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The entry of the United States into World War I in 1917 tipped the balance in favor of an Allied victory. But long before the United States sent its men into the struggle, it had sent another resource - its horses. World War I was the twilight of the use of cavalry. Except for limited skirmishes in the Middle East and the Western front, the cavalry fought mostly on foot. In previous wars the cavalry swept across a battlefield to surprise an enemy force. But now tangles of barbed wire were not easily penetrated, and the machine gun could decimate man and horse alike with chilling efficiency. The days of the offensive horse were ended.

The Death of Millions of Horses in the War Depleted the World's Equine Population
The war used horses in great numbers for non-cavalry purposes. It is estimated that some six million horses served and substantial numbers of these were killed. By 1914, the British had only 20,000 horses and the United States was called upon to supply the allied forces with remounts. In the four years of the war, the United States exported nearly a million horses to Europe . This seriously depleted the number of horses in America . When the American Expeditionary Force entered the war, it took with it an additional 182,000 horses.

Of these, 60,000 were killed and only a scant 200 were returned to the United States . In spite of the innovations of World War I, one reality remained the same; the horse was the innocent victim.

In one year, British veterinary hospitals treated 120,000 horses for wounds or diseases. Like human combatants, horses required ambulances and field veterinary hospitals to care for the sick and injured. The motorized horse van was first used as an equine ambulance on the Western Front.

The British Cavalry in World War I

At the beginning of the war the British Army owned 25,000 horses. This was not considered enough and during the next two weeks a further 165,000 were recruited from Britain. Horses were also purchased from the USA, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Spain and Portugal. Horses aged three to twelve were trained as rapidly as possible by British soldiers called 'roughriders'. When they were ready the horses were formed into squadrons and sent to the Western Front.

The best horses were used by the cavalry. These horses had to be strong as the average cavalryman's weight was twelve stone and his equipment, saddle, ammunition, etc. usually weighed another nine stone. Men in the cavalry were instructed to take the weight off their horses as much as they could. This including dismounting and walking with their horses and unsaddling at every opportunity.

In 1914 the British Army only owned eighty motor vehicles. Therefore they were very dependent on horses for transporting good and supplies. This was especially true of the Western Front where conditions made it very difficult to use motor vehicles.

The British Army also purchased a large number of mules from the USA. The mule has amazing stamina and endured the terrible conditions in the front-line better than the horse. At the end of the war the army owned 213,300 mules.

Finding enough food for the horses and mules at the Western Front was a constant problem. The daily ration for a horse was 20 lbs of grain a day. This was nearly 25% below what a horse would be fed in Britain. The horses were always hungry and where often seen trying to eat wagon wheels. When grain was in short supply, the army fed their horses and mules on sawdust cake.

By 1917 the British Army were employing over 530,000 horses and 230,000 mules. Large numbers of horses were killed and wounded during the war. Others became lame or sick. The British Army discovered they needed to buy about 15,000 horses a month to maintain the number they needed. It has been calculated that almost half a million horses owned by the British Army were killed during the First World War.

Lieutenant-Colonel Preston was a British Cavalry Officer. After the war he wrote an account of his experiences.

Among the English troops there was a large proportion in the mounted branches, both of officers and men, who had little previous experience of horses, and none at all under the severe conditions of active service. The standard of horsemanship improved as the war went on. An indication of this is that the horses rarely suffered from sore backs. A striking contrast to this record was afforded by the French cavalry regiment which took part in the 1918 operations. The Frenchmen carried an astonishing quantity of kit on their saddles; and though it was all put on in a very neat and soldier-like manner, the weight was undoubtedly far too great. Owing to the difficulty of removing the saddle without taking off al his kit, the horses were scarcely ever off-saddled. The men were, far, too prone to remain mounted when halted.

In his book Officer and Temporary Gentleman, Dennis Wheatley described an aerial bombing attack on the Western Front in December 1915.

"When the bombs had ceased falling we went over to see what damage had been done. I saw my first dead man twisted up beneath a wagon where he had evidently tried to take shelter; but we had not sustained many human casualties. The horses were another matter. They were dead ones lying all over the place and score of others were floundering and screaming with broken legs, terrible neck wounds or their entrails hanging out. We went back for our pistols and spent the next hour putting the poor, seriously injured brutes out of their misery by shooting them through the head. To do this we had to wade ankle deep through blood and guts. That night we lost over 100 horses."

   
The Time Has Come -: Officer and Temporary Gentleman : 1914-1919: 
The Memoirs of Dennis Wheatley

In 1926 Sir Douglas Haig wrote an article about the impact that the First World War had made on military tactics.

"I believe that the value of the horse and the opportunity for the horse in the future are likely to be as great as ever. Aeroplanes and tanks are only accessories to the men and the horse, and I feel sure that as time goes on you will find just as much use for the horse - the well-bred horse - as you have ever done in the past."

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CAVALRY ORGANIZATION: Unfortunately, The Cavalry was weighted down by tradition and obsolete weapons. The basic unit was the squadron which was comparable to an infantry company in size. The battalion had no place in the Cavalry Regiment, since the squadrons as often as not operated independently. Three to four squadrons made up a regiment. The brigade was again the largest unit of a single arm, with the British deviating slightly with the inclusion of a signal detachment. Once again the British enjoyed superiority against similar units, since they were more willing to act as mounted infantry. Also, the realistic equipment of rifles and khaki uniforms were more adapted to modern warfare than the French cuirasses or the German lance.

 

BELGIAN BRIGADE

BRITISH BRIGADE

GERMAN BRIGADE

FRENCH BRIGADE

HQS

1200 men

HQS

1718 men

6 mg

HQS

1480 men

HQS

1500 men

2 mg

Regt

Regt

Regt

Regt

Regt

Regt

572 men each

Regt

Regt

Regt

600 men each

Signal Detachment

720 men each

682 men each

ARTILLERY UNITS: The third combat arm to be considered is the Artillery. Since each power used a different organization, they will be considered separately.

Cavalry Tactics

Cavalry Warfare during WW1