THE SABER AND THE CAVALRY

THE SABER AND THE CAVALRY.

T is to be hoped that the interesting article by Captain I Pritchard, Fifth Cavalry, entitled “The Saber,” and published in the January number of the JOURNAL. will give rise to a brisk and general exchange of views on the vitally important subject of which it treats. The following considerations and comments are the humble contribution of a retired cavalrymaa to this discusdon. The saber is but one of the three weapons with which our cavalry is armed. It is used less than either of the other two, and yet it is taken alone as the symbol of that arm of the service. There is reason in this partiality. The saber is the weapon upon which the cavalry chiefly relies for its distinguishing characteristic, for its essential quality. T h e chief weapon of the cavalry is the horse. The saber stands for the horse in combat, f6r the mounted charge. for the shock. There are officers in our cavalry who scorn the thought of being mounted infantry. but think of the mounted charge as a past glory of the cavalry that will never return to it. If their ideas prevail our ’so-called cavalry is not cavalry. It is no use for it to display cross sabers, and outshine the infantry and artillery in its uniform; it is es- ’ sentially and simply mounfed infantry. T o be truly cavalry it must believe in the mounted charge as the essential thing. This does not mean that it must consider it as the most important thing. Modem cavalry must expect to fight more on foot than on horseback, to use its rifle perhaps a hundred times where it uses its saber once, but it must be adapted to meet that one case in a hundred, and meet it effectively.. Dismounted fighting may be ever so common, ever 80 important; it is not essential to cavalry. Cavalry 891 can b;e Cavalry without it, but it cannot be cavalry witbout the ability to fight mounted. The essential difference between cavalry and mounted infantry is that the former can fight mounted while the latter can not. The final’aim of mounted drill should be to produce a charging line in which every horse msFy be counted on to telescope a horse of the enemy. The trooper should feel that he bas a contest to settle with his horse before he can use his saber; and the collective, wall-like effect which is called for in a charge, should result as far as possible from every man’s moving individually at the proper gait, upon the proper .objective, and depend as little as possible upon dressing. Horsemanship is agreat thing in acavalryo5cer. but it will not make up for deficiency io drill and tactics. To plan and lead an attack requires qualifications which can not be acquired without study and the practice of leading men in the charge, anqshould be supplemented with practice in the m€16e, the rally, the pursuit and the retreat. The writer spent twenty-seven years in the cavalry, serving at various posts, under troop commanders, squadron commanders and regimental commanders. He can not recall an instance of his commanding ofEcer at drill giving the command, “.Charge!” O! the drearjness and weariness of those ploymeats and deployments, that everlasting getting into position or formation, and getting out of it. The prominent and effective use that was made of mounted infantry in the war in South Africa strengthened the opposition to the saber in our army. Influence was at work in high quarters which would probably have stripped our cavalry of its old symbolic weapon had it not been for the resort had to cold steel in the Russo-Japanese War. W e may feel that we have it with us now to stay during our time. The saber and the mourned charge must stand or fall together. es There is no middle ground. * * * We shall have, I say, such saber-armed cavahy, or else we shall have mounted infantry, using ponies or the still hardier mule.”

THE .SABER AND TH8. CAVALRY. .

cl s General Cooke is reported to have said : - .

.. .I . .

THE SABER AND THE CAVALRY.

