1. That soldiers should make it their function to exert themselves to the utmost of their loyalty and patriotism.

2. That they should strictly observe decorum.

3. That they should prize courage and bravery.

4. That they should treasure faith and confidence.

5. That they should practise frugality.

(Order issued by the Emperor of Japan in 1882.)

The standard of proficiency in cavalry work to which we wish to attain is a very high one; our men must, in the first place, be taught—

(A) To ride well.

(B) To be able to look after their horses.

(C) Rifle-shooting and fire discipline.

(D) The use of at least one personal weapon, when mounted, with good effect.

(E) Individuality, and to use their brains.

(F) Bodily and muscular development.

(A) Riding

There is no doubt that our methods of teaching riding have greatly improved of late years.99 The recruit is not made afraid of his horse, and of his work in the riding-school, as he often was under the old rÉgime. From the day he joins, no opportunity should be lost of teaching the recruit that amongst his first duties is to love, honour, and have a pride in his horse. He certainly will not recognize this duty, if, as under the old “cast-iron” system, his horse becomes the means of applying an unpleasant discipline to him.

Further, he is now taught to ride in the open, and over a natural country in many cases, picking his own line. In fact he is taught campaign riding, rather than as formerly the elements of haute École; the latter plan was by no means unsuitable if the man had the previous knowledge of riding which many men, brought up in the country, joined with forty or fifty years ago.

(B) Soldier’s Care of Horses

Of all instructions to be given to the young soldier the most difficult is that in campaigning horse-management.

It should be explained that the care of his own horse in a campaign is quite a different matter in the cavalry from what it is in the artillery; in the latter the horses are always under the master’s eye in the first place, and in the second they are kept at a uniform pace, whereas in the cavalry men are detached here and there, and it is only by the individual’s care of his mount that the latter can win through a campaign. In fact the difference is as great as if, instead of carrying on his business under one roof, Mr. Whiteley had to send out all his young men and women in troops and sections and as individuals to effect sales. It would certainly lead to a very great diminution of profits, and just as in any great business the profits are effected by small and seemingly petty economies, so in a regiment it is the small economies of horse-flesh which mount up to a great sum in a month or so of campaigning. It is the regiment or squadron, in which, from the start, the man has been taught always to dismount at every opportunity, always to off-saddle and massage his horse’s back when a spare quarter of an hour affords him time to do so, always to give his horse a chance to nibble the short grass, or drink a few go-downs of water, always to report without fail a loose clinch or a swelling on the back, even if the latter is only the size of a shilling, that will constantly show a good return of sound horses. A bad system of horse-management will in a week incapacitate as many horses from work as will a general engagement.

As a rule great things are expected of cavalry in the first week of a campaign; these great things are often to be carried out at all costs—all costs in this case meaning in many instances half the horses overridden and a crop of sore backs100 and incipient injuries incurred which the cavalry will not get over for months after. There is also another difficult matter to cope with in the cavalry; it is as follows:—

The ordinary soldier has no idea of the limit of his horse’s capacity for work such as that soon gained by the hunting man or traveller on horseback. In peace-time he will not once in one thousand times be given a task which can possibly injure or cause him to override his horse; further, the latter invariably gets back to his stable, gets the best of food and a rest, or goes to the sick lines if he is evidently out of sorts; the responsibility of overriding his horse is thus not fixed, and the man escapes any punishment. As the man is riding a Government horse and not his own animal, he does not suffer pecuniarily.

We believe that enough has been shown to warrant our saying that the cavalry of an army where (1) a good system of campaigning horse-management101 has been instilled into the individual, and where (2) the officers, from those who order the task to those who superintend it, have the knowledge to do so with a sense of the horse’s capacity as affected by work, food, and drink, weight carried, nature of terrain, will, at the end of one month’s work, possibly have lost 15 per cent of its horses; whereas in the cavalry where these matters are not understood, only 15 per cent of the horses will remain available. What was the case in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia? A statement called for by the emperor at Witebsk on the 29th July, twenty-five days after the river Niemen had been crossed, gave the loss as follows: Murat’s cavalry102 reduced from 22,000 to 14,000 horses, the cavalry of army corps by half, Latour Maubourg’s from 10,000 to 6000. Later, on the 9th November, only 1900 horses were left to this immense force of cavalry. The loss by fatigue in the campaign of Ulm, lasting little more than a fortnight, was less, 46 per regiment. One campaign resulted in a victory within eighteen days, whereas the other went on long enough to bring the loss and criminal waste of horses home to those responsible. In campaigns brought to a close in a few days by desperate though successful strategy, these matters, like many matters which occur in small campaigns against natives, never come to notice.

