Today for Gus’ Gear I am doing another book report. “