paae two cjajc.~o sand.y tribade a modern charge of...

Paae Two CJajc.~o Sand.y TribaDe

A Modern Charge of the Light Brigade""

British Cavalry's FearlessRide to Halt Germans

By GUY MURCHIE JR.rapid and decisive results thancan be gained by even the mostskilful use of the rifle. Cavalrymust be prepared, therefore, touse either the sword or the rifle,or the two in combination."That was the sort of training

behind the 2d brigade of Britishcavalry as it crossed the Englishchannel on Aug. 16, 1914, withits horses and set out from theport of Boulogne marching east-ward to war. We are referringespecially to the 9th lancers andthe 4th dragoon guards, whichunits of the 2d brigade took partin the charge a week later. Themen's morale was high despitethe grim prospects before them.Two days before Lieut. Col. D.G. M. Campbell' had held a dts-

mounted parade andspoken to all ranks, re-calling the many he-roic deeds in the regi-mental history of the9th lancers, and con-cluding with: ••Youare going forth to thewar with the greatesttraditions to uphold."The talk had stirredthe regiment to its

General AUenby soul, and the generalfeeling was well ex-

pressed by one officer who proud-ly declared that ••A more mag-niflcent regiment never movedout of barracks for war."

THIS IS the story of a Brit-. ish cavalry charge. It

happened at the border ofFrance and Belgium in 1914. Itwas a charge that will neverbe as widely known as the famed••Charge of the Light Brigade"in the Crimea, but it was verysimilar except that it was nota blunder, nor did it fall to fulflllits purpose.Cavalry, at the start of the

World war, was still considereda vital branch of the militaryservice, although there w eresome authorities who arguedthat the machine gun wouldmake the cavalry horse obsolete.The Brttish used three differentmethods of cavalry attack. Thefirst was a mounted lance orsaber charge, in whicha massed formationwas employed, the cav-alrymen relying on thepsychological effect ofthundering horses toovercome the rifie fireof the enemy. Someregiments use d thelance, which had theadvantage of lengthwhen actual contactwas made with theenemy. Some used thesaber or sword, which had theadvantage of cutting edges andgreater flexibility in hand-to-hand fighting.The second method of attack

was a mounted pistol charge, inwhich the men controled theirhorses with one hand and theirpistols with the other.The third was a dismounted

attack with rifies. In this casethe horses were left in somesheltered spot with certain mendetailed to remain with them,while the res t charged theenemy on foot.Immediately before the World

war the question most widelydiscussed by cavalry strategistswas whether or not the swordwould prove to be a more effec-tive weapon than the rifie in thehands of mounted troops. Or,to put it in another way, whetheror not the mounted charge wasmore eft'ective than the dis-mounted charge. A compromisebetween the two was in factadopted. In the last edition(1912) of ••Cavalry Training,"Issued by the British army be-fore the World war, it wasstated: .••Situations may occur when

the rifie can be used with great-er eft'ect than the sword or lance;but a bold leader will find rre-quent opportunities for mountedattack which will produce more

• • •After seven days of unevent-

ful marching the 2d brigadefound itself on the morning ofAug. 23 in a damp hayfield atthe border of France and Bel-gium not far from Mons. Themen knew little of the ominousmilitary situation of the mo-ment. They were not awarethat in the three weeks the warhad lasted so far the Germanshad swept irresistibly across Bel-gium and at the pace they wereadvancing would be in Paris inanother two weeks. They didnot realize how desperate a re-treat the French army was mak-ing in the path of the powerfulbut precise German military ma-chine, nor the fact that thesmall B r i tis h expeditionaryforce was joining it on its westflank with the immediate pur-pose of retarding the advanceof the enemy as much as possi-ble, in hope of gaining enoughtime for the French to consoli-date their defense. All theyknew now was that they wouldsoon meet the enemy, becausethey could already hear thesound of gun and rifie fire from

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Typical British lancer of the early part of the World war.

the north, where the infantryhad preceded them.It was naturally disappointing

to these British boys to realizethat their first fighting wouldnot be in the wide rolling downsof their dreams, but in this landfull of little smoky villages andcoal mines, with towering slagheaps and innumerable railwayembankments leading from themines to the slag piles, and withwire fences dividing oft' the minelots and junk yards. It seemedno place for a horse, and thelandscape between mines wascluttered with rows of miners'houses, and there were peopleand wagons and pieces of miningmachinery everywhere. The or-ficers w ere frankly worriedabout the operation of cavalryin such terrain, and men of allranks were puzzled as to theplan of campaign and as to whatwas going on in the war-a be-wilderment shared, had theyknown it, by the whole of the

B. E. F. from the commander-tn-chief downward. In the art-ernoon news came that six Ger-man cavalry divisions were infront of the British forces andthat rear guard action accompa-nied by general retreat wouldbe the cavalry's role on the mor-row.At daybreak on the 24th B

squadron of the 9th lancersmoved cautiously forward to reoconnoiter. The horsemen sooncame in contact with the Oer-mans near a canal bridge; awarm flre greeted them, andthey retired, returning the flreupon the boldly advancing Ger-man infantry until they wereback with the rest of the bri-gade. Then the whole Britishcavalry division was ordered toretreat.As it did so things took an

ominous turn behind it. Anentire German army corps, the4th, under Von Kluck, was ad-vancing on the German right

British Royal dragoona charginq 011

w.stern front.

