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07 18th, 2009| 
The new serjeant’s pike was nine feet in length with a spear head which screwed into a socket and a cross-piece to prevent the head from penetrating too far signatures of art deco cabinet makers paris . The wooden shaft was painted white in order to show up the polished metal parts antique chinese chicken coop .
The recognition that the sword was now the officer’s primary weapon led to some apparent anxiety as to the suitability of the various regimental patterns, for the General Order which abolished spontoons said that infantry officers were to ‘provide themselves with a strong substantial uniform sword with a straight cut-and-thrust blade, an inch broad at the shoulder and 32 inches long antique bugatti table . The hilt, if not steel, to be either gilt or silver according to the buttons on the uniforms antique collectors .’ In accordance with existing policy all details of design were left to regiments, but the stipulated width at the shoulder ensured a fairly substantial blade 16th century settee .
The period of regimentally designed swords, however, was drawing to an end 1930’s austro-hungarian furniture . The first to be dealt with were the cavalry 19th century regency antique furniture .
By the 1780’s it appears that all Light Dragoon regiments had stirrup hilts to their swords, formed by bending one quillon up to join the pommel, and most blades were curved in varying degrees 18th century cabinets to hold chamber pots . They remained fairly short, for Light Dragoons, unlike the ‘heavies’, wore their swords when dismounted instead of leaving them on the horse french empire desk cabinet maker logo .
Of the heavy cavalry the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons were noted in an Inspection Return of 1777 as having ‘new swords being made’ ant cherry antique dictionary tables . These new swords had half basket-hilts, and were perhaps of similar design to the earlier Dragoon sword already mentioned scottish flame mahogany chest of drawers .
In 1788 a Board of General Officers on the clothing and equipment of the cavalry passed resolutions regarding the swords most suitable for both light and heavy cavalry modern oriental writing bureau .
That in respect of the light cavalry said: `Regimental swords and sabres for Light Dragoons veneer inlay 1940 bedroom set antique . The hilt to be of the same form as used by the Light Dragoons and to be 5 ins antique centre table with caryatid legs . long in the grip antique center tables . The blade to be 36 ins king george drop leaf gateleg table . long and the curve in the centre to be i I ins john toulouse porcelain modeller . from the straight line antique austria 1855 - 1953 statues . The breadth to be i-j- ins george i folding card table antique . long in the shoulder antique drop leaf table federal period . The blade to be I ins antique silver gravy boat . thick and to finish about II ins circular glass pedestal dining table . from the point rectangular drop leaf sofa table . Officers’ swords for all the regiments of cavalry to be uniform with those of the men 1918 1940 usa design trends creators raymond loewy .’
For the heavy cavalry the resolution was:
`That the hilts of the swords of the regiments of Dragoon Guards and Dragoons be half basket, the same as those of the 6th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Dragoons cabriole in architecture . The grip from the guard to the point of the button to be 7-r8x in antique tea kettle . The blade to be 3 ft double gate drop leaf table antique . 9 in english ironstone potteries ltd . long from the guard to the point meissen kandler . The breadth of the blade at the shoulder to be 1 5/12 in oak chamber pot chair ., and the back to be
in recognizing antiques pembroke table . thick and to finish about 14 in lovers on a swing’ meissen porcelain . from the point “antique sheffield silver dresser” .’
This was the first time that such detailed specifications had been drawn up for the swords of the Army serving epergne . There was little, if any, room for regimental variation, and even the officers’ swords had to conform to the official pattern silver forks made in italy . The most striking feature was the very great length of the-heavy cavalry sword antique music cabinete with mirror at the top .
On the 14th November 1796 a Royal Warrant was issued which contained regulations governing the design and pattern of the swords of the cavalry; and in the same year a General Order gave instructions regarding the swords to be worn by officers of the infantry irish, intricately carved lion paw, oak dining table, 1800’s, 6 leafs . Thus for the first time there were official patterns for practically all personal weapons in the Army fiddleback walnut .