This subject has been gone into at some length under the training of the man, because without his co-operation in the individual care of his horse no cavalry general can hope to be successful. His best-laid schemes “gang aft agley.” The cavalry soldier should feel that he will get a horse, good, bad, or indifferent, accordingly as he shows himself a good, bad, or indifferent horseman and horsemaster, and should be made perfectly aware that he will be punished with the greatest severity for every act of carelessness, neglect, or ill-treatment of his horse. Whilst, on the other hand, a well-cared-for horse should be a certain passport to the good graces of his leader. A squadron leader, careless of this mode of procedure, never has good and well-cared-for horses on service.

A very successful way of teaching the soldier to care for his horse is to let it form part of the test before he passes from the recruit stage to that of the trained soldier, that he should by himself ride his horse to a place 70 to 100 miles away, report on some bridge or other topographical feature, and return, enough money being given him for the subsistence of himself and his horse for the necessary number of days—the condition of the latter being carefully scrutinized on his return.

Other forms of long-distance rides and patrols (as distinct from long-distance races, a cruel form of competition with which no horse-lover can have any sympathy) are most useful, as they teach the men how to regulate their paces, spare their horses, and judge distance by time and pace.

Often arrangements have been made to take some N.C.O.’s out with the regimental pack of hounds, local pack, or on a drag-hunt or paper-chase; all these forms of instruction teach the men to ride fast in a reasoned fashion and not in the Johnny Gilpin and “making the running” style of the amateur horseman or horsewoman, and to think properly of their horse, and not as the old lady, who said to the coachman, when he had reported the brougham horse was lame, “He is a horse and he must go.” That the care of the horse is the weak link in the cavalry chain, and the most difficult one in which to give such instruction as may render it strong and reliable, is clear. Every day we get fewer men accustomed before they are recruited, to work with horses, and the use of the horse as a means of locomotion, by all ranks in Great Britain, is quickly dying out. Strong measures are needed to counteract our daily growing ignorance of horsemastership.103

(C) Shooting and Fire Discipline

The cavalry are now armed with a rifle equal to that of the infantry, and can hold their own in rifle-shooting. The greatest interest is taken in this exercise; tests similar in all respects to those in vogue in the infantry are exacted before the man is entitled to get his full rate of pay. Practically all officers and many N.C.O.’s of cavalry now possess Hythe certificates,104 and there is no reason why fire discipline in the cavalry should not be equal to that in the infantry. In many cavalry regiments it undoubtedly is so. In others there is too much talking and the Jack ashore kind of behaviour, which renders difficult the control of the larger parties. If the officers recognize that good fire discipline is essential in order to kill their enemy, they will take more trouble to instil it. As our cavalry are undoubtedly the best shooting cavalry in the world, it is a pity to spoil the ship for this ha’porth of tar (fire discipline).

(D) The Personal Weapon

Fencing and single stick (and other exercises such as boxing, non-essential in themselves, but which quicken the eye and make the man cool in combat) will do a great deal towards teaching men the use of the sword, while a little tent-pegging and a great deal of work at the dummies will teach the unrivalled value of the queen of weapons.

In many cavalry training-grounds can now be seen an acre of ground in which are a score or more of self-adjusting dummies of varying heights, and representing horse and foot; there is no better practice than to send half-a-dozen horsemen into this tilting ground at a sharp gallop, and let them practise for the mÊlÉe for a minute or so.

The French cavalry lay great stress on these pointing exercises; they do not expect to turn out many real swordsmen in a squadron, but they want every man to be able to ride his horse at an enemy, and run him through.

