Composition and structure
- Headquarters and Machine Gun Section of two guns: 8 officers and 67 men
- Three Squadrons, each of: 6 officers and 152 men; each Squadron organised into three Troops
- Total for the regiment: 26 officers and 523 men
Transport
- Headquarters and Machine Gun Section of two guns: 2 two-horsed carts plus 7 four-horsed wagons plus 3 bicycles
- Three Squadrons, each of: 3 four-horsed wagons pls 4 bicycles
- Total for the regiment: 2 two-horsed carts plus 16 four-horsed wagons plus 18 bicycles
Road space
- Headquarters: 50 yards for fighting portion plus 115 yards for first-line transport
- Machine Gun section of two guns: 40 yards fighting portion plus 80 yards for first-line transport
- Each Squadron: 160 yards for fighting portion plus 95 yards for first-line transport
- Total for the regiment: 570 yards for fighting portion plus 480 yards for first-line transport
The realities of dismounted work
The early work of a war of movement had come to an end by October 1914 and the cavalry often found themselves deployed as emergency infantry.
“If the cavalry are to be used as infantry, or in trench work, it is being uselessly frittered away and as it is the most exensive arm, it is a useless extravagance to waste it.
A squadron consists, roughly on service, of 120 men: on dismounting the Number 3’s are left as horse-holders. This means 25% of the strength, or about 30-35 men. Thus a strong squadron can only supply from 75-80 rifles in the firing line. Thus a regiment of three squadrons can supply from 220-240, which is only what one double company in the infantry can supply. Hence the entire brigade can only supply about 700 rifles at the maximim.
Thus our entire cavalry brigade can only supply about two-thirds the number of men in a firing line that one infantry battalion can.”
Captain Sir Morgan George Crofton of the 2nd Life Guards, in “Ypres Diary 1914-1915: the memoirs of Sir Morgan Crofton” edited by Gavin Roynon (The History Press 2004). Extract from his diary entry of 17 December 1914.
