Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-12-26
CAVALRY FORMS !.
ARE RETAINED
Despite Fact that They have
Been Found Bad, Senti-
rnent Holds Them.

,a:ia, 2cser I. Il
gary as In Germany q tenacious ad-
herence to tradition rather than. the
lessons Of recent military history has
been responsible for the retention of
various cavalry organizations which
were intended to take part in war
very much in the manner of the cam
paigns of 1856 and 1870. Though the
Beer war, the campaign in Manchuria
and more recently the operations IN
tfe Balkans had demonstrated, as
military experts claimed, that cav
airy was thing of the past in this
era Of machine guns, the Austro-Hun-
garian and German governments coll
t;nue to maintain large numbers of
these expensive troops. Their vliue
now has been proved to be slight. it
Is asserted. Already most of the Aug
tro-Hungarian and German cavalry
regiments have modified their field
work considerably so that now they
are little more than mounted infaL-
try.
For reconnaissance purposes an
Wat IS known as screen" work, the
cavalry remains now, as in other wars.
a YER" important arm. 1t may also
| still be used when reinforcements must
ba sent hurriedly. or when a flank
| movement Of the enemy is TO be frus-
| trated, but the old cavalry charge
would seem to have been relegateG to
| oblivion. The losses Of the cavalry
Organizations have been frightfullv
hea, y in this war, it is said; so heavy.
in fact, that they finally have over
come the stronghold which the cavauy
| Traditions had on the military word
oe Europe.
Hereafter cavalry will be .sed only
fo: field intelligence. patrol, cover and
| reinforcement purposes. Outside Of
that the men now fight in trenches,
| as d., the infantrymen. In the Austro-
Hungarian army much cavalry has
been converted into machine gun per-
eonnel. .... ,-..v5
Excellent work has been done hy
the men on horseback now and then,
but usually in operations not consid.
cred heretofore the proper sphere OF
cavalry. The honveds of Hungary. foz
instance, became the terror of the
Servian troops. In the Macva cam.
palgr 1t was but necessary to make :,
demonstration with these descendants
of the warriors OF Attila to get re-
suits. But the honved cares little for
cavalry tactics and Austro-H Hungarian
army regulations True to the in
| stincts of the pusta cowboy he rides
| "up and at them" takes cover when
ever necessary. and does sabre work
only when the chances for it are good.
| ~ AL MlLrOVlCl some 0UV SerVldn IN
| fantrymen surrendered to honved
patrol of 40 men. The honveds, it
appears. had ridden around the Serbs
SO many times that the latter believed
themselves attacked by at least di-
vision Of these Magyar horsemen.
It is predicted that there will be
little cavalry in Europe after this
war, and that governments will con.
contrate their efforts and means upon
motor transportation for their foot
troops. The operations Of the Ger.
mans in Belgium and France have al.
ready demonstrated the great value OF
this, and the trench war now in pro.
Eress leaves no shpere for the mount
ed man. This is true also of the hill
fighting in Servia, and the mud and
i swamp -hampered operations in Cali.
cia and Russian Poland. In neithe,
nf these theaters Of war has the cav.
airy been a success since the first en-.
counters. Ground is gained and los
not by miles as heretofore. but by fee
and yards, and In these fronts, meas.
ured by the hundreds of kilemeters
there Is hardly such a thing as flank
which cavalry might back up or on
velope.. .