THE HORSE IN WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15718, 19 September 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE HORSE IN WAR.

BY CEITIC. History ever repeats itself; and though prophets for a decade have dreamt of great wars of this century as wars of the air, they have not been wholly correct. For though Zeppelins and their contemporaries of the French and English schools of aviation have taken their part m the world-war now waging, it has been only a part. And as in the days of old and gone civilisations, the strength or weakness of armies is being largely tested by their mobility : and this mobility is to-day as a thousand years ago assured and secured mainly by their forces of

cavalry. Recognising the essential need for close study of this subject, the Grand Duke Nicholas, Inspector-General of the Russian cavalry in 1874, brought under the notice of the Tsar of Russia the fact that no special history of the world's cavalry service had been written in any language. Tho result vas the offer from the Russian Government of three prizes for the three best books on this subject, the competition being thrown open to tho officers of all foreign armies. The volume which won the first prize of five thousand roubles was that which was written by Colonel George Denison, of Toronto, Canada. So unanimous was the appreciation of it that it was translated into German, and well studied by military experts : and so modern were its principles that after its going out of print, when Colonel Denison resolved in 1913 to have it again published, having noted the working of the principles enunciated by him forty years ago, he found nothing to alter, and with the exception of a preface showing the illustration of his views in the Boer war, nothing to add.

"A History of Cavalry"-—(Alacmillan, London)—is an achievement of which any Britisher may be proud, and the Canadian officer who has written it has done service to readers of all classes. In his preface he points out that during the last few years some interesting literature has been written upon the question as to whether cavalry should depend upon fire action or upon th? "arme blanche." A very important part in the controversy was taken by German writers, and in two cases the introduction to works upon the subject was written by General Sir John French. One of the later critical works was entitled " German Influence on British Cavalry." At the present date, while we learn the lessons enunciated as principles by Colonel Denison, his prefatory remarks upon mounted riflemen are of exceeding interest.

Commencing his history he traces the earliest use of the horse in warfare. The Iliad provides him with instances of warriors .killed while leaping into their chariots- In India, before these days, in China, and in Egypt, tho chariot was tho means of conveying warriors to and from the scene of conflict. It also, by means of armouring the horse, the driver, and tho vehicle, became "an engine intended by its momentum to break through the line of the enemy and create loss and confusion in his ranks." Scythed chariots were used by generations' of Persians; and as we know the ancient Britons used them agniust the Romans. They drove them among their enemies, throwing javelins until they had penetrated their ranks, when they dismounted' and fought as infantry, the drivers taking the chariots out of the melee, and placing them within reach of their masters to be ready in ease they found themselves too closely pressed. C«sar, speaking of them, says': "Thus these barbarians had tin; agility of cavalry, and the steadiness and firmness of infantry."

Cavalry, in the proper sense of the word, were first used about 120 years after the Trojan War, the author conjectures; and as the Scythians first used the horse to ride upon, Colonel Denison infers that the Centaurs of Grecian fable were in reality these Scythian horsemen. "The cavalry soldiers rode without saddles, and their knees were drawn up as high as the Tiorse's back, pressed close against the neck and withers, the legs and feet, being naked and hanging close to the shoulder. The holding and guiding of the horse, while the warrior fired his arrows, fell to a mounted attendant accompanying: him. The assumption from this is that both horses were taken from the chariotthe soldier riding upon one and the charioteer, whose duty it was to manage the horses, riding the other and guiding and directing them both. From this changes began. A pad or cloth was added as a saddle; \ ,ie seat on the horso was more correct; and the soldiers controlled their own horses unaided. The horses were trained to s-tand still while the arrows were discharged; or to continue at speed without the'use of the bridle Armour was added to the animal's equipment." Cyrus the Great made many improvements in the Persian cavalry, introducing the use of the javelin: in fact, he organised a heavilv-armed force of lancers. Fearing the Lydian cavalry of Croesus, he mounted his first line upon camels, commanded his infantry to follow, and placed his newly-orgajiised cavalry behind the infantry. ' By this stratagem the horses i of the Lydians, alarmed at the appear--1 anco and' smell of the camels, wheeled

round and recoiled in confusion. From this time the cavalry became the most important part of the Persian armies: they were very heavily armed, both men laid horses, in iron and brass, and so laden with it as to be able to compete with difficulty with horsemen more lightly equipped. Also they were accustomed, "as were the Assyrians, to fetter their horses at night, a pernicious habit which rendered them useless in case of surprise, and which rendered entrenchments around the camp a necessity." When Xerxes invaded Greece, 480 8.C., he had 80,000 cavalry besides camels and ; chariots. Their method was to throw ' the lasso, and having entangled the enemy, to draw him towards them and despatch him with the dagger. The Persian cavalry changed in squadrons: and used equally well the skirmishing order of fighting. They rode up, shootins,' arrows and hurling javelins, but refusing to enter into a close engagement. A hundred years later, when Xenophon served in Persia, the scythed chariots were still in use as well as the cavalry, both heavy aimed and light. Cyrus, the younger, was riding in his chariot when the enemy were reported advancing: ho immediately leaped from the car, put on his breastplate, and mounting his horse, took his javelin in his hand, and gave the orders for the marshalling of his army. At the battle of Cunaxa he charged with his 600 horse against the guard of 6000 stationed in front of the King Artaxerxes and put them to flight." The next cavalry to appear in the world's history of'war are the Greeks, especially the Thessalians, who of all the Greeks preferred serving in it rather than in infantry. The others had extreme confidence in their armed infantry; and Colonel Dcnison suggests as a reason that they could never raiso but a small fores of bowmen. But after their encounters with the Persians Aristides proposed to raise luO cavalry, and this force exercised an important influence in the Peloponnesian war; but, as they were ultimately defeated and draft up" in Athens, the Athenian cavalry had not acquired great reputation. They gradually gained in knowledge, and it is pointed out that '•when General von Moltke, in the summer of 1868, travelled incognito over the eastern districts of France, in anticipation of the war of two years later, he followed to the letter the advice given by Xenophon to his son over 2200 years previously. Also following tho old Grecian, Frederick the Great's best cavalry general used to exercise his regiment over rough ground to violently that Frederick once found fault with him on account of the number of deaths caused by it. Seidlitz cooly answered: "If you make such a fuss about a few broken necks Your Majesty will never have the bold horsemen you require for the field."

