VIII. RECONNAISSANCE 163 I. WEAPONS 163 II. THE PRELIMINARY SHOCK-DUEL 168 III. DIVISIONAL RECONNAISSANCE 172 IV. SCREENS 173 IX. THE RIFLE RULES TACTICS 186 I. GENERAL VON BERNHARDI ON SOUTH AFRICA 186 II. VIEWS OF THE GENERAL STAFF 200 III. OTHER CAVALRY VIEWS 205 X. THE MORAL 214 GERMAN INFLUENCE ON BRITISH CAVALRY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY I. THE GERMAN MODEL. IMPARTIAL observers of the recent controversy upon the merits of the lance and sword as weapons for Cavalry must have been struck by one singular circumstance--namely, that there exists in our language no standard modern work upon the tactics and training of Cavalry in modern war, written by a Cavalryman, accepted by Cavalrymen, and embodying and illustrating the lessons of the two great modern wars waged since the invention of the long-range, smokeless magazine rifle. Without such a work, controversy is seriously hampered. The need for it is beyond dispute. Whatever the extent of the revolution brought about by the magazine rifle, a revolution, by universal admission, there is. Since 1901 a serious firearm has been substituted for the old carbine formerly carried by the Cavalry, and the Cavalry Manual has been rewritten, with increased stress on the importance of fire. It is also the fact that, from whatever causes, the lance and sword have proved, both in South Africa and Manchuria, almost innocuous weapons. These facts demand, to say the least, serious recognition from those who still hold that the lance and sword are the most important weapons of Cavalry. Angry letters to the daily press, desultory and superficial articles in the weekly and monthly press, are not enough. What is wanted is some comprehensive and authoritative exposition of what Cavalry functions are in modern war, how they have been modified by the firearm, and why, with chapter and verse, not by way of vague allegation, the only great wars in which that firearm has been tested are to be regarded as "abnormal" and uninstructive.