The age-herald., 1901-03-31
IS CAVALRY OBSOLETE?
Views of Major General Webber of the
 British Army.

Phe Broad Arrow, the leading British naval and military gazette, reports an address by General Webber, urging en- tirely new views of army organization as follows:
 The scientific study of warfare during the latter half of the nineteenth century Jagged behind the advances which have been made in leaps and bounds by the ap- plications of scientific knowledge The weak side of NJ. de Bloch's argument against the possibility of future war, on account of its destructiveness through the use of scientific means lies in his omis- sion to allow of comparison with the past Those who agree with Bloch forget that history shows that whenever destruction of life in war became excessive science stepped in to save waste. It will do so again, and the nation which first realizes this, in adapting the training and organ ization of Its army to the application of science will win. The outcry as to the want of the use of ordinary business principles in the management of the af- fairs of an army is met by pointing out that a military administration In time of peace is preparing for an eventuality which only occasionally, and generally suddenly, arrives, and from a direction and in q form perhaps quite different from one that has been anticipated As raSards the personnel or ain army in time of peace, what are known as ordinary business principles are applicable.
 The existing supervision of the forces into the so-caled "arms" which is tho inheritance of a time when to disable the enemy With projectile was secondary to striking him with the arme blanche, Is obsolete, and the time has arrived when this ever-increasing divergence of condi- tions from those of the past must be Jl has been under modern rife fire who thinks that the celebrated cavalry charges of the ninteenth century can be re- peated? The cavalry. as cavalry of the nineteenth century. is obsolete as an arm and the truth of this contention should be sifted to the very bottom The width of the zone.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 pro- Jectiies texplosive or otherwise), the oth- CT the engineering arm
 The fact of having to ride or drive ar having to care for horse Cor now for a blcycle), is no longer sound distinc- ton. The true classification of the pro- Jectile man Is between the marksman- rineman. who alone should be trusted With rifle, and the gunner, or man who works the rifled arm carried on wheels For instance, battalion would be made up of say 50 per cent rifemen and the rest would be light machine gun men, q portion of whom would man light spare ammunition vehicles similarly construct ed to the frame of the bicycle The or ganlzation and tactics of the arm now known as artillery" need be radically altered only in the direction of making the training of its units inseparable from that of the rifemen, so that the ballistic effect on the enemy of projectiles of var ious weights, ranges and explosive effects, whther propelled from the shoulder or from a vehicle. may be the most promi- nent consideration in the mind of the complander.
 It was contended that the organiza- ton by which horse foot and artillery are each exnccted to have an amateur acquaintance with little bit of the work embraced by the engineer service is of the past-and that the scientific ware fare, which will win in the end. means the devotion of the energy of the mind and body in battle to the weapons or ap-