When was the last cavalry charge of WW1, When the last in history ?

Question

Following my information the last cavalry charge was done by the Belgians on 19 october 1918 at Burkel in Flanders (http://www.1914-1918.be/insolite_derniere_charge.php). Have there been later on cavalry charges in WW1 ?
When was the very last cavalry charge noted in history ? (some would say the Polish charge of the cavalry in 1939, but I think the latest was somewhere in Russia)

To Frances : I do not talk about Austerlitz, as already mentionned by others the Polish did charge against the Germans in 1939. Common story is that it was against tank but the real story is told by one of the answers.

Answer 1

Taking your questions back-to-front: -

Last (large scale) horse cavalry charge in history: -
The first answer is correct about this. The date was 24th August 1942. The Italian cavalry unit Savoia Cavalleria (600 men) charged 2400 Russian infantry (plus artillery and mortars) at Isbushenskij (Russia). The charge was successful. See sources links [1] and [2] for details.

As for the last cavalry charge of WW1, it took place at Lessines, Belgium, on November 11th 1918, with only 10 minutes to spare before the Armistice ceasefire. A squadron of the British 7th Dragoons charged to capture the bridge across the river Dendre (or Dender). Although opposed by dug-in German infantry, with machine guns, British records claim that the charge succeeded, taking the bridge and over 100 prisoners for no British fatalities.
However, other sources (Barrie Pitt, "1918, The Last Act") suggest that the charge might have ended in costly fiasco, had not the German defenders been simultaneously assaulted from the reas by released British POW's armed only with sticks and stones. In any case, one must wonder what was the supposed purpose of this risky operation, with the War scheduled to finish in 10 minutes, and the German forces obligated to evacuate Belgium anyway. See sources [3] and [4] below.

Answer 2

Ww1 Cavalry

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
When was the last cavalry charge of WW1, When the last in history ?
Following my information the last cavalry charge was done by the Belgians on 19 october 1918 at Burkel in Flanders (http://www.1914-1918.be/insolite_derniere_charge.php). Have there been later on cavalry charges in WW1 ?
When was the very last cavalry charge noted in history ? (some would say...

Answer 4

On 19 September 1918, British infantry, cavalry, and air forces under command of Gen Edmund H. H. “Bull” Allenby stormed through Turkish defenses at the battle of Megiddo. It was one of the greatest exhibitions of mobility and pursuit in the history of World War I. The British missed a rare opportunity to learn what Megiddo might hold for the future of warfare. They focused on the romanticism of the “last cavalry charge” instead of on the efficacy of combined arms operations. The last Cavalry charge in history took place on 23 August 1942, at Izbushensky on the River Don. The Italian Savoia Cavalry Regiment, and consisting of 600 mounted Italian troops, charged against 2,000 Soviet troops. The Italian Lancers destroyed a pair of Soviet Infantry armored vehicles before being forced to withdraw with thirty-two casualties. Reports of Polish cavalry charges against German tanks in 1939 are pure fiction. These stories were reported by the Italian press and used as propaganda by the Germans.

Answer 5

I'd say, the last cavalry charges occurred in 1942... Here are two episodes I am aware of.

On August 23 , 1942, Savoia Cavalleria (Italian cavalry regiment attached to German forces on the Eastern Front), consisting of 600 mounted Italian troops, charged against 2,000 Soviet troops somewhere along the Don River in the South of Russia.

On March 21, 1942, 60 Sikh sowars (Indian cavalry soldiers of the British colonial army) led by Captain Arthur Sandeman attacked Japanese infantry near Toungoo airfield in central Burma by charging through its ranks wielding their sabers.

Answer 6

I remember reading somewhere that there was a cavalry charge an hour before WWI was to end with an armistice, to try to capture a bridge. Could be a myth, don't know where you'd find a source to verify it... unless it's that Belgian one...

You really need to look into the Wikipedia entry on cavalry, there's a lot of interesting stuff there... Sikh cavalry deployed against Japanese Imperial troops, Russian Hussars deployed with Tanks... it suggest the last cavalry charge of any size was as follows:

'The last substantive cavalry charge of the war was probably that made by the Italian regiment Savoia Cavalleria on the Eastern Front and this time the charge was successful since it was against infantry, not armoured vehicles.'

It doesn't give a date for that though...

Later on, the article notes Chinese troops using horses in Vietnam... I'm thinking those probably weren't the kind of cavalry that charged with lances and sabres though...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry#World_War_II

Another site notes US cavalry used in the Phillipines against the Nihongun- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/cavalry-lasts.htm 'The last US Cavalry charge on horseback was by B troop, 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philppine Scouts) supported by Stuart M3 tanks of the 194th Tank Battalion, California National Guard at Lingayen Gulf against the Japanese on December 26th, 1941' Actually, later on, that site gives quite a number of tasty titbits of cavalry information...

Okay, here we go, an article which has the date for that Italian Cavalry charge in it- 23rd August 1942 Again, there's quite a few interesting bits of information in there if you want to know about cavalry 'lasts'...

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-2451.html

Answer 7

I think you are thinking of Austerlitz, where the Poles got creamed by the Russians. The last recognised military charge by mounted cavalry, not just horsemen, or mounted rifles, was at the Charge at Beersheba in WWII

Answer 8

Difficult question.

The last mass calvery charge in the British main army in the european threatre was in fact the infamous charge of the light brigade, 153 years ago. 700 riders charged en mass in the wrong direction. They faced Russian guns on the hills to the left, to the right and straight ahead. There were many casualties.

Cavalry (from French cavalerie) were soldiers or warriors who fought exclusivly mounted on horseback in combat. The designation was not usually extended to any military force that used other animals, such as camels or mules. Infantry who moved on horseback but dismounted to fight on foot were in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries known as dragoons.

While most armies still maintained cavalry units at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, significant mounted action was largely restricted to the Polish and Soviet campaigns.

A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This arose from mis-reporting of a single clash on 1 September near Krojanty, when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabres scattered German infantry before being caught in the open by German armoured cars.

As I said above, a more correct term should be "mounted infantry" instead of "cavalry", as horses were primarily used as a means of transportation, for which they were very suitable in view of the very poor road conditions in pre-war Poland.

Another myth describes Polish cavalry as being armed with both sabres and lances; lances were used for peacetime ceremonial purposes only and the primary weapon of the Polish cavalryman in 1939 was a rifle. Individual equipment did include a sabre, because of tradition. Moreover, the Polish cavalry brigade order of battle of 1939 included, apart from the mounted soldiers themselves, light and heavy machine guns (wheeled), anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon, artillery, light and scout tanks, etc.

The final cavalry charge by British Empire forces occurred on 21 March 1942 when a 60 strong patrol of the Burma Frontier Force encountered Japanese infantry near Toungoo airfield in central Burma. The Sikh sowars of the Frontier Force cavalry, led by Captain Arthur Sandeman, charged in the old style with sabres and most were killed.

The French Army used existing mounted squadrons of Spahis to a limited extent for patrol work during the Algerian War (1954-62) and the Swiss Army maintained a mounted dragoon regiment for combat purposes until 1973. There were reports of Chinese mounted troops in action during frontier clashes with Vietnam in the mid 1970s. But these were all mounted infantrymen.

Thus the last true cavalry charge in a war was probably that made by the Italian regiment Savoia Cavalleria on the Eastern Front and this time the charge was successful since it was against infantry, not armoured vehicles. It took place on 24 August 1942 , when 650 men of the regiment with swords drawn attacked 2,000 well armed Siberian soldiers forcing them to retreat.

Answer 9

Taliban troops are regularly charging British armour on horseback in the present Afghan conflict.