DUTIES AT THE BEGINNING AND DURING THE COURSE OF THE WAR
The importance which attaches to the first tactical decisions, the
fact that their success is mainly determined by the uninterrupted
execution of the railway deployment, the safe arrival of the troops
and war material in the appointed zones of concentration, the
consideration that the continuance of the operation after the first
battle--retreat or pursuit--is mainly conditioned by the uninterrupted
action of the rearward communications, make it indubitable that it is
of the utmost importance to disturb the corresponding operations of
the enemy, and thus place one's own Army from the very beginning in a
position of material and strategic advantage.
Since the Cavalry is not only able to cover great distances with
overwhelming rapidity, but also, owing to its special character as a
standing branch of the Army, is always ready to march and operate,
whilst the other portions of the Army are still occupied with their
mobilization, the opinion has been freely expressed that it would be
advantageous to utilize this period required for the mobilization and
railway transport of the other Arms for Cavalry raids, either into
the zone of concentration, or against the communications of the enemy.
Russia has for this very purpose concentrated upon the German and
Austrian frontiers enormous Cavalry forces, supported by light
infantry. France also keeps a numerous Cavalry practically on a war
footing on the frontiers of Lorraine.
On the outbreak of War these masses are ready at the shortest notice
to ride over our frontiers, to break up our railways, to seize our
horses and depots, to destroy our magazines, and to carry terror and
consternation into our zone of assembly.
It cannot be denied that in such manner by no means inconsiderable
damage could be caused, and hence one must earnestly consider, first,
what chances of success such enterprises offer, and next, whether the
relative magnitude of the probable results are proportionate to the
probable losses they must necessarily entail.
Cool and objective consideration of such ideas must, in my opinion,
lead us to negative such undertakings--on our side, at any rate. In
the first place, the enemy will always be in a position, by suitable
organization of his frontier guards and the situation selected for the
front of his strategic deployment, to withdraw himself either
altogether from the radius of action of the Cavalry, or at least
render its advance both difficult and dangerous. The danger will be
the greater the more it has been possible to provide for the armament
and organization of the population in the frontier provinces. Where
the conditions on the side of the defender are not unusually
unfavourable--as, for instance, in wide open districts--or where there
is a want of troops in strategically unimportant provinces, then even
if the invading masses break in on the very first day of mobilization,
they will find railways, defiles, river-crossings already defended by
infantry or popular levies. If they come upon an insurgent population
they will find great difficulties both in reconnaissance and
subsistence.
At every step they advance, the numbers of the opponent will be
constantly increasing, while their own strength diminishes. The
defiles will be occupied between their several columns, and they must
guard themselves in every direction. Their trains and baggage get into
confusion, and supply becomes all the more difficult the more rapidly
they advance, because the waggons cannot keep up with their movement,
and there is no time for requisitioning. Field batteries and lines of
infantry occupy the more important positions, the enemy's Cavalry
appears on the flanks, and man and horse break down at length under
the severity of the strain. Retreat becomes inevitable, and if they
ever get back at all, they can only reach their own Army after heavy
losses and with broken force. The damage which they can do to the
enemy remains small in proportion to his total power, even though it
is locally not inconsiderable. At the best one may hope to destroy
some railway not too far from the frontier, interrupt some telegraph
lines of communication, and disperse or capture some ammunition
depots, magazines, or snap up some convoys of reserve men and horses.
But the enemy has already taken these possibilities into account; they
will soon be overcome, and his arrangements in general will be hardly
disturbed.
If, on the other hand, the Cavalry is accompanied by infantry, it will
be even more hampered in its movements than by its own trains, and
will soon have to decide whether it should make its movements
dependent on those of its escort, thereby renouncing all hopes of
further results, or whether it should abandon the infantry to its
fate. Certain defiles in the vicinity of the frontier, which the
combined forces were able in advancing to occupy, the infantry may
well succeed in keeping open; but if it attempts to follow the tracks
of its own Cavalry, there can be no doubt it would be exposed to
inevitable destruction.