• b.O•.•·•.•.~D'. (C'-i>'. :\ GERMAN ~R\._.-'-". ~\\lS••• ~l\1y SECOND GERMAN

GERMAN \~~~. ,_" "~~rCAVALRY ~ ~'ithDIV.' ~_ ~ ;A

~ ~ BRITISH. BRITISH'·'\.~FTH FRENCHd%CAVALRY EXPEDITIONARY·,.""\ ARMY AII& ~DIVISION FORCE', ,~_~~. /'\ ~1---.,.---- ...•.....-...,.-..., b \. ~ORO~~· \ 7:

T a ){ 'N'-'c- ~ "'~i

B

Showin9 location of battle area inrelation to western Europe,

o ' ••.•IS

wing and threatening to sur-round the British 5th division,which had been on the cavalrydivision's east flank, but whichnow was exposed on its ownwest flank. An urgent appealfor help came to General Allen-by, commanding the cavalry,and it was immediately respond-ed to. General De Lisle's bri-gade happened to be the nearestat hand, and so Allenby orderedit back at once. The 9th lancers,supported by the 4th dragoonguards, were told to take post-tion near the !:jth division's westflank.As they did so long lines of

enemy infantry suddenly beganto make their appearance, ad-vancing southeast against the5th, which at the moment washurriedly doubling back in re-treat. It was a desperate situa-tion. The supremely confidentGermans could be stopped onlyby an immediate attack of suchboldness that It would take themby surprise. The 9th lancers,with the 4th dragoon guards,being the only units in positionfor such an assault, were chosento make the sacrifice. On themalone depended the escape ofthe 5th division, and they knew

E L G I

that, no matter what the cost,they must stop the enemy.According to the 9th lancers'

history: "First C and then Asquadrons of the 9th were dts-mounted and opened fire at longrange on the Germans, who vig-orously replied but were notchecked to any appreciable de-gree. At this critical junctureGeneral De Lisle came gallopingup and cried to Lieutenant Colo-nel Campbell: ' I'm going tocharge the enemy. I'll tell the4th dragoon guards in the vll-Iage to make an attack on yourleft. As soon as you see themdebouch, attack on the rightwith at least two squadrons.'''

u M

Map illustrating Allied and German positions at time of cavalry actionrelated in this story.

•••Orders were given for A squad-

ron to remount and assembleunder the cover of some miners'houses ready to advance. Hard-ly had it done so when the 4thdragoon guards appeared to thewest. It was the signal for thecharge.The 9th lancers advanced into

the open on the gallop. Theycarried their lances raised andready. Before them stretched agently rising field. . At firstglance it looked fairly easy asa galloping surface, but the cav-alrymen soon found that it wastreacherously cut up by sunkenroads, ditches, hedges, w irefences, and railway embank-

ments. Corn shocks were scat-tered over the level parts, andahead of them the riders couldsee the German skirmishers hur-riedly taking cover among thecorn as the cheering horsementhundered nearer and nearer.At the flrst sunken road the

lancers slowed up slightly to ne-gotiate the steep banks and tospear a few enemy scouts whohad been hiding there and shoot-ing at them. Then they chargedon across the next cornfield, re-newing their cheers as the firstserious volley of rifie fire fromGerman infantry struck them.At about the same time the Ger·man artillerymen found theirrange, and high-explosive shellsbegan to blast great gaps in theranks. But the gallant horse-men kept on - over ditch andhedge and railroad track-losingmen at every stride. Now theenemy was 400 yards away-now 300-now 200. By this timeperhaps half the cavalrymenwere still unhit, and coming onlike fiames before a gale.SUddenly a rambling stretch

of wire fence loomed acrosstheir path. This was a seriousobstacle, and the horsemen wereforced to stop to look for a waythrough, cursing the i r luck.Meanwhile the hidden Germaninfantrymen had an easy timepicking off the bewildered men

(Continued on page thr••• )

~oiee of tLe ~o..,ie F•• Letters published in this department should be written on one side of the papef'.If you wish a personal reply please inclose a stamped, self·addressed en..,elope.

Dear Miss Tlnee ; Quite recently I havebecome very Interested In Louise Platt,who I belleve de-served credit torher portrayal ofBrenda Lane inher first picture,••I Met My LoveAgain." I havevery few picturesof her In mys c rap boo k, sowould you pleaseput one In yourcolumn for me?I would appreci-ate It beyondwords.You r devoted

fan as always,E. S.

Editors not e :Okeb,

LOUISE PLATTA pictur. for a loyal

fan'. book.

