Cavalry, but during the advance the
Independent Cavalry on the front and flanks guarantees this security
so thoroughly that the former can confine themselves to the most
elementary precautions, which must include primarily the maintenance
of connection with the latter for this purpose. Then they will not
only have to provide for security in the most thorough manner, but
will also have to reconnoitre, and for this purpose follow the same
rules which we have laid down for the Independent Cavalry. If the
enemy's horse prove overpowering, then they will use their power of
defence to the utmost, and seek to increase it by cyclists belonging
to the Infantry, Maxims, and Artillery, in order to beat off the enemy
with loss, and to clear the path for the reconnoitring patrols.

Speaking generally, the system I propose is in harmony with the
spirit, if not with the letter, of our Field Service Regulations, in
which the systematic distinction between reconnoitring and security,
as also between strategic and tactical patrols, is, in my opinion, not
sufficiently defined. The essential point which necessitates this
distinction has not been grasped with sufficient precision. If we are
to follow literally the wording of the Field Service Regulations, and
not the spirit which pervades it, which disregards all stereotyped
formations and keeps always the practical in view, then it would be
impossible to carry out screening operations on the scale which the
conditions of modern War will render indispensable. Sufficient stress
has not been laid on the necessary systematizing of the whole
procedure. Finally, too, much weight has been laid upon the employment
of the despatch rider (_Meldereiter_), although the experience of
1870-1871 has sufficiently shown that this system was unreliable. I
recall as an instance the pursuit of Vinoy's Corps (after Sedan), in
which case the most important report was entrusted to a despatch
rider, who only reached his destination twenty-four hours after he
was despatched, and by that time it was too late to take any action on
the information he conveyed.

The Field Service Regulations should also contain detailed
instructions as to the employment of cyclists with the Cavalry, for
the rapid development of this mode of locomotion has rendered this
absolutely indispensable. But the point must be brought out that the
use of a cyclist is always only conditional, as it depends on the
weather, the roads, and the cou