"WW1 cavalry charges" Topic

Just watched warhorse and it seemed a bit silly. It did get me thinking though.
How many cavalry charges were actually conducted by horsed cavalry.
I know British and German lancers had a charge in 1914. And the Aussies charged at Beersheeba.

But how many occurred and how often were they successfull?

There's the charge of Lord Strathcona's Horse at Moreuil Wood:

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Quite a number of mounted charges in the Palestine Campaign, not just the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba, IIRC the Light Horse also conducted some charges later in the Campaign. At least 2 regiments of British Yeomanry (the Dorsets and the Buck's of the 6th Yeomanry Brigade with the Berkshire's in reserve in a Wadi to the rear) Yeomanry charged at El Mughar on Nov 13th 1917. It was a succesful charge that cleared Turkish infantry from high ground north of the village but resistance was stiff and the Yeomanry took some casualties. Later the same day a squadron and a half of a regiment of the 22nd Yeomanry Brigade charged fleeing Turkish infantry at Aquir but were halted and a firefight ensued. These actions were part of the capture of Junction Station during the Campaign for Jerusalem.

There was the charge at Huj in 1917 as well link

The Great War forum has several threads with interesting bits and pieces on cavalry charges.
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The Austro-Hungarians and Russians fought some rather large cavalry actions in 1914 including the battle between the A-H 4.Kavalleriedivision and the Russian 10th Cavalry division at Jaroslavice

As above, there were a number but not generally Napoleonic style massed cavalry corps charges. Smaller units (squadrons, maybe regiments) could make better use of covered approaches to approach their targets, but such opportunities were still relatively rare. Barbed wire or even stout agricultural fences would stop a cavalry charge dead.

But even in WW2 where the principal role of cavalry was mounted infantry, the odd cavalry unit found the opportunity to conduct a mounted charge. It just depended on the tactical circumstances, but the post-1900 battlefield isn't very conducive to riding a horse across it.

There were a large number of charges carried out by cavalry on the Western Front; British, French, Belgian and German. In his superb book on the British cavalry, Kenyon provides a complete list of all the British cavalry actions that involved charges. There were examples right up until the end of the war.

Kenyon produced an excellent documentary on Moreuil Wood. He stood on the edge of the wood and watched a rider gallop up in defilade and then 'charge'. Kenyon pointed out that the moving horseman would have been hard to hit with a machine gun.

There were a minority of actions where the cavalry were stopped by enemy fire. The charge at Elouges is the best example of a failure, in August 1914. Most charges ran home. Even at Elouges, the number of casualties was relatively low. It was the horses that bore the brunt of the fire, with far larger numbers being killed or rendered hors de combat than riders.

Moreuil Wood was a limited success, halting the German advance in this area. There were several similar examples in the likes of the Battle of Amiens and the Battle of Cambrai. High Wood was a success in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge but it could not be followed up by the infantry. The charge during the Battle of Arras secured Monchy-le-Preux. There were lots of other examples.

Robert

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The Belgians did one in October 1918.

Howdy,

Jaroslawice was a large cavalry-on-cavalry battle on the eastern front in 1914.

Ponder on,

JAS

Besides those listed above:

In 1914, there was the border skirmish at Lagarde, that saw 6 squadrons of Bavarian Uhlans surprise and overrun a couple of exposed French batteries and their supporting infantry
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In 1918, there was Moreuil Wood
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There is a painting in the National Army Museum, London, of a British cavalry regiment (Regular) charging a group of German infantry who appear to be getting off a train (seemingly in the middle of nowhere). The action is dated 1918.

There were several British cavalry charges in the first months of the war; most seem to have been successful, the only one that wasn't being stopped by wire fences that a Belgian farmer had set up only recently (possibly illegally) and which were invisible until the troopers were practically on top of them.

On the italian front some cavalry actions during the retreat following the battle of Caporetto, and again in november 1918 in the advance after Vittorio Veneto.

The painting in the National Army Museum refers to an action in the Battle of Amiens.

Robert

Cheers.
So the horses charging machine guns is mostly myths making?

I remember I picture of 1914, British lancers running down a couple of German skirmishers.

Did they fight dismounted in trench warfare too?

Not entirely. The key to a successful charge was suppression or disorganisation of the enemy. This was why cavalry units had integral field guns and MMG units, later LMGs. When fire superiority or total surprise was not achieved then serious problems occurred. A squadron of 15th Hussars was almost completely wiped out when they chased after a retreating German cavalry patrol, only to run into a pre-prepared ambush of Jaeger.

British (and all other cavalry) were trained to fight dismounted. At the very least this was used tactically to provide a pinning force while mounted colleagues manoeuvred for a charge. This happened near Compiegne for example, during the BEF retreat in 1914.

In 1915, the BEF cavalry were transformed into dismounted units and reorganised such that the entire Cavalry Corps became the equivalent of an infantry division. This was reversed in 1916 during the lead up to the Somme, when mounted cavalry were recognised as being of importance again. Throughout the war, from time when trenches were first created in earnest on the Aisne, the cavalry fought dismounted alongside their infantry colleagues when needed.

Robert

On the Eastern Front, there were several large cavalry sized actions involving Austro-German cavalry divsions versus Russian & Cossack Divisions/Corps during the LODZ-Warsaw Campaign of 1914-15.

Now, how many charges, if any, were involved I honestly don't know, but I have read of cavalry division sized struggles going on for several days at a time.

Mayhaps someone can fill in some of the gaps here.

There were several large encounter battles on the Western Front between cavalry divisions or corps. Charges were unusual in such battles apart from very small engagements between patrols.

Robert

At Stpiza (NE Italy) October 1917 an Italian platoon of the "Cavalleggeri di Alessandria" covering the Italian infantry after he débacle of Caporetto charged old fashion way an advancing Austrian column trough a road inside a mountain gorge..piercing the ennemy for 800 m. and being finally annhitilated by the fire of ennemy Mgs placed as pickets on the elevated sides of the mountain road..only 5 survivors on wounded horses succeeded in returning to the Italian lines…at the end of the month, at Pozzuolo del Friuli, charge from a Lancers squadron of "Novara" succeeded in repulsing German troops trying to enter the village . Similar charges also on the so called "forgotten" front in Albania carried on by Sardinian Cavalry Vs Bulgarian/Austrian infantry..

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