NOT OUTMODED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 140, 29 March 1940, Page 7

NOT OUTMODED

USEFULNESS OF HORSE STILL APPARENT IN WARFARE a The cavalry, pronounced outmoded during the trench lighting of the World War, is doing its share of the work on the new Western Front. Men on horseback have taken over scouting patrols in the no-mail sland between the Maginot and Siegfried Lines -and have proved faster and more efficient than men on foot. "The cavalry never will be abandoned," said a general commanding one of the French mounted visisions. "Wars always begin and end with breaches in the lines, and horses can fill them better than men. This general's division saw 15 days of action this fall on the northern flank of the front in the Moselle Valley around Sierclc and Perl, keep ing contact with the enemy. Patrols of six men each, carrying automatic rifles, instead of the formerly traditional sabres, and wearing khaki uniforms instead of the brilliant reds and blues of former days, rode ahead of the inlantry and artillery. Their mission was to see that the fields and woods in ifront of the French lines were free, and when they met the enemy to fall back and report to a command post. Officers said their losses were lelss than would have been suffered by infantry patrols and their reports were faster. They had the added advantage, he said,! of being able to go forward alone, whereas infantry has to cover its flanks. Most of the French cavalry divisions have been half mechanised and several are completely mechanised. Officers said that in ease of sudjden shifts,, horsemen cutting across country and "avoiding traffic jams would be able to keep pace with drivers of tanks and armoured ears.