te security. Hence every means must be exhausted
down to the smallest detail. It will not be necessary to assign minor
flanking detachments for the duration of a whole march. During such a
period it is practically impossible to retain their relation to the
main body without keeping them within sight, which in most cases is
quite impracticable, for circumstances may suddenly check the main
body, or necessitate a change of direction. To advise the flanking
detachments of such occurrences will generally be impossible, or at
any rate very difficult, if one has permanently detached them, and
therefore has no certainty of finding them at any particular point.
Hence it is advisable to work them always in sections--that is to say,
when they have reached certain points to withdraw them to the main
body, and send out reliefs for the next section.
But in order that the security should never for one instant be
relaxed, these fresh reliefs should always be sent out at some little
distance before the point at which the former detachment is to be
drawn in.
Almost more important than security at night is security during
prolonged periods of rest. In that case the arrangements must be made
not only in accordance with tactical requirements, but the fact must
be taken into account that horses, in order to remain permanently
useful, require quite a different nature of rest than is needed by
men.
It is most desirable that as many horses as possible should every day
be brought under shelter and unsaddled, and all bivouacking should be
avoided as far as practicable.
The readiness for action from a purely tactical point of view
certainly suffers, but as rest at night is an absolute necessity for
the horses, one has to make the best of the matter and minimize this
disadvantage as much as possible by suitable arrangements.
Against this view it is often urged that Cavalry used to bivouac much
more frequently in former wars, and nevertheless remained fit for
service, hence they ought to be able to do the same to-day. I consider
this an entirely wrong deduction. In the first place, the demands upon
the troops in former days were generally much less than at present.
The periods of crisis in which great exertions had to be made by them
were on the whole less frequent, and the subsequent intervals for rest
and recuperation were usually longer.
Considering the average marches of the Napoleonic Cavalry as a whole,
they cannot be considered
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