"A French cavalry charge" Topic

Thought you guys might want to see what a regiment of horse would look like in a charge. I'm guessing these guys know what their doing. It's nice to watch.

If I were any infantryman, I would thinking about other places I would like to right now.

YouTube link

A great find! Thanks so much.

Wonderful, fabulous. C'est magnifique!

Yes, it's great. However, that's just ONE squadron.

Notice how they walk, then trot and finally gallop. They cover a huge amount of ground in a hurry. Also how even horses that are all about the same size, their lines start to come apart.

Beautiful, beautiful horses.

Thanks for the link. This actually lead me to another documentary series from 1978, Les Grandes Batailles du Passé. Enjoyed Poltava 1709.

They do that once a year; a joy for them.
real battle cavalry of the time would have been better drilled in keeping in line,these are just doing it for fun/tradition. I've invited there once; nowadays not easy to find a place around Paris to do it.

And that is only a small squadron roughly 160.

The old films of the 30s such as the one on Balaklava had hundreds of real cavalry of the time still in combat use.

Really Impressive.

Oh my that is great to see – so much space taken up, then covered. Brilliant. Seeing 8,000 of these at Waterloo must have made the knees tremble…

I'm dropping my musket and running!

Great link, thanks for sharing – I agree, seeing thousands of cavalry en murale – putting too many horses and men into too small a space – must have been very intimidating

Fantastic. Interesting that they drew sabres at the start. I had read that it was common to do this close to contact as practical to provide an extra moment of drama.

The trumpets really add to the majesty of it all. Is the last call authentic to Napoleonic era French? The stereotypical "charge" part? Or is that more modern?

Does anyone know what piece of music was used during the credits at the end of this film?

A hunting friend tells me:

- They only reach a canter at the end.

- How quickly – ie in a very short distance – they can accelerate from a standing start to that canter

- How competitive the horses are within the formation

- How difficult it is to remain aligned within the formation

I really like the four trumpeters – on greys – offset behind the right hand flank – I think I'm going to mount my brigade commanders with trumpeters like this.

They only reach a canter at the end.

What? They were at a gallup. They can accelerate quickly, but to keep formation the method was to start with a walk, then trot and finally a full gallup in the last 200-300 yards. A canter would be in there someplace…

Horses can be competitive. The difficulty is in how well the horses and men are trained. The troops you see on the video don't do such formations and charges all that much…

I watched the Canadian Mounted Police Team of thirty six horses perform very intricate maneuvers last summer… lots of trainng.

I found out that one of the things that makes such uniform performances is the uniformity of the horses…and their pace… Which is why Napoleonic cavalry units tried to get similar-sized horses.

Here's a very short clip, filmed in 1909, of the Scots Greys charging. It's probably about as near to the real thing as we're likely to see, I'd wager. Note the squadrons formation integrity prior to running uphill…really rather cohesive despite moving at speed.

YouTube link

I really like the four trumpeters – on greys – offset behind the right hand flank – I think I'm going to mount my brigade commanders with trumpeters like this.

Definitely!

Even more so since I'm planning on doing 3:4 figure ratio with 3mm figures, but I'm still going to do that with the 15mm Naps I'm keeping around for skirmishes.

Very interesting!

One moment intrigued me particularly – when they draw their sabres (1:25 – 1:38), they do so INSIDE the rein arm. I was always led to believe that you drew from OUTSIDE the rein arm to avoid cutting your left wrist/forearm.

I think the reason that it took so long to reach full speed was much more to do with the psychology of the thing that with the capability of the horses to reach the speed.

The von Reisswitz Kriegsspiel suggests that cavalry needed at least 300 paces to deliver a proper charge (which mattered when charging other cavalry rather than infantry). I suspect that you needed the time to make an impression on the target, rather than hitting before they know what was happening. This clip gives you some idea of the psychological effect of the process, both on those charging and those being charged.

Just speculation!

traveller: That is great!!! Thanks for posting that!!! John Miller

Hello

I think a canter is a different kind of speedy gait than a gallop; and that there were two speeds of canter.

The overhead shot shows them moving in formation at quite an impressive rate (canter? lazy gallop?); demonstrating that cavalry could move en masse quite quickly whilst retaining order/cohesion.

The film shows the Garde Nationale using period (early 19th century) cavalry manoeuvres. These are for use against smoothbore muskets and muzzle loading smoothbore cannon _not_ against later rifled-muskets, nor breech-loaded artillery.

The acceleration (celerity?) from standing start to canter is easily achieved within the effective range of smoothbore-muskets; the canter would also enable them to move quickly through the case-shot zone of infantry guns.

I'll admit that I have an axe to grind – I'm trying to reconcile:

1. 17th century cavalry mounted on cold-blooded stock advancing to pistol shot (30 yards/25 metres?) and using the front two ranks to conduct short-range rushes (fast trot/slow canter) against the enemy. (If successful in dispersing enemy then following ranks charging/cantering in support.)

2. French Napoleonic heavy cavalry – in column of squadrons – being released by squadron into enemy formations by divisional commander (think Eylau, think Pez sweet dispenser) retaining order using either a fast or slow trot.

3. Light cavalry squadrons attached to infantry divisions – providing short-range cavalry support – launching limited-scale attacks on attacking/defending/dispersed enemy infantry/guns. Slow canter with good order.

4. Non-French cavalry formations with squadrons in line being committed line-by-line.

The film Warhorse showed British Cavalry charging hell-for-leather at a fast gallop over a long distance – I think to get across the rifled-machine-gunned-beaten-zone. I don't think this necessity applied to earlier periods.

And I'd still like to know the piece of music with the timpani drums and french horns?

This is of interest as well YouTube link

It's no wonder that poorly disciplined troops just turned and ran away. Must be terrifying to have all of that coming towards you!

F