Evening star., 1941-01-06
A Lament for
The Cavalry
Chargers Seen Making
Lost Stond in
U. S. Army
BY RICHARD L. STOKES.


days, when the exploits of Stuart, Early
and Sheridan apparently determined
that the cavalry was lord of battle. 1t
has been displaced by the machine gun,
which in turn, by sort of poetic justice,
has yielded its position to the tank.
A gallant struggle to salvage the horse
is proceeding in the United States Army,
under the leadership of Maj Gen. Robert
C. Richardson, jr., commanding the lst
Cavalry Division at Fort Bliss, Ell Paso,
Tex.
Present plans call for only two cavalry
divisions, the second of which is being
assembled at Fort Riley, Kans. In addi-
ton, each of the nine Army corps is
to have a cavalry reconnaissance regi-
ment consisting half of motorcycles and
scout cars and half of horses, which
are transported by truck. Two of these
regiments were assigned from the Regu-
lar Army, and seven are National Guard
units. Cavalry reconnaissance troops,
similarly mechanical, have recently
been organized for each of the nine in
fantry triangular divisions. Artillery in
the National Guard remains largely
horse-drawn. This about exhauSts the
uses of the former proud battle mount
as contemplated for the new National
Army.
Gen. Richardson confesses with
sigh that the classic functions of the
most glorious of military quadrupeds
have ended Rarely again will Light
Brigade charge against artillery as at
BalaklaVa, or an Imperial Guard storm
squares of infantry at another Waterloo.
The traditional weapons of the cavalry,
lance and saber, have vanished. It's
age-old duties of reconnaissance have
been usurped by arplane and scout
car, while those of exploiting break
through in enemy positions have fallen
to the tank
In order to save the horse at all, Gen
Richardson and his associates have been
compelled to yield concession after con-
division, at proposed war strength, in
clude 13 tanks. 145 scout cars and 359
motorcycles. It's service echelon, con-
sisting of quartermaster, ordnance. med
ical and veterinary elements, is almost
completely mechanical with an in
crease of motor vehicles from $50 to 300
The divisions personnel has been raised
from 5000 to 101OO officers and men. but
the number of horses has dropped from
5000 to 5000
To speak truth, modern warfare has
relegated the horse largely to the status
of pack or draft animals. 1t is no
longer an active participant in battle.
It's present use is solely for transporting
fire power to the battle line The riders
are not cuirassiers, lancers and huzzars.
They have become rifemen and machine
gunners-or. in short, mounted infan-
try-who take to the ground in order to
fight, and send their chargers back to
the rear. Led horses carry machine
guns, while still others drag anti-tank
guns, mortars and light howitzers into
position on rubber-tired caisSons. after
which they withdraw from the front.
To behold horse wired for sound and
galloplng across country with the an
tenna or radiotelephone waving aloft
from the saddle like giant whip-that is
a spectacle to make an observer rub his
eyes.
In one respect, champions of the horse
have taken the aggressive. They have
equipped the cavalry division with a
fire power unprecedented in the history
OF this arm. The weapons of each of the
two divisions, when they attain full
strength, will consist of 9.746 .45-caliber
pistols, 1853 Garand semi automatic
rifles 489 .45-caliber submachine guns.
356 heavy machine guns of 80 caliber.
321 light machine guns of the same
caliber, 265 5O-caGber machine guns 81
anti-tank guns of 81 millimeters, "a 75-
millimeter howitzers, IA mortars of 81
millimeters and u howitzers of los mil
limeters. This makes total of 1915
weapons for 10,10O men
Such a division is designed to be a
self-contained unit, capable of operating
independently for at least "a hours
without falling back upon its base for
provisions of food and munitions or
medical supplies. There are even dress
ing stations and hospital trucks for
wounded horses.
The retention of the horse is justified
by three arguments. The first is that
mechanical division. as the Italians
learned to their cost in Greece. cannot
operate to advantage in mountainous
country. The same is true of marshy
land and of ground cut up by numerous
streams.
In the second place, there are certain
kinds of terrain-such as the precipitous
ravlnes, sand dunes and mesquite hum
mocks occupying a considerable area
along the Mexican boundary-which are
either impossible to motorized vehicles
or cut their speed from 40 to s or 10
miles an hour.
In a problem demonstrated for the
War Departments press tour at Fort
Bliss, over 4 square miles of such terri
tory, horses maintained speed of Is to
20 miles an hour across fields which
sturdy command cars, with special tires.
high-slung bodies and four-wheel drive.
were unable so much as to enter. The
maximum range of horse cavalry di-
vision is said to be 100 miles in one day.
The third and clinching argument is
that the Germans. in their mechanical
blitzkreig against the Low Countries and
France, used more than half a million
horses.
Another problem was staged among
the foothills of the Franklin Mountains.
an imposing spur of the Rockies which
towers over Ell Paso. Through Anthony
Gap there came zigzagging down, on
narroW-gauge rails at a velocity of On