Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-10-27
| were only twenty-sevcn to thirty miles

were only twenty-sevcn to thirty miles
ahead. .oo,
credited with much OF the brilliant Work
of the war. il accomplished many OF its
successes by reason of its adEirable ap-
pointment Of horse artillery. an arm OF ser
vice almost wholly ignored IN the unl'eu
Service. but finding strong recognition III
modern continental armies. In morse al-
tillery. rs it is understood by military men;
punners ne well as drivers are suppne9
with mounts, thus leaving the caisons anu
lirnbers free OF any additional weight OF PEI
sonrlei The Germans, notwithstanding nci
becgarly show Of artillery in the 1866 cam
paicn, managed TO equip every cavalry VIi i
gade in 1870 with n plendidly-appolnleu
horse-artillery battery or two. ana iurtneL-
more it was 50 ordered that these horse-ar,,
tillery batteries remained part ana phIgel
of their respective cavalry brsaoes
throughout the war. and were. not SUBJECT
except in one or two cases OF emergency
TO separation from their commands; IN
the front of the enemy the horse-artlll1r9
commands became welded into the cavalry
organizations under the very heat OF con-
tinued fire in action, the welding beih9
effected so thoroughly and so neatly that
every feat in the front WAS ascTloed as
victory tor the cavalry. IL was this COM
plete unificatiOn Of two aTIns, each capa-
BILE of the greatest celebrity III movement,
that enabled the Germans TO ehect some
of the most telling and complete sur
prises. , e..o- %
tempted cavalry raids such as character,
lied the operations of both northern ana
southern cavalry forces in the civil war IN
this country. But the French dO2matl-
cally adhered TO the plan of keeping intact
the cavalry. never moving It unless the
army moved in unison. reserylng the ilriu
for action only in pitched battles wheh
some opportunity might present itself 10
| launch +. 600 to 10. 900 horsemen in one order;
Prince Kraft. in his Letters on Cavalry
nictures what a raid by French cavalry
! division might have accomplished had
IL been permitted, starting say from
Dion by Langres, Barbecue, 81. Name
hould, and Rethel to the northern iort-
resses. Favored everywhere by the lnhaDl-
| tants. and warned in time of any threaten
| ing danger. hidden for many nights III the
| forest of ArgOune attacking and annoy
/ inc the enemy's line of communication at
| such spots only as they knew from the peo-
| ple to be occupied either by few. troops or
/ none at all, such a cavalry division WouIa
| have done the invader infinite harm: IL
| would have disturbed his communications,
! destroyed the railways. cut of his sup
plies, burned advancing dlyxlonal col
umns, sc. Such a raid, assisted rs ~
would be in every village and IN
every town bv It's sympathizers, might pro-
duce extraordinary results. Captain no
! bertson thinks it highly probable
that should the Russians ever sue
coed in gaining foothold ~ IN
| dia il Will be necessary Tor the brush 10
resort to cavalry raidIng on tho enemy
/ limos TO destroy their operations wholly.
| Tho Russo-Turkish war furnished some adj
mirabla examples Of what cavalry VIII con-
tiuuo TO do in the next European war;
General Gourko's conducted
movement in the Shipka Pass III less IMAM
a month gained possession OF one OF the
principal passes over the Balkans rom
which the Russians were never aiterward
| driven. while il was used IN January lor
! the crossing Of alargc portion OF their army
| But. besides this most material advantage
| General Gourko caused almost a panic
throuohoutth the whole OF Turkey IN Europe,
| subsistinr on the country and spread
inc destruction and disorder IN all III
rectons, uprOOtlng telegrephs ana ruiz
WAYS, and collecting valuable information
! from all sides IL IL true that large Oody
of infantry was used in this raid, but u
doubtful whether its presence conduced
| much TO the success Of the expedition
after the pass was secured. The part OF
the infantry was TO hold open the gate OF
! the orchard while the cavalry secured inc
! fruit. In some of the operations OF the
Russian cavalry there wcrc instances OF
/ brigades with their horse artillery making
/ eixtv-fve miles in eighteen hours. But
| horse artillery has done even better than
| this for CAPTAIN Robertson alludes 10 a
| march of seventy miles IN sixteen hours,
aud aoain of another horse-Grtlllcry bat
tory DOING nluetv-five miles IN thirty
hours. I'm each instance the guns were
| brought into action on the completion OF
the march.
What with arming cavalry regiments
with thelance and adding additional horse
artillery commands 10 the cavalry, the
armies Of Germany. France, and Russla
are assuming a form altogether new IN
some respects. vet strangely IN keeping
with many of the established principles OF
the great Napoleon and OF FREDERICK the
Great. The British. too, seem inclined 10
augment their horse-artlLerY batteries.
The latter are fully aware that IN the event
| of a great European crisis they VIII be CON-
nolled 10 call into play numerous foreign
clements, all OF which Will necessarily
comprise infantry and cavalry. The artli-
lcrv will remain English in every respect,
and because OF this fact the British are he
termined thatthe arm shall lack for nothing
TO give it strength. 1t seems, too, that
most Of the military authorities OF Europe
are decided on the use Of shIapnel Tor held
/ Z
ehrapDeli is more death-deallng ITS enecis
than Is common shell. but at the same time
il can be argued. Not few artillery ON
GERS believe, however, in using common
shell against cavalry because OF IT'S disturb
inc effect produced on the horses. Horses
wilinotnotice the small puff otthe snrapnel'
bat the loud report OF the common sheis'
bursting with unexpected anu lightning
like rapidity. will startle many OF them'
rendering them unmanageable. Prince
Kraft gives this instance of the destructive
eject al common shell against horses At
one moment something was seen moving
to the right in the forest OF the Ardenne-.
Bv the help of field glasses this was made
out 10 be some cavalry marching IN two
ranks toward the north. and passing
through a clearing in the forest on the hlll.
The batteries endeavored to find the range.
With elevation for little more than 4 600
yards we appeared to hit. | considered
that the range was too great lqr tut
fire 10 have any effect. and ! was
about to order it 20 cease. when IN EVIL
dent disturbance in the ranks of the enemy
proved that our projectiles had reached
him. We continued then 10 fire slowly at
the moving target Is long as It remained
visible. On the following day Lieutenant
V. Kaas. while doing duty as aide de camp
passed by this point and found III mario"
crest which ran between very steep Ia
vines an entire French battery which had
been abandoned there. Tho team OF the
leading gun had been blown to pieces by
our shells. and the other guns could not
pass il. thus the whole battery fell into oul
hands. a trophy of the accuracy of oui
fire." -.
The guns used by Prince Kraft on this
occasion are far inferior 10 the guns OF to
day.