not fire until cavalry gets within very short range, it will have to reckon with the fact that even wounded horses will still be able to carry their riders into its ranks. However, for purposes of instruction in time of peace, it is proper to open fire late. If an infantry unit is trained in time of peace always to open fire at the medium ranges on charging cavalry, the unexpected appearance of hostile cavalry at short ranges in actual war, is more likely to bring disorder into the ranks of such a unit, than if it is trained in time of peace to reserve its fire until the cavalry has come within short range.
At Garcia Hernandez (1812), a French square was broken by a
wounded horse falling down within the ranks of the infantry. This is,
however, only true of closed bodies of infantry formed in two ranks.
Horses will frequently break through a skirmish line—whether or not the
horses are wounded is immaterial. Men are wounded in such an event in
exceptional cases only, and the wounds produced are generally insignificant.
The following episode shows the effect produced on cavalry when it attacks unshaken infantry which is in good formation and reserves its fire. During the retreat after the battle of Jena, on October 28th, 1806, the Grenadier Battalion Prinz August, threatened by hostile cavalry, did not feel equal to continue its march to Prenzlau and attempted to cross the Ucker farther down. In the expectation that a cavalry charge would be made, square was formed and the officers were told not to fire until the cavalry had approached to within 20 paces. "Meantime, the French cavalry—the brigade which had crossed at Golmitz as well as the remainder of Beaumont's Division, under its commander, in all nine regiments—approached. The first charge was made by nine troops (Eskadrons) under the division commander. They approached at a gallop. When the expected fire did not come, the dragoons gradually reined in their horses, so that finally they were going no faster than a slow trot. At 30 paces the command "Fire" was given in the infantry and quite a number of troopers fell, the rest galloping by the square on both sides. Eight subsequent charges were repulsed in a similar manner."[1]
We have moreover to consider, in this connection, the
strength of the infantry, the formation of the cavalry, and
whether the latter charges from several directions or in sev-*
- ↑ von Lettow-Vorbeck, Der Krieg von 1806-7, II, p. 279. The charge of the 5th Lancers at Beaumont forms a counterpart of the above. Kunz, Kriegsgeschichtliche Beispiele, 5, p. 18.