This applies equally to the cyclist--at least, as far as the machine
has as yet been developed; for though one cannot deny the great
advantage which its mobility under certain circumstances offers, yet
it remains too dependent on roads and weather to insure that freedom
and certainty of movement which in such undertakings in conjunction
with Cavalry are unconditionally necessary.
The attempt to break up communications by well-mounted officers
patrols boldly pushed forward in advance would seem to offer even less
chances of securing permanent results. They, too, will find the
country obstructed by the armed population, or by troops in the act of
concentration. Even weak detachments or patrols along the railway
would suffice to effectively resist them; they can depend for success
only on their rapidity and cunning. But most rivers are unfordable,
and in the woods patrols can hardly venture, because every tree may
shelter a man with a rifle. Once they leave the roads, their pace
diminishes; they easily lose their direction; nowhere can they obtain
security for rest and food, even if they are fortunate enough in
procuring any. If, in spite of all this, they do happen to succeed in
blowing up a railway or cutting a telegraph, the effect is
infinitesimal.
The patrol itself will find its chances of escape decreasing in exact
proportion to the distance it has penetrated into the enemy's country.
The greater the number of the patrols employed, the more irreplaceable
will the inevitable loss become; for it will always be the best
officers, the men who put most energy and determination into the
execution of their instructions, who are the most likely to fall
victims to their courage and audacity.
Premature advance of the Cavalry during mobilization and concentration
can only procure information of little or no importance, for the
existing railways, the direction of the frontiers, and the peace-time
distribution of the troops reveal all this to the General Staff
beforehand. These, together with the secret service, political
conditions obtaining at the moment, and press intelligence, will
enable one to forecast with some degree of precision the general
situation.
Now, the Cavalry can hardly expect to attain more--indeed, it is
doubtful whether they would succeed even in confirming what is already
known, for the difficulties to be overcome, as we have seen, are
numerous, and nowhere can one find completed situations from which to
make reliable deductions. At most they can determine that certain
places are already occupied, and that the traffic on certain lines is
considerable, things that one knew _a priori_, which, therefore, are
not worth any serious sacrifice. Moreover, it is exceedingly doubtful
whether, at such an early period, when conditions are changing from
day to day, such information has any practical value.
Of course, it is not intended to maintain that one should not from the
very first moment after the declaration of War keep a sharp look-out
upon the enemy, work up to him, and seek to determine as much as
rapidity and daring can succeed, with any probability of success, in
attaining--that goes without saying. Particular value will always
attach to the taking of prisoners, whose regimental numbers enable us
to check the accuracy of our existing information. But against this we
must emphasize all the more forcibly that in this first period of
hostilities an inundation of the enemy's zone of concentration with
masses or by far-flung lines of patrols is not only not expedient, but
absolutely detrimental, since the certain cost of such undertakings
stands in no reasonable proportion to the probably negative, or at
most insignificant, result to be expected. Further, our own
concentration has already been so prepared in peace that it must be
carried out with clock-like regularity, even should the results of the
reconnaissance disclose that the conditions on the side of the enemy
were not quite those that we had originally expected.
Even the mere transference backwards of the line of strategic
deployment, which in 1870 could still be carried out without serious
difficulties or drawbacks, could nowadays, in view of the high tension
induced by modern conditions, only be executed with extraordinary
difficulty, whilst lateral displacement of such numbers is quite
inconceivable. For even if the railway organization would suffice for
the execution of such a design, the many other preparations in the
zone of concentration can neither be moved nor improvised.
Summarizing the whole question, the conclusion, I think, must be, that
only that Army which has at its disposal a great preponderance of
Cavalry could allow itself the luxury of such premature commitment of
its mounted forces.
In general, the difficulties of replacing the losses of the Cavalry
with material of equal quality are so great that only the most
important reasons could justify any such attempts. Hence the side
which is weaker in Cavalry will meet the circumstances best by keeping
back its horsemen, and not sacrificing its officers for infinitesimal,
and probably unattainable, advantages. It will be better merely to
work up to the enemy as close as may be possible without serious
losses, allow the enemy's mounted forces to wreck themselves against
the opposing infantry and armed population, and only then to put in
its Cavalry for decisive action when the opponent has already wasted
his best elements in the pursuit of insignificant advantages. After
all, it is only then, when the strategical concentration commences,
after railway movement is completed, that reconnaissance becomes both
possible and important.
