Mounted infantry
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Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially mobile infantry."[1] Today, with motor vehicles having replaced horses for military transport, the motorized infantry are in some respects successors to mounted infantry.
History
Pre-gunpowder
The origins of mounted infantry go back to at least the beginnings of organised warfare. With the weight of ancient bronze armor, the opposing champions would travel to battle on chariots before dismounting to fight. With the evolution of hoplite warfare, some hoplites would travel to battle on horseback, before dismounting to take their place in the phalanx. The early pre-Marian Roman military had units consisting of infantrymen clinging to the saddles of the cavalry to take them to battle and then dismounting to fight. Gallic and Germanic warbands were reported to use double-riders, with a second warrior joining a horseman only for a short distance before dismounting to fight on foot.[citation needed] The Han dynasty also extensively used mounted infantry in their campaigns against the Xiongnu confederation.[2] During many of the Han campaigns, the vast majority of the army rode on horseback; either as mounted cavalry or mounted infantry who fought dismounted. The Arabs, during their campaigns in the deserts of Mesopotamia and Syria against the Byzantines and Sassanids, used camels to enhance their mobility, marking a stark contrast to their enemies, especially in the desert environment. The Carolingians under Charlemagne also used horses as transport for the bulk of their army, and special care was taken to ensure the health, fodder, and availability of horses on-campaign. Other notable infantry to use horses to enhance their mobility include the
Dragoons
The name is possibly derived from a type of firearm (called a dragon) carried by dragoons of the French Army. There is no distinction between the words dragon and dragoon in French.
The title has been retained in modern times by a number of armoured or ceremonial mounted regiments.
19th century
With the invention of accurate and quick firing repeating pistols and rifles in the mid-19th century,
allowed them to make use of cover and to form defensive lines.The first mounted infantry units were raised during the
The French Foreign Legion used mule-mounted companies from the 1880s. Each mule was shared by two legionnaires, who took turns in riding it. This arrangement allowed faster and more prolonged marches that could cover 60 mi (97 km) in one day.
In the Western Theater of the American Civil War, several infantry regiments were converted to mounted infantry and armed with repeating rifles. The Lightning Brigade at the Battle of Chickamauga was an example of these Union mounted infantry units.
In the
In the
As part of the lessons learned from that war, British regular cavalry regiments were armed with the same rifle as the infantry and became well-trained in dismounted tactics. A version of the standard infantry rifle, the shorter-barreled
20th century
Many European armies also used bicycle infantry in a similar way that mounted infantry used horses. However they were handicapped by the need for proper roads.[3]
The Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade which took part in the cavalry charge in the Battle of Beersheba (1917) during World War I are labelled as mounted infantry brigade in popular media; however, they were in fact mounted rifles as were the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade which also took part in this battle. Mounted rifles regiments lack the mass of a mounted infantry battalions, as a light horse brigade could only muster as many rifles in the line as a single battalion. Consequently, their employment reflected this lack of mass, with the tactics seeking to harness greater mobility and fire to overcome opposition, rather than echeloned mass attacks.
Mounted infantry began to disappear with the shift from horses to motor vehicles in the 1920s and 1930s. Germany deployed a few horse-mounted infantry units on the
Countries with entrenched military traditions, such as Switzerland, retained horse-mounted troops well into the Cold War, while Sweden kept much of its infantry on bicycles during the snow-free months.
See also
- Dragoons
- Foot cavalry
- Australian Light Horse
- Canadian Mounted Rifles
- Grey's Scouts
- Imperial Yeomanry
- Camel Corps
- Imperial Camel Corps
References and notes
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 940.
- ISBN 978-0-19-975835-7.
Instead, the military focus under the Han [...] as well as professional soldiers during his campaigns.
- ISBN 1-57488-157-4.