Transcript
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The well known photo of a
British cavalry section of the
Blues and Royals in Poland in
1999 gives a good indicationof the weapons and equipment
typically found in a unit at that
time.
The section commander is
carrying an L!" su#machine
gun and has a Browning $igh%
Power inside his assault vest
in the integral holster ¬
visi#le in this picture'. The
second in command has an
(!)*!1+ with the short *
round maga,ine in place&unusually however it is fitted
with an iron sight -
presuma#ly the issued
modified ((!T has #een
damaged previously'. (lung
over his left shoulder is a
/1mm mortar and over his
right an ammunition #ag for
this. 0ne mem#er of the
section carries a Para%inimi
with the #ipod legs missing &if
this was a field modification
or as the result of damage isunknown'. Three of the
section carry (!)*s2 one is an
!1 model while two are !s
&one of which has a 3L
fitted'. The soldier with the !1
has a we##ing pouch
containing two #ullet trap rifle
grenades that were
o#solescent with the
introduction of the 3L
&although they continued in
production and service
throughout the war'. !ll three
of the weapons are fitted with
((!T sights. &The (!)*
series was especially popular
with cavalry troopers was the
sling2 #eing in two pieces with
a quick release clip it was
ideal for cavalry as it was
easy to sling. The #ull%pup
action was also ideal for use
when mounted.' Two troopers
wear chest rigs &one British
and one (oviet issue'2 whilst
the soldier with the 3L is
wearing a ( grenadier4s vest
Cavalry and bicycles in the Twilight War
As the war continued all nationalities found it more and moredifficult to mechanise their new and existing forces. Initially theshortfall was made up by using reserve vehicles (often of an older
pattern). Once these were exhausted then civilian vehicles were pressed into service. These still werenot enough and gradually thealternatives of horse and mechanical
power were reintroduced.
1. Cavalry
Many units have converted to cavalryaccepting the vulnerability of theirmounts for extra tactical mobility. Inreality these units are better classed as
mounted infantry but the traditionalterm is more common. The use ofmounted infantry had never gone awayindeed in the !"#$s %ritish infantry inthe aftermath of the &al'lands arused elsh mountain ponies for longrange patrols on the islands (whichhad over !$$ horses and ponies).*wit+erland surprisingly had retaineda horse mounted dragoon regiment ina combat role until !",-
The use is affected by doctrine
/ATO (and particularly %ritish)doctrine is that mounted combatshould be avoided (a large number ofaggressive 0* 1avalry officers haveunofficially emphasised the use ofshoc' action if well supportedagainst brea'ing opposition) whilstarsaw 2act doctrine involves lessdismounted action and envisions theuse of brea'through large scalecavalry actions with cavalryreplacing the armoured elements asthese have grown rarer.
Their main role however in allarmies in practice if not theory is toreplace mechanised or motorisedscouts (using the same methods asthese in most armies 3 excepting theAmerican where mechanised cavalryoften fought in a mounted role andwere more heavily armed). 1apableof short term movement of 4$ milesin a day (although without thenecessary logistic bac' up andaccepting loss of horses due to the
Illustration 1: Colonel Joshua
Bond commanding the 4-1
Cavalry o! the "th In!antry
#ivision $arch %%%. Col Bond
was &illed in action near 'alis(
in the )*T+ summer o!!ensive.
, *rmy/
5Let me tell you how 6 ended up
on horse#ack. 7e were in !ustria
and we had this cra,y Te8an
colonel in charge. $e got tasked
with improving our rear area
security. 6 had ust #rought him a
coffee &how 6 miss that:' when
you could see the thought hit him&he told me afterwards it was
#eing where that ;isney film
a#out Patton rescuing the horses
from the Russians was set'. $e
umped up and called us all in.
7hen all us officers were there he
gave the order to gather all the
horses we could find. 7ell we did
what we could and got a#out )*
or so #y various methods. Then
the cra,y coot orders us all to
learn to ride. <ortunately we had
a guy who grew up on a farm whotaught us how not to fall off too
often: =e8t thing 6 know the
colonel convinces the #rigade
commander to start getting more
horses for scouts2 raiders2
anything he can think of. $e
loved his horses did the colonel.>
Lieutenant Paula ?oight
nit unknown
@uoted in 5(oldiers on $orses>
#y ;oug (tanton Time 7arner
Books *1
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57e were lucky2 we had this LT
who had #een a mounted policeman in =ew Aork. $e trained
us2 first in how to fall off a horse2
then he trained us how to not fall
off as often. =e8t he started
training us to use a sword2 well a
wooden #aton &he liked horses to
keep their ears:'. 0nce we had
mastered that we moved on to
firearms. Pistols worked well he
had trained for that2 rifles we all
made up as we went along.>
*ergeant Ian 5ames
67! 1avalry 8th
Infantry 9ivision:9eath of a 9ivision; /ew <or'Military %oo's $!"
