[43] General Sir D. Haig’s _Report on 2nd Cavalry Staff Ride_, p. 33: “The main lessons are that the cavalry leader must be in close communication with the commander-in-chief, that the staff and all leaders must be carefully prepared for this kind of work, and the troops trained to take advantage of ground.” [44] Ardant du Picq gives an account of how two parties of infantry, suddenly meeting each other as they advanced over a hill-crest, _both_ turned and ran away. [45] Ney, “the bravest of the brave,” found riding alone in rear of the retreating French army, was asked, “Where is the rearguard?” “I am the rearguard,” was the reply. [46] After the action at the bridge of El Rey, St. Cyr sent his cavalry in pursuit of the Spanish forces who were making for the defiles of Montserrat. The French cavalry, gaining ground at a gallop on the left flank of the column of fugitives, took up a position at the entrance to the defile, and captured the whole of the enemy’s supplies and baggage as well as 10,000 prisoners and twenty-five guns. [47] “Casse cou,” a rare plant, and much smothered in Great Britain in the twenty-five years previous to the South African War with the inevitable effect. [48] Un corps de réserve de cavalerie qui devait, à la fois, éclairer, couvrir et seconder l’armée.--Picard, vol. i. p. 257. [49] In the campaign of Jena, 1806, the Prussian cavalry still maintained the Ziethen and Seydlitz tradition; they were well horsed, well trained, and extraordinarily exact in their evolutions; but the squadrons were mixed up with infantry divisions by groups of ten squadrons, and commanded by the aged lieutenants of the Great Frederick, still living on the traditions of their youthful successes. Direction was entirely wanting in the disposition of the cavalry, though it is said that at no time was military literature in a more flourishing condition than in the years following the death of Frederick the Great, and mathematical science was especially held in honour. [50] Von Bernardi, _Cavalry in Future Wars_, p. 32 of Goldman’s translation. [51] Von Bernardi, _Cavalry in Future War_, p. 28. [52] In a well-reasoned article on “Cavalry in the Russo-Japanese War” in the _Internationale Revue über die gesammten Armeen und Flotten_, it is said: “So it is seen that in this war it has been proved once again, and that to a high degree, that nothing great can be accomplished with improvisations of cavalry, and that cavalry, especially when incorporated in divisions, if it wishes to be led to high aims, cannot be stamped out of the ground immediately before great events.”