When we think of cavalry, most of us immediately think of images of Waterloo. We think of the brave but futile charge of the French cavalry regiments on the British squares or the charge of the Scots Greys. And the Napoleonic era was also the heyday of the cavalry, colourful uniforms and many battles.
Attack of the Scots Grey
But even before and after that, the cavalry was of great importance on the battlefield. Its different types performed different tasks on the battlefield. The hussars and mounted hunters were the army's reconnaissance and liaison forces, the dragoons were generally a type of mobile infantry, and the cuirassiers, supported by the uhlans, were the actual battle cavalry, i.e. the cavalry that was used in the attack to bring about the decision.
The importance of the cavalry changed in military history. In ancient times it was more of an accessory, but in the Middle Ages it became the decisive branch of the armed forces with the heavily armoured knights, until it bled to death under the English arrows at Agincourt and was increasingly pushed into the background by the further development of weapons technology up to the Thirty Years' War. Nevertheless, it experienced a renaissance and regained its reputation and importance in the middle of the 18th century during the wars of Frederick the Great with the cavalry generals von Zieten as General of the Hussars and von Seydlitz as General of the Cuirassiers.
General von Zieten
But the type of warfare continued to develop. In the American Civil War, cavalry was again used primarily for reconnaissance or, above all, by the north as mobile infantry with modern repeating rifles.
Europe lagged behind these developments. Although weapons technology continued to develop here, people stuck to traditional cavalry tactics. This was also evident in the armament of the Prussian cavalry, which was equipped with a single-shot Model 1850 percussion pistol, a weapon that was already outdated when it was introduced. In contrast, the cavalrymen in the American Civil War on both sides of the front were equipped with multi-shot Colt or Remington revolvers.
The last glorious appearance of the cavalry on European soil, apart from the senseless attacks by British cavalry in the First World War, took place in the Franco-Prussian War, and even here the cavalrymen who were deployed paid dearly for their bravery.
The Franco-Prussian War was the first truly modern war on European soil, fought with modern weapons technology and the use of the railway for transport and telegraphy for communication. Here, the incredible destructive power of modern weapons was shown for the first time, such as the well-known heavy artillery from Krupp. It is not without reason that Napoleon III is said to have said to King Wilhelm after his capture at Sedan: "Your artillery, Sire, won the battle; the Prussian artillery is the best in the world." This fact is not least due to the lessons learned from the Austro-Prussian War, in which clear deficiencies in the Prussian artillery were recognized. One thing that was noticeable was that the Prussian artillerymen were able to hit every target on the firing range up to a distance of two kilometers, but in combat at unknown distances or moving targets they had significant difficulty hitting their targets.
But let's now look at two battles as examples. The Battle of Mars-la-Tour or Vionville or Rezonville, as it is sometimes called, and the Battle of Wörth.
Let's start with the Battle of Mars-la-Tour, deviating from the chronology. It took place on August 16, 1870 in northeastern France, about 20 kilometres west of Metz. In it, two Prussian corps, the 3rd Army Corps under General Constantin von Alvensleben and the 10th Army Corps under General Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz, of the 2nd Prussian Army under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, succeeded in defeating the numerically superior French Rhine Army under Marshal François-Achille Bazaine and forcing it to retreat to Metz.
The Battle of Mars-la-Tour represents the battle in which large, closed cavalry units once again intervened in the fighting, even if no truly decisive result was achieved at any point in the battle, the cavalry was still able to make a useful contribution.
The "death ride of the Bredow Brigade" is particularly noteworthy here. The 12th Cavalry Brigade under Major General Adalbert von Bredow consisted of six squadrons (round about 800 men), three of which were from the Magdeburg Cuirassier Regiment No. 16 under the command of Major Count von Schmettau and three from the Altmark Uhlan Regiment No. 16 under the command of Major von der Dollen.
This episode of the battle will be briefly described. On the afternoon of August 16, the French had set up several artillery batteries along the ridge north-west of Rezonville to the so-called Roman road, whose well-placed fire put parts of the Prussian infantry under pressure, threatening to encircle the left wing of the 3rd Prussian Corps.