5The LT taught us something we had
never thought of. $e told us if we were
going fast and fell off and had a foot
caught then our #uddies were to shoot
the horse !T 0=C. 7e all looked
stunned. Then he pointed out that we
would #e #eing dragged along #ehind
the horse2 face down with a horse
panicking at this weight it suddenly
had dragging #ehind it2 oh yes and we
would #e right ne8t to the rear
hooves... 7e all agreed that it was a
good (0P:>
*ergeant 5enny hitefeather 67! 1avalry 8th Infantry 9ivision:9eath of a 9ivision; /ew <or'Military %oo's $!"
in woodland cam designed to
carry D*mm grenade rounds.
0ne of the remaining soldiers
carries an L!" (terling ¬e
the leather reinforcement to
the trousers insides shown
clearly here and less o#viouslyon at least D other mem#ers of
the section'2 whilst the
remaining soldier is carrying
an LD!1 sniper rifle2 an
uncommon choice among
cavalrymen. 6n other photos of
the section2 it can #e seen that
he has a #ucket holster on the
horse containing an
unidentified pump%action
shotgun.
=ote that this field capwearing soldier appears to
have a civilian riding helmet
with a +evlar helmet
camouflage cover slung on the
saddle. ost of the remaining
soldiers are wearing or
carrying standard ark ?6
helmets or &as is common in
units converting from an
armoured role' armoured
vehicle crew helmets.
forced nature of the march) cavalry were able to travel well crosscountry (even in snow and mud).
Armament of a cavalry unit is very similar to a light infantry unit fewcarry swords as these are very limited in use (most of those that docarry one usually carry privately purchased ones). =ven fewer carry
lances despite the popular image (the main users appear to be 2oleswho carry them more as a regimental tradition than as a practicalweapon 3 the photographs. of the Italian war correspondent 0mberto&alconio are mainly to blame for the widespread belief in their use.&alconio arranged posed photographs of one of the first 2olish cavalrytroops in early !""# a romantic he decided that these archaic paradeweapons would in his words :give a noble character to the unit;). Anotable exception is the Army of *ilesia where troopers have been'nown to carry them (mainly due to the lac' of effectively armedopposition). It is believed that this is due to the romantic inclinations
of the Margrave who yearnsfor the glories of the past(added to which his harsh
punishments encourage histroops not to disobey his sometimes strange orders). A *ovietofficer who was sent on a mission to the %lac' %aron>s land?@% 1aptain <uri Toreivich however noted that the lance isan ideal weapon for use in riot control. e also further notedthat the rumour going around the taverns was that the %aronhad three cavalry re7enactors that were responsible fortraining his cavalrymen. is report (the copy available to theauthor was in the
possession of B1pl
*ean 5ones of theCoyal Cegiment ofales who whileattached to theremnants of the 0* 8th
9ivision recovered itfrom a dead ?@%officer in *ilesia) onthe %aron>s cavalry
gave a recommendation that *oviet ?@% cavalry consider theuse of the lance for riot control (interestingly however no ?@%cavalry units have yet been identified).
