The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-05-03

The glory of the French army-the
Cuirassier-has fought it's last battle.
What the armies of the world could
not accomplish in the wars OF three
centuries, is to be achieved in a stroke
Of the pen by a French military OH
cial, and In a few months the Cuiras-
siers will be only a tradition.
The snowy soldier on horseback,
wearing his flashing breastplate of
steel, with a brass piece in the center,
has " been the idol of the show-lOv-
ing French nation, and the winner of
some of Its greatest battles, but mod
ern methods of warfare have put out
of commission the equipment that
comes down from the Middle Ages.
No cuirass, no matter how c~raftily
wrought, could resist the bullet of to-
day, and so Gen. de Negreir. French
minister Of war, has decreed that the
thirteen regiments of cuirassiers must
be mustered out.
No wonder France loved it's cuiras.
siers. They had a great history. In
every war of the patrie they cut a u
perb figure. and until they lowered
their cOlors at Waterloo to the valor
of the Scots Grays the world had come
to believe them invincible.
There are not many cuirassiers left
In the worlds armies. The abolition
Of the thirteen French regiments will
..eace three countries with this arm of
the seryice-Russia, Germany and It.
ally.
Germany has twelve regiments and
Russia four, but 1t is altogether posi-
Die that the kaiser and czar will follow
the lead of the French.
Yet only a few hundred years ago
the man in the cuirass was the ideal
fighter.
Before the deadly quick-firing rifles
and machine guns had come to deal
out death as swiftly and surely as a
barrel organ grinds out a tune. the
cuirass was sufficiently effective to
turn aside bullets.
Gustavus Adolphus, the greatest
warrior of Sweden. first taught the
world what a wonderful fighting pos
sibility there could be in a well-drilled
company Of expert horsemen. able to
maneuve with lightning swiftness. SO
well protected as to be comparatively
immune from danger. and having in
their pixies lances or sabers and the
irresistible onrush of their mounts
the force to wipe any ordinary antago-
mist out of the way. Only an equally
powerful force of cuirassiers could re-
sist such a force, and the military ex-
perts of Europe, protiting by the les
sons of Gustavus, directed their atten-
ton to %perfecting this feature of OF
fenSive warfare.
England, then, had it's ~cuirassiers,
though they have long since been
abandoned in the service of the Brit
ish king.
France early took up the subject,
and under Louis XIII. developed sew
eral excellent regiments.
The cuirassier of this period was
heavily accounted. carrying beside
saber and pistol. a lance or a pike.
Then came the famous Marshal SAKE
W SOil oloh6 o1Ill NhS oth
of preparation that was to give Ma
poleon the finest %cuirassiers in Europe.
In 1906 against the Prussians at
Jena and Auerstadt, they did match
less work, and were responsible for
these
That command of cuirassiers under
Kellerman, at MarengO. numbered
only two hundred, but it turned a rout
into a victory, and by a ruch of match
less valor put the Austrian army to
flight after what seemed a certain
victory. The two hundred cuirassiers
were directly responsible for the TAX
ing of 1000 prisoners, and the saving
Of Napoleon from the threat of a seri-
GUS defeat.
At A%ustrelitz and Wagram the CUR
assiers brought victory to the legions
Of the emperor.
The Russian campaign dealt hardly
with the cuirassiers, for Napoleon, by