The new infantry officer’s sword was described in the General Order as follows:
`The sword to have a brass guard, pommel and shell gilt with gold and the grip or handle of silver twisted wire antique english ironstone . The blade to be straight and made to cut and thrust; to be at least i in 1920s and 1930s hand painted enamel posters . broad at the shoulder and 32 in example of 18th century wooden handle silverware . in length conformable to former orders given in 178′6 types of timepieces in ancient times with pictures of it .’
Thus the dimensions of the blade ordered in, 1786 were retained, but the design of the hilt was also now governed by a regulation cylindrical crock eared handles cobalt blue . The General Order was probably accompanied by a drawing, for precisely the same pattern of hilt was common to all the regiments of Foot antique furniture marks . It had a flat ’shell’, or plate, at the top of the blade, with a heart-shaped indentation at front and rear are mahogany drum tables in demand . On the underneath side of the plate ornamental decoration connected the two indentations and surrounded the blade antique dresser teardrop mirror . From the rear indentation protruded the stump of
• quillon terminating in an acorn muller freres chandelier . From the front indentation
• single-bar popular antique american earthenware brown . knuckle guard rose in a curve to the base of the pommel old fashioned dutch dining tables . The pommel was urn-shaped antique sofas 1920 . Round the knuckle guard was twisted a crimson and gold sword-knot, ending in a tassel knife urns .
Old habits, however, died hard antique golden oak drop leaf table . Whilst in general the orders were adhered to, a practice arose in some regiments of wearing sabres, or swords with curved blades american empire sofa . In most regiments it became the custom for officers in Light companies to wear sabres fitted with a form of the Light Dragoon stirrup hilt antique table turned feet . So general did this practice become that by r 81 5 it seems to have been recognized, perhaps unofficially, by the Authorities verlys holophane .
The Warrant of 1796 directed that for the heavy cavalry:
`A new sword 35 in, long in the blade is to be substituted in lieu of that now in use, having been found unmanageable owing to the length of the blade and the weight of the hilt “u shaped” coffee table mahogany . The rivet which fixes the*back of the hilt to the middle of the handle to go through the shank of the blade and the back to be well rivetted near the guard directoire napoleon furniture . The shank of the blade to be large and the top of the scabbard to be made to take off for the easier replacing of the same value of iron table lamp made in 1940’s .
The instruction does not contain many details of the sword, but again it was probably supported by a drawing harlequin pattern period furniture . This was almost certainly the heavy cavalry sword which was used throughout the Napoleonic wars, since there is no evidence of any other pattern being introduced before 1822 antique alcove sofa . The hilt of this weapon was of steel and consisted of a flat disc which was pierced with holes, with a short projection at the rear, and the front tapering to a knuckle guard which was curved to the pommel cantagalli marks . It was an ugly design black desk curved legs . The blade was peculiar in that it finished in a hatchet point and could thus only be used for cutting viennese chairs . On the whole this was probably the worst sword which was ever issued to the British Army 18th century horoldt augsburg vases . Even the allegedly unmanageable weapon which it replaced at least gave far better protection to the hand and could be used for thrusting william hogarth + nicholas sprimont .
If the heavy cavalry sword was the worst the Army ever had, the light cavalry sword was almost certainly the best rectangular drop leaf 5 leg dining table with 4 leaves . The Royal Warrant retained the pattern recommended by the Board of General Officers in 1788, but shortened the blade by some three inches florals in british furniture . It was described as: ‘A sabre to be of the pattern last approved by Us and the length of the blade to be 321 ins art deco regency mahogony . or 33 ins scandinavian aesthetic . measured in a straight line from the hilt to the point but not to exceed the latter measurement’ scottish chest drawers . With the shorter length, of course, the same deviation from, the straight line would result in the blade having a more pronounced curve than the 1788 pattern yabu fruit .
