The problems with being in square were fivefold. First, squares made great artillery targets. Second, squares made great targets for infantry fire. Third, squares were practically immobile, making it difficult to get to safety when under fire. Fourth, at least half the soldiers in a square were facing in the wrong direction to fire, so its firepower was reduced. The final problem was getting infantry out of square. If infantry was fatigued or disorded, the likelihood is that they would not readily come out of square. While the British infantry is famous for its squares at Waterloo, it is less noted that once those squares were formed and suffering horrific casualties under the fire of the few French guns which managed to get to the top of the ridge, many regiments were so disordered as to be unable to change formation.
The Cavalry: The second arm was the cavalry. By the French Revolution, cavalry was divided into heavy, line, and light categories.
Heavy cavalry was sometimes, and more descriptively, referred to as ''battle cavalry''. Regardless of their classification or their name, on the battlefield all cavalry had a shock function. It was used to drive enemy cavalry from the field, to harass enemy infantry and artillery to protect friendly infantry and artillery from enemy cavalry, and to ride down disordered enemy infantry. While all cavalry could be used
as battle cavalry, some cavalry regiments were more capable of this function on the battlefield than others.
On a battlefield, the primary weapon of the cavalry was the sword (or the lance, for lancers). The secondary weapons were their pistols or other firearms. While most cavalry regiments were armed with carbines, they were primarily used for skirmishing, scouting, and detached actions. The size of cavalry formations were more often than not less important that their order and freshness on the battlefield.
Cavalry was normally deployed in brigades approximately half the size of infantry brigades. The eternal problem for cavalry was to maintain its order and cohesiveness while destroying the enemy's. Because of the nature of horses, cavalry was a very brittle instrument, subject to quickly becoming fatigued, and therefore of little use if not tightly controlled.
Light cavalry, the hussars, chasseurs a cheval, cheveau-legers, light dragoons, etc., besides having a secondary battle function, was also used to scout for and screen an army. Due to the nature of its mission, light cavalry was normally composed of smaller men mounted on smaller and lighter horses which were capable of being ridden long and hard. The size of the light cavalry horses and their hard use in scouting and screening actions often made them less effective on the day of the battle than those of the heavy and guard cavalry. Also, as a rule, light cavalry carried a curved saber with a honed edge made for slashing.
|
Such a weapon was more effective in open order skirmishing than in the standup cavalry fights characteristic of battlefield actions.
The heavy cavalry, cuirassiers, carabiniers, heavy dragoons, etc., were big men on large horses capable of defeating enemy cavalry and riding down enemy infantry. Indeed, at times during the era, they were everything stated and more. They carried a straight sword made for stabbing rather than slashing, which enabled them to kill rather than wound their opponents. A heavy cavalry charge delivered against surprised or shaken infantry was capable of annihilating it in the blink of an eye. The heavies were capable of driving the enemy cavalry from the field, and severely hindering the movement of the enemy infantry and artillery. Due to the size and slowness of their horses, the heavies were ill-suited for scouting and screening. Because of their prime battlefield role, heavy cavalry horses were often fresher on the day of the battle than those of the light cavalry. The problem for the heavy cavalry arm was remounts. The large horses needed to carry the armored men were never plentiful. During the game's period, the quality of heavy
cavalry often ebbed and flowed depending on the availability of horses. Guard cavalry, heavy or light, was also normally not used for scouting, and was better trained and mounted, and usually fresher than other cavalry. Most guard cavalry can be considered to be battle cavalry.
The line cavalry consisted of dragoons in most countries. Dragoons usually carried a straight, heavy cavalry sword indicating a battle role, while also being armed with a dragoon musket indicating a scouting and screening role. In the event, they were called to serve in both roles. In the French and Russian Armies dragoons were normally at the end of the line for recieving remounts. Lancers were cavalry mounted on light horses capable, because of their lances, of sometimes standing up against heavy cavalry on the battlefield. A very few units in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies carried the lance throughout the period. The French army did not adopt the lance until after 1809. British cavalry did not adopt the lance until after the Napoleonic Wars. Lancers, like dragoons, were often used as battle cavalry as well as light cavalry. Initially, all troopers in lancer regiments carried lances, but very soon the lance was confined to only the front ranks of squadrons, the second ranks using their sabers.
Although we realize that it is close to a high sacrilege to some players, I chose to eliminate the line cavalry category from this game. Line cavalry is, for most countries, considered as light cavalry for all intenty aand purpose (ie., battlefield) purposes. Horses on campaign lose weight rapidly with hard use, and line cavalry's scouting and screening assignments meant that line cavalry regiments wore out their horses much faster than heavy cavalry regiments. A heavy cavalry unit would not only have a higher
percentage of trained horses available on a battlefield, but the total weight of rider, equipment and horse would average over 300 pounds more than that of a line dragoon (more than 400 pounds more than a typical light cavalryman).
|
