For some reason I had in my head that so many horses got rekt because we didn't realise they would be so ineffective against the new technology, so we had prepared to use fucking loads of them and they ended up being useless when the Germans rocked up with machine guns.
(11-11-2017, 11:39 PM)Morph Wrote: For some reason I had in my head that so many horses got rekt because we didn't realise they would be so ineffective against the new technology, so we had prepared to use fucking loads of them and they ended up being useless when the Germans rocked up with machine guns.
The only reason that this wasn't the main cause of death for horses was because everyone realised early into the war - as soon as the trench networks were built, basically - that cavalry charges were suicide/pointless and they stopped them, for all intents and purposes. Pretty sure the Russians continued with cavalry charges right up til their withdrawal from the war, but their national pastime is casual disregard for life so I'm not sure how much that counts
(11-12-2017, 06:48 AM)Bobby Beg-B Wrote: The only reason that this wasn't the main cause of death for horses was because everyone realised early into the war - as soon as the trench networks were built, basically - that cavalry charges were suicide/pointless and they stopped them, for all intents and purposes. Pretty sure the Russians continued with cavalry charges right up til their withdrawal from the war, but their national pastime is casual disregard for life so I'm not sure how much that counts
The vast majority of horses were used to lug artillery around, in fact the German army in WW2 still relied heavily on horsepower (there were more horses used than trucks in Barbarossa).
Cavalry acted as a mobile reserve on the Western Front, they could ride to troubled spots and fight dismounted though this seldom happened. I do remember reading about a chance of a breakthrough in 1915 and Haig wanted the cavalry to exploit the breach but the commander refused as it would have been suicide. They were used more actively when the war opened up again in the summer of 1918 but didn't feature much overall.