*mall arms are usually short weapons for ease of carrying(although this rule is not universal) popular choices being
Illustration : *rmy o! ilesia on 0arade. #es0ite the outdated lances
note the slung *'s ,Janic& )ova/
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56 hate those Russian wagons
with their rear mounted
weapon. !lmost every time we
tried to catch raiders they
sped off and when we tried to
follow one of the wagons
would open up and then speed
off while we reorganised.>
*ergeant Ian 5ames
!4th Bancers:1avalry at ar; Arms andArmour 2ress $-
folding stoc' versions of the A? series M!,,s *A#$s and submachine guns. 9octrine also affectsthis Cussians often carry shotguns and fewer *D9s than a normal infantry unit as fighting mounted ismore common. %ritish units usually carry at least one 2ara7Minimi (or normal Minimi if none isavailable) and 0@B at section level as they are seen more as mounted infantry. eapons are usuallycarried slung as the less linear design of modern rifles does not allow the use of buc'et holsters(Cussian cavalry usually fit them for holding a shotgun %ritish saddles almost never feature them
American saddles sometimes feature them). American cavalry in particular are 'een on pistols theseare usually non7issue although the scale issue is slightly higher than eEuivalent light infantry units.Many have their own purchased or looted weapons and some troopers have even been 'nown to carrytwo pistols western style. It is worth noting that many troopers initially found out the hard way thatdrop leg holsters whilst loo'ing impressive often caused pistols to fall out when used by cavalry.2opular trades were the shoulder holsters issued to divisional aviators. The !""" raised 1ID@OD 6,th
1avalry Cegiment in particular has been issued a strange mix of weapons including a large number ofweapons retrieved from an old storage site including M-A! sub machine guns the handy M! and Mcarbine and even the odd %AC
*upport weapons arerarer in cavalry unitsalthough this again
varies by nationality.The %ritish supportweapons troop (atsEuadron level) is muchlighter than an infantryunit with three @2M@s(usually used in the lightrole although they arescaled for sustained fire(*&) eEuipment) andthree 8!mm mortars.There are also six mulesor ponies to carry stores.The Cussians haveredeveloped the cartmounted weapon
platform of the CussianCevolution 'nown as the
tachan'a a wagon towed by usually two horse with a machine gun mounted to the rear. Although inorld ar Three it is usually no longer a machine gun butusually anA@*!,(although asignificantnumber are9*h? /*D oroccasionally?2D). The A@*!, has the added advantage that due to the lowvelocity of the rounds the weapon must be elevated allowing fireto the front). These arecentralised at battalion levelwith it is believed eightweapons in the unit. Cussiannic'names for these includeero of the *oviet 0nionagons and 1orpse 1arts astheir exposed weapon result in ahigh level of casualties among
the crews despite occasional improvised gunshields. A commonunofficial tactic is to dismount the weapon at maximum effectiverange. 0* 1avalry usually used a hybrid structure with one (heavy)
Illustration 4: oviet o!!icer with
tachan&a. The ) machine gun
is obscured in this 0hoto
,ov0hoto/
5!nd to this day2 the foe has nightmares
0f the thick rain of lead2
The #attle%chariot
!nd the young machine gunner.>
Byrics to Tchan'a a *oviet song from !"!#
which became popular again in !""#.
Illustration 2: )ight vision 0icture o! a Tchan&a being !erried across a
river. )ote the *31 and the more usual two horses com0ared to the
0revious 0hoto. ,Jac& tevenson/
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50ne thing we found was that
our issued #oots were #ugger
all use for riding. 7e got some
made #y a local co##ler #ut
they were no use for
marching. ost of us ended up
with two pairs of #oots as a
result:>
*ergeant Ian 5ames!4th Bancers:1avalry at ar; Arms andArmour 2ress $-
sEuadron with armoured vehicles (usually M- andFor BAD,8 in regular units M!!-A1AD plus theoccasional M4$A- or 6 in /ational @uard units) and two or three light sEuadrons on horsebac' (by mid!""" the armoured vehicles were often replaced by MMDs using their pintle mount weapons tosupport the lighter eEuipped cavalry).
=Euipment is usually of normal infantry issue. As cavalry were a late innovation in the war most units
have locally manufactured saddles or reEuisitioned civilian ones Only in some areas where there is stilla strong government supply system are there standard patterns (and even then there are many variationswithin units). *addles need to be correct for the horse and professional soldiers swear that they havenever had one that fitted well yet. As a result saddle blan'ets are used to help achieve a reasonable fit.
In %ritish units many troops have either abandoned the thin "8 pattern combat trousers in favour of the earlier heavier 48 pattern orreinforced the inner legs.
Many non cavalry envy the cavalry the luxury of riding. hat fewrealise is the amount of wor' that a horse reEuires in order for it tofunction as a cavalry horse. After a day riding the horse must becombed down watered fed and chec'ed over (in game terms half a
period of hard wor'). &eeding a normal =uropean or American horse
on grass will result in an animal that will Euic'ly be unable tofunction effectively so units must provide food. Mil' (and a tric'used in Iceland herring) can be used to boost the horse. orseshowever reEuire lots of water. In normal conditions this is no
problem but could pose problems in the world of $$$ (especially as horses will not drin' water thathas had water purification tablets added).
