THE WAR OF THE FUTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14375, 21 May 1910, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE WAR OF THE FUTURE.

IS THE DAY. OF CAVALRY OVER? When our forefathers began to lay aside their coats of mail and to take up the matchlock instead of the crose-bow, there were people who rose in sorrow and in anger to denounce their wickedness, and to point out the danger of abandoning old and tried friends for new-fangled ideas. The habit is still with us. Mr. Erskine-Childers. in his. new book, " War and the Arme Blanche," must have been aware of this when he plunged into tho dispute as to whether the arme blanche ought to be laid by the side of the crossbow in our museums, and the cavalryman should join the silent company of mail-clad warriors. /' , s To generalise about war is as safe as to prophecy about the weather. There are in both so many unknown or uncontrollable factors that even Napoleon and the meteorologist may err. ( - , . EXAMPLES FROM SOUTH AFRICA. Mr. Childers has arraigned the cavalryman, armed with sabre and lance and rifle or carbine before the bar of experience in South Africa and Manchuria. He has called Lord Roberts as his principal witness Lord Roberts has written an introduction— and has given the verdict against the cavalryman and the arme. blanche. The evidence he cites will not convinco those who believe that the day of cavalry is not past. Much of it is weak and irrelevant, for trifles such as the pursuit of a handful of Boers after Elandslaagte are seriously quoted as examples of cavalry in action. But no evidence would disturb the advocate of the anno blanche, for his faith is always in the future, and in conditions as elusive as a will o' the wisp. The cavalry leader ever demands new conditions. In Natal, as in other parts of South Africa, his perpetual complaint was that the country was too open and exposed for cavalry operations. In Manchuria I heard Japanese generals say, again and again, " The country is too hilly and too well wooded for cavalry. Wait till wo come to the plain of Mukden." And when we came, to -the plain of Mukden, what was the excuse 'i. The ground was covered "with the cut sialics of kowlain or maize, and horses could move -only at a walking pace. NEW CONDITIONS OF WAR. Since the introduction of the magazine, rifle 'and the quick-firing gun there have' been no cavalry actions unless we can call the charge of the Dervish horsemen at Omdurman a cavalry action. It was intended to prepare the way for the advance of the Dervish infantry hosts in the second phase of the battle, and the horsemen came on at headlong speed over the plain. Not one of them turned back, and not one of them reached the lines of the , Egyptian troops who lay in shallow trenches calmly awaiting the attack. At tho battle of tho"Sha-ho I remember waiting with Captain Vincent, one of the" British . attaches, to see what promised to be one of the greatest cavalry charges . in history. Regiment after regiment of Cossacks deployed in front of the Japanese lines, and 'threatened to sweep down upon them. Now they came on and we held our breath. Back again, and then on once —swinging to and fro like a•; pendulum till at last they turned and rode off the field. Hero is the Japanese opinion of the famous Cossack opinion recorded in a confidential study distributed to officers before the war: i% The Cossacks made no heroic movement in the war of 1877, and their reports were always exaggerated. They invariably retire when met by a stronger force. If our infantry is a little careful we need have no fear of the Cossacks." ' - PRINCE KANIN'S EXPLOIT. The -only cavalry exploit in the RussoJapanese war was Prince Kanin's dash to prevent- a raid on Liaoyang. I asked him once what he would do with his cavalry if attacked by a larger force. "I would dismount my men," he replied, " and let them use their carbines." That was how, with the aid of his Maxims, Prince Kanin drove the Russian raiders across the Taitsu. /' ."■-.. • - ,■■ / . We made war less picturesque but much safer to the individual when we clad bur soldiers in khaki instead of scarlet, and we shall make another step in the same direction when we convert the cavalryman into an infantry soldier who is not compelled to William Maxwell. •