It is most desirable that as many horses as possible should every day
be brought under shelter and unsaddled, and all bivouacking should be
avoided as far as practicable.
The readiness for action from a purely tactical point of view
certainly suffers, but as rest at night is an absolute necessity for
the horses, one has to make the best of the matter and minimize this
disadvantage as much as possible by suitable arrangements.
Against this view it is often urged that Cavalry used to bivouac much
more frequently in former wars, and nevertheless remained fit for
service, hence they ought to be able to do the same to-day. I consider
this an entirely wrong deduction. In the first place, the demands upon
the troops in former days were generally much less than at present.
The periods of crisis in which great exertions had to be made by them
were on the whole less frequent, and the subsequent intervals for rest
and recuperation were usually longer.
Considering the average marches of the Napoleonic Cavalry as a whole,
they cannot be considered particularly great, and still less was this
the case under Frederick the Great, although under both Generals we
find instances of great individual exertion.
Moreover, the horses in those days were much less well bred, and the
commoner cold-blooded strain can stand bivouacs, cold and wet, much
better than our present high-bred material, although the latter stand
heat and exertion very much better. The leadership must adapt itself
to these conditions. Where circumstances allow the bulk of the horses
to take shelter behind the Infantry outposts, the most must be made of
the opportunity, and only the more distant patrolling service be left
to the Cavalry. Outpost service makes far less demands on the Infantry
soldier than on the Cavalry horse, for the former is allowed to sleep
when on piquet, the Cavalry horse cannot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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