Circumstances can, of course, arise in which, already during the first
period of operations, exhaustive independent activity may be demanded
from the Cavalry, as, for instance, when one has reason to believe
that the enemy has changed his previously-selected zone of
concentration, or, as when in 1870 on the German side, it becomes
necessary to take steps to protect the frontier districts against the
enemy's raids. In the first case the attempts to discover, by the
employment of Cavalry, the changed dispositions of the enemy are
certainly permissible. The patrols must then go forward until they can
settle the decisive questions, and strong detachments must be pushed
out so close behind them that the patrols and their following
squadrons can find a safe retreat, and insure the transmission of the
intelligence they have collected.
In such enterprises tactical collision with the enemy's Cavalry and
his frontier troops might ensue. It may therefore be necessary to
support our squadrons by Infantry and Artillery.
But in every case we must be careful to keep within the limits which
are conditioned by the purpose of the undertaking, and not allow
ourselves to be involved in desperate and doubtful enterprises.
In the next case the duties of the Cavalry are merely defensive. All
that then matters is to rob small bodies of the enemy of their
opportunities, to block the traffic across the frontier, and to work
round their patrols with our own forces; but in no case are they to
attempt to obtain positive advantages by force, or to hazard important
decisions against a superior enemy. Wherever possible every effort
should be made to supplement the troops assigned to this defensive
attitude by the armed population, or even to replace them by such
levies altogether. The fortification and defence of villages and
isolated farms, occupation of railways and watercourses, and, above
all, the defence of woods which might favour the concealed advance of
the enemy's patrols, can well be left to the care of these improvised
formations.
Hostile attempts can be generally met by dismounted fire action in
well-chosen strong defensive country, possibly supported by
detachments of Infantry, Artillery, and 'Landsturm.' If the enemy's
superiority is great, then one must retire until the equilibrium of
the forces is re-established, the strategical necessity compels us to
fight, or, finally, the tactical situation gives good promise of
success.
One must, however, always keep this clearly before one's mind: that
the essence of all Cavalry action in the opening stage of the War lies
neither in this purely defensive attitude, nor in the offensive
enterprises previously alluded to, by which the concentration of the
enemy would be disturbed or other material successes might be
achieved, but that the decisive purpose only begins when important and
possible tasks can be given to the Cavalry--_i.e._, when the main
bodies of the enemy become ready for operations.
Then it becomes our duty to screen not only the advance of our own
troops and to secure to our Infantry the advantages of being able to
advance undisturbed, but the climax of all these duties will be
reached _in the far more important duty_, in the now indispensable
task, of securing the _widest possible sphere of intelligence_.
Whereas, during the period of railway concentration the front of the
enemy was conditioned by the ends of the lines employed in bringing up
the troops, who in turn spread themselves out to utilize the resources
of the country (hence generally our patrols, if sent out, would come
in contact all along the threatened frontier or the enemy's line of
detrainment, with defended villages, etc.), the troops will now be
drawn into closer cantonments, or bivouacs, and group themselves
together into clearly-defined masses.
There will therefore now arise between separate portions of his Army
and their lines of advance, spaces unoccupied by troops into which our
Cavalry can penetrate. The heads and flanks of his columns can now be
determined, and the direction in which they are marching, thus
ascertained, becomes of essential importance.
Now is the time when the Cavalry must put in its full strength to
discover the strength and direction of the enemy's movements, and the
fact of this concentration provides the Cavalry with the opportunities
necessary to solve the problem before it.
Of course, immediately after detraining, troops will have to march to
the districts to which they are assigned for convenience of supply,
and this will lead to the formation of temporary groupings, which it
will be advisable, if possible, for us to observe. But it must not be
overlooked that observations during this period may easily lead to
false conclusions, as such movements serve only secondary purposes or
introductory measures, and seldom justify any conclusions bearing upon
the design of the ultimate operations. These latter only develop after
a certain degree of concentration has been attained, and hence the
essence of the whole question resolves itself into this--that the
Cavalry should not be put in until shortly before the strategical
concentration begins.
