Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-01-15
Shall Cavalry Remain
At University? Major
johnson AnslUers" Yes"

+ long distance reconnaissance such
as that designed to locate enemy
masses, area of concentration, the
use or non-use by enemy columns
of particular roads or zones, etc.
After the determination of such in
lformation by aviation, or in the alb
.sence or failure of aviation. recon
naissance by cavalry wil be. re-
quired. Cavalry can not be replaced
by aviation in ordinary open war;
fare reconnaissance for the principal
reasons that:
Deffes Weather.
Cavalry can be used successfully
for reconnaissance at night, and
under all weather conditions, and in
thiclzly wooded or badly broken
country.
Cavalry can give constant observa
ton, whereas even under favorable
weather conditions, observation from
airplanes is necessarily intermittent.
Cavalry can better. determine the
intentions of an enemy force as
combat usually will be required.
Cavalry can secure details of in
formation in reconnaissance such as
identifications.
Cavalry, but not the air service,
can obtain definite information that
specific areas are not occupied by a
concealed enemy.
There are numerous other impor-
tant reasons, which only tend to
emphasize the necessity for cavalry
in modern warfare, and (which have
proved by actual demonstration that
oIYNr
can be considered as obsolete.
No branch of the army came out
of the World war so unjustly mis-
priced as the cavalry, especially for
us here in America. Except for a
regiment, of infantry i'm Italy and
small force in russia, all our great
army was in the trenches in France
or was headed for them. The
World war for US therefore, con-
.veyed but single picture-that OF
the bitter desperate trench -to-trench
struggle, along that line that
stretched without gap from the
British channel to the Swiss Alps;
a struggle marked by destructive
artillery duels, by the horrors or
gas and the biggest discomfort. 1t
was natural that we lost sight OF
the German Uhlans and the allied
cavalry exploits during the few
weeks from the outbreak of the war
to the moment when the allied
armies, retiring under the protection
of their cavalry, guarding their
flanks and acting as a mobile re-
serve, were able tof establish the
fortress around Paris buttressed by
the impossible Alps on the one side;
and the mined channel Of the sea
on the other. : Thisk reana r8Sablep dem
onstration alone was enough to in%i
spire Lord Ha;g, field marshal OF
the British armies, to say 1T has
been proved that cavalry, whether
used as shock effect, under suitable
conditions, or las mobile infantry,
still has an indispensable part tc
play in modern war"
Work of Cavalry.
But consider further-since the
war in France soon became a trench
war-a siege, it is to other fronts
that we must look for the big cav
airy work of the war. Whether we
turn to italy or the Balkans, or
Russia, or Roumania, or Palestine,
or Mesopotamia, or East Africa, we
find cavalry in the forefront, be-
cause IT WAS WORK THAT ONLY
CAVALRY COULD DO.
The work in Palestine probably
appeals to US more than the numer-
Gus enga agements because the Brit
ish-in this case largely Australians
and New Zealanders-were fighters
much of the Same stamp as our own
American cavalry is trained. Fur