAIN degree 8f assimilation between the Infan- A try and Cavalry Drill Regulations should be consid- ered necessary for the following reasons : I. We have seen in the Spanish-American War, infan- try regiments officered by cavalry officers, cavalry regiments officered by infantry officers, cava':ry officers promoted to command of infantry brigades ; cavalry, infantry and artil- lery officers acting as inspectors and critics of other arms. and acting as adjutants general to generals in command of other arms.' We constantly find cavalry soldiers in infantry commands, and vice versa. In general it may be said that I the knowledge of all arms of the service is beneficial to all I officers. Without assimilation, officers of one arm are more liable to be ignorant of conditions in other arms. Formerly there was more assimilation than at:present. Now we find I 490 SUGGESTED DRILL REGULA TIONS. SUGGESTED DRru REGULA nom. 491 the cavalry “four” called in the infantry ‘Lsquad,”and the DOUBLE RANK. infantry 6‘mass,”called in the cavalry ‘I close column.” The Drill Regulations might with advantage contain 2. The importance of the mounted infantry r61e for cav: authority for use in the “charge,” on special occasions, of dry makes a certain amount of assimilation necessary. the double rank. It is probable, for instance. that when weight is desired in order to drive home a charge, that the MOBILITY. double rank can be used with advantage. It is of immense importance that the cavalry should be a mobile arm. It is the only arm which on the field of battle DISMOUNTED FIGHTING. and in the face of the. enemy may have to change formation Recent wars have revised the opinion of the best soldiers quickly. The best drill book is that which permits the cav- as to the value of shock action of the charge. Instead of alry command to pass with ease and quickly from any for- the charge being the “most important cavalry movement,” mation to another. Thus it should be possible for a squad- (Par. 448) the best opinion to day is that the value of cai*alt.y ron to pass from any of these formations directly to the one 1it.s first in Its mobility, next in ifs fire actio.On, and next iit its other: Line, column of troops, mass, line of fours, line of shoch ortion. platoon columns, echelon. A squadron should be able to This conclusion follows from the following reasoning : deploy, dismounted or mounted, from any formation. De- I. In shock action modern cavalry is about a match for ployments dismounted, which are usually made by a cavalry the cavalry of a hundred years ago. Its superiority in command under fire, when the greatest haste is necessary to arms, equipment or tactics is not so great as to re- get the horses under cover, thus taking away the largest mounts, main uncontested. target they present, should be made in the simplest manner and by means of the shortest possible commands. This is 2. On the other hand, the infantryman of to-day is not the case in the present drill regulations. vastly more formidable as a fighting man than the infantry- man of a hundred years ago, for he shoots three times as TRUMPET. far, four times as fast, and much more accurately. And when armed with a magazine gun his rifle is practically To maneuver large bodies of cavalry with precision and always loaded and ready. The infantrymau of to day on the promptitude the use of the trumpet is indispensable, the line of battle is equal to at least ten infantrymen of the days ordinary voice being drowned by the noise of the horses. of Waterloo. Therefore particular attention should be paid in the drill 3. “Cavalry cannot charge unbroken infantry.” This book to make it possible to communicate commands for the dictum, contested years ago, is incontestible today. more important changes of formation by the trumpet. This 100 This results from the enormous superiority of the modern is particularly necessary in the case of the regiment where rifle. To-day the charging trooper, if he reaches the infan- the loudest voice does not reach over the length of two try line unhurt, finds there a foe alert and confident, and, squadrons. With trumpet for mass,” ** line of fours,” calls thanks to his magazine gun, ready to exchange shot for saber line platoon columns.” echelon,” “close columns,” etc., of blow. He cannot be ridden down. it is very easy to adapt the spoken command so that it may be easily translated into a trumpet call. 1. Given time for dismounting and forming line, modern cavalry can convert itself into foot troops, equal man for man in fighting ability to the best infantry. 498 SUGGESTED DRILL REGULA TIONS. SUGGESTED DRILL REGULA TIONS. 49s 5. It follows that dismounted cavalry, well prepared, cuted with utmost rapidity, and for this, great bodies of can whip mounted cavalry, and that cavalry will fight dis- cavalry, taught properly to fight on foot, are best adapted. mounted, not only in combats with infantry, but also, on 8. The effective use of cavalry in war is largely a ques- many occasions. when fighting cavalry. But this will de- tion of terrain. In the days when only shock action was pend on having time sufficient to dismount and form line.* employed and cavalry could approach without danger to 6. Cavalry in its work of exploration, is particularly within 300 yards of infantry, open country was essential for exposed to ambush. This fact, as well as the necessity at the best use of cavalry. Now, when shock action cannot be times of employing dismounted fire against charging cav- employed unless from concealment, and fire action is the alry, makes it indispensable that cavalry, should be trained principal r61e of cavalry, cover is necessary, and treeless to dismount and go into action with utmost promptitude. plains are no longer “cavalry country.” No drill book can Further, it should be able to dismount and fight on foot properly serve its purpose which does not devote part of its from any formation. Cavalry caught in the act of dismount- pages to the question of terrain as it affects the employment ing and deploying by a charging enemy, is likely to be over- of cavalry. thrown. The methods then of forming line dismounted of 9. Conforming to receiit observations in warfare and a troop, squadron, or regiment must be revised. The troop the discovery that, even at long range, a squad or platoon should be able to dismount and open fire in thirty seconds, furnishes a target for artillery, while the individual skir. and the squadron or regiment with similar rapidity. This misher furnishes none, the normal formation in extended calls for a revision of the methods prescribed in the present order, that is, the iormation usually to be taken in action as drill regulations. soon as deployed, should be the formation *‘asskirmishers,” line of platoons (not squads) to be used only on special 7. The ability of cavalry to emulate infantry, as a dis- mounted force, combined with the wonderful mobility and occasions when not exposed to the fire of the enemy and ability to reach distant points without loss of time leads to when, on account of cover, this formation will not attract attention. In other words, the formation “as an enlargement of the functions of cavalry, and to an increase skirmishers” in its importance. In these days of greatly extended battle not affording a target, and being more or less invisible, up to a certain point, enables a closer approach to the enemy’s lines, cavalry, operating mounted or dismounted on the flanks or rear of the enemy, will have opportunities to do position before fire is opened. The *‘squad” formation him infinite damage. The battle of the future will not be should be abandoned. A subdivision of less size than the won so much by direct assault as by flank attack. The ex- “platoon” dismounted is too small for effective work. traordinary extension of the modern battlefield makes neces- io. Since the necessity for the employment of cavalry sary wide turning movements, involving long marches, exe- in extended order, mounted, is infrequent, the space given in the present Drill Regulations to extended order, mounted, *It may be laid down as an axiom, that to charge against an equal body is misleading and causes much time wasted by experienced of cavalry skilled in fighting on foot, invites disaster when the enemy has officers in teaching a formation that, practically, can never be over sixty seconds notice of the attack. It is easy to demonstrate that this amount of warning will give the enemy thirty seconds for dismounting and used. thirty seconds for aimed fire. At the extended gallop, about 450 yards is I 1. It is proposed that extended order dismounted be covered in thtrty secoods. and cpo yards in sixty seconds. It would seem, made the basis of instruction and be taught first to cavalry that in the attack on cavalry *emen. the charge should not be dis- therefore, troops ; and that the trooper extended order dismounted covered by the enemy until within close range, say boo yards. This calls for in ambush, surprise. the use of cover, and the training of horses and men in be called a “skirmisher,” and in extended order mounted a charging over short distances starting from the halt or walk.

Load more

  232

Copy Link