page_title: Lancer
section_title: 20th century lancers
hierarchical_section_title: Lancer / 20th century lancers
caption_attribution_description: English: Reenactors in the uniform of the 15th Poznań Regiment of Uhlans
context_page_description: A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as 700 BC and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Chinese, and Roman horsemen. The weapon was widely used in Asia and Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by armoured cavalry, before being adopted by light cavalry in Europe and Central Asia. In a modern context, a lancer regiment usually denotes an armoured unit.
context_section_description: In 1914, lances were still being carried by regiments in the British, Indian, French, German, Italian,Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Ottoman, Belgian, Argentinian, and Russian armies, amongst others. Almost all German cavalry (hussars, dragoons and cuirassiers as well as uhlans) retained a steel lance as their primary weapon. As late as 1914, half of the troopers in each Russian regular cavalry regiment (hussars, uhlans and dragoons) carried lances on active service, as did all cossacks.
  The British cavalry lost the lance for all but ceremonial use in 1903, following the Boer War; but a conservative backlash led to its reintroduction as an active service weapon from 1909 to 1928.
  The French army did not have lancer regiments as such, but steel lances 2.97 metres in length were carried by the twenty-six dragoon regiments and some light cavalry units in 1914. The French had earlier tested the Indian bamboo lances used by the British cavalry, but had rated them as being too fragile for the shock of encounter. The six Italian lancieri regiments still in existence until 1920 carried the 1870 model of ashwood lance, noted for its balance and manageability. 
  Prior to the outbreak of World War I, there had been controversy as to whether lances or sabres were the more effective armes blanches (i.e., edged weapons) for cavalry, but neither proved a match for modern firearms. Some armies continued to use lances throughout this war, but they seldom saw use on the Western Front after initial clashes in France and Belgium in 1914. On the Eastern Front, mounted cavalry still had a role and lances saw limited use by the Russian, German and Austrian armies.
  During the 1920s and 1930s, the use of lances ceased for active service in most armies. British and Indian lancer regiments continued to carry lances on mounted parades, until mechanization took place in the late 1930s. Some other armies retained lance-armed ceremonial units. The Polish cavalry did not discard the lance as a weapon until 1934 or 1937 and continued to use it for training purposes up to the outbreak of World War II.
caption: Volunteer Representative Squadron of the City of Poznań in the uniform of the 15th Uhlan Regiment of Poznań from 1939
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