*urprisingly one of the areas withthe greatest use of horses is the(relatively) oil rich Iran. ere therough mountainous terrain in thecentral and west of the countryhas resulted in their increased use.F, Coyal @ur'ha Cifles have nowadopted techniEues from thenineteenth century &rench &oreignBegion for the two companieswhich are being used for patroloperations. A typical long range
patrol of eight men will have four ponies which carry the menGseEuipment. The soldiers in pairsta'e turns riding the pony. This has found to be an effective way of increasingoperational mobility in theatre.
6n typical army manner2 nicknames e8ist for different cavalry units. The British !rmy nicknames fore8ample areE
( !rmy - Fohn 7aynes
( arine - Real Fohn 7aynes &the emphasis on the first word varies considera#ly depending on if
sarcasm is intended'.
3erman - lhans &this is rarer than the other terms'
Polish - Lancers &occasionally Pointy (ticks'
Russian - ossacks ¬e that the name includes all types of Russian cavalry not ust those who are
from the ossack regions'. This has even #een found in official war diaries of units. 0ccasional
references have #een found to (teptoe 7agons - these are #elieved to refer to tachankas.
anadian - ounties or alcoms
6ranian - (hort amel Fockeys or $umpless amel Fockeys
Illustration 5: 6"th 7angers
e8tracting south as 0art o0 +0eration
9egasus II ,anya Wil&inson/
Illustration ": oviet
0aratroo0er believed
to be !rom the 1%4th
*ir *ssault #ivision in
Iran mid 1;;<
,ov0hoto/
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57hat a lot of new cavalry
don4t get is the way that you
can4t ust duck like an
infantryman when you are on
a horse. ind you people tend
to learn fast these days. 7ell2
at least the survivors do. Aou
need to dismount BC<0RC
you come under fire.
There are occasions when the
enemy appears close and the
#est #et is ust to go straight
for them still mounted. ! horse
is very #ig and intimidating
coming at you2 especially if
the rider is firing &however
inaccurately:'. 0nly snag is if
they keep their nerve that ust
makes them a #ig target that
isn4t making any lateral
movementG>
1aptain ?enneth @roves"F! Bancers
The Last British ounted
avalry Prior to the Twilight 7ar2 the lastmounted cavalry regiment in the
British !rmy2 the @ueens 0wn
Aorkshire ;ragoons hadconverted to an armoured role on
1 st arch 19D. Retained
however were the $ouseholdavalry ounted (quadron and +ingHs Troop Royal $orse
!rtillery in a ceremonial role.
57e learnt from an !merican prisoner the
trick of feeding our horses a little meat
mi8ed in with their feed for e8tra speed.
7e would have used it more #ut even we
had difficulty stomaching the meat and we
loved our horses.>
(ergeant 6van ;ostory
;ivision u#a
Other areas where horses have proved successful on a large scale include the 0nited *tates where alarge supply of horses in certain areas added to a romantic li'ing for them has resulted in a largenumber of local militias using them extensively. In addition a number of units in both the MIB@ODand 1ID@OD forces have been raised.
The Mexican Army surprisingly still had a number of cavalry regiments pre7war. These were felt ideal
for border patrols with the 0* and allowed smallstealthy patrols on the border which were less restrained
by terrain than wheeled vehicles. Once the invasion ofthe 0* began Mexico found that itGs indigenous armsindustry (and poor economic position to allow purchaseabroad) would result in difficulty in replacing thearmoured vehicles that were being destroyed in theintensive fighting 0sing the resources available incaptured Texas in addition to native animals the
Mexican Army has eEuipped many second line and paramilitary units with horses and it is reportedthat the *oviet 9ivision 1uba also has a horse mounted element. ith typical military humour theseare freEuently referred to by Americans as :%anditos; and :InHuns; respectively. Ironically theCussians had already referred to 0* mounted troops as :1owboys.;
MIB@OD too is using a number of cavalry units in Texas the largest is the !F8! st 1avalry formed from2arsonsG Mounted 1avalry which was part of the 1orps of 1adets at Texas AM 0niversity (part ofthe COT1). This unit which is approximately $$ strong has been active since the Mexican invasion.