I have myself, aa ttdg, commander, used some of the means and methods advocated by Captain Pritchard for training cavalry in the use of the saber. I had a straightaway track out of doors. But I put all the objects to be hit. the heads, posts, etc., in one line. The men took them to the right going one .way, and to the left returning the other way; or (the distance between posts being sufficient) they changud sides by crossing the line between posts. Every post was round, fixed in the ground, sawed off sqaare~ly on top. and from the top down-a distance of six to tea inches-was padded all around to represent a head. The heads for thrusts were covered with black leather .and those for cuts with white canvas. They could thus be readily distinguished. The two kinds of paddings may have been of different composition. I do not remember. The heads on the ground were strapped to picket pins which were driven into the ground. There were also targets on one side of the line of posts to be fired at with the pistol. On special occasigns, such as tournaments for prizes, I had heads nailed on boards, set 011 the tops of the posts, to be knocked off and replaced by attendauts. But even then, these arrangements with attendants hardly seemed necessary. Each run lasted two minutes. When a trooper reached the end of the line of posts, he faced about and returned, and so kept on running till the time was up. I rarely aped rings. because they required an attendant, and were comparatively hard to provide and rig up. Captaip Pritchard’s head on a pin, the latter to be cut by the saber, is objectionable.to my mind on account of its complexity. A new pin, I understand, has to be provided and put in place after each successful cut. If the quartermaster furnished the apparatus, including the extra pins, this would not. be 80 bad; but there would still be the objectionable necessity of an attendant. I cannot see the need of a head at all if the exercise consists simply in cutting the pin. Captain Pritchard considers the leather head objectionable be-optlse it favors weak and iiat hitting. With’my posts one can usually tell by looking and listening whether a blow is stroog or weak, abarp or Iht. e p’ - . r-.z-= f q I I &a

THE SABER AND THE CAVALRY.

I cannot agree with Captain Pritchard in giving “a value of, say one-half,” to points in the manual (port saber, quarte point, etc.); as well score a man on the target range for his manual of the rifle. That kind of thing must detract in the soldier’s mind from the seriousness of the exercise. Shooting and sabering should be made as realistic as possible, as much as can be like the real thing. The manual of the saber is nothing more than a preparation for cutting at heads and fencing. When the trooper is in either of these higher stages he should not have to think of the preparatory stage. Much time may be wasted in perfecting the trooper in the manual of the saber and in the saber e,xercise. There is more or less of such waste due to the inbrporation of these drills in the ceremony of parade. It should be withdrawn from it; or, still better, the ceremony itself abolished. For the reason already given, that the exercise should be as realistic as possible, I should not fix the gait. Captain Pritchard would make it the regulation gallop. I should let each trooper learn by experience how fast he can go and make the maximum of points. Dangerous speeding can be prevented by requiring the line to be crossed between posts, as already indicated. If I understand Captain Pritchard, he advocates the classification of cavalrymen throughout the army, by his system of marking, as expert, excellent or pro$cicn:. Unless the paraphernalia necessary to his exercises were furnished by some staff department, troops at different posts, being variously favored as to these exercises by their post quartermasters and post commanders, would not generally compete under similar conditions. But the chief difficulty in the way of such classification is, it seems to me, the great difference among the men as to their mounts. It would not be fair to classify them unless they all had about equally good horses. Judging from my experience. this classification would lead to the selection of a few suitable horses to be used by all the men of a troop, to the greater or less neglect of the other horses in the important training which running at heads affords. For the development of interest and proficiency in the use of the saber I should depend upon fencing at least as

894 TH' SrQ$rER AND- THE CAVALRY. much as upon running at Beads. It is easier, judging from my experienOe, to ge& a horse to stand up to a mounted fencer than-to ttain him to ride up to a head post, especially where the track ha out of doom with no enclosure. I was surprised to and ip tbe Frovisional Regalations for Saber Exercise (Par. g6) the phrase, 4' Fenang on hotasback being generally In my experience of about twenty years, ofF and on, aa tmop commander, I found it generally practicable. The print$pal di5calty that I met with was due to the inferiority of the fencing out&t furnished by the Ordnance De-Partrpent, especially in fencing mounted. The masks are too light. and do not s&ciently cover the head; the plastrons and gloves. too, do not &orb sufficient protection. After a contest of some duration between squads there were usually men laid up for a number of days with swollen wrists or bruised heads. The sabers, with their wooden blades, were too fragile; they were continually breaking. and apart from that they are too light. The weapon'used in practice should be at least as hea'vp as the one used in service. Our fencing sabers should be of steel throughout. Thrusting with the ordnance saber is too dangerous to be allowed, at least in mounted fencing, with only the masks and other protection furnished by the Ordnance Department. Even in dismounted fencing it is hardly safe. As for the single-sticks, I would not allow my men to use them. Single-stick exer- &e, or pra'ctice. is not fencing, and leads in fencing to the use of the flat of the blade. Classification after the system for marksmanship is per-hap desirable ha fencing, but is not so necessary to the stimulation o€ the soldier's interest; and so far as I can see, isimptacticable. The only classification that seems to me practicable and worthy of trial throughout the service, is based upon relative, not upon absolute proficiency. It consists in the determination,of .the best fencer or best fencers to a certain number, of each troop, and as far as practicable, of each squadron, and each regiment. The best fencer or fen.- of each troop I would designate as troop fencers, the &st of each equadron as squadron fencers, and the best of each m m e p t as, *mental fencers. Each troop, and as far 4. 0 . impmidieable." r _ 695

