03-01-2006, 03:28 PM
Caius Fabius wrote:
Hello Caius
I am not sure which British accounts that you have read but the classic 'The Reason Why' by C. Woodham-Smith 1957 and the more recent 'Hell Riders', by T. Brighton 2004 both mention the charge by the Chasseurs D'Afrique. While not exactly saving the day their action did eventually take out the right flank of Russian guns saving many British lives during the withdrawal.
Getting back to the topic in question, this thread is getting a bit like the discussion on leather armour with arguments for and against backed up more or less with documented accounts as to whether cavalry can or cannot charge infantry.
I guess in exceptional circumstances anything can happen. In theory the British infantry at Minden should not have charged the French cavalry, the Light Brigade at Balaclava should not have charged the Russian guns nor the Heavy Brigade in the same action charged aginst the Russian cavalry or in more recent times the Australian light horse should not have charged the Turkish lines at Beersheba. In all these cases the morale of one side or the other undoubtedly played a big part but on the whole I would tend to agree with Roberts last comments that determined well trained infantry should have been able to withstand any cavalry attack.
Graham.
Quote:The French Cavalry at the same time forced Russian infantry and artillery troops to withdraw and actually saved the day, which is rarely told in the British written stories, but evident from Russian accounts.
Hello Caius
I am not sure which British accounts that you have read but the classic 'The Reason Why' by C. Woodham-Smith 1957 and the more recent 'Hell Riders', by T. Brighton 2004 both mention the charge by the Chasseurs D'Afrique. While not exactly saving the day their action did eventually take out the right flank of Russian guns saving many British lives during the withdrawal.
Getting back to the topic in question, this thread is getting a bit like the discussion on leather armour with arguments for and against backed up more or less with documented accounts as to whether cavalry can or cannot charge infantry.
I guess in exceptional circumstances anything can happen. In theory the British infantry at Minden should not have charged the French cavalry, the Light Brigade at Balaclava should not have charged the Russian guns nor the Heavy Brigade in the same action charged aginst the Russian cavalry or in more recent times the Australian light horse should not have charged the Turkish lines at Beersheba. In all these cases the morale of one side or the other undoubtedly played a big part but on the whole I would tend to agree with Roberts last comments that determined well trained infantry should have been able to withstand any cavalry attack.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