This light cavalry sabre was intended for both cutting and thrusting; but it was as a cutting weapon that it was preeminent, and easily the best in any army throughout -the Napoleonic wars antiques, louis xiv china . The relative merits of cutting and thrusting have been fiercely argued throughout most of the history of the British Army, and sometimes the desire to produce a weapon which will be equally good at both has led to a compromise design which has been satisfactory for neither gilded console table . At •the end of the eighteenth century military opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of cutting, and hence the light cavalry sabre was a cutting sword with thrusting as a secondary task copeland parian busts and figures . The Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise, issued from the Adjutant-General’s Office on the 1st December 1796, the same year as the introduction of the new sabre, was based on it and feature it in all the illustrations art deco burr walnut - antiques . The merits and uses of cutting and thrusting are explained clearly in its pages, as the following extracts show antiques antique oak sideboards dutch style .
`CUTS two tier table .
TiiERE are only six ways of directing the edge of the blade; therefore the different parts of the body, which may be exposed by the unskilfulness of a swordsman, are not to be (erroneously) conceived as admitting of so many distinct Cuts french furniture dorset . The action of the wrist and shoulder alone, directs the blade; and they admit but of six movements,- from which every cut is derived, wherever may be its particular application to the body victorian gate leg pine table . Of the six cuts, four are made in diagonal directions, and two horizontally: the whole are equally applicable against cavalry, and may be directed on either side of the horse, but their application must depend on the openings given by the adversary, and be regulated by judgement, and experience in the use of the weapon old english table leg shapes pictures .
`To make a Cut with effect, and at the same time without exposing the person, there are two points which principally demand attention yabu furniture . The first is, to acquire a facility in giving motion to the arm by means of the wrist and shoulder without bending the elbow; for in bending the elbow, the sword arm is exposed; a circumstance of which the opponent will ever be ready to take his advantage, as a cut in that quarter may be made with great security; and if it be well directed, with the most fatal effect, as it at once decides the issue of the contest interior design drawing room . thomas sheraton kidney shaped desk . set of 12 disciples silver spoon collection . jean luce arzberg china .
`From -want of habit in the exercise of the wrist in the common occupations of life, the weight of tjie sword will at first be found extremely irksome mayhew and ince tripod table . The action of the arm bears no comparison with that quickness of which the wrist is susceptible; for the motions of the arm are so wide and circuitous, that they are easily counteracted “empire designer, best known for pedestal tables with curved legs . antique occasional table pie crust top . drawing furniture by michael thonet . 0
`The PoiNT antique cedar drop leaf table .
`Ti-rE thrust has only one mode of execution, whether applied to cavalry, or infantry: but a greater degree of caution is required in its application against cavalry than against infantry; for if the point is parried, the adversary’s blade gets within your guard, which is not to be recovered again in time, as with a small sword; the weapon being too heavy to be managed with the requisite degree of quickness; for which reason the point should seldom or never be given in the attack, but be principally confined to the pursuit, when it can be applied with effect and without risk english ladys writing desk spiral legs .
, The case is different in acting against infantry, as the persons against whom you then direct your point, are so much below your own level, that the weight of your sword is not felt; consequently it is managed with greater facility than with an extended arm carried above the level of the shoulder 16th century antique chests . Therefore in many instances against infantry, the point may be used with as much effect as the edge, and with the same degree of security 1820 antique empire mahogany dining table .
`The CUT pictures of porcelain furniture . space saving rectangular drop leaf tables . frenchswiss antique pocket watches . against INFANTRY finmar desk .
`A person on horseback is elevated so much above those acting on foot, that it is necessary for him to bend his elbow, in order to take a sweep to give his cut with effect: and this may be securely done, as,the sword arm is not exposed in the contest gustav klimt porcelain .’
[Some of the comments in the Rules and Regulations on cutting with the sword point to some of the factors which have to be considered in design monastery credence tables .>
`Let the blade be sharpened six inches to the point, in order that you may be able to apply it with effect, and without this precaution, it may be difficult to judge how far the edge is carried correctly for sale louis 16th walnut sideboard cabinet .