THE SABER AND THE CAVALRY.

as practicable each squadron, and each regiment, should have its fencing squkd to represent the organization in collective contests. Within 8 troop, emulation may be developed by contesta among the four barrack-room squads. The JOURNAL m a y perhaps help the cause of the saber along by publishing rules for saber contests that may be contributed to it, and 80 lead to the formulation of a set of rules that shall be acceptable to the service at large. The following set of rules is offered as a beginning in this direction.

PROPOSED RULES FOR COLLECTIVE FENCING CONTESTS.

x. Each troop shall be represented by a squad of troopers and a supernumerary. One member of the squad shall be designated as chief of squad. All squads shall be of the Same size. 2. Each trooper shall be mounted, and armed and equipped as follows: Two sabers (one in reserve), mask, plastron, right hand glove (gauntlet on left hand), saddle, curb bridle, spurs and leggins. Each mask will be surmounted by a paper pompon conforming to pattern furnished the referee, and colored according to troop as follows: . "K "-Yellow. "L"-White. "M "-Green. No saber shall be used that has not beea examined and 3. Each contest shall consist of two preliminary bouts

4. Io the preliminary bouts the squads shall be opposed 5. The squads winning the preliminary bouts will fence '' I "-Red. approved by the referee. and one final, each bout to last two minates. to each other by lot. with each other as the final bout. . . .

6, The q‘uads will be formed facing each other in Yine with una yard between tbe horse8, and ten yardsbetween the linea At a pistol shot precuded by the d l “Ready,” the m01b forwardand begin fencing. They con-tiptte.tmtit time" ia called. Each contestant may choose bie oppaneot at any time. ‘ 7. A contestant ahall be disqualified and ruIed out: ( 6 ) If he lose his saber. (6) If both of his feet touch the ground at or about the same time. (c) If he lose his pompon. (4 If he lose all the paper off his pompon. (e) . If he Seise the pompon or any part of the clothing 6r body of an opponent. (J) If he strike e opponent with anything but the blade of his saber, OT by thrusting. (g) Sf ha hit an opponent below the, plastron or hit an tmm&ced or. unarmed opponent (see paragraph 11 follaw- ( A ) I f he deliver a blow after the d l “Time.” .. (i) If he go beyond auch bounds as may be fixed and amouaced by the referee.

8. A man who is ruled out in any contest cannot reenter 05 be teplacea during the contest.

g. A contestant who falls out during a bout will not reenter the contest nor be replaced during that bout. Whether he ohall reQnter of be replaced after the bout shall be determined by the chief of squad with the approval of the IO. Not more than one man shall be replaced in any one kmtast. The bnd bout may have to be fought with reduced numbem, but must start with an equal numbr on both sides. Who &all fall out when necesaaq to such equality, shall be deterpun - ed by the chief of squad.

11. A umtesUmt- whoae saber is broken, and who. has none in reserve, may procure a new one from one of the ‘pn>- i0fel-L. . ‘.- ” -* . - * - . . . “?m , . e i THfi SABER AND THE CAVALRY. 697 judges, each of whom should be provided with one or two spare &em. While thus renewing his saber a contestant will be considered as unarmed in the sense of paragraph 7, g, preceding.

12. Any protectian that a man chooses to provide for

13. Victory will be awarded to the side th’at knocks off his body beside plastron, gloves. and masks, is permitted. the greater amount of paper.