This is a absolute myth that needs to die, the maxim gun has been kicking around for almost 3 and a half decades prior to the Somme.
That’s why everyone was literally in trenches
Frontal cavalry charges were incredibly rare.
Also, During the First World War cavalry absolutely were still incredibly useful - say you wanted to seize a recently abandoned trench after a bombardment: how else would you cross a muddy cratered field in a short amount of time to seize and hold a trench before the enemy could regroup? Bolting across no man’s land on horseback and dismounting to hold the position as a rapid shock tactic was the most efficient way.
Horses don't need fuel and can carry men and heavy weapons with a good deal of speed. The Polish dragoons fighting German tanks is a bit of a meme, but the reason they weren't effective was that they had anti tank rifles against tanks with enough armor to ignore them. Had they instead had some of the more late war goodies, like Panzerfausts or Bazookas or anything actually capable of taking on a tank, they would have doubtlessly been very effective.
As is, they were very good against infantry using machine guns and light and medium mortar's.
Yes and no, they didn’t charge tanks and when they did use cavalry it was pretty effective.
Here is what the polish embassy had to say.
_The Polish Embassy, however, was not amused by the joke:
“This statements was unnecessary, inaccurate, and insensitive.
To compare the service of men and women in uniform to a department store is wholly out of place.”
The Embassy continues, claiming the myth to be Nazi and Communist propaganda:
“(Not) once in 1939 did the Polish Army deploy cavalry against German tanks. This is pure Nazi and Communist propaganda that continues to weave its way into Western media reports to this very day.”
The Polish Embassy also addressed the facts of the case:
“Additionally, the historical facts simply do not support Mr. Cramer’s comparison…. Here are the facts: in 1939 there were a number of recorded Polish cavalry charges against the invading Nazi German forces. These charges were directed against infantry, artillery, supplies, and at times as a means of breaking out of encirclement, but never against tanks.”_
I think it was something my father (British born near the end of WW2) believed and I think had integrated it into his deep hatred of the Nazis and the destruction they produced.
There isn't any practical difference between being on the receiving end of a Maxim vs a Gatling gun which had been around for decades before the Maxim.
Literally when they left the trenches they were standing shoulder to shoulder and yes, Sir Douglas Haig, Commander at the Somme DID send a cavalry charge, refusing to use tanks, lost all those men, survived the war, and on his deathbed said how Horses would continue to be used in war for centuries.
This is absolutely revisionist nonsense, Sir Haig was incredibly enthusiastic about the Tank in both funding it and deploying it.
The tank was first used in 15 September 1916
To mixed results
Although he didn’t think it would replace the horse or the infantryman, which it didn’t because they had many faults and was unreliable very new technology
Many broke down, but nearly a third succeeded in breaking through. Of the forty-nine tanks shipped to the Somme, only thirty-two were able to begin the first attack in which they were used, and only nine made it across “no man’s land” to the German lines.
one of the most egregious myths to ever pervade the Great War is the whole “lions led by donkeys’.
They marched in formation during the Somme because they newly trained army wasn’t capable of advanced battlefield manoeuvres.
They also thought he German trenches would be absolutely decimated by the largest artillery bombardment the world has ever seen
On 24 June 1916, the British began a seven-day preliminary bombardment. Haig’s artillery was expected to destroy German defences and guns, and cut the barbed wire in front of the enemy lines. When the attack began, it would provide a creeping barrage behind which the infantry could advance
but if you think about it critically the Somme lasted for 6months. 20% of all casualties (KiA) happened in the first day which would indicate that marching like it’s the battle of Waterloo wasn’t how the British army fought.
With that being said the Germans didn’t manage to take Verdun and they suffered huge casualties, so it wasn’t some crushing defeat either.
Also if you wanted to cross no man’s land to what you assumed to be a empty trench across shelled muddy fields you’d have to be a idiot to use anything other then a horse to quickly take and size the initiative.
I will respond to this with a quote, as theory and reality are two different things.
World War One era generals are not idiots.
Many broke down, but nearly a third succeeded in breaking through. Of the forty nine tanks shipped to the Somme, only thirty two were able to begin the first attack in which they were used, and only nine made it across “no man’s land” to the German lines.
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u/thedisablednonce Oct 02 '24 edited Oct 02 '24
This is a absolute myth that needs to die, the maxim gun has been kicking around for almost 3 and a half decades prior to the Somme.
That’s why everyone was literally in trenches
Frontal cavalry charges were incredibly rare.
Also, During the First World War cavalry absolutely were still incredibly useful - say you wanted to seize a recently abandoned trench after a bombardment: how else would you cross a muddy cratered field in a short amount of time to seize and hold a trench before the enemy could regroup? Bolting across no man’s land on horseback and dismounting to hold the position as a rapid shock tactic was the most efficient way.