SS Cavalry question

Bratwurst Boy · Post by **Bratwurst Boy** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:30 am

Did SS cavalry (or indeed Wehrmacht cavalry?) ever fight from horseback, or was the horse used purely as a means of transport?

Doktor Krollspell · Post by **Doktor Krollspell** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:10 pm

Hello Bratwurst Boy and welcome to Feldgrau!

No charges à la the Light Brigade as far as I'm aware of. At least not agains any kind of regular enemy forces at the frontlines and on the battlefields. Then again, several cavalry units (especially in the Waffen-SS) where empoyed as rear-guard security forces and extensivly used in anti-partisan operations and also in action agains civilian targets.

See the following link to a discussion on Fegelein and the Florian Geyer Division...

http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... t=fegelein

Regards,

Krollspell

Njorl · Post by **Njorl** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:57 pm

Doktor Krollspell wrote:No charges à la the Light Brigade as far as I'm aware of. At least not agains any kind of regular enemy forces at the frontlines and on the battlefields.

On contrary, I know of one such engagement. Described as a classic, if I may say, including melee with white edged weapons while mounted

. It took place in the beginning of September 1939 between subunit of 1st Cavalry Brigade (East-Prussian IIRC) and some Polish cavalry unit (most probably a squadron of some cavalry brigade). I would have to look it up in a book though to find when and where it happened.

Cheers

Doktor Krollspell · Post by **Doktor Krollspell** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 2:06 pm

Hello Njorl!

That sounds very interesting indeed. I would really like to read some more detailed account of this melee and some sources to go with it... When it comes to the subject of classical cavalry charges/action and the German-Polish war in 1939, there seem to be some, almost mythical anecdotes.

Regards,

Krollspell

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:26 pm

Yep, I've heard over the years the comment "the last recorded cavalry charge in history" bandied around about almost every single war or police action of the 20th century LMAO

Tom Houlihan · Post by **Tom Houlihan** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:39 pm

Well, if we can get proof of some sort of mounted cavalry engagement, it will give new life to all those 1/35 cavalry figures!

Jan-Hendrik · Post by **Jan-Hendrik** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:59 pm

IMHO the last mounted cavalery attack was in August or september 1944 near Marki ( northeast of Warschau ) by a few squadrns of hungarian 1st Husarendiv. !They rode down their enemy in the early morning as the red Army was about to gather for an attack on Marki .

Jan-Hendrik

Paulus II · Post by **Paulus II** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:09 am

The Hungarian charge at Marki is also the last one that I ever read about.
Didn't some of the Cossacks in Wehrmacht (or SS?) service carry out a charge in 1942/3. I seem to remember a picture of that event though it may well have been a propaganda item

Regards,

Paul

Njorl · Post by **Njorl** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:26 am

Found it.

Place: Krasnobród (SE Poland, halfway between Lublin and Lvov)
Date: morning, September 23rd, 1939
Polish unit: 1st squadron of 25th Uhlans/Lancers Regiment, Novogrodian Cavalry Brigade;
German unit: some subunit of 22nd Bambergian Cavalry Regiment - as my source says; it may have been 22 Reiterei-Regiment of 1st Cavalry Brigade (checked on lexikon-der-wehrmacht site).

I'll post the passage from my book later on.

Cheers

sid guttridge · Post by **sid guttridge** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:55 am

Hi Guys,

Mounted charges took place in several conflicts after WWII. The last I know of under British jurisdiction took place in Rhodesia in the Mtoko Commercial Farming Area in late December 1979! There were later ones in Afghanistan.

Cheers,

Sid.

kingtiger88 · Post by **kingtiger88** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:59 am

The last cavalry charge was by the KKK (Kalmyken Kavallerie Korps) on 17 Jan 1945 near Kielce in Poland against the Red Army. These minority Russians were under the payroll of the Wehrmacht. Needless to say, the charge was decimated at that stage and the KKK totally wiped out. After this the survivors were disbanded by the Wehrmacht and sent to join the ROA.

source-'The East came west', edited by Antonio J Munoz

Tom Houlihan · Post by **Tom Houlihan** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:02 am

Talk about timing! I just read the posts wherein RC and DCC argue about the cause of the US Civil War, when I opened this thread, and found:

The last cavalry charge was by the KKK...

I almost choked!

Commissar D, the Evil · Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:52 am

Doesn't surprise me. Alabama, 1964, right?!

Best,
~D, the EviL

Rolf Steiner · Post by **Rolf Steiner** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:01 pm

must've been hell on those robes!

Rajin Cajun · Post by **Rajin Cajun** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:19 pm

Funny since the KKK was a Confederate Calvary Fraternity before it evolved into the hate organization we all know and hate today.