MARCHING OF CAVALRY IN ROLLING COUNTRY

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RECR UZTZNG.

* i i : of the'atgtrment is added below: For the purpose of indicating the line of thought a brief I a. a. 5. 1. Better men for the service. Break down in war, possible. Increased deseition. Eqdity of barden on the people. System in keeping u personnel ~aca~izing the Reduction of deaerbon through local pride. Systematizing the instruction. Popularizing the army. Too short service, bad under modem con-Fewer good soldiers proportionally. Lang sesvice. System for reserves. Good pay. especially for re-enlistments. Localming regiments. Home dttalions (4th Bat.). General Service Corps. ditions - good features so far as practicable of the two systems. The problem for the United States is to combine the ! : I

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MARCHING OF CAVALRY IN ROLLING COUNTRY.

BY MAJOR J. T. DICKMAN. THIRTHHNTH

CAVALRY.

HE march of a cavalry command through undulating T country, with its ridges, valleys. slopes and letel stretches, furnishes an interesting problem. The question of fatigue of lungs and muscles discourages rapid movements up hill, and regard for the horse's feet and legs, as well as for the safety and comfort of the rider, pfecludes fast gaits down grade unless the slope be very gentle. It is necessary to do a certain amount of trotting to prevent sore backs, and it is desirable that progress be smooth, uninterrupted, and reasonably rapid. A11 this is best accomplished by marching with considerable distance between units, the smallest intact organization considered being the troop. It is a fundamental principle of marching that the gait must be uniform throughout a closed unit. This makes it imperative that the rate at the head of the unit be such that all the troopers can keep up without unusual effort, and that all changes of gait be executed simultaneously in accordance with command or signal. The cavalry lrill rcgulations fail to prescribe any distance between the troops of a squadron at route order in column of fours or twos, but close distance is generally as. snmed to be nine yards. In paragraph 981, we find that "The regulation distance between squadrons, or even troops, may be increased to some definite proportion of the size of the organization, so that each may maintain a steady gait." In arder to study this question with a view to ascertaining what distance between units is best for average conditions, let us first examine the m p d of a squadron, closed up. Assume length of each troop in column of twos, fifty men and two 05cers, 1x0 yards. Rate of walk 1x0 yards per

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~ V A L R Y

rN ROLLING COUNTRY. minute, half+ on slopes. Required: Time to march from Ato 8, onemile. (Fig. I.) The head of the squadron will march at half speed from A to C, the end of the last troop then reaching the foot .of the elope at D; time, twelve minutes. Then at full speed from C to E, four minutes, and again at half speed from E to B, the end of the last tmop arriving at F; time, twelve minotea Total time, twenty-eight minutes. O n level ground the mile would have been passed over in suteea minutes. The slopes, therefore, have caused a loss of talielve minutes, and the average rate for the mile was reduced from three and three-fourths to two and one-seventh miles per hour. Now in rolling country one valley to a mile is not above the average, in fact, they often occur with much greater frequency. It is clear that on the ground assumed a closed unit larger than a squadron could march only at the . .. a P A C Re- I. sped maintained on the slopes; also, that when there are more than two s l o p in a mile, even a small squadron would seidom be able to walk at full speed. If the command be marching at a trot, it would have to .tatre the slow gait as Boon as the head reached the slope at A. It could trot only between C and E. two minutes. and the time for the mile would be twenty-six minutes, making a. lose of eigbteen minutes when compared with the trot on a level road. While most slopes are not so steep as to reduce the rate of walk one half, yet it is evident that in rolling country rigid closing up nemssitates great delay in the march of c o m k d a larger than a troop. It may also be said that not many bad slopes are 300 yards in length, bat it is the fre-goency of such obstacles rather than their extent that im-ped- progress, for, however short the incline may be, the check will pass through the whole column and its whole length will be forced to march at reduced speed. The same i s true whatever the cause of delay-fording of streams. wading through rnudholea, crossing railway tracks, etc. The extreme case, squadron closed up solid, was taken for sake of illustration, but the same evils exist in a less degree when distances of only nine yards are permitted. Let us now consider the march of a squadron wifk distances. Assume that the troops are marching with the maximum distance of I Io yards, with authority to diminish it as circumstances may require. (Fig. 2.) When the end of the leading troop marching at half speed has reached A, the head of the second troop will have closed up; and when the second troop has passed A, the third troop will be closed up, etc. The time required for the endof the leading troop to pass the foot of the slope at D, is six minutes. The troop will then march at full walk for seven minutes, followed at I io yards by the second troop as soon as it has passed D. In ascending the slope EF the leading troop again is overtaken by the second; it will pass F in six minutes, and in three minutes more at full walk will complete the mile. Time, twenty-two minutes. Compared with the march of the closed squadron this is a gain of six minutes. which in a day's march of twenty miles would amount to two hours. At the trot, say Seven and one-half miles per hour, the succeeding troops would gain on the first troop at the rate of three yards in every four marched, and as the end of the leading troop passes A. the whole squadron will be closed up. To prevent retardation of the march at A, and to permit the leading troop to start off at a trot from D, distances of 330 yards would be necessary. There are very few cases in which such a degree of extension would be advantageous.

