Quote:
Originally Posted by kronckew
We've discussed cavalry charges before.
I seem to recall an early WW1 incident where a British cavalry troop with 1908s charged a newly formed German Lancer Uhlan, and drove them off. They escaped behind a farmer's barbed wire fence, which the British horses refused to jump over.
Cavalry charges in the more open east occurred up through WW2. (Not against tanks - that was propaganda)
Germany used MORE horses for transport of men and materials in WW2 than they did in WW1. The German army historians and news reporters were ordered not to film any horse-drawn activity by the Army, only of motorized vehicles and tanks, in order to seem more modern.
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Thanks Wayne, the familiar phenomenon of propaganda led to many almost bizarre notions which became widely known in popular literature in post war times. One case was that Polish lancers attacked German tanks, one of the popular German propaganda renditions. Actually while a lancer 'unit', they were not using lances by that time in WWII.
Good story on the M1908.
With the M1913, some cavalry did have these at the front, but they were never used, nor were 'charges' permitted as per the resources I have seen.
It would be interesting to find out more on how many of these were cut down into fighting knives.