`It should be remembered that little force is requisite to produce effect from the application of the edge, if conducted with skill, and that whether with a straight sword or scymitar blade, no cut can be made with effect or security, where the -weapon does not at once free itself from the object to which it is applied; otherwise it must turn in the hand, and give a contusion rather than a cut; for which reason those wounds are most severe, which are made nearest to the point collectors wooden racks for spoons austria . A swordsman cannot therefore be too accurate in judging the distance within the reach of his weapon, which alone can be done by habit and strict attention walnut entryway console table with mirror .
`With a scymitar not more than four or five inches of the point should meet your adversary, and still less with a straight blade, whose construction is by no means so well calculated for extricating itself furniture chests on long legs .
FIREARMS IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS
The British infantry entered the long struggle with Revolutionary France armed with the old Brown Bess musket empire gateleg table . It was used exclusively in the first campaigns, and was probably regarded as highly as both of its nominal successors during the whole war deco chair dressing walnut .
In 1794 a replacement appeared in the form of the India Pattern musket with a universal barrel length of thirty-nine inches barley twist english antique writing desk . This was the standard firearm of the East India Company, and was by no means a new weapon construction of antique teaspoons . It was issued to the Company’s European and Native infantry, and possibly, since it differed from Brown Bess in only minor details, to some of the King’s troops in India rousseau shagreen . In fact, it is very likely that it was not a replacement in the ordinary sense of the word at all but was issued because there were few Brown Bess muskets left in the Tower armouries, whilst comparatively large stocks of the India Pattern muskets were available was there a change in arts in italy between 1920 and 1940 . This supposition is to a certain extent supported by a letter written to William Wilberforce by Lord Chatham, then Master-General of the Ordnance, in September 1803, when war had broken out anew with France vintage pembroke dining table . According to Lord Chatham, after the restoration of peace by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, he had tried to restock the armouries with an improved pattern of ‘the old Tower musquet which our troops used to have’; but that because of ‘the naked state of our arsenals’ he had been forced to accept the manufacture of an inferior weapon brass iron half tester bed side curtains . The inferior weapon was presumably the india 18th century german bookcase . Pattern Musket which could be manufactured comparatively quickly cooking utensils from britain . The new and improved weapon of i8o2 will be mentioned later meuble d’appui value . The ‘old Tower musquet’ was of course Brown Bess ivory handle sheffield flatware antique .
Lord Chatham’s letter goes on to show how he had nearly surmounted the difficulties connected with the supply of the new musket, when war started afresh and he was faced with `this sudden and unprecedented demand for arms’ silver soup terrine makers . He continues:
`Had it not been with a view to improvement, and intending gradually to dispose of those of inferior quality through the medium of the India Company, we should not have been, previous to the war breaking out [again>, carrying on any manufacture of aims, our arsenals being overflowing, calculating on the extended scale the Department has ever been called upon to furnish 1685 bookcase . I have, however, in consequence of the extraordinary calls of the present crisis, determined to use every effort to meet it, and directions have been given to the Board of Ordnance to revert to the same arm as was made the last war U value of gateleg tables .e antique dressers yorkshire . before the short peace of 1802>, and to manufacture to the utmost possible extent the musquets of the India pattern 19th century antique furniture . You will easily believe I must have felt some reluctance in being obliged to take this step after all the pains I have bestowed, but I hope I have judged for the best 19th century american furniture . I have great satisfaction in thinking that the stock of arms we possess will enable us in the first instance to arm to a considerable extent perhaps all that is really useful, and- as arms come in, which with the exertions of the manufacturers they will do quickly, and with the aid of what we expect from abroad, the remainder will be provided before long antique cutlery whalebone . We have already one hundred thousand pikes, and can increase them rapidly, but in general there is an indisposition to take them occasional tables painted india . I should like much how much is a claw foot table worth .to talk over with you not only the subject of arms, but the whole question of volunteering, which I contemplate as a most serious one scottish chest .’
