488 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period v. 



wards as fresh bodies were thrown into action. There 

 do not appear to have been any infantry broken by the 

 cavalry on either side, the defeated and flying Austrian 

 troops, halting and showing front if pressed too closely, 

 were always able, with their deadly rifles, to keep oft" 

 the pursuing dragoons. 



The cavalry in both armies were well organised and 

 equipped, and brave and gallant soldiers, as was proved 

 by many of the skirmishes which took place, in which 

 both sides charged at speed against each other, and 

 fought with desperate energy at the closest quarters : 

 as, for instance, at Saar, on the 10th July, and at 

 Tichnowitz the next day. On the 15th July a gallant 

 charge was made by Colonel Bredow's regiment, the 

 5th Prussian Cuirassiers, against an Austrian artillery 

 train, on the road between Olmutz and Tobitschau. As 

 this is an excellent illustration of a successful and w^ell- 

 devised attack, we will reproduce the details from 

 Hozier's " History of the Seven Weeks' War" : — 



" Bredow, under cover of some undulating ground^ 

 formed his regiment in echelon of squadrons for the 

 attack of the guns. The first squadron he kept towards 

 his right, to cover the flank of his attack from any 

 Austrian cavalry which might lie in that direction ; the 

 second and fourth squadrons he directed full against the 

 front of the battery, and supported the second with the 

 third as a reserve. 



" The squadrons moved forward in perfect lines, slowly 

 and steadily at first, seeming to glide over the field, 

 gradually increasing their pace, regardless of the tre- 

 mendous fire directed upon them, which emptied some 

 saddles. When within a few hundred paces of the 

 battery, they broke into a steady gallop, which increased 

 in rapidity at every stride that brought the horses nearer 

 the Austrian lines. All the time of their advance the 

 gunners poured round after round into them, striving 

 with desperate energy to sweep them away before they 

 could gain the mouths of the cannons. Eapid- flashes 

 of flame breaking from the mouths of the guns accom- 

 panied the discharge of the shells, w^hich were being 