Originally one of two horsed cavalry units in the 0* Army atthe start of the war (the other being the orse 1avalry9etachment of the !st 1avalry used for re7enactment displays)the unit has recently been withdrawn to /orthern Texas to restand refit (the strength includes the replacements undergoingtraining) after ta'ing a large number of casualties in fightingwhile underta'ing a series of raids towards %rownsville. Theircommander 1olonel 2aul 9alancie is a (rapidly promoted)member of the COT1 who was a mature student studying
electronics at the start of the war. Many locally recruited troopsfeel the Texas should become independent and are waiting tosee who comes out on top before declaring for any local powers.Other units are in reality
small groups of guerrillas (although the distinction withmarauders has become moreand more blurred for these).
The 0nited ?ingdom has seenlittle use of cavalry mainlydue to the low availability ofhorses. *ome marauder groupshave started to ma'e use of
them often for the intimidationfactor particularly asautomatic weapons are rarer in the 0?. The Coyal Army of *cotlandand elsh /ationalArmy are however
bigger userseEuipping units with
ponies for patrols inthe mountainousinteriors. The %ritishArmy has now startedto ship bac' cavalryunits however sotheir use may becomemore widespread
Illustration : *dvanced cavalry
training at 9ortsmouth. ,$o#/
Illustration <: British *rmy cavalry training
9ortsmouth June %%1 ,=i!e $aga(ine/
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Pact avalry 0rganisation
! 7arsaw Pact cavalry division is
officially made up as followsE
I ;ivisional $eadquarters ompany
I (ignals company
I (ervice company
I Tank Regiment - this is theoretically
part of the division #ut is often missing
Jnot seen one yet:K
I !rtillery Regiment Joften horse drawnK.
sual organisation mortar #attalions
and 1 gun #attalion Jseems to #e often
replaced with an !T #attalion with Rapira%"K
I Cngineer company
I Three cavalry regiments of four troops
each Joften amalgamatedK
Tchankas are held at troop level.
( !rmy 6ntelligence (ummary 1999 &the
items in #rackets are the handwritten
additions in the copy #elonging to the =ew
Li#rary of ongress collection.
57hen we found we were to #e cavalry we were ama,ed2
we knew things were #ad #ut no#ody suspected how #ad.
7ell one person was happy2 3eneral Lesovich the
divisional commander2 he had #een a unior officer in the
cavalry in the 19/*s and was overoyed to get horses
#ack>
Funior Lieutenant (ergi !le8ander2 )9th avalry ;ivision
(assuming remounts can be found)and the %ritish Army Ciding*chool has been established in2ortsmouth (despite the name italso trains troops from the otherarms mainly the Coyal Marines
for the /avy and the CA&Cegiment for the CA&). %ritishcavalry still use the excellent !"!0niversal 2attern saddleintroduced in that year. This hasthe excellent property of being
fully adHustable to any si+e of horse. It is used with the even older0niversal 2attern bridle.
The Cussian Army had disbanded itGs cavalry divisions in !"88 but a number of smaller units wereretained. %y the start of the war the largest of these was sEuadron si+ed used as border patrols in someof the smaller republics again using the horseGs superior mobility over poor terrain (and the lac' of a
cost effective replacement unit). Aided by the larger
horse population in Cussia by late !"", some unitsalready had mounted cavalry sEuadrons or even
battalions particularly in 1hina for increased mobility in
poor terrain hunting guerillas. A move to full divisional
cavalry was a logical move in light of the doctrine of brea'through tactics still being used. In mid !""# the*oviets too' the decision to authorise the conversion oftwo Motor Cifle 9ivisions to cavalry the 6-rd and "#th. Inlate !""" these plus the #"th 1avalry 9ivision were
brought together as the nd *oviet 1avalry Army andassigned to the %altic &ront. @erman intelligencedocuments recently declassified suggest that for this wasintended as an attempt to create a unit that was capable of
brea'through action without the need for large amountsof fuel (this may have been in preparation for the $$$
offensive in southern 2oland that was changed to
the counter7attac' against the /ATO summeroffensive). The first cavalry division to be formedas opposed to re7rolled as cavalry was the #"th
1avalry 9ivision which was a category III divisionthat was intended to be a Motor Cifle 9ivision. The0ral Military 9istrict however was by this pointunable to eEuip the unit as such so the decision wasmade to eEuip it as cavalry for an internal securityrole in Comania.
