642 
TACTICS OF THE THREE ARMS. 
certainly very favorably disposed towards it, and highly appreciative 
of its value. 
Now as to the Cavalry. The days of charges are numbered, and 
henceforth their role is to be the no less glorious and exciting one of 
(< exploring,^ to use the French name for it, for which we have at 
present no equivalent. 
As before, M. Mazel goes to the root of the matter and determines 
the number of Cavalry required by the following method 
He determines the front which an Army of four Corps should 
occupy on the march to be a mean of 24 kilometres. One Corps 
being allotted to each road, and one following in reserve. For he finds 
that on the average throughout France there is a good road at intervals 
of every 12 kilometres. He also determines mathematically that the 
distance of the cavalry screen from the front of the Army should be 
36 kilometres. 
Here, then, are bases enough to determine the necessary quantity of 
Cavalry for the performance of the duty of covering the front and 
flanks, provided we know how many to allot to each road. 
Our author allows one regiment to each road, and one in reserve to 
every two in front, or a Brigade of three regiments to every two roads, 
each regiment consisting of four squadrons. 
The above gives for an army of 4 Corps a force of Cavalry of six 
and a half (say seven) Brigades of three regiments each. 
He abolishes Divisional Cavalry entirely as being now-a-days out of 
place, for, he argues, if with the Division they are no use to the 
exploring Cavalry, and if with the latter of no use to their Division. 
In their place he would put a few troopers, attached as orderlies, to 
every Commanding Officer. This service could be performed by 
rotation of squadrons week about, as it would not offer many attractions. 
He gives us an excellent illustration of how the duty of reconnoitring 
is to be performed, which is made very plain by the aid of sketches. 
In Chapter V., we have the “ Three Arms combined ” to deal with. 
A battle is here, so to speak, dissected, and, unfortunately, a battle is 
not to be dissected beforehand. Nevertheless, it is always instructive 
and interesting to study an ideal which we may approximate to, even 
if to attain it is impossible. 
Similarly, in the last chapter-called the application of the previous 
ones—our author has worked out with much skill and patience an 
imaginary campaign wherein Sedan is avenged and the Prussian 
overthrown. 
Like its predecessor, this chapter is very highly interesting; though 
perhaps a hostile critic might suggest that it is easy to fight a battle 
when one has the arrangements of both sides to make. 
In conclusion, then, I venture to hope that these few remarks may 
lead many of my brother officers to look through this volume. It is 
full of novelty. It is entirely free from prejudice. If a thing is not 
capable of proof it is worth nothing to the author, and, however much 
one may disagree with his conclusions, it is impossible to deny that 
his process of reasoning is sound and logical. 
I feel sure that whoever takes up this book will not put it down 
without having derived great pleasure from its perusal. 