In order to gain time, General von Alvensleben decided to use his cavalry. The aim of the attack was to eliminate the French artillery and, in the further advance, the enemy cavalry reserve under General Canrobert, in order to decide the battle. The idea behind the attack on the enemy, who were several times superior in numbers, was to regain the initiative and force the French to divide their army cavalry and not to be able to bring about a decision as a unit.
Major General von Bredow began the attack by bringing his brigade within 1,000 meters of the enemy under the protection of the terrain before he ordered them to trot and attack the French artillery batteries in front of him, which were protected by four infantry battalions.
The death ride of the Bredow Brigade
The Prussians managed to ride down the batteries and security forces and pursue the refugees in a disorganized manner. The French cavalry positioned behind the battle line tried to stop the Germans, but this was thwarted by their own soldiers, who in their panic fired at all the riders within their range.
After the Prussian cavalry had succeeded in eliminating the French artillery and cavalry as ordered, the Prussian cavalry brigade, now fighting in open order, was attacked from the flank by around 3,000 French riders. The order to assemble given by the commander of the Altmark Uhlans was drowned out by the noise of the battle. So, the Prussians, now fighting individually, found themselves facing the French cavalry division Legrand, which was attacking in unison. This meant that the two Prussian regiments were now faced with five French regiments, namely the 2nd and 7th Hussars, the 3rd Dragoons, the Dragoon Regiment of the Guard, the Lancer Regiment of the Guard, and the 7th and 10th Cuirassier Regiments. Bredow's Brigade had no way of countering this superior force, so it had to retreat after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
This costly ride by Bedow's Brigade, which lasted only about 30 minutes, prevented the left wing of the 3rd German Corps from being surrounded and the forces of Marshal Bazaine from breaking out of Metz. However, it also had to pay a high price, as the brigade lost around 56% of its combat strength in this attack. While the brigade was able to field six squadrons at the beginning of the day, by the end of the day only two squadrons could be formed from the survivors of the attack. The commander of the Uhlan Regiment, Major von der Dollen, was also taken prisoner.
Here the cavalry was once again able to show what it was capable of when used correctly, in contrast to the Battle of Wörth on August 6th, in which the French Marshal Patrice de Mac-Mahon ordered a counterattack by his cavalry division under General Duhesme in order to counter the threat of his right wing being encircled in the southern sector. This division included a heavy cuirassier brigade under General Michel with two regiments. His brigade was supported by a regiment of lancers and was ordered to throw back the Prussian XI Corps under General von Bose.
Michel complained about the poor ground and interfering trees in this area, which would take the momentum out of his attack. Nevertheless, he threw himself with a total of 1,200 horsemen from Eberbach onto the advancing infantry of the 22nd Division. The Saxons responded with so-called rapid fire, in which each soldier conducted the fire fight independently after the first combined salvo. This new tactic of cavalry defence was only practiced in this way by the Prussians and their allies and represented a departure from the classic square formation.
French Cavalry (Table top Miniatures)
During their attack, the French cavalry came under flank fire from Prussian infantry, which had established itself in the Niederwald between Elsasshausen and Eberbach. The attack was completely wiped out at Morsbronn. No cavalry managed to reach the infantry lines. The French lost 800 of 1200 soldiers and almost all of their horses during this attack. Despite the enormous losses, the new helmets and breastplates introduced shortly before the war had proved their worth for the cuirassiers, while the light lancers had no chance without this protection. Although the unwounded cuirassiers had to retreat on foot within range of the Prussians, some Prussian officers stopped firing on the now defenseless enemy. Despite the high losses, the attack missed its target and was only able to briefly halt the advance of the XI Corps.
If you look at these two examples, you can see that the days of the cavalry are numbered. The ever-increasing firepower of infantry and artillery, as well as the introduction of rapid-fire cannons and machine guns, led to the end of this glorious and impressive branch of the military. Even though the commanders did not yet recognize the times and allowed many brave cavalrymen to ride to their senseless deaths.
Prussian Hussars and Cuirassiers
Nevertheless, these examples offer interesting scenarios in which you can have exciting battles with great figures.
I hope you enjoyed my little excursion into the Franco-Prussian War and we'll see you here again.
See you soon,
Yours, Martin