Talk:British cavalry during the First World War
 | British cavalry during the First World War has been listed as one of the Warfare good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. | |||||||||
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 | A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on October 19, 2012. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that on 22 August 1914, a British cavalryman in the Great War fired in anger during combat, the first time that had happened on mainland Europe since the Battle of Waterloo 99 years earlier? | |||||||||
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First shots fired by Britain on European mainland since Waterloo? edit
Should reliable sources be cited even when they are clearly in error? The Crimean Peninsula, though perhaps not the right-and-proper "Old Europe", is geographically mainland Europe. (This is without mentioning fringe cases of British soldiers who were 'officially' not soldiers.) Albrecht (talk) 14:25, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
I don't think it would even be a correct "fact" if the Crimea were outside Europe. There was fighting after Waterloo finished, and I'd take some persuading that at least one British soldier didn't shoot at a Frenchman.
Factual error edit
Footnote 2 states: By comparison the Imperial German Army had 102 cavalry regiments in 1914. The correct figues is 110 regiments in peace time, plus more formed on mobilisation. See German cavalry in World War I#Pre-war Hamish59 (talk) 16:18, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
- I don't see it as an error only that sources differ and several of those regiment were part of the Bavarian Army. The Jäger (military) regiments were normally classed as light infantry, with a brigade per German cavalry division. Anyway changed the text to over 102 regiments.Jim Sweeney (talk) 07:19, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
- I think that "over 100 regiments" is better. Jim, you make a number of points. If I can take these in order
- 1) If it is a question of sources, then can I point to
- Cron, Hermann (2002). Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co. ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993). The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 1-85410-766-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996). The World War One Source Book. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-351-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - The German Forces in the Field; 7th Revision, 11th November 1918; Compiled by the General Staff, War Office. Imperial War Museum, London and The Battery Press, Inc (1995). 1918. ISBN 1-870423-95-X.
- 2) Yes, the Bavarian Army retained certain privledges, but nevertheless came under Imperial control in war time Bavarian_Army#1871–1918: The German Empire including its 12 cavalry regiments.
- 3) The Jäger (military) regiments were normally classed as light infantry, with a brigade per German cavalry division. Yes, Jäger were light infantry, not to be confued with Jäger zu Pferde. Jäger Battalions were attached to German cavalry divisions / cavalry corps on mobilisation, though I would not say a brigade per German cavalry division.
Yeomanry edit
Lede section states ... the only other theatre of the First World War where British cavalry served. Don't Yeomanry count as cavalry, then? Yeomanry served in Gallipoli Campaign, Sinai and Palestine Campaign and Macedonian front as full regiments, plus divisional cavalry squadrons in Italian Campaign (World War I). Hamish59 (talk) 16:39, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
- Read on its explained. Jim Sweeney (talk) 18:04, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
British cavalry during the First World War edit
Re: the third paragraph- Plenty of sentence fragments! Also: ..."During which over 5,600 cavalrymen were killed..." Where? Western front? Mesopotamia campaign? Both? Gimelgort 23:14, 19 October 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gimelgort (talk • contribs)
A ‘Good’ article? edit
I'm not sure that I agree with the rating of this article as ‘good’ . As well as the specific shortcomings listed above, the article has no introduction, but piles into random trivia in a long and baggy first section. It needs some major surgery ... maybe I'll find time when I've finished other projects, but I'm really no expert on cavalry at all. Wally Tharg (talk) 20:17, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
I agree, I just finished reading "Tommy" by Richard Holmes and he dug into the myth that the leadership of the British Army was Cavalrymen (and that their use was non-existant after the start of the war. When I get some time I'll fix up some of this article. IlluminatiRex (talk) 14:40, 4 April 2017 (UTC)