What this rather long-winded letter amounted to was that Lord Chatham had thought the peace was a genuine one and had been caught badly unprepared british vernacular . It looks as if he had gone rapidly ahead with his plans for disposing of worn-out and inferior arms to the East India Company, so fast in fact that he had been unable to await the improved musket he wanted joubert furniture maker 19th century . War had then broken out afresh, and in desperation he had ordered concentration on the manufacture of the India Pattern musket, for which -a 11 the gunmakers to the Government already had the specifications and tooling 19th century lacquered cabinet with paintings . Meanwhile he consoled himself with his large stock of pikes, and was apparently surprised at encounterincr the same lack of enthusiasm
encountering
for this weapon as a substitute for firearms, as a similar offer met some 137 years later marquetry patterns flower . It is little wonder that volunteering appeared a serious question gothic revival furnature with lions .
The result of Chatham’s action was that all the troops proceeding overseas were equipped either with Brown Bess or the India Pattern musket, the latter having a 39-inch barrel goldscheider polished stoneware germany . In addition, new India muskets were issued to all the Militia regiments german antiques furniture .
The new infantry arm of i 8o2, the plans for which had been disrupted by the reopening of hostilities, was very similar in appearance to Nock’s experimental musket of r785, and was obviously derived from it paper mache tray india . -It was produced with three different lengths of barrel porcelan rococo teapot victorian photo . The longest was forty-two inches, the standard Brown Bess length, and was intended for all the Foot except the Light Infantry: the Light Infantry, traditionally now, had a 39-inch barrel; and there was a much shorter barrel of thirty-three inches for-the Artillery musket antique armchair ardwood anglo . The bayonet had the usual socket fitting and the standard 17-inch blade antique oval tea table .
ARMOURED BALANCE IN 1939 BEFORE WWII
German, French, British, Americand and Russian Tanks and Weapons Before WWII in 1939
The tank was to be decisive in the coming campaign.
But the Germans did not have more or even markedly
better tanks than the Allies. They just used
them more imaginatively
Although the end of the First World War in November 1918 seemed outwardly to symbolise an Allied victory and total defeat for the German army, it did not in fact reflect the real balance of fighting power at the front nor illustrate the state which the revolution in warfare had reached. For in the last months of that war the Germans were still retiring in good order towards their homeland. Indeed they were beginning to stabilise the front as the offensive power of the Allied armies declined as a result of their losses and of the difficulties they were experiencing in maintaining men and material at increasing distances from their bases. Indeed, it was becoming progressively harder to drive the war-winning weapons –artillery and tanks –to the front, and there maintain them to fight in mass. And without their presence a relatively thin screen of machine-gunners could delay and hold up infantry and cavalry for sufficiently long to enable successive lines of defence to be prepared in the rear. By the beginning of November 1918, the Allied progress was getting slower and more feeble.
Yet the turning point had come in August and September when the defeats inflicted on the Germans signalised the failure of their own offensive, and underlined the war-weariness of the nation and army. The most decisive of these defeats occurred at Amiens on August 8, 1918, when 430 British tanks –in conjunction with cavalry and infantry –broke through the German lines, and thus convinced General Ludendorff, the controller of the German military machine, that the war had to be ended. The British tanks, fighting in close co-operation with the cavalry and infantry, did not penetrate much deeper than the forward German defences, but their employment in such numbers, carrying them forward 5 miles in one day, administered a shock to the German soldiers and their leader from which they did not fully recover.
The tanks of 1918 were neither fast enough nor sufficiently reliable to break through the enemy lines and then penetrate
deep into his rearmost tactical areas. But the tanks under construction for use in 1919 were meant to be capable of doing this very thing, and the Allied plans for that year were based on this kind of strategy. Against these new, faster, and more reliable machines, the Germans would have only been able to deploy conventional artillery, a number of inefficient light anti-tank rifles, and a few clumsy tanks of their own.
