nt to meet a
coming crisis. The danger then is ever present that, by the necessity
of gaining room for deployment,[12] the opportunity to strike will be
lost, or that the endeavour to seize the opportunity will lead to the
troops being put in without order and in confusion.

[Footnote 12: The 6th Cavalry Division at Vionville, August
16, 1870.]

The fundamental principle, therefore, follows that troops, whether
Corps, Divisions, or Brigades, should be grouped on the battle-field,
preserving always their full deploying intervals.

Of course, local conditions must be taken into account, above all
things the necessity of finding cover both from view and fire in the
shape of the ground. In practice, therefore, it is only the actual
facts as one finds them which can decide as to the best formation to
be assumed, but it must always be of advantage to be perfectly clear
in one's own mind as to which disposition to adopt and the
consequences which must follow from one's choice.

The chief difficulty always remains--viz., the chance of seizing the
opportunity. In the Battle of Mars la Tour our Cavalry failed to solve
the problem, and in the subsequent course of the War--particularly
against the forces of the Republic--it might often have obtained far
better results had it possessed a clearer conception of its mission
and better tactical training, as, for instance, in the action at
Coulmiers, where we missed a grand opportunity.

The more difficult it becomes, with every increment in the range of
firearms, to recognise our opportunities, the more essential is it
that we should take the field with a thorough knowledge of our
tactical power and its limitations, and it is above all things
necessary that we should keep well up to the front, and not shirk even
_heavy punishment_ if by so doing we can best secure opportunities for
great results.

If this end is to be obtained, then every Cavalry Commander requires
to have a complete grasp of the nature of the Infantry combat. He must
be able to estimate with as equal certainty as an Infantry General the
general course of an engagement, the consumption of reserves, and the
gradual moral degradation of the enemy's foot soldiers.

At any moment he must be able to grasp in his mind the whole balance
of forces in conflict on any point of the battle-field, so as to be
able to decide whether the employment of his own command at any
particular point and time is justi