the chief task for the Cavalry consists in obtaining a victory over
the enemy's Cavalry in that direction which is of decisive importance
for the further prosecution of reconnaissance as soon after the
beginning of the great operations as possible.

That it cannot be our object to seek the opponent's horsemen in the
direction which they themselves have selected--merely to beat
them--need scarcely be insisted upon. That would be to take the law
from the enemy and allow one's self to be diverted from the principal
direction in which reconnaissance is desirable.

Time and direction of the advance must rather be so chosen that they
compel the enemy to move to meet us. At the same time our effort must
be to appear with numerical superiority, in order to be certain of
victory.

In what concerns the Cavalry in the further course of the War, the
necessity both of screening and reconnoitring recurs again and again;
and in many cases even after the enemy has been beaten out of the
field, these objects will still only be obtained by fighting. Such
cases will occur in the duties of screening and security when the
enemy still possesses enough offensive power to attempt a
reconnaissance, with the threat of attack combined, and we ourselves
are engaged in a similar manner; also in all such cases in which
turning movements entail too much delay, or are rendered impossible by
the extension of the enemy's front; or, again, when the enemy on their
part renew offensive operations.

The necessity of breaking through the line of Infantry outposts in
order to discover the whereabouts of the enemy's principal masses and
the direction of their movements will also from time to time arise,
and it may become necessary to suppress rapidly and thoroughly
attempts at armed resistance by the civilian population.

Further, our Cavalry will be called on for attempts against the
enemy's communications, the strategical importance of which has been
already discussed, and these will be all the more important in cases
where the district we are fighting over is too poor to supply the
enemy's forces, or where operations have assumed a stationary
character, as before Fredericksburg, Paris, and Plevna, and it becomes
desirable to hinder the use of the railways for the transport of
troops or evacuation of supplies.

Lastly, the Cavalry may be called on to occupy wide stretches of
country and exploit their resources, to nip in their very inception
the for