For Ludendorff had rejected tanks, thinking it unlikely that the early, slow, clumsy vehicles would ever become viable weapons of war. Anyway, when given new machines, armies take a long time to acquire the techniques necessary to keep them running and to use them to their best effect, so the lead which the Allies had built in two years could not be overtaken in a few months.
Atrophy
Thus the First World War ended at a moment when victory in the field was not clear-cut and its causes not sharply delineated. Many Germans were in no doubt that the surprise use of tanks, in large numbers in the least-expected sectors, had been a paramount factor in their defeat. General von Kuhl, who had been a staff officer in the army group attacked and defeated at Amiens, wrote ten years after the event that, in achieving surprise, the most important and decisive factor had been the tanks.
But the Allies were not similarly convinced and, gripped by inertia linked to their own war-weariness, were content to allow their military thinking to atrophy after 1918. As for the French, for over 20 years they persisted in a policy that compelled tanks to act merely as an adjunct to infantry on the one hand, and as a substitute for cavalry in the scouting role on the other. They envisaged all offensive operations taking place in a manner similar to those of 1918, and so locked themselves behind the fortifications of the Maginot Line, developing a purely defensive mentality. They could not believe that a war of manoeuvre fought by tank
armies would take place on their soil. Their tanks were therefore organised into battalions, the bulk of them (33 of between 45 and 60 tanks each) ordained to work in small groups in conjunction with infantry divisions.
The experiments carried out by the French army, starting in 1932, were based on their existing cavalry divisions. There evolved from these experiments three light mechanised divisions –with a fourth being formed in May 1940–each with 220 tanks, armoured cars, and a brigade of infantry. But this well-balanced force the French threatened to squander because the old cavalry doctrine dictated that it should be employed as a dispersed screen, or advance guard, ahead of the Allied armies when these advanced beyond the frontier to meet the Germans in Belgium.
After the destruction of the Polish army in September 1939, largely as the result of action by German tanks in conjunction with aircraft, the French hastily began to form four new tank divisions in which the machines were heavy ones and the infantry few in proportion to tanks. These were still not proper armoured divisions: their envisaged role was to breach a front through which other conventional formations could pass. They were thus merely an extension of the policy which tied tanks to infantry, and were not conceived as a balanced formation capable of driving deep into the enemy rear to strike at his nerve centres and his supplies–the very heart of his war-making capacity.
The British did not suffer from the same stagnation as the French, but in 1918 the nation that told itself that it had won the war, also persuaded itself that it could rest on its laurels. The heavy losses of tanks in the last few months of the First World War made a case for those who argued that the machine could not replace the horse as the agent of the decisive, mobile arm; the sentiment generated by a lifetime’s comradeship with the horse was strong–and so rejected change. Moreover, the formidable bills incurred in the manufacture and running of tanks, when presented to taxpayers who had had enough of war, were striking deterrents to new construction and expansion.
The ‘Tank Idea’
Nevertheless, real progress was made in Britain. The discovery that tanks and armoured cars offered a cheaper and better way of policing the more turbulent parts of the Empire encouraged experiment. And the persistence of a few enthusiasts projected the ‘Tank Idea’ as an element in warfare that intruded beyond the tactical battle into the realms of strategic decision. The names of Captain Liddell Hart, Generals Fuller, Lindsay, Broad, Pile, Hobart, and Martel appear at the head of the short list of pioneers who envisaged armoured forces becoming the decisive element in war, as well as being a straightforward economy of force when compared with the old horse and foot armies.
These men designed and trained tank units and formations that were unique both in their concept and technical proficiency. By the end of 1934, Hobart, as commander of the 1st Tank Brigade, had conclusively underlined what Broad and Pile had demonstrated in earlier years, namely that a mobile tank force could out-manoeuvre conventional forces by advances of prodigious length. And they showed that tanks could dominate the infantry of the day. These men were not dreamers. They were practical soldiers who based their judgements on the bitter experience gained by witnessing four years of slaughter during the First World War. They were often impatient with those who could not or would not understand, and who, by their slowness of mind, could not keep up with the pace demanded by mechanised forces.