From the results now obtained the success of the whole campaign may
entirely depend. At this climax no secondary consideration must be
allowed to distract attention from the principal object. Even the
desirability of screening the movements of one's own Army, in so far
as this duty is not fulfilled by the reconnaissance itself, must give
way to the attainment of the principal object in view, which is
_intelligence_, not _security_.
This point requires to be more particularly insisted upon, because
fundamentally different arrangements are necessary to fulfil these two
purposes. Anyone who attempted to entrust both the provision of
intelligence and the protection of the troops to one and the same body
of men would in the vast majority of cases fail to secure either
purpose as long as the enemy's mounted forces still held the field.
To secure information--_i.e._, intelligence--requires concentration of
force. The reconnoitring Cavalry must beat their opponents out of the
field in order to obtain opportunities for discovering what is going
on behind the enemy's protective screen. To accomplish this, the
Cavalry must endeavour to work round the adversary's flanks, and may
in consequence have to leave the front of its own Army entirely
uncovered. The protection of this Army, on the other hand, requires a
wide extension of front and consequent subdivision of force, the exact
opposite of the concentration the provision of intelligence
imperatively calls for.
Naturally this view encounters opposition. Some contend that the whole
triumph of the Art consists in solving both problems simultaneously.
They reason that it is superfluous to seek an encounter with the
enemy's Cavalry. Cavalry duels only lead to the mutual destruction of
both parties. They maintain that one ought to advance, in the
interests both of security and screening, on a certain breadth of
front. If, then, circumstances compel one to fight, one must
concentrate quickly, and after the combat gain again the necessary
degree of extension to cover the front of the Army. They would leave
reconnaissance to be carried out by rapidly advancing patrols, which
evade those of the enemy, find cover in the ground, gain advantageous
points of observation on the flanks and in rear of the opponent, thus
obtaining their objects in spite of the enemy.
I hold it to be a grave error of judgment to believe that any
systematic application of this line of action will give sufficient
results.
Advantages in war must be fought for; they cannot be filched.
Was it not difficult enough in 1870-1871 to obtain reliable
information, although we had no true Cavalry opponent against us, and
still more difficult to get that news through to Headquarters in time?
How much more difficult, therefore, will it not be in the future, when
we can no longer count on controlling unconditionally the country
between the two Armies, and the enemy's Cavalry hold the field as well
as we!
Who will then guarantee that our patrols will really penetrate the
enemy's screen; above all, that their reports will get back through
the district controlled by the enemy's Cavalry in time enough to be of
use to Headquarters in forming its decisions? If the patrols are
compelled to elude those of the enemy, to seek for intersected
country, and to make detours, one cannot count on the requisite
rapidity; and the greater the total numbers brought together in modern
War, the greater the distances become which have to be reckoned with.
If from the very necessity of finding the shortest way and securing
communications with one's own Headquarters it becomes necessary to
beat the enemy's Cavalry out of the field to clear up the situation
sufficiently, the need of fighting is brought home to one with all the
greater force, because any other line of action leaves the enemy
chances at least as good as our own, which can never be the objective
of any form of military action, and ultimately fighting becomes
compulsory if, in addition to reconnaissance, one attempts to carry
out screen duties at the same time. It stands to reason that the
enemy's Cavalry can only be prevented from seeing by actually driving
them off the ground and depriving them of the power of breaking
through our own screen. That a numerically and materially inferior
Cavalry does well to avoid action goes without saying, but
fundamentally the duty of the Cavalry must be to seek to bring about
collision with that of the enemy, so that from the very beginning it
secures command of the ground between the two armies, and that the
actual and moral superiority in the whole zone of operations between
the two armies is obtained from the outset for our own Cavalry.
The victory of the 'masses' intensifies and invigorates the sense of
superiority in the individual combatant, and this sense of individual
superiority is essential if the patrols are to carry through their
duties in the true Cavalry spirit.
On the one hand, they are only able to solve their tasks both of
screening and of reconnaissance by actually defeating the enemy's
patrols; on the other hand, the moral factor tells heavily in the
scale.
How can one expect courage and determination or audacity from men who
have always been taught to avoid their opponent and only fight when
they are actually compelled?