2oland has ta'en to using cavalry and has hit upona uniEue solution to encourage farmers to bewilling to part with their horses. It has ta'en to
hiring the horses and their owners along with anycarts or similar that are reEuired. These will be
Illustration 1%: 3erman cavalry rest somewhere
in *ustria $arch 1;;;. This was 0robably
ta&en on a raid to gather breeding stoc&. It isgood 0ractice to dismount as much as 0ossible
and remove the tac& as much as 0ossible/
,Bundersarchive/
The ;icken edal
This is the highest award
that can #e granted to an
animal in British military
service. By Fanuary **1 itwas recorded that twenty
si8 dogs and eighteen
horses had #een awarded it
since the start o the war.
Illustration ;: Col 9aul cott
,late 7oyal >orse *rtillery/?
commandant o! the British
*rmy 7iding chool ,=i!e
$aga(ine/
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5Fust remem#er when fighting on
horse#ack you are fighting #y
committee2 you and he will have
different recognitions of threats2
different plans and different priorities.Aou will #oth #e scared and
determined to #e in charge. ! good
cavalryman is one who can #e in
charge 0(T of the time.>
*ergeant 5enny hitefeather 67! 1avalry 8th Infantry 9ivision:9eath of a 9ivision; /ew <or'Military %oo's $!"
released bac' to their farms for the harvest and planting periods where the cavalrymen often act aslabourers and guards. The combination of paymentand ability to be used when desperately needed forfarming has resulted in a population that is verysupportive. It has however obviously had an impact
on the cavalry>s mobility for part of the year.
A more normal techniEue used was that used by the1+echoslova' !,th Tan' 9ivision when the divisionwas re7designated as a cavalry division in early!""#. The nd Army gathered as many horses ascould be found in its area (including many of thefamed Bipi++aner stallions from the *panish Ciding*chool in Dienna). In theory these horses were to
be paid for but in reality many were sei+ed and themoney that should have been used appropriated either officially by the unit or unofficially by theremount officers. A 1+ech breeding programme instituted on the !,th>s return (and disbanding) wasundoubtedly helped by the Bipi++aner stallions.
2re7war *wit+erland had considered that cavalry would be a useful resource for reconnaissance anddelivery of supplies in the mountainous areas. As a result thegovernment had paid a subsidy to 'eep mules and horses tofarmers (amounting to about J8$$ annually in !""$). Thisensured that in !""4 the *wiss government had an adeEuatesupply of horses to reEuisition and as supplies of fuels andvehicle spares ran low the *wiss were able to maintain amobile reserve (inaddition to themore road bound
bicycle troopsdetailed below).
=urope has seencavalry used to afair degree but the
biggest limitation isthe non7availability of horses and more importantly soldierstrained to loo' after them. Most armies now have cavalryunits but officers see'ing remounts are an alarminglycommon sight for =uropean farmers who rely upon theanimals increasingly. Many an officer has faced resistance (both verbal and physical) and many tavernstories revolve around how one was tric'ed.
hen the Cussians invaded the 1hinese Army still
had a number of horsed cavalry units for both border patrols in rough terrain and emergency civil disasterrelief. These spent the first months of the war in a catand mouse battle with *oviet patrols in terrain thatwas too rough for the *oviets to use their superiorvehicle mobility to great effect. =ventually though thewinter conditions and an intensive operation by twosoviet airborne divisions resulted in the destruction ofthe larger groups. As the war has progressed the*teppe ponies have been widely ta'en into service by
both *oviet and 1hinese armies. ith the widespreaddispersion of unit caused by widespread use of /%1weapons the ability to gra+e these hardy ponies hasmade their use much more practical. At least one
Illustration 1: Techni@ue 0ioneered by the 4-
1th Cavalry o! the "th #ivision !or river
crossing ,collection o! ergeant Ian James/
Illustration 12: Chinese cavalry in $ay 1;;"
,Chinese In!ormation $inistry/
Illustration 11: Training cavalry
horses is a lot more com0le8 than0eo0le realise. >ere trainee #utch
cavalry horses are being accustomed
to the noise and smo&e o! the
battle!ield. ,ree #utch orces/
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cavalry verses cavalry battle was reported by the 0* Ambassador to 1hina when he was returned viathe *oviet forces.
It is also worth noting that the logistics tail of a horseunit is much larger than most people thin' 7 a typicalcavalry sEuadron of four troops totalling !- men
reEuires !# wagons at full strength according to%ritish doctrine more if long distance moves werereEuired . These are split per troop forheadEuarters troop ! for the veterinary section(composed of a vet and three untrained assistants) !for the farrier and saddler (supplementing the itemscarried by each individual trooper) ! for the remountsection ! for the medical section (this is oftenexpanded if reEuired 3 often from the troop wagons
but sometimes from locally acEuired ones) and 6 forthe logistics section. As an example of the need forsuch a large logistic train horseshoes are expected to
last for four to six wee's of normal cavalry use.
