Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-05-16
is CAVALRY OBSOLETE?
Views of Major-GeneraI Weber of the
British Army,

entirely new views of army organiza-
ton, as follows:
The scientific study of warfare has
during the latter half of the nineteenth
century Jagged behind the advances
which have been made in leaps and
bounds by the applications of scientif-
ic knowledge. The weak side of NJ.
de Bloch's argument against the pos
sibility of future war, on account of its
destructiveness through the use of
scientific means. lies in his omission
: to allow Of comparison with the past.
Those who agree with Bloch forget
that history shows that whenever de-
struction of life in war became exces.
sive science stepped in to save waste.
1t will do so again, and the nation
which first realizes this, in adapting
the training and organization of it's
army to the applications of science,
will win. The outcry as to the
want of the use of ordinary business
principles" in the management of the
affairs of an army is met by pointing
out that a military administration in
eventuality which only occasionally,
and generally suddenly, arrives, and
from direction and in form per-
haps quite different from one that has
been anticipated AS regards the per-
sonnet of an army in time of peace,
what are known as ordinary business
principles" are inapplicable.
The existing subdivision of the
forces into the so-called "arms,"
which is the inheritance of time
when to disable the enemy with a pro-
jectile was secondary to striking him
with the arme blanche, is obsolete, and
the time has arrived when this ever
increasing divergence of conditions
from those of the past must be faced.
is there any cavalry officer who has
been under modern rifle fire who
thinks that the celebrated cavalry
charges of the nineteenth century can
be repeated? The cavalry, as cavalry,
of the nineteenth century is obsolets
as an "arm," and the truth of this con,
tention should be sifted to the very
bottom. The width of the zone, the
possible density in the air of the
missiles from weapons used from the
shoulder or from a vehicle, the use of
smokeless powder would be factors in
the evidence. The outcome is that
there are two main divisions in the
army organizations of the future-one
the arm" which strikes an enemy
with projectiles explosive or other
wise), the other the engineering
arm The fact of having to ride
or drive, or having to care for horse
Tor now for bicycle, is no longer a
sound distinction The true classified
ton of the projectile man is between
the marksman-rifleman who alone
should be trusted with a rifle, and the
gunner, or man who works the rified
arm carried on wheels. For instance,
battalion would be made up of, say
so per cent rifiemen and the rest
would be light machine-gun men, por-
ton of whom would man light spare
ammunition vehicles similarly con-
structed to the frame of the bicycle.
The organization and tactics of the
''arm" now known as ARTILLERY need
be radically altered only in the direc-
ton of making the training of its units
inseparable from that of the rif1eman,
so that the ballistic effect on the
enemy of projectiles of various
weights, ranges and explosive effects,
whether propelled from the shoulder
or from a vehicle, may be the most
prominent consideration in the mind
of the commander. 1t was contended
that the organization by which horse,
foot and artillery are each expected to
have an amateur acquaintance with
little bit of the work embraced by the
engineer service is of the past-and
that the scientific warfare, which will
win in the end, means the devotion of
the energy of the mind and body in
battle to the weapons or appliances
with the use of which each man or
unit should be perfected. AS a result
of the experiences of British army ad.
ministration of the nineteenth CEN
fury The lecturer can see no other way
of fully meeting the proved draw
backs, owing to political conditions
than by the establishment of stand
ing Advisory Military Navy or Army
Board, which shall be as independent
of parties and of the government de-
partments as is the judicial bench,
from which the Crown and Parliament
shall receive reports and recommends.
tons from qualified officers of the
army and navy, who will live as il
war was imminent and always just be-
yond the political horizon, and as il
preparation for it were vital to the
safety of the empire" On the subject
of offensive defense the lecturer rec
ognizes the necessity of being able to
free the whole of the regular active
army from the duty of home defense,
but his general proposition goes step
further. 1t is based on the necessity
in modern warfare over a civilized,
thickly peopled country for the labor
of two unarmed men for each combat
ant, these unarmed men to be organ
lied as a defense works corps, and to
be superintendent or Differed Tin the
civil sense) by $4,000 professional and
unoccupied gentlemen, who themselves
should be "earmarked" in time of
-