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Reply To: Poland 1939 – Preparing for 80th Anniversary of World War II

September 13, 2019 at 6:25 am #1435206

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@oriskany first up there is no need to use the word sorry. We have come to opposing points of view on this topic and I welcome and respect that.

From what I have seen from divisional Order of Battle a complete cavalry division was not deployed by the Germans. If any were deployed they had been broken up into separate brigades or regiment.

On a side note Hitler hated horses, what does this guy not hate. When the Heer was looking at the form of cavalry for the future they looked at both the traditional horse vs modern mechanization. Rundstedt strongly opposed the replacement of the the horse. He correctly foresaw a great need for them if they went somewhere like Russia they would run out of the European road infrastructure where mechanical mobility would be quickly lost. Hitler sided against the horse option and the Light Division was created. In a brave rearguard action Rundstedt saved a few horse units and the Light Divisions were converted to panzer divisions after Poland as they proved inadequate. Rundstedt 1, Hitler 0.

The thing is horse cavalry was not to go away. In the Winter War both Finnish and Russian Recon were normally horsed. Then right up until the end of the war Russia used Cossack and tank combination. Then shortly after 2000 US forces on a limited use reintroduced horse mobility.