m. Rather should we lay down as a
fixed principle that all Cavalry units must be able both to move and
fight according to the same tactical principles, no matter in what
order these units may be grouped together.

The question now arises whether our present formation of six regiments
to a Division is really equal to all demands which may be made upon
it; whether, in fact, in view of the strategical requirements it may
be called on to fulfil, and the degree of resistance to their
execution it is likely to encounter, six regiments will prove
numerically equal to their task.

Considered in relation to the enormous Armies of the present day, and
the still greater possibilities a general call to arms of a whole
nation may involve, six regiments represent a very small actual factor
of strength. If they should have to take the field for an independent
mission, it would not even be possible to keep them all together. The
protection of the flanks, and of the necessary baggage and supply
trains, the far-reaching reconnaissances, and the need for extended
requisitions, all unite to compel the creation of detachments, which
in the aggregate must make considerable inroads on the total strength.
Then there is the inevitable tale of losses on the march, the
necessity for subdivision of one's forces for the passage or the
turning of defiles; in fact, the demands are so many that the true
fighting body of the Division--_i.e._, the squadrons available for the
ultimate decisive shock--is represented by a very small fraction of
its original forces. If a complete Division can place only 3,600
sabres in the field, or, dismounted, from 1,680 to 3,000 rifles,
according to the number of horse-holders required--figures which even
without the above-mentioned detachments are quite inconsiderable in
relation to what even an inconsiderable Infantry opponent can bring
into action--what prospect of success is there for the weakened
Independent Division in the execution of quite minor operations, when
even in 1870-1871, not once, but frequently, the main body of our
Cavalry Divisions shrank often to six or seven weak squadrons.

It is chiefly the consequences of our, on the whole, satisfactory
experiences in the above Campaign which have led us to accept the
existing Division of six regiments as a satisfactory solution of this
problem of strength; but we forget that in those days we had no
Cavalry opponent to encounter, and that our sphere of action