Jine the Cavalry
Patton was, of course, a noted romantic, but not where the practical aspects of tactics were concerned. Tactically, he was interested in what worked. The other general officers quoted at the qmfound site, including John Lucas, Omar Bradley, and Dwight Eisenhower, were also extremely practical. They asked for horse cavalry, because it had the ability to move over difficult terrain that stopped motor vehicles. Axis defenders could withdraw much more rapidly over the good roads to their rear than their Allied attackers could advance over broken country and destroyed bridges. Horses could negotiate that terrain, and their riders could arrive in the enemy's rear fresh enough to attack or conduct a block. The primary use of cavalry would actually be more along the lines of mounted infantry. The picture of cavalry riding knee to knee in the charge IS pretty outmoded. Even though the Soviets used large formations of horse cavalry, in the charge, they didn't use them suicidally. They used loose formations, similar to the armored or infantry formations, that minimized the hit probability of the enemy firepower.
Even a traditional charge can be successful in the right circumstances. The last such charge made by a U.S. force took place in the Philippines in the spring of 1942. The 26th Cavalry, as a part of the forces retreating toward Bataan, still had some of their horses. One platoon arrived at a Japanese roadblock that was holding back a portion of an infantry company. The range was short, the decision quick, and the charge took the defenders of the roadblock by surprise and routed them.
Pack animals were used in the both the Mediterranean and the China-Burma-India theaters. The Remount service provided some animals, but most were procured from local sources in the theater. In Tunisia and in China-Burma-India, pack troops were manned by our troops, but in Italy, pack troops were formed using experienced Italian soldiers. These were attached to divisions that needed pack support because of the terrain in their area of operations.
More commonly, the extra speed, endurance and load capacity of the horse led it into service in areas far from actual combat. The U.S. Coast Guard used horses for patrols of the nation's beaches against saboteurs. The horses supplemented jeep and foot patrols that covered every mile of the nation's coasts. Over 4000 horses were issued to the Coast Guard by Army remount depots for these patrols.
Use of horses in
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