(E and F) Mens sana in corpore sano

In addition to the four headings mentioned above, there is the preparation requisite to meet the hundred-and-one eventualities of detached work and miscellaneous duties.

Whilst it is quite impossible to foresee or delimitate these, there are a number of exercises and sports which tend to make a young man (and keep an old man) not only supple in his body and sound in wind and limb, but also alert in mind: to put it shortly, they make him more “handy,” more able when left to himself or with a few others to carry out his duty; they give him more confidence in himself; they make the town-bred man approximate more to the pioneer. The ordinary lad of eighteen brought up in a town knows nothing of the country in which his soldiering and scouting will be done, and is not able to do a great many things which a country-bred lad has learnt as a matter of course. On the other hand, the town-bred lad is undoubtedly quicker at picking up and assimilating knowledge. Both have their good qualities, and both can be made into excellent cavalry soldiers by training in the particular points in which they are by breeding deficient.105

Let us now glance at the sports which tend to make men handy and useful.

Every cavalryman should learn to swim, since, unless he can do so, he may either not attempt to cross a swollen river, or he may get drowned in doing so. Not only this, but he should be able to make his horse cross a deep and rapid river whether he can swim or not himself. Some of us still remember the disaster to a cavalry regiment when crossing a river on the frontier.

Many sports and exercises—to be able to swim, to row a boat, and so on—are not essentials in the training of a cavalryman, but they are very desirable; and when an opportunity of practising them occurs, every commanding officer should make his men take advantage of it.

Again, in the Manual of Military Engineering there is a great deal which may be said to be more suited to pioneers, and a knowledge of which cannot be expected from every cavalry soldier. Knotting and lashing, construction of rafts, scientific demolitions of railways and telegraph lines come under this heading. A certain number of men in each squadron are detailed to act as pioneers, but since in most cavalry operations there is a very good chance of these not being available at the critical moment, it is well that every man should be brought up to a good standard of knowledge in all forms of pioneering, rough field fortifications, and in tapping a wire, blowing up a culvert, etc., etc.

Another point over which too much time must not be spent, but which is for the benefit of the soldier, especially in his first few trying days of active service, is a slight knowledge of cooking, and especially how to make use of flour; otherwise you may find the men throwing away the flour because they do not know how to cook it. The poorer classes in Great Britain nowadays nearly all buy bread instead of making it from flour once a week, on baking day, as in the old days.

It will obviously be for the good of a regiment or brigade of cavalry that it should leave its barracks for a month in the summer, and go for choice to some seaside place where there is an estuary, and practise exhaustively the various non-essential items of instruction indicated above. Such a change of scene is immensely appreciated by the men, who get very tired of barrack routine, and it gives the officers opportunities for instruction which they do not usually possess in barracks.

New ground is worked over, practice in camping duties and expedients takes place, and, last of all, there is time and opportunity to carry out thoroughly and practically the instruction; there is time for the men, because they are freed from many duties which are necessary in barracks, and for the officers, because they have the whole day before them, and do not go on leave. If a whole cavalry brigade has gone to such a camp of instruction, the element of competition may be introduced in many ways, which will help to stir the most sluggish. The desire of the distinction of being the best swimming squadron in the brigade will make his comrades hurry up many a slow, inert lout, who could do better if he tried, and this will, indirectly, cause him to have more confidence later in himself.

Again, if two rival squadrons are marched down to a river, and find, a hundred yards apart, for each squadron a similar amount of rafting and bridging material, and instructions are given to them to prepare means for a small column to cross the river, the interest excited by the competition will be considerable. In a case like this marks may be given for (1) the most thorough arrangements for the crossing, including orders by the commanding officer; (2) the best and most workmanlike construction of boats, rafts, etc.; (3) the speed in carrying out the work; (4) silence; (5) tidiness, such as, for instance, all arms, extra clothing, etc., being placed in an orderly manner, so that they can be resumed, if necessary, after dark, or at a moment’s notice.

In the sands, usually to be found at any seaside place, good practice can be gained in digging hasty field fortifications without the labour involved in doing so in the stiffer soils.

