Page:Tactics (Balck 1915).djvu/54

 for mounted infantry is neither flesh, fish, nor fowl and cannot endure.

The British Drill Regulations (1904) for mounted infantry lay down the following principles for its employment:

In the practical employment of mounted infantry, sight must not be lost of the fact that this arm is drilled and trained as infantry. On account of its greater mobility, it should be able to cover greater distances, and, in addition, be capable of executing wider turning movements than infantry. As a rule, mounted infantry is to be used in the following cases:

(a) It is to perform the service of security in the immediate front of infantry divisions in conjunction with cavalry and the horse batteries assigned to the latter, in addition to augmenting the fire of the cavalry. It is further to occupy, as expeditiously as possible, tactically important positions. It is to find positions from which it can bring fire, preferably flanking fire, to bear on the flanks of hostile cavalry before the actual combat begins. It is to improve every success gained and constitute a formed nucleus in case of a retreat. Moreover, mounted infantry should enable the cavalry divisions, far in advance of the army, to devote themselves exclusively to the strategical reconnaissance with which they are charged.

(b) In addition, the mounted infantry is to constitute a light mobile reserve which the commander-in-chief can despatch at a moment's notice from one wing to the other for the purpose of lending assistance, or for influencing the action at particular points and for which other troops are not available on account of the extraordinary extension of modern lines of battle.

(c) Finally, mounted infantry is to fill the role of a mobile column in minor warfare or in expeditions in colonial wars, and in performing this duty assume the functions of the absent cavalry in the service of reconnaissance and patrolling.

The following is the organization and strength of mounted infantry organizations:

In war every infantry battalion is to furnish one company of mounted infantry, consisting of 5 officers, 138 men, and 144 horses; and every brigade (4 battalions) one battalion of four companies. To each battalion of mounted infantry is assigned: one machine gun platoon, consisting of two guns and two ammunition carts (2 officers, 40 men, and 54 horses). Hence the aggregate strength of a battalion of mounted infantry is: 28 officers, 630 men, and 676 horses.

The creation of mounted infantry is only proper where climatic conditions make long marches by European troops impossible, or in cases where the arrival of a few soldiers at distant points will exert a potent influence on the actions of