Division cavalry

As Division Cavalry in was World War I that the infantry - divisions assigned to squadrons of cavalry - regiments of the German army and the ground forces of Austria-Hungary called.

First World War

German Empire

When the divisions were mobilized in 1914, the divisions were abandoned and some of the cavalry regiments were assigned to new large units.

The duties of the division cavalry were

• Tactical reconnaissance in front of the division,
• Reconnaissance and security patrols with the infantry regiments,
• Provision of alarm riders, partly with relay stations, for connection
  • between the division and its infantry regiments
  • between and within the infantry regiments.

As a rule, the regiment was not deployed as a single unit, but by squadrons - or in platoons , one platoon was at the division's headquarters .

These objects of the Division cavalry before the transition to trench warfare are - even if the time heroisierend accordingly - clearly illustrated in the following report:

“The 20th Uhlans as division cavalry

... and so it was quite extensive reconnaissance missions that were given to the regiment. We were brilliantly prepared for this through careful training in peace. ... At the beginning of the war we were not at a loss for patrol leaders; In every squadron there was still an abundance of officers and non-commissioned officers who had been waiting for years to see what they had practiced on the map in winter, field service in summer, and autumn exercises, to be tried out in front of the enemy.

... The picture of the situation ... was also formed from what went directly or indirectly to our regimental commander from the division's Uhlans via the vanguard, the leader of the side guard. That was the result of the smaller patrols, which, unlike the large ones, were sent out with a task that left a lot of leeway and granted a great deal of independence, but rather to answer a very specific question, to a very specific section, often to be pointed in the terrain had to explore. They, too, have often been fortunate enough to quickly recognize what is happening at the enemy, to quickly put it on paper or put it into words, and to convey it quickly to all relevant positions, the battalion commander, the artillery commander, one's own regiment, the division the latter to contribute to tactical successes; and their well-earned fame of being irresistible and insurmountable is based partly on the boldness and training of the patrol leaders and the messenger riders of the Uhlan regiment.
So we were - mind you, as long as the war of movement lasted - well-liked in the whole division; Down to the small infantry post, riders were required to report riders, even beyond their capabilities

... But the Uhlan Regiment was not only the organ for the reconnaissance in the division, not just a collecting tank for the provision of a platoon to their headquarters and of messengers and security patrols to brigades, regiments and battalions, it also had a certain combat power over each of them in the divisional order whether it was now to announce an advance, an attack or a pursuit. Around mid-morning the attack had to be accompanied by leaps and bounds on one flank, in conjunction with the neighboring division, to close a gap that had developed; At noon we went in a large arc to the other wing to cover the artillery, towards evening we moved to the center at the disposal of the division, the next morning we were with the advance guard. Liaison departments, standing patrols, security posts, patrols to explore the path and terrain, the patrol in front of the top, postings to direct report riders - all several times a day - were to be dispatched, as well as ongoing reconnaissance, the goals of which changed with the situation and from there During the day never below 2, but up to 5 waves emanated from us. So it was no wonder that usually in the evening when it was said “who was not out right out” only a few would pull out their tired steeds with the prospect of a night patrol.
... If you double the number of kilometers by which the division had advanced, then you will probably have the least amount of march the regiment has ever made, and with three times that you will probably hit the performance of most deployments. "

Even in trench warfare officers of the division cavalry were preferred for important explorations.

When the infantry divisions were reorganized from 1916 onwards, only one squadron of cavalry was subordinated to the infantry divisions. The staffs of the cavalry regiments, which were no longer required, were used to lead infantry regiments or for special tasks (example here ).

Austria-Hungary

In the First World War, the cavalry regiments were the land forces of Austria-Hungary in part squadrons method of payment to the infantry troops divisions split, corps and army staffs as so-called Division Cavalry. There they provided services, comparable to the German army, as reconnaissance and reporting riders, as well as security detachments. Most of the regiments soon had to surrender their horses (if they still had any) and were then used by infantry.

Second World War

The term division cavalry no longer existed in the Wehrmacht . After the dissolution of most of the cavalry divisions in 1936, some of the existing cavalry regiments remained intended for use by the infantry divisions. During the mobilization in 1939, they provided the reconnaissance departments of the divisions of the 1st and 2nd wave .

References

See also

• Army cavalry
• Uhlan regiment "King Wilhelm I." (2nd Württembergisches) No. 20 from 1916
• 18th Cavalry Regiment

literature

• Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in the World War 1914–1918. Military publisher Karl Siegismund, Berlin 1937.
• Otto von Moser : The Wuerttembergians in the World War. A history, memory and folk book. Publishing bookstore Chr.Belser AG, Stuttgart 1927.
• Klaus Christian Richter: The History of the German Cavalry 1919–1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-603-7 .
• Klaus Christian Richter: Weapons and Equipment of the German Cavalry 1935–1945. Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim-Berstadt 1994, ISBN 3-7909-0499-6 ( Waffen-Arsenal. Special issue 33).
• Alfred Satter: The German cavalry in the First World War. Textbook on modern history. Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-8334-1564-9 , online .
• Georg Schreiber : The emperor's cavalry. Austrian cavalry in 4 centuries. With a foreword by Alois Podhajsky. Speidel, Vienna 1967.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto von Moser, Die Württemberger in the World War, page 216f