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scope for its activity, and (b) in performing duties for which mounted troops, but not necessarily troops that can fight mounted, are required. In these two roles mounted infantry is obviously a substitute for cavalry. As cavalry is both a most expensive See also:

ARM (a common Teutonic word; the Indo-European root is ar, to join or fit; cf. the Lat. armus, shoulder, and the plural word arma, weapons, Gr. apphs, joint, and the reduplicated apapilKSV, to join)

arm and one which cannot be improvised, there is an ever-recurring tendency in all armies to consider it as being more ornamental than useful, and in See also:

con-sequence to substitute mounted infantry under one name or another (the See also:

ORIGINAL

original dragoons for example were mounted infantry) for " See also:

SHOCK, or COLLAPSE

shock See also:

ACTION

action " cavalry. In See also:

RECENT

recent times, owing to the development of the See also:

long-ranging See also:

MAGAZINE

magazine See also:

RIFLE

rifle, this tendency has been intensified to such a degree that See also:

Russia, for example, converted the whole of her cavalry into dragoons—the See also:

TERM

term being used in its old sense—and trained it to See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act dismounted in large bodies. It is however significant of the failure of this wholesale See also:

CONVERSION (Lat. conversio, from convertere, to turn or ,change)

conversion that after the Russo-See also:

JAPANESE

Japanese See also:

War the regiments that were formerly hussars and lancers were reorganized as such and ceased to be styled and trained as dragoons. It is difficult, but at the same See also:

time important, to differentiate between dragoons or " mounted rifles," as they are often called to-See also:

day, and mounted infantry in a narrower sense of the word. Mounted rifles are See also:

HALF

half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially See also:

MOBILE

mobile infantry. The See also:

AMERICAN

American cavalry in the See also:

CIVIL

Civil War, the Boers in the See also:

South See also:

AFRICAN

African War, the Russians in the Manchurian See also:

CAMPAIGN

campaign,. were mounted rifles, and the question of their advantages and disadvantages, as compared with what is generally called "See also:

REGULAR

regular" cavalry, is purely a cavalry one. The See also:

main question as regards mounted infantry is whether its existence as a special arm is justified by the See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind and degree of assistance which it is peculiarly qualified to give to the other arms in war. If this be answered in the affirmative for a particular See also:

army, then that army, having raised mounted infantry, may require of it such additional services as it would be more or less uneconomical to assign to regular cavalry.

Mounted infantry in this See also:

case may and in fact does assume the role of mounted rifles; for example, in the See also:

BRITISH

British regular army the duties of divisional mounted troops are performed by mounted infantry, while in the territorial army the same duties are performed by See also:

YEOMANRY

yeomanry mounted rifles. In the British mounted infantry, which is the only force in any army specially trained as such,l the course of instruction lasts four months and is based on the See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption that See also:

OFFICERS

officers and men under instruction are already fully trained as infantry (M.I. Training, 1909). All words of command, See also:

BUGLE

bugle sounds, formations, &c., are similar to those used in the infantry, and as a See also:

RULE

rule spurs are forbidden. The mounted infantry See also:

HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as hors, hros, ros; cf. the Ger. ross)

horse is a handy See also:

cob (14.2 to 15). The organization adopted is by battalions and companies, each See also:

COMPANY

company having 6 officers and 1 53 men, and the See also:

BATTALION

battalion consisting of three such companies and a See also:

machine-See also:

gun See also:

section. Mounted infantry battalions and companies do not exist in See also:

peace, but are formed on mobilization from the qualified men available who can be spared from the infantry. Since many more men are trained than would be required for the 24 or 26 companies forming See also:

PART

part of the expeditionary force, the arm is capable of considerable expansion, while the men first selected for the service are in every way picked men. As already mentioned its duties are (a) with respect to the cavalry, first to assist and secondly to supplement or replace it—by the judicious use of the rifle, and (b) with respect to the infantry to relieve the unmounted See also:

man as far as possible of reconnoitring and orderly duties, and above all of the See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of hurried and exhausting movements to seize points of support. Cyclists.—The application of the See also:

BICYCLE (from prefix bi = twice, and Gr. KuKXOr, a circle, wheel)

bicycle to military purposes was first suggested in Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain, and military See also:

CYCLING

cycling became the special and almost exclusive See also:

PROPERTY

property of the volunteer force, in which, when cycling became universally popular and the See also:

MACHINES

machines cheap, practically all battalions had sections and most of them companies of cyclists. In those days, however, the want of a See also:

COMMON

common organization separated the yeomanry from the See also:

VOLUNTEERS

volunteers, and the latter, possessing no mounted troops of its own, employed its numerous cyclists in reconnoitring, protective and orderly See also:

WORK

work indifferently. See also:

Pro-visional battalions were frequently formed, and in spite of their heterogeneous See also:

composition and inadequate See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff they proved capable of manoeuvring as See also:

units.

Movements in See also:

BRIGADE (Fr. and Ger. brigade, Ital. brigata, Span. brigada; the English use of the word dates from the early 17th century)

brigade were practised at See also:

ALDERSHOT

Aldershot in 19or, the brigade composed of 3 battalions of about 65o rifles each, See also:

DRAWN

drawn from some See also:

FORTY

forty volunteer infantry units under training at the time, being trained in combined movements by parallel roads and See also:

NIGHT

night marching, as well as in See also:

field operations. When the See also:

FUSION

fusion of the yeomanry and volunteers in the territorial force (1907—1908) released cyclists from the duties of mounted troops which had hitherto been imposed on them, the cyclist companies in the infantry battalions were disbanded, and their place taken by ro cyclist battalions specially trained for protective work in large See also:

TACTICAL

tactical bodies. The regular army, which is generally employed in almost roadless countries, only maintains a few cyclists for orderly work. Amongst the regular armies that of See also:

France was certainly ' The infantry " mounted scouts " of the See also:

RUSSIAN

Russian and See also:

French armies are simply auxiliaries and have no existence apart from their regiments.the See also:

PIONEER

pioneer in the See also:

MATTER

matter of cycling. Infantry support for cavalry is a fundamental principle of the French See also:

DOCTRINE

doctrine of See also:

TACTICS (Gr. TaeTOc*, sc. TEXvnI, from TavQecv, to arrange in order of battle)

tactics, and this infantry support in so well-roaded a See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country as France naturally takes the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of strong cyclist See also:

groups. The French military cyclists are equipped with a folding bicycle, which allows of See also:

CROSS

cross-country See also:

MOVEMENT

movement being undertaken without leaving the bicycles unguarded. In See also:

Germany very few military cyclists are maintained—one small section in each infantry or cavalry See also:

REGIMENT (from Late Latin regimentum, rule, regere, to rule, govern, direct)

regiment. The field service regulations permit the grouping of these sections for See also:

UNITED

united action as a company, but only under special circumstances. In See also:

Italy, however, whole battalions of the fast-moving See also:

LIGHT

light troops, Bersaglieri, have been within recent years provided with the See also:

cycle. Cyclists are mounted infantry in the strictest possible sense of the phrase. They possess over all horsemen the incalculable advantages of being able to make longer See also:

MARCHES, THE (It. Le Marche)

marches; for they can See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover 8o or 90 M. a day for several days; 2 of exemption from See also:

FORAGE

forage anxieties; of freedom from the necessity in action of leaving one-third or one-See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter of the men to hold the horses; and of actual See also:

SPEED, JOHN (1552–1629)

speed, an See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary cyclist being able to move faster along a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good road than a staff officer mounted on a thoroughbred. On the other See also:

hand cyclist troops can never be as See also:

FREE

free to move across country as horsemen; a cyclist See also:

COLUMN (Lat. columna)

column, owing to its speed and great length in proportion to its See also:

numbers, is peculiarly liable to surprise; and the See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of the roads or a strong See also:

head See also:

wind materially reduces its See also:

RATE

rate of marching.

End of Article: MOUNTED INFANTRY

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