As a result the tactical mobility of a horse is high (although severely reduced in bad terrain) but theoperational mobility due to the logistics train is only slightly higher than non7mechanised infantry. One
big advantage however is that the ground covered may be higher as units can disperse further thanmechanised units and concentrate faster than foot units. 1onseEuently cavalry have ta'en over much ofthe role that recce units had previously and many infantry units have a small number of horses for their
recce patrols.
Also rarelyconsidered wasthe need forremounts. orsesare fragile
creatures (onecommentatorremar'ed that ahorse was anaccident waitingto happen) andthe rigours of warcause manycasualties. Thiscasualties wereincreased asnobody couldcreate any
effective /%1 protection for a horse with what remained of the industrial basealthough rudimentary mas's had been created in the &irst orldar and some were produced. As a result cavalry units madeefforts to acEuire extra horses at every opportunity and the sight ofa cavalry officer loo'ing for remounts was a feared sight amongfarmers. This also led on occasion to units ma'ing raids on theirown sideGs camps to steal horses and a number of documented blue
on blue incidents occurred as a result of this. Most units branded their horses as a precaution againsttheft by their own side (the best 'nown example being the 0*M1 badge used by 0* Marines in 2olanddocumented by Oliver /orth for &ox /ews).
Illustration 1": 26"th 7anger in Iran
demonstrating an interesting recoilless ri!le
ca0tured !rom marauders. The original
ca0tion in Time maga(ine hel0!ully 0ointed
out this was most de!initely not designed to be
!ired !rom the mountA ,Josh 3ibson/
Illustration 14: British cavalry horseshoes
being 0roduced !or troo0s moving
towards Bremehaven? 9aderborne
e0tember %%% ,=i!e maga(ine/
Illustration 15: *lthough ta&en
!rom a oviet military maga(ineo! %%; this shows an e8am0le o!
a horse in 0ost war camou!lage
that gives credence to stories o!
similar e@ui0ment being
available during the war years
,o!ten 0ut down to being )BC
suit e80eriments/.
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Another area that horses became increasingly used in the arsaw 2act was as a substitute formechanised towing vehicles. The biggest problem they had here was the difficulty in transporting theammunition and crew. The end result was often that a motorised vehicle would be used to supplementthe crew by transporting the ammunition and crews for the whole battery. estern nations used littletowed artillery and as a result very rarely used horses in this role. arnesses were initially a maHor
problem as few realised the difficulty of getting this correctly si+ed for the different si+es of horse breeds and several attempts were needed to build them the right si+e (even using historical items frommuseums was not ideal as these were rarely scaled for the horses available).
In rules terms horses should be treated as vehicles having a wear value and a maintenance number of! (if left to rest then maintenance drops to 4). If a horse is only gra+ed and as'ed to do any wor' thenthe wear value will increase temporarily by ! and will increase permanently by ! on a 94 roll of ! on!94 per period of light wor' or !7- for heavy wor'.
Illustration 1: oviet 7a0ira-2 being towed. )ote the locally manu!actured limber and the
horses used are cart horses resulting in the crew wal&ing alongside or riding the limber removing
the need !or su00orting vehicles. This solution was more common in areas where the !ront line
was relatively static. ,9ravda/
Illustration 1<: nidenti!ied 9olish cavalryman with a horse
,obviously not his mount as it is the wrong breed/ assisting in
0loughing. ,#uchy o! Warsaw $useum/
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Cussian troops have used bicycles less than their /ATO opponents but even here it is common for adivision to include at least one battalion on bicycles (or eEuivalent often it is bro'en down intocompanies to give each brigade an independent recce unit).
