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Show CAVALRY PLAYS ! A BIG PART NOW 7 General Foch Used French Horsemen Horse-men to Advantage in Big Drive. PROVE GOOD FIGHTERS AFOOT Rides 80 Miles in Day and Relieves Hard-Pressed British in Flanders Makes New Place for Self in Warfare. Washington. Skillful use of French cavalry has marked General Foch's tactics ever since he took over control of the allied armies as supreme commander, com-mander, according to information reaching military circles here. The horsemen have played an important role in the whole battle of 1918, as the struggle which began March 21 with the first German drive has come to be known. The employment of swift-moving columns in the present counter-stroke from the Alsne-Marne line has been noted in the dispatches. Again General Gen-eral Foch took advantage of the great mobility of the mounted arm to throw It in where 'er his advancing infantry units threatened to lose- touch with each other In the heat and confusion of the contest. No gaps have been left where the enemy might strike back, for always the horsemen came up to fill the hole until the Infantry line could he rectified and connected in a solid front. The same tactics marked the first use of French cavalry In the battle of Pleard.w when the French took over f5 miles of front from the British to permit the latter to mass reserves at seriously threatened points of the line farther north. Cavalry Fights Afoot. A French cavalry corps complete with light artillery, armored cars and cyclists arrived first on the scene in I'icardy and relieved the British. They fought it out afoot until the heavy French Infantry arrived and took over the task. Three days later the horsemen were on the move again, this time hurrying to the front, where the enemy was hitting hard at the Lys line. The cavalry cav-alry rode hard as the advance guard of the French Infantry columns marched march-ed toward St. Omar. In the first 24 hours, despite the long strain of fighting in I'icardy, they covered 80 miles without losing a man or a horse on the way. In 60 hours they had transferred their whole corps over 125 miles and arrived east of Mont Cassei. "It was a wonderful sight," writes the chief of staff of a division. "The horses were in fine condition ; the men were cheerful and went singing, In spite of the sufferings and privations they had to endure. "In truth, our boys looked a little tired, but they were all Very proud that such an effort had been asked of them and all were bearing It cheerfully." cheer-fully." The cavalry corps stood in support Jf the British for ten days In April ifter the enemy had forced the line held by the Portuguese division. It maintained communication between two British armies and organized the ground from Mont Cassei to Mont Kemmel, while the French army moved up behind It. As the French Infantry came Into line the cavalry was drawn off to the left In the Mont Kemmel region, and for five days the horsemen, fighting afoot with two infantry divisions, withstood the terrific ter-rific assaults of the Germans who sought to hammer a way through behind be-hind Vpros at any cost. They stood steady bombardment for days, and when (he infantry was hemmed hem-med ill on top of Mont Kemmel, the cavalry drove forward in counterattack counter-attack and held off the shock divisions of the enemy while the French gun- j net's got their pieces away. I Later, at the battle of Locre, the ! cavalry also shared fully with the in- fa ii try, blocking gaps in the line, and j the final definite occupation of the i town for the allies was accomplished by a cavalry battalion. A sergeant and a handful of dragoons drove 40 Germans out of the town, and at another an-other point a cavalry otlicer and 20 I men backed up the infantry at a critical moment, the officer waving a pistol in one hand and a shovel in the other as he led the dash which restored re-stored the situation. Defend Compeigne. A few days later the same cavalry, after another long ride, met the enemy en-emy advance against Villers-Cotterets woods in the Aisne sector, where the fighting today is waging fiercely, and where the horsemen again are engaged. en-gaged. When the Germans drove forward for-ward in their effort to get around the forest to Compeigne, the horsemen blocked the road between the wooded region and the River Ourcq. In view of this record for swift and dashing attack afoot, the cavalry appears ap-pears to have established a new place for itself in modern warfare. They are the light reserves ; the men who are always hurled first Into the point of danger to hold until the slow-moving infantry arrives. They bnve learned trench warfare completely, and General Foch is making use of them in any move that insures them a glorious chance when the day comes for the allies to drive back all along the line. |