The man who leaves these psychic factors out of account will always
find himself mistaken in War.
That in certain cases it may be useful to push forward officers as
stealthy patrols, with instruction to avoid being drawn into an
action, as far as time and opportunity will allow, goes without
saying; but nevertheless stress must be laid upon the point that
already in the period which is in general taken up with the encounter
with the enemy's Cavalry, no opportunity should be lost of keeping the
principal masses of the enemy's Army under direct observation, and
that therefore it is necessary from the very commencement of the
advance to send out officers patrols for this special purpose.
These patrols will derive their best support from a tactical victory
obtained over the enemy's Cavalry, which is manoeuvring in their rear.
Thus the fact remains that we must fight to reconnoitre and fight to
screen, and that only a systematic division of the two spheres of
action can give us the freedom necessary to insure the adoption of the
proper form at the right time and place.
A victory of the reconnoitring Cavalry by shattering the strength of
the enemy's horsemen must always result, both directly and indirectly,
in the advantage of our screening force.
The whole consideration, therefore, leads me to the conclusion that
the chief task for the Cavalry consists in obtaining a victory over
the enemy's Cavalry in that direction which is of decisive importance
for the further prosecution of reconnaissance as soon after the
beginning of the great operations as possible.
That it cannot be our object to seek the opponent's horsemen in the
direction which they themselves have selected--merely to beat
them--need scarcely be insisted upon. That would be to take the law
from the enemy and allow one's self to be diverted from the principal
direction in which reconnaissance is desirable.
Time and direction of the advance must rather be so chosen that they
compel the enemy to move to meet us. At the same time our effort must
be to appear with numerical superiority, in order to be certain of
victory.
In what concerns the Cavalry in the further course of the War, the
necessity both of screening and reconnoitring recurs again and again;
and in many cases even after the enemy has been beaten out of the
field, these objects will still only be obtained by fighting. Such
cases will occur in the duties of screening and security when the
enemy still possesses enough offensive power to attempt a
reconnaissance, with the threat of attack combined, and we ourselves
are engaged in a similar manner; also in all such cases in which
turning movements entail too much delay, or are rendered impossible by
the extension of the enemy's front; or, again, when the enemy on their
part renew offensive operations.
The necessity of breaking through the line of Infantry outposts in
order to discover the whereabouts of the enemy's principal masses and
the direction of their movements will also from time to time arise,
and it may become necessary to suppress rapidly and thoroughly
attempts at armed resistance by the civilian population.
Further, our Cavalry will be called on for attempts against the
enemy's communications, the strategical importance of which has been
already discussed, and these will be all the more important in cases
where the district we are fighting over is too poor to supply the
enemy's forces, or where operations have assumed a stationary
character, as before Fredericksburg, Paris, and Plevna, and it becomes
desirable to hinder the use of the railways for the transport of
troops or evacuation of supplies.
Lastly, the Cavalry may be called on to occupy wide stretches of
country and exploit their resources, to nip in their very inception
the formation of fresh bodies of armed defenders, or on the defensive,
to secure our own communications or districts against undertakings by
flying columns of the enemy.
Such undertakings, particularly when they lead in rear of the enemy's
Armies, will frequently assume the character of 'raids' in which the
essential purpose is to cover great distances rapidly, often with the
sacrifice of all communications with one's own forces, to appear
suddenly at previously selected positions, and after completion of
one's immediate object to disappear suddenly, before the enemy can
bring overwhelming numbers against the assailant.
The success of such undertakings will depend, on the one hand, on the
rapidity with which the opportunities secured by such surprise are
utilized, and, on the other, on the available fighting power, which
must suffice to break down all opposition with certainty and speed.
Their execution, however, will always encounter many difficulties,
particularly when a hostile population has to be dealt with; but to
consider them on this account as impracticable seems to me all the
more impossible, because to my mind they embody an absolutely
indispensable element of future operations.
If it is feasible to enter upon them with fresh horses, and to make
adequate provision for supply without delaying the rapidity of
movement, either by utilizing the resources of the country, by taking
suitably organized columns with one, or by living on stores captured
from the enemy himself, then such 'raids' will succeed and exercise
most far-reaching consequences.
