done, and materials for the
destruction of railways, folding pontoons, and a field telegraph, now
form part of our equipment. The opportunities for the use of the
latter in the course of rapid movements--_i.e._, just in the most
important sphere of our activities--seem to me highly problematical,
as I have already pointed out; and the waggons which transport the
bridging equipment are too heavy to be always at hand when most
needed. Essentially, it seems only fitted to facilitate the progress
of smaller bodies of troops, and would hardly suffice to secure rapid
and safe passage of Cavalry Masses with all their attendant trains
over the rivers for which we ought to be prepared. For such purposes
they would only suffice if all the boats of a whole Division were
united into one bridging train.

Nevertheless, the collapsible boats are a most useful concession, and
they would be still more so if the load was more suitably subdivided;
as it is, the weight of the whole waggon ties us too much to the made
roads. For the Divisional Cavalry, which always moves in close
connection with the Infantry, and in need can always fall back upon
the Divisional Bridge Train, it has no particular value, and it would
therefore be better if, in War-time, all the collapsible boat
equipment were handed over to the independent Cavalry Divisions, and
their bridging equipment thus augmented.

More important, however, than this collapsible boat question is the
matter of the pioneer detachments to be assigned to the Cavalry
Divisions which require further equipment. A waggon of bridging
material just sufficient to cross smaller ditches and watercourses,
which can neither be jumped nor scrambled over, but which require only
one, or at most two, bays, would be invaluable, for it is just these
little hindrances, whose importance cannot be measured or deduced from
the map, which may bring most important Cavalry undertakings
unexpectedly to a check, particularly when in an enemy's country all
the culverts, etc., have been destroyed. In the days of Frederick the
Great such bridging equipment was often assigned to the Cavalry
marching at the head of the Columns, in order to help them over
similar obstacles.

Given, however, that all has been done to attain the degree of
collective mobility we require, a point of equal importance is that
the troops should be adequately provided with all they require for
their tactical action. In this respect, it cannot b