For a list send a SSAE to 98 Priory Road, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 2BP. Cavalry Studies from Two Great Wars by Wagner A three volume reprint of Captain Wagner's collection published just over 100 years ago. The good captain served at the US Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth (he ran the Massacre Innocent Squaws and Papooses programme) and wanted to compare the European experience to allow him to conclude (tadah!) that America Must Be Best (Chorus: "Oh say can you see...."). Sadly the publishing date denied him the greatest support for this view, the Boer War, where the British Cavalry (seldom the most innovative of forces) was obliged to become good mounted infantry. Something our militia cousins had spotted forty years before. But the Captain's huffing lasts but a few pages. The first piece is by Bonie dwelling on French cavalry actions in the Imperial stage of the 1870 campaign. Bonie deems the Germans to have been brilliantly handled as screening cavalry, a view which some German commanders might not share. He also believes the operational and tactical handling of the French cavalry was highly defective (something with which one might agree). He illustrates this on a number of occasions. In each case the bravery is magnificent but horrifying. In his view even the "stop the infantry" charges had no practical effect. Off then to Davis who writes about the operational handling of cavalry in the Gettysburg campaign. A map is advisable to appreciate his views and a little more on the tactical side would have helped. Finally, Major Kaehler covers German cavalry actions at Mars-le-Tour, providing a useful summary of the actions, losses and numbers plus after-actions from a number of participants. Excellent summary of the tactical position of cavalry. More Book Corner: Hot Blood & Cold Steel The Rules of the Game Philip II Importing the European Army War and Society in early Modern Europe 1495-1715 First Punic War Warfare in the Latin East 1192-1291 Spanish Naval Power 1589 to 1665 The Anatomy of Glory The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading The Kaiser Time to Kill First World War The Military Revolution Debate Pallas Armata titles Back to Perfidious Albion #95 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com