In my opinion all these conditions can be satisfied. We can preserve
our horses by exercising greater moderation in the pursuit of
non-essentials; difficulties of supply can be solved by suitable
preparations even in an enemy's country, and when working in our own,
the sympathetic and persistent support of our own population will
level all obstacles; but in all cases we must never leave out of sight
the cardinal point that only the concentration of sufficient force at
the right time and place can guarantee the final result.
Our conduct, however, will be different when our purpose is solely
defensive, or when we have to occupy districts which the enemy does
not seek to defend. In such cases, as also when our object is only the
concealment of our own designs, a dispersion of force may be
necessary, if only in order to occupy important defiles and defensive
sections of the ground, or for the occupation of the most important
centres of population in the enemy's country. From such tasks,
however, it should be the business of the Supreme Command to preserve
us, in order that the whole Cavalry strength should be retained intact
for offensive purposes more in harmony with its whole character and
the spirit of the Arm.
For these, if great results are to be attained, it requires in the
generality of cases concentration in time and space.
With the execution of these strategical missions, which so far alone
have attracted our attention, the duties of the Cavalry Arm are by no
means exhausted.
Nowadays, as formerly, it will still find work to its hands on the
battle-field itself, and this work will be all the more important in
proportion as the quality of the forces therein encountered is on a
lower level (_e.g._, new formations, Militia, etc.). In any case,
however, great results on the battle-field can only be expected from
the employment of numerically formidable 'Masses.' This is conditioned
by the very fact of the numbers which we must in future expect to see
engaged.
The portion of the enemy's forces affected by the results of a
successful charge must be a sufficient part of the whole which, at a
given time and place, is concerned in the task of endeavouring to
secure a decision.
Other factors also deserve consideration--above all, the increased
range of modern firearms. If the front of the attacking Cavalry is too
narrow, it will not only have to face the fire of the troops
immediately in its front, but it will be the focus of the fire from
all sides.
If the formation for attack does not supply a sufficient sequence of
successive efforts, then in many cases it can have no hope of
permanent result, for an onslaught by a single line will not have
strength enough to pierce the fire zone, and will be shot to pieces
before it can reach the enemy.[2]
[Footnote 2: The same point also arises both in pursuit and
in the covering of a retreat, two of our most important
duties; for though, as already pointed out, the conditions of
the present day offer to the Arm the opportunities of the
richest harvests, it will only be able to utilize them when
employed with concentrated force.]
The masses to be encountered are numerically so considerable that
single squadrons, regiments, or brigades, hardly count in the scale of
a great decision. Partial results they may, indeed, attain, but to
bring about the defeat of a whole Army, or even of an important
fraction of it, to reap the fruits of such a victory or cover a great
retreat, numbers alone can avail.
How many units to employ under any given circumstances it is, of
course, impossible to lay down beforehand; but the essence of the
matter is that the limit of force to be thus employed is far in excess
of what any existing tactical unit can supply.
If, after this short survey of the many fields of action open to
horsemen in the future, we ask the decisive question, Which tasks in
the future will need to be most carefully kept in mind in the
organization and training of this Arm in peace time? we shall not be
able to conceal from ourselves that it is in the strategical handling
of the Cavalry that by far the greatest possibilities lie. Charges
even of numerically considerable bodies on the battle-field can only
lead to success under very special conditions, and even for the
protection of a retreat our rôle can only be a subordinate one. But
for reconnaissance and screening, for operations against the enemy's
communications, for the pursuit of a beaten enemy, and all similar
operations of warfare, the Cavalry is, and remains, the principal Arm.
Here no other can take its place, for none possesses the requisite
mobility and independence.
At the same time, it is in these fields that its power is
all-important to the Supreme Command. Battles, under pressure of
necessity, can be fought without Cavalry at all, and the results even
partially utilized; but it is impossible to issue suitable orders
without knowledge of the enemy's operations, and equally impossible to
act against an enemy's flanks and rear with Infantry alone.
It is in these directions that the future of Cavalry lies, and it is
to fit ourselves for the tasks that we should bend all our energy in
peace.