From Grecian cavalry we proceed to that of the Romans, and it is remarkable with what preciseness the historian covers the ground of each nation selected. He reminds lis that the Roman aristocracy constituted the mounted regiments. When L. Papiriug won his great victory over the Samnites in 293 B.C. the mass of the routed army fled, but the cavalry containing " all the chiefs and nobility of the nation" escaped to Borranium. Great social importance attached to the Equites, the officers of cavalry ranking higher than those holding similar position in infantry, lhe detailed description of cavalry tactics, in each great battle of the Roman army makes interesting reading. From this Feudal cavalry is dealt with exhaustively, and a fine history of the chivalrous training of the age is given, and the story of its decadence from military principles into a course of training for individual prowess and the mimic conflicts of the tournament is well sketched. Good material is at hand with the story of the Crusaders.

Under Saladin the Saracen horsemen ■\\ero nearly all light, and were utterly unable to stand the direct attack of theCrusaders, clad in. mail and led by the fiery Richard Camr do. Lion. In the actions between the chivalrous Saladin and the lion-hearted English monarch,, the Saracens pursued closely the Parthian tactics that had been so disastrous to Crassus; but the Crusaders, mainly cavalry, wero armed with coats of mail strong enough to resist tho arrows. Richard skilfully kept his army in closely serried ranks, and avoided the' action, until when near Assur he had .drawn the Turkish hordes into a, plain cooped up between the mountains and the forest. Then he turned at bay. and, charging at the head of his English nobles and this whole- Christian host, he shattered the Saracen formation and hewed his way through their thickest ranks. Chivalry reached the zenith of its glory at this period, nor was there, in the long roll of great soldiers connected with, it a, more gallant knight than the lion-hearted Richard.

''For the many centuries the Polish army excelled in cavalry, these proud horsemen, looked upon trade and commerce as degrading, and the pursuit of arms as the only occupation fit for a gentleman. Russia appears often to have hired cavalry from the Varegues, the Petchinage. and the Torkye. In the early part of the thirteenth century a. terrible irruption of Mongolian horsemen swept over Russia and Eastern Europe. Seven hundred thousand of these fought under Gengls Khan against four hundred 'thousand' of the army of Mahommed, Sultan over a territory extending from the Persian Gulf to the borders of India and Turkestan; and in the battle 150,000 of the latter's army were slain. The forward rush of Tartar horsemen was not stayed until the Polish Prince Henry defeated them and diverted their invasion to the plains of Hungary." 'through the centuries detailing the Thirty Years' War, giving wordpictures of the' Russian cavalry, the French, the Prussian, and the Austrian; • and above all that of Napoleon, our author travels. His story of Buonaparte's Russian campaign is vivid: and he clearly demonstrates that it was in this campaign that Napoleon for the first time felt the difficulty of carving on a war against a nation whose armies were covered by such efficient light cavalry as the Cossacks. To them can be attributed the great change in the Emperor's battles: the influence of these irregular and. undisciplined horsemen was the most important influence in destroying the gigantic power founded by his marvellous military genius. Of him it is remarked that though his wars produced some very good cavalry generals he had not one good cavalry general who would be considered as great a genius as Oliver Cromwell.

Excellent matter is treated in the chapters on the American Civil War, and specially notes the gallant operations of General Forrest and his cavalry. Back again to the battlefields of Europe he follows the horse soldier through the Franco-German War of the seventies, and sums up excellently the characteristics of cavalry.

"The light horse of the Greeks, of the Persians of the Romans were," he saliently remarks, "of great service in outpost duty, as have been all good light cavalry from the time that the Assyrian charioteers began to mount their chariot horses down to the period when the Prussia Uhlans spread terror far and wide through the fields and country villages of France.'' He relates a characteristic story of a famous Confederate

ca\ ' -yman—General Shelby. " Mis cautiousness in picketing, patrolling, and guarding against surprise was almost ;i mania, and without parallel. His bold-

ness in never retiring before the enemy without fighting was equally marked. Whenever reports were brought in of an advancing enemy, his question always was 'Did you see them?' If this was answered affirmatively, he immediately followed it up with* 'Did you count them?" 'No General.' 'Then we'll fight them, by Heaven! Order the brigade to form line, and the artillery to prepare for action front.' " " And," comments Colonel Dennison, "this is the spirit in which cavalry should be handled. In guarding against surprise, in taking every conceivable measure to insure success the caution should almost approach timidity. In boldness and reckless daring, when the time for action comes, the rashness can hardly be oxecssive."