ABOLITION OF THE LANCE

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1630, 11 April 1928, Page 3

ABOLITION OF THE LANCE

THE WAR OFFICE AND AN HISTORIC WEAPON It lias been decided, states an Army Order, to alwlish the lance as a weapon Henceforth it will not be carW on field training, but will be re tained by lancer regimants for ceremonial purposes only Training in the handling and use of this weapon, other than for ceremonial purpose*, will be discontinued forthwith. Under this new order one of the oldest weapons in military history disappears. for all practical purposes, from the British" servitro. The lance—in ancient days the spear--disappeared from European warfare for a space after the introduction of gunpowder and the consequent decline in military value of the armored and mounted knight. It had temporary revivals, but Napoleon was the fir.->t military leader in modern history to restore the lance as a weapon of fust importance in the battlefield. His lancer regiments acquired a deserved reputation in shock attack, and they were employed with a direct reference to par titular tasks. Because of his successes with lance-armed cavalry, other countries —Germany and England particularly—produced numbeis of lancer regiments. England, for instance, converted manylight dragoon regiments—the 17th is a notable case—into lancer units. For a time IJntish regiments had lance-carrying front ranks, but that practice died with the Great War The change is unimportant in itself, but it will he- taken in many quarters sh an implication that the "mcchanisa tion " School is gaining points, and that those who desire to see a great rediutiou in cavalry strengths are, perhaps temporarily, in the ascendant.