Although the Boers had fewer troops, they could mobilize tens of thousands of cavalry. www.biquge.info It stands to reason that there is no problem in breaking through these nodes (including militia units), and the logistical supply pressure of the troops is not great, after all, the ordinary infantry units of the Boers have plenty of horses for transportation, while the cavalry units have one man and two horses, one for riding and the other for carrying ammunition and supplies.

The biggest problem is still the problem of casualties! To put it simply, the Boers can't afford to die! This inability to afford to die is not only manifested in the almost disproportional population gap between the two sides, but also in the difficulty of tackling tough problems. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Kalipme was well aware that cavalry alone had little advantage over infantry. The saber used by the cavalry can only be a secondary weapon, and the spear should be thrown into the dustbin of history. Mounted infantry is actually more effective than cavalry, and the advantage of cavalry is reflected in strategic mobility, rather than in slashing with sabers.

"I am very unoptimistic about the effect of guerrilla warfare in the usual sense of the word on the British, I am very familiar with the way the Boer knights fight, they generally choose unprotected convoys and unguarded villages and towns to attack, not so much a battle, more like a kind of raiding, this is the right choice for a small army with a number of dozens or even only a dozen people, but when our cavalry is on a large scale, even a divisional size, such a choice tendency and effect is wrong!" When confronted with Pershing and Kruger, Calyput was very forthright about his concerns.

Small-scale guerrilla warfare is piecemeal and focused on self-preservation. It is harassing in nature. But if a large number of troops are mobilized, and the entire Boer corps has paid a lot of war costs for such a mobile force, and you still focus on piecemeal, it is a waste! It can even be said that it is a crime, imagine that thousands of cavalry gallop across the wilderness, and the daily consumption of fodder alone is tens of tons! Thousands of military horses and livestock no less than this number are used to transport supplies, and if a certain strategic objective cannot be achieved, then such consumption is obviously worth the cost!

So what's worth it? Calyput gave two answers: the first was a cavalry corps capable of destroying the British! The second is capable of destroying the British transport hubs, such as stations! The former was a drain on the motorized regiments of the British, and the British were not stupid, the Boers knew about the use of light cavalry to harass the rear of their opponents, and the British naturally understood.

The reason why the harassment of the British has not yet been vigorously fought is that the number of British cavalry is still relatively limited, the supply is difficult, and the frontal battlefield cannot meet the demand, let alone support the cavalry to attack from a long distance. On the other hand, the British fundamentalist melee cavalry really couldn't beat the Boer cavalry ....... Armed with mortars and semi-automatic rifles, the Boer cavalry easily defeated their opponents in several skirmishes.

As for the second point, it was to completely paralyze the logistics of the British. At that time, the main mode of transportation was by rail, so the focus of the attack was naturally also rail. The easiest way is to just lift the rails, and if you are more dedicated, destroy some of the land bases, but this is useless for the British! This kind of destruction is done quickly, and it is repaired quickly, and the land-based ones are just piled up, and then the rails are laid upward, even if you destroy the rails and pull them out, what can you do? If you can't take it away, you can only bury ......it on the spot. The British just had to dig it out with a little effort.

How to paralyze a railway as quickly as possible, the answer that history tells people is marshalling yards and stations! These hubs are not just a place to provide a place for vehicles to replenish boiler water and coal, nor are they just a place for people to rest, but more importantly, a hub, a hub for arranging the operation of vehicles! They are the nerves and brains of the railway line. Knocking out a station is much more powerful than pulling out dozens of kilometers of railway!

But for now, it will be difficult for the cavalry units of the Boers to accomplish these two tasks. The root cause was casualties, and if the cavalry engaged, the Boers might indeed have a tactical advantage, and the exchange ratio would be better, but this exchange ratio would be swallowed up by the huge number of cavalry of the British. As a result, the fight is getting weaker and weaker. Chronic suicide, and even more so the attack on the train station. The British, who were good at learning, had already deployed machine guns, artillery, barbed wire and minefields around important nodes. If you're unlucky enough, you'll run into an armored train .......

In the face of such a stronghold with a combination of fixed bunker fortifications and mobile defense forces, are you looking for death when you use cavalry to fight? Maybe each stronghold doesn't have a lot of troops to garrison, but with machine guns and a lot of fortifications, the defenders can inflict high and terrible damage on the attackers! From the point of view of losses, the gains outweigh the losses.

And now, Calyput's task is to create a cavalry unit that can complete both combat missions! A force that can completely crush the British cavalry in a normal engagement, and a cavalry (cavalry unit) capable of attacking fortifications. It was one of the most challenging jobs of Calyput's career as an officer.

As a veteran oilman, Calyput worked as a cavalryman, served as an infantryman, and accompanied his old boss, Prince Leopold, in artillery, and finally to the Bavarian General Staff. Both practical and theoretical experience are very rich. He was very familiar with the operation of the cavalry, and knew the limiting points, although the cavalry maneuvered much faster than the infantry, compared to the infantry of the large corps, which was only 30 kilometers per day, the speed of the cavalry was at least double. But on the whole, the speed of maneuvering of the cavalry is still much lower than that of their predecessors, let alone compared to the nomads of that period.

The fundamental reason was the increased weight of the equipment carried, and in this plane, the great powers who had seen the power of rapid-fire artillery and machine guns equipped their troops with this equipment, and the cavalry was no exception, and the British cavalry was equipped with some artillery and machine guns. The same is true of the Boers. Although it is a 57mm gun or a 37mm gun, the guns and ammunition themselves are a big burden.

Coupled with the relative difficulty of supply, most of the cavalry in a day's maneuvers were slow or even dismounted and walking, and galloping on horseback rarely occurred, except in the combat state of charging or pursuit. Large legions, on the other hand, will move more slowly if they carry a small amount of artillery and ammunition.

Of course, some people have put forward the idea of feeding war by war, but the problem is that in the whole of British southern Africa, there are only more than 4 million blacks and far fewer whites than that, and millions of square kilometers of land are so people, and most of them are cowered in cities, how can there be so many things for you to grab?

The second is more ~~~! Ask for subscription and support~~~! (To be continued.) )