The @erman Army has ta'en to using bicycles heavily in aninternal security role. =ach @erman infantry and pan+er
division will have a rear area security battalion of fusiliers(fusilier hintere %ereichssicherheit)mounted on bicycles andeach brigade its own company (the exception to this is the@erbesHaeger who instead of bicycles use horses or ponies dueto their mountain role). These are tas'ed with patrolling theroads in the rear of the unit to 'eep them free from marauders.%y the spring of $$! many divisions have added a second
battalion to the role with each having one of the threecompanies mounted in vehicles as a Euic' response force. Asyet the brigade component has not been increased. Theexception to this is the !st 2an+er 9ivision which temporarilymounted it>s entire nd 2an+er %rigade on bicycles during theAmerican Operation Omega. In 9ecember $$$ the division officially reorganised the brigades to have
two over7strength companies each in order to deal with the large number of troops that missed thedeadline. The companies consist of two bicycle mounted fusilier companies and two fusilier companiesmounted in assorted MMDs left by the 0* Army. =ach of these platoons include at least oneAT@M armed MMD in response to the expected number of vehicles in the area. The divisionalfusilier battalion was not expanded but the third company had it>s bicycles replaced by Marders as aEuic' response unit. In March $$!the fusiliers adopted the tan colour beret as a mar' of distinction.
The 9utch were (pre7war) a nation where the bicycle was a commonform of transportation. ith the &rench invasion many 9utch unitsreEuisitioned bicycles to gain local mobility. The !$8th Cecon%attalion was Euic'ly outfitted with bicycles during the &renchinvasion and used them to Euic'ly move into bloc'ing positionsaround Arnheim. &rench reports indicated that they believed the
!$8th had been reinforced by asecond battalion due to thes'ilful 9utch local counter7attac's. The -$nd Ceserve
Infantry %rigade which was being used for internalsecurity duties had alreadyconverted one battalion to
bicycle borne and was partway through converting asecond when it was attac'ed
by the &rench #th Marine2arachute Cegiment in the
%reda7Tilburg area. Initiallythe -$nd was successful butas &rench reinforcementsarrived it was forced towithdraw to the Chinefighting in small elements
using the bicycles to brea' contact and withdraw before repeatingthe delaying actions. The surviving elements that did reach theChine were primarily the ones eEuipped with bicycles. Tocommemorate this the -$nd adopted a yellow bicycle badge on a
blac' bac'ground to be worn on the lower right sleeve.
American troops were not as big users of the bicycle. /o formaladoption of the bicycle was ever made (a number of models had
been purchased in low numbers for trials but the nuclear exchange
Illustration : #utch cycletroo0s 0hotogra0hed in late
1;;;. n!ortunately no details
o! the unit are available.
Illustration 1: 3erman !usilier
0hotogra0hed on the outs&irts o!
Bremehaven )ovember %%%
Illustration ": troo0sbelieved to be !rom the 1st
*rmoured #ivision in +ctober
%%%. )ote the di!!erent ty0es o!
bi&e and the locally
manu!actured stowage on the
bi&e to the le!t.
Illustration 2: * !olded down
bicycle being unloaded !or trials
at ort #ill e0tember 1;;<
Illustration 4: *n alternative
model undergoing road trials
!rom the same !ootage.
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stopped any formal adoption) but many units acEuired them for local mobility. They were however afreEuent sight during Operation Omega as the troops headed for %remehaven. ere troops were usingevery opportunity they could to ensure that they were not left behind. As a result everything availablewas commandeered particularly when motor transport bro'e down or ran out of fuel.
The %ritish Army has also been 'nown to use bicycles. In a scene very reminiscent of 4 th 5une !"66 6!
1ommando landed on the outs'irts of arwich in mid $$! and using bicycles moved around the townto attac' from an unexpected direction catching the local marauders by surprise.
*wit+erland with its large citi+en militia also too' to the bicycle as petrol supplies ran low. In additionat the start of the war there was even a regular army unit the %icycle Cegiment 'nown as Cadfahrer?ompanien (bicycle soldiers). &or the reservists stoc's of bicycles were reEuisitioned from thecommunity and each battalion was issued enough to supply a company. These were stored at theheadEuarters and were to be used move the first company to assemble to the battalion>s battle position
with the remainder arriving on foot as soon as possibleafterwards.
Outside of =urope bicycles were far less common in Iran theavailability of fuel reduced the need although some where
obviously deployed there or bought locally as evidence hassurfaced of their use (although predominantly they appear tohave been used in base areas). In America the vast distancesreduced their use to local areas. Militias have been 'nown to usethem in the same way as in 2oland to gather the part time troopstogether in an emergency.Illustration 5: British and
*merican troo0s in Iran hold a
ousting tournament in January
%%1. )o evidence has yet come to
light showing the alleged "th
7anger6"th 3 variant using
motorcycles.
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