... . I I :. f i . ?’I i-j r . 706 CA VALR Y fAt ROLLING COUNTR Y. The best average distance is one which avoids undue extension aad at the Same time takes up‘the great majority of checks to the march. The commanding officer selects the best ground for the trot; if he shoufd come to a bad slope or a ford he would naturally sound the walk and wait for a better opportunity to get in the requisite amount of trotting. Moreover. on the slopes of average roads progress could be Lept up at better than half speed, in most cases at two and one-half to three miles an hour, which would clear the road that much faster for troops following at the road trot. For the smooth marching of a squadron in rolling country we therefore have the general rule that troops should be sep. arated by troop hgzk; in specialIy uneven country, or for rapid marching, the squadron commander may order twice that distance. It is understood, of course. that when the leading troop is forced to reduce its rate of march, the others continue at full speed until they in turn reach the obstacle or are closed up. and that the leading tioop will resume full speed without waiting for the others. The distance between troops is thus a flactuating quantity, varying between zero and the maximum authorized. In the practical application of this method of marching the troops should remain closed up to nine yards until the first halt, and they should resume such formation while going through citiesand upon approaching destination. The squad. ron m a y be closed up at any time by sounding the “assembly.” The gaits should be regulated by the squadron commander, who may give his orders to the first troop by voice or whistle, and to the whole squadron by trumpet. The distance between squadrons in a regiment need not be greater than that between troops. so far as marching is concerned, but increased distances are very desirable for rests and when it isnecessary to water on the road. A convenient way is to prescribe intervals of ten to fifteen minutes in the time of starting the squadrons. The principal advantage gained by marching with dis. tan-is the increaae in the rate of progress of the whole, in fact, it k the only sat is factor^^ way for a cavalry command to get over undulating country. 1 707

CAVALRY IN ROLLING COUNTRY:

Various objections may be urged against this method of marching; for example: ( I ) The troops take up too much space on the road; (2) they are out of immediate control of the commanding officer; and (33 the formation is not suitable for tactical reasons. All these objections are valid under proper circumstances. In marching towards a battlefield, if the number of parallel roads is scarce, it becomes imperative to shorten columns. In campaign and at maneuvers. as goon as the troops enter the field of possible tactical employment, they must be in concentrated formation for the sake of control and mobility. But for ordinary road marches in time of peace, changes of station, and many so-called practice marches, as well as for movements in time of war at a distance from the theater of operations, another consideration is paramount, namely, the maintenance of good condition in men and horses. If the horses be stove up or have their shoes knocked off by trotting or galloping down hill and over rocky roads, or if a large proportion of the backs be covered with festering sores, the command certainly will not be able to do itself justice in emergency. When the time comes for the “utmost exertim,“ it has no reserve to draw on. The desire to exercise personal control over a large force often springs from hoary tradition or false vanity. When squadron and troop commanders cannot be trusted to manage their units, the regiment is in a bad way. It will not be educated in marching by remaining at all times under the eye of the colonel. It is an erroneous principle which sacrifices the efficiency and comfort of a command to the shortcomings of a few officers. After the Civil War, and up to 1893, nearly all the marching of our cavalry was done at a walk. The regimental train consisted of army wagons drawn by six mules. Many of the o5cers endeavored to bring their horses up to the regulation gait, four miles per hour ; others insisted on a slower gait so as to make sure that all the horses could keep up at a walk. Nothing more tedious can be imagined than a twenty-five mile march on a dusty July day over the plains of the Southwest at the rate of three and one-half miles an hour, towards distant objectives marked by railroad water tanks dancing in