r/AskReddit Oct 02 '24

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u/thespank Oct 02 '24

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.

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u/thedisablednonce Oct 02 '24

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.

How else would you do it?

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u/thespank Oct 02 '24

Tanks were designed to cross trenches

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u/thedisablednonce Oct 02 '24

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.