Mounted Patrols 1918


The 20th spent the last two weeks of April 1918 in mounted patrols so that they were able to return to the cavalry role after years spent in the trenches fighting as infantry. Cavalry once again became important for the Allies in 1918 after the relatively successful German Ludendorff offensives broke through the allied lines in a number of places. This picture shows members of the 20th Hussars in April 1918 being sent out on patrol. Of course horses could deal with broken and disrupted ground far more effectively than the tanks and trucks of the time and were considerably faster than infantry in reacting to breakthroughs or exploiting holes in enemy lines. They were really a form of mobile infantry and allowed soldiers to move quickly over cluttered battlefields and the countryside - they were no longer charging machine guns or well armed infantry as in the early stages of the war.


Regimental Details


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by Stephen Luscombe