Hobart, above all, with a ruthless driving force that he used to push his ideas ahead, would not permit the speed demanded by tank action to be slowed down by artillery, cavalry, and infantry units that were unable to keep up with his machines and their tempo of operation. By his requests for outstanding efficiency and speed, he frightened his more conventionally minded colleagues.
Eventually, there came about a reaction, accusing Hobart of demanding an all-tank army to the exclusion of the traditional arms. This was not entirely justified, since Hobart and his staff are clearly on record as having said they wanted infantry and artillery suitably mounted in armoured vehicles to go with their tanks; but the impression had been given they wanted an army based on armour, and the forces of reaction were quick to seize on this for use as a brake on the progress of the tank enthusiasts.
The traditionalists were also successful in acquiring political support; the Financial Secretary to the War Office, Duff Cooper,
stated in Parliament in 1934: ‘The more I study them [military affairs] the more I become impressed by the importance of [horsed] cavalry in modern warfare.’ In 1935 Duff Cooper became Secretary of State for War.
The traditionalists also insisted that some tanks should be designed and set aside for work in conjunction with the infantry, rather in the manner of the French. Thus Britain began to develop armoured forces of two kinds: the fast moving, all-arms groups, that were the genesis of future armoured divisions; and tank battalions designed for infantry work, equipped with so-called `I’ tanks.
But by investigating the entirely new problems inherent in mechanised forces, the British did train a small cadre of experts whose knowledge and experience were to be invaluable when war, and the need to expand, came. On the other hand, when at last, and too late, it was decided in 1937 to give tanks to a large number of cavalry regiments —instead of expanding the existing Tank Corps — another temporary brake was placed on improvements in quantity and quality at a moment when time was short in the race to catch up with German rearmament. Thus only a small proportion of the British tank units that went to war in May 1940 were experienced and imbued with an insight into mechanised warfare.
Of the British armoured forces ready for action in Europe in May 1940, there was only one armoured division and this was still training in England. In France there was a formation known as the 1st Army Tank Brigade comprising two battalions of the new ‘1′ tanks designed for close co-operation with the infantry. Of these units —the 4th and 7th Battalions, Royal Tank Regiment—the latter arrived in France on May 1 and was not as well-trained as the 4th. In addition there were with the BEF seven cavalry light armoured regiments mounted in light tanks: Their tasks of reconnaissance and co-operation with the infantry divisions were akin to the traditional cavalry role.
German enthusiasm
The restraints imposed on the French and British after 1918 were totally different from those imposed on the Germans. Because the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to have her own tanks, she was reduced to carrying out a few sporadic and subversive experiments, mostly under cover in Russia. But because the Germans had been defeated, as they thought, by the tank as much as any other weapon, they were more anxious than anything else to acquire knowledge of mechanised armoured forces. The same traditional reactions that beset the British innovators held back the progressive German soldiers too, but with the advent of Hitler the political atmosphere became the reverse of Britain’s.
As he cast aside the restrictions of Versailles, Hitler gave his enthusiastic backing to the soldiers whose ideas and experience were devoted to tanks. Those generals who had been associated with the early tank investigations — Guderian, Thoma, Lutz, Brauchitsch, Blomberg, and Reichenauwere now brought to the fore.
These men possessed imagination and insight, the appreciation of the strategic and psychological effect of deep thrusts, and the zest for speed and decision demanded by the nature of armoured operations. They were unanimous and generous in their acknowledgement of the profit they gained after studying, and often copying, the British experiments (Guderian is said to have toasted Hobart’s name in champagne after a successful German tank exercise before the war). They paid little attention to the French—not even to de Gaulle, who had published a short work on the ‘Army of the Future’. As a result, by 1936 the Germans were catching up fast in numbers and quality of machines, and had taken a clear lead in organisation and application over the British and the French, who two years before had been ahead in every department of armoured warfare.
