horse mounted cavalry in modern armies

[ChrisF202]

Are there any countries that maintain horse mounted cavalry units for combat purposes? I am aware of the Household Cavalry in the British Army or Presidential Bodyguard in the Indian Army but im talking combat oriented rather then ceremonial.

[xinhui]

PLA has 2 battalions of cav in service with Xinjing MD.

Also, number of frontier guard companies are issued horse/mule for transportation roles especally in Tibet.

[xinhui]

PAP (people's armed police) have cav sqd (see attach photo) but they are not PLA and have a completely different chain of command and funding source.

[RustyBattleship]

In the war against El Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, Afghans (on our side) would charge T-55 tanks on horses. There philosophy was that some of them would be taken out from the first shots from the tanks. But the rest of them would be all over the turrets before they could reload.

Sort of reminds me of an old Western movie. The hero was in the back of a wagon with an early Browning or Maxim machine gun. They were galloping like the dickens with about a dozen bad guys chasing them on horse back.

He opened fire and laid a stream of bullets into the dirt road in front of the bad guys who turned and retreated. Later, when everything was settled he was asked why he didn't cut down the entire group.

He answered, "I didn't want to hit the horses."

[Guest]

Special Forces and CIA operatives also fought on horseback in support of the Afghans as well. Even today the Marines and some special ops units are using mules to carry supplies in the mountains.

[Feanor]

Some Russian Army Border Guard units stationed int he far east or Siberia use horses for transportation. It's usually not part of their official equipment but it is not uncommon for officers, or even regular soldiers, to own a horse.

However I would imagine this is simply because the roads are too pooor for regular rcars, and using military vehicles for personal transportation is rather illegal.

[zraver]

Before the US pulled out of the Phillipines the US Military used horse mounted patrols to guard against rebel inflitration.

On a side note, in this age of precision guided missiels that can strike from thousands of Km away, we are still less than 70 years removed form the last use of the mounted lancer in combat, and less than 100 years removed from the last large scale use of Lancers in the Western world.

[-{SpoonmaN}-]

Yeah I believe it's not unusual for Armies in Jungle and mountain areas to use mules and other pack animals, I think some of the equipment used by Brazilian Jungle Warfare Troops has been designed to be broken down and carried by pack animals.

[globaltracker]

BSF (Border security force) in Rajastan are camel mounted para-military force.

[ChrisF202]

Thanks guys; I looked around some of my books and I found some interesting info:

- the Mexican Army maintained horse mounted cavalry for combat purposes until the early 1990s when the last horse cavalry were converted to armored forces except for 1 squadron for ceremonial duties.

- the Swiss Army had a horse mounted dragoon regiment until 1973.

- The Portuguese Army used horse cavalry in Angola and Mozambique in the 1960s and 70s ... with a very good success ratio compared to the heliborne and mechanized infantry units.

- the US Army's last horse mounted cavalry charge took place in 1942 in the Philippines when the 26th Cavalry charged Japanese forces on horseback and actually routed the Japanese giving us a several hour period to build up our forces on Bataan. The last horse cavalry in the US Army were not converted to armored/mechanized/heliborne infantry until 1955 when the US Constabulary was disbanded. We still maintain a horse mounted squadron attached to the 1st Cavalry Division HQ command for ceremonial/educational purposes as well as a smaller detachment assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment.

I also found a neat Osprey magazine issue which deals with this. Ill try and scan the article and I will post it.

[-{SpoonmaN}-]

lol, the Swiss Army are only starting to get out of their 19th century Militia mentality now. It wasn't until the late 1990s that they finally got rid of their carrier pidgeon and bicycle infantry units.

[JAD_333]

globetracker:

Stunning photo of camel corps on parade. Where is that? And how the hell do they keep so many camels marching together in such perfect order? jad

[ChrisF202]

Probably as close to horse cavalry for combat purposes as it gets in the US:











I have also seen them patrolling the border in groups of as large as 20 to 30 agents. This is very unusual considering that 90% of the time the agents are operating alone with the nearest backup 45 minutes away in the middle of the desert along the Mexican border or some lonely deserted beach in Puerto Rico or in some barren wasteland along the Canadian border in the Dakotas or Montana.

[Jay]

globetracker:

Stunning photo of camel corps on parade. Where is that? And how the hell do they keep so many camels marching together in such perfect order? jad

Thats the republic day parade held in New Delhi, India every year on Jan 26th.


Indian Army still uses mules to transport stuff in J&K.

[Jay]

Pakistan also uses mules on their side,