In the late South African War one might sum up the situation in a few words: our regular soldiers had need to be more like colonials, and our colonials more like regular soldiers. Some of our soldiers lost their way a mile from camp; our colonials never did this, but their views of military discipline were curiously lax. Our soldiers were the victims of routine, and it cost them their lives often enough; our colonials could hardly be trusted to lay sufficient stress on an order to carry it out, but they were never at a loss for an expedient. Both looked after their own interests at the expense of the enemy, or even their own side.106 Both were very brave; both fought and scouted cunningly; but it came first and naturally to the colonial, who gave his enemy credit for slimness, and had a more cultivated imagination and better appreciation of the value of ground. In rearguards both “stuck it out,” if anything, too long, rather than give the enemy an idea that they could be hustled.

It is suggested that instruction should never stop short of the actual and practical. Few educated people are able to understand how very little words convey to the ordinary untrained intelligence, and for how short a time, even if understood, theory is retained in the mind.107

Anything which is worth learning must be learnt as a well-known amateur billiard player and game shot taught himself. In billiards he first placed the balls again and again till he could make the difficult cannon; he then went on till he could make it twenty times running. Similarly, in regard to a difficult kind of shot, he went to a shooting school and had clay pigeons shot out in a particular way; at length having hit, he went on till he practically could not miss.

Theory

The theoretical instruction given by our officers to the men in lectures benefits, we verily believe, the former quite as much as the latter. It benefits the officer, in the first place, because it compels him, if he is anxious to do his work well, to look up his subject thoroughly beforehand; and in the second place, because it accustoms him to speak in public more readily; and this may be of value not only to him but to the army and nation later. But his instruction should not be devoted entirely to professional subjects. It is a part of his duty to attend to the education of his subordinates in the subject of moral, and to develop by every means in his power their sentiments of bravery, straightforwardness, confidence in their leaders, and devotion to duty and patriotism. Without these as a foundation there are few who will adhere to the requirements of that discipline, without which, in the absence of religious fanaticism,108 no difficult task in war will be carried through. There are sound grounds for saying that “if we examine the condition of the people we shall find that moral deteriorates in inverse proportion to advance in education.”109 Officers who have to deal with such conditions must not only know how to teach thoroughly, minutely, and convincingly, but must also study all branches of their profession in such a way that by their intellectual ability they may earnestly and loyally interpret the true spirit that should animate a soldier.

In all the professions, trades, and handicrafts nowadays, with increased facilities for reading and book-learning, theory is overriding practice, apprenticeship is shortened or even dispensed with, the boy of to-day has read about and thinks he understands what the man of yesterday has been through and is still pondering over; and it is chiefly because we see so much weight being laid on theory, to the detriment of practice in the profession of arms, that we register this protest.

That we cavalry have learnt that parrot-like instruction cannot replace demonstration is evidenced by our Method of Instruction in Riding in Cavalry; in it we find first “that the instructor, after describing fully and clearly what he requires, should illustrate it,” and later, “these instructions carefully illustrated by the instructor and understood by the recruit,” etc., etc. At present in most cavalry regiments each squadron has a sand table, on which models of country are made, and map-reading is taught in a most practical manner.

The more the officers see of the men the better, and the horse gives an invaluable mutual ground of interest. We read in The Truth about Port Arthur:

The battle for these hills was severe, and the coolness of our men was remarkable. If any of them ran away, or if any panic set in, it was the fault of the officers, for any officer whom the men respect and love in peace-time can rely on their steadiness in war.

How many Russian officers know and care for their men? For some reason or other they rarely mix with or among them, and know nothing of them or their habits, and bitter are the fruits they reap in war.

This is plain speaking, but it is in accordance with the dictates of common-sense that the superior and inferior must become of one mind in order to carry out their duties adequately.

By whatever means it may be done, it is the duty of every officer to check cynicism and grumbling amongst his subordinates, and to develop a high moral. It has been said that it is the “soldier’s privilege to grumble.” This is an absolutely wrong view; it is, instead, his glory not to grumble, but to face every kind of danger and trouble unflinchingly, and to make the best of it. Small worries overcome prepare the mind for facing great emergencies.110

With such a feeling throughout a regiment, what may it not do? Every man becomes a hero and a leader. The conduct of 500 heroes may temper the mind of an army.