oOO A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. [period v. 



taken, when suddenly the scattered horsemen were 

 pounced upon, in their disorder, by the French 7th 

 Cuirassiers, and some Spahis and Chasseurs. In their 

 hurried retreat they were very badly handled, and 

 suffered great losses ; but the sacrifice was well repaid, 

 as it checked the attack of the French 6th Corps, which 

 would otherwise have been fatal. This was the boldest 

 charge of the war, and the only one that was to a certain 

 extent successful.^ 



A charge by the 1st Dragoons of the Prussian Guard, 

 made later in the day to relieve Wedell's brigade, was 

 unsuccessful, the fire of the unbroken French infantry 

 driving them back with heavy losses.^ Shortly after 

 General von Barby, with six regiments of cavalry of the 

 Prussian left, charged ten regiments of French horse, 

 under General Clerembault, who, strange to say, received 

 the onset with a carbine fire on the open plain. The 

 Prussians disregarding it fell on vigorously with the 

 sabre, and the short hand-to-hand struggle was soon 

 settled in favour of the Germans, whose superior weight 

 and horsemanship made them more than a match for 

 their opponents. 



The battle closed just as it got dark by a charge of 

 the 6th Prussian cavalry division, in which Ranch's 

 brigade of hussars broke some French infantry squares. 

 This was caused by the darkness concealing their approach 

 until they were close. A violent fire, which was poured 

 upon them from all quarters, compelled the rapid retreat 

 of the division.^ 



The battle of Gravelotte was almost exclusively one 

 of infantry and artillery, and gives no examples of cavalry 

 tactics. 



In the subsequent operations between zhe 1 8th August 

 and the battle of Sedan the contrast between the cavalry 

 of the two armies and the method in which it was used 

 was still strongly marked. MacMahon w^as obliged, at 

 the dictation of the Government in Paris, to make a 

 detour to endeavour to relieve Bazaine and effect a 

 junction with him. This scheme was feasible only if 

 ' Borbstnedt, 405, 406. 2 ibi<j. 415. 3 jHid. 420. 



CHAP. X 



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