page 3 - Horse Cavalry in Modern Combat

Waffen SS Kavallerie Brigade in Russia - World War II

The SS Kavallerie Brigade eventually was expanded and became part of the 8th. SS-Kavallerie Division Florian Geyer.

The Florian Geyer Division of Waffen SS Horse Cavalry was one of several SS fighting units which started out as purely German formations but which over the course of the war increasingly mustered in non-Germans, or Volksdeutsche, among its officers and troopers. This SS Cavalry Division was named in honor of Florian Geyer who lived from 1490 to 1525, and was a gallant and noble Franconian Knight. Sir Knight Florian Geyer was a strong supporter of the Protestant Reformation Minister Martin Luther and was a prominent leader in the German Peasants' War of 1522 through 1525.

Waffen SS Cavalrymen fighting on the Eastern Front during World War II.

Usually the best way for Cavalry to fight is dismounted. The Horses are used for movement and maneuver, then horse holders take care of the mounts while the troopers move forward to engage the enemy or establish defensive positions. Modern Horse Cavalry usually fights much like Mounted Infantry, in other words most but not all fighting is done dismounted.

Society of the Military Horse

"German Horse Cavalry in the Trenches"

Cavalry Officer and trooper of the Waffen SS Florian Geyer Division in trenches at Budapest, Hungary late in 1944. Note SS collar tabs on trooper and the SS Totenkopf 'Death's Head' insignia on the Officer's cap below the Nazi eagle.

The Florian Geyer Division originated with the Cavalry components of the SS Totenkopf Standarten formed in the winter of 1939. In 1941 they were combined into an SS-Kavallerie Regiment under the Kommandostab RFSS. These SS Cavalry Units became known as the SS-Kavallerie Brigade or the SS-Reiter Brigade. The Brigade was first commanded by Hermann Fegelein, and was also known as the Fegelein Brigade or Kampfgruppe Fegelein. The Brigade would eventually be expanded and become the 8th. SS-Kavallerie Division Florian Geyer. As a mounted Horse Cavalry Division the units were extremely effective against the Red partisans since the SS Horse Troopers could operate rapidly over terrain impassable to motor vehicles, and much faster than Communist partisans on foot. By the end of 1943 the 8th. SS-Kavallerie Division mustered 9300 men strong. The Division was involved in extremely heavy and intense fighting and by February of 1945 they had been wiped out by the Red Army. The tragic end happened on 11 February 1945 when the remnants of the division attempted a desperate last-ditch breakout from encirclement by the Red Army. This break-out was a combined effort of the 8th. SS-Kavallerie along with what was left of the 22nd. SS-Freiwilligen Kavallerie Division Maria Theresa, and the 33rd Waffen-Kavallerie Division der SS. The 8th. SS-Kavallerie Division Florian Geyer was annihilated during this desperate battle, there were only 170 survivors that actually managed to reach German lines and temporary safety. Brigadefuhrer Joachim Rumohr, committed suicide and the remaining SS Cavalry Officers and SS Horse Troopers of the 8th. Division were transferred to the 37th. SS Cavalry Division.

Russian Cossack Volunteer Cavalry in Nazi Army during World War II

ONLINE VIDEO

NAZI HORSE CAVALRY

Summer 1944-Nazi Propaganda Complete Color Film #2 of 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI3NpjOM-ZU&v3

Summer 1944-Nazi propaganda complete color film. Original soundtrack. No subtitles.
Part 2 of 2.
Second part showing Kossacks Russian cavalry troops allied with the Nazi army, (Cossacks, that were fighting followed by their women, as a reward for their bravery on the battlefields were given by the Nazis in 1944 a kind of "promised land" where they could live after the war. Many of them were given farms and lands in the Carnia. That is in Friuli, in the mountain region of east northern Italy. At the end of the war a great number of these Cossacks families were killed by Italian Partisans...). Film also shows the repairing of a damaged tank, the outstanding Schnell-Boots of the Kriegmarine and the training of paratroopers.
This is a clip from the ROMANO-ARCHIVES' new website-"Unknown World War 2 in Color"-"Home Front(s)" section.
At:
http://www.webalice.it/romanoarchives/
Visit also:
http://romanoarchives.altervista.org/
Or:
http://digilander.libero.it/romanoarc...
Hi-def version of this video is available on DVD.

Long Endurance Horse Cavalry for border patrol operations and modern combat - by Ralph Zumbro

"On the other side of the coin, when the going is good (roads) and the mechanized forces speed up, the cavalry simply loads into stock transports. This was all worked out in the Army maneuvers in 1938 and 1940. They took commercial semi-trailers of a size to take one 8 man cavalry squad, men, animals and equipment, militarized them, and kept up with fully mechanized forces on highways. When the going got rough, the vehicles slowed down but the mounted troops just de-trucked and kept the pace of the march up. They even figured that the horse troops were better at breaking ambushes and road blocks. The horses just went around the roadblock and hit it from behind.

Both our cavalry and the Russian Cossacks figured out how to mesh with automotive forces but because we had oceans to cross, our cavalry got left out of history.....For a time. Maybe now is the time to bring them back, first as border patrol and then as terrorist hunters. We have many light weapons that are supposed to be man portable but are really at the outer edge of what a man can carry. The old rule of thumb for horse packing used to be that an animal shouldn’t be expected to carry more than one quarter of its own weight....Now figure out those 80-100 LB rucksacks. You can, however, take a 1000 LB horse and load quit a bit of military impedimenta on it. I go back to the old army and the 40 pound pack, plus rifle and 100 rounds. If you limit the ruck to say, 50 lbs, one pack horse or mule could support the packs of four men, plus the tack, of course. Looked at another way, How much ammo for a 90mm recoilless or an 81mm mortar could that animal move, let alone long range communications and night vision gear. "

"This means, of course, that if we adopt horse mounted patrols on our borders, the wild mustangs just became a national asset. We’d also need to bring Icelandic horses and the Florida Cracker, and rebuild our national stud ranches, but it could be done fairly quickly, give us a capability that all other nations have lost ......."

-- Ralph Zumbro