An endeavour has been made, then, to show that the success of the
charge lies: first, in the ordered momentum of the unit; second, in the
suitable application of this by the leader. Disciplined experience
turns the scale. First, the impact, lessened in degree as one side
turns sooner or later. Then the mêlée. These beaten back, the others
victorious; these looking for safety, the others for victims. Now,
at this moment the wild man’s first instinct is to pursue “all out,”
without a reserve, to kill, perhaps, a weaker instinct, to capture, or
to plunder. A new element of disorder follows on this mad desire to
cast prudence to the winds and pursue, _l’épée dans les reins_.
Once more the governing mind of the leader must assert itself, his
foresight and knowledge must reign supreme and repress the natural
instinct of the many; he by voice and example must rally his squadron.
Failing this, or a portion of his squadron held in reserve, his
horsemen are a prey to the first formed body which attacks them, though
of inferior strength.[20] “That side which is able to throw in the
last-formed body will win.” So excited is his command and so irregular
their course of action, that he will have great difficulty in getting
them to obey him. _Cavalry Training_, p. 128, realizes this:
As the pursuers will be in disorder and consequently at the mercy
of any fresh body of the enemy’s cavalry, the necessity of
organizing a support without delay is imperative.
Here let us remember that we have glorious traditions. The name of
Cromwell inspires very diverse thoughts in the British Isles. To the
Irish, battered walls; to the Scots, ruthless discipline; to the
English, a constitution upheld or a monarchy overturned. Suitable
memories of our great cavalry leader.[21] To the cavalryman what does
this man, who can still inspire such diverse thoughts in nations,
represent?
The highest attribute in a general is that he should be able to order
the elements of disorder. War is the acme of disorder. The instant
conversion of the available remnants out of disorder, chaos, a hundred
wishes, shouts and orders, broken legs, loose horses, dead or wounded,
men fierce and reckless, constitutes the triumph of discipline and the
guiding foreseeing mind.
In minutes, perhaps seconds, the enemy’s support or reserve, taking
advantage in turn of our disorder, will be upon us; we who have ceased
to be a wall, and are now scattered masonry, must be built up, so as
at any rate to _look_ formidable and to make those of the enemy, who
as individuals still bravely dispute the ground, turn and fly, and
perhaps throw into disorder the ranks of those who are coming to their
support. More than this, we must move in the direction of the enemy,
as though we still wished to fight. As wind is caught, stunned men
regain their senses, disabled horses exchanged for sound ones captured
at hazard, broken weapons replaced, the ranks refill, order at last
prevails.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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