Dear Miss Tinee : You doubtless carrya certain amount of influence with thevarious motion picture studios and couldprobably render the movie publlc a greatservice and gain the undying gratitude ofthe cinema world by making a stmple sug-gestlon to the Twentieth Century-Foxstudto.Let me explain: We have had recently

an orgy of western pictures. I love 'pm.We have seen cowboys and Indians, out-laws, wlJluns, gamblers, dance hall girls,mean railroad presidents. and Joan Ben-nett In "The Texans."Wt' have seen manicured Tyrone Power

as Ihe ali-terrible Jesse James. We sawJames Cagney Oklahoma Kidding aroundand putting' his stale in shape with a six-shooter, We saw John Wayne in his mall-

order cowboy suit do the noble thing byClaire Trevor. We saw Robert Taylormop up. or rather Stand Up and Flghl,Wallace Beery without spoiling the per-manent wave. We saw penthouse JoelMcCrea clear the road for Union Pacificstockholders. But the thrill of thrillscame when we saw" Let Freedom Ring."Now, Mae, there's a picture! Victor Me-Laglen keeps about four hundred assortedhuskies in line with his powerful fists,actually knocking one through a three-inch-thick door (and they used to makethem out of hickory) and do sundry otherjobs of knocking' citizens about with theair currents caused by his devastatingpunches. Came one Nelson Eddy with aperfect B-flat in each tonsil and a triplemarcel. Then surely did freedom ring.The power of the press was saved, thecountry was made safe for democracy, andpoor Victor McLaglen must now surely becast for Little Lord Fauntleroy .Now. Mae. here's the Great Inspiration.

Shirley Temple Is overdue· for a greatrOle before she enters adolescence. Whynot write, wire, or phone Fox Studios tocast her for Madame X before some onebeats you to the idea? II's great. it'scolossal, it's stupendous. It would makemovie history and start a new era In movieentertainment with Walt Disney at thehead. Do something, Mae!Sincerely, M. LEISHIN.Editor.~ note: Uh-tth! YOtt 1,()7;te'em!

I'm scared!

Dear Miss Tlnee : May I through yourelay my enthusiasm and appreciation ofthe splendid acting of Sybil Jason in theShirley Temple picture .. The Little Prln-cess."In these days of scent' stealing petty

jealousIes in children and mothers of childstars my hat goes off to Sybil In the beau-tiful support and comradeship evidenced Inthese two lovely little girls.Sybil is a real trouper, and I hope we

will see these two together In many morepictures. It does not In the least detractfrom the enjoyment of Shirley to see an-other little girl come in for her share ofthe honors and note the teamwork andharmony between the two. Sincerelyyours, MARGUERITE D. PACKARD.Editor'R note: 'I'rue!

Dear MIss Tlnee: Tyrone Power hasbeen my favorite movie actor ever sinceI saw him in"Lloyds of Lon-don." Now thathe Is married, Isee no reason why1 should change.Mr. Power is afavorite of everyone in our familyfrom my little 7-year . old brotherto my g r a n d-mother. Grannysays t hat R u .dolph Valentinocouldn't hoi d acandle to TyronePower. One ofmy girl friendssaid t hat sinceT y ron e Powerwas married shewouldn't go to any more of hi'S pictures.But to me that is silly. To me he Is stillgood looking, still a fine actor. and his pic-tures are still very fine pictures. I wouldlike to see 'Some other fans' views on this

TYRONE POWERMarrla9. do •• n', I••• en

fan'. loyalty.

subject. I wlll also hope to see a pictureof Tyrone .Power. A FAN.Editor's note: Billy indeed! With a nice

girl like Annabella to look alter him Ty-rcme s h 0 U l d impl'ove, not deteriorate.Here's a picture for y.our album. Like itr

Dear Miss Tin~e: A few weeks ago someprominent Hollywood friends of mine tooka trip to Europe. At first, I must confess,I envied them. But 'after more maturethinking I've come to the conclusion thatto envy them would be very foolish.Now I feel sorry for them. What a

dreadful amount of bowing and pushingand speeches they have to endure, whata weariness of flesh Is theirs! They havethe publicity of a panda but none of Itsprivacy.They try to play an Important rOle In

life, But there are moments when theyfeel more than a little sllly In that rOle.They know. and they have a suspicion thatothers may know, how uncertain and con-fused and inadequate they really are.They have more and bigger financial wor-ries than you and I. They are forced toassociate with people of their own caliber.Too many rich' foods and stimulatingdrinks give them Indigestion.It seems people like you and me have

a better opportunity to enjoy life's realpleasures. We have time to watch thesunlight drift through the trees. We candrink sweet peace along the river's sideand swing from hell to heaven In one tide.We can also enjoy looking at trees greatand tall that had grown within a cen-tury's span ten times taller than any man!Most sincerely yours,

LEON ARNOLD MULLER.Editot".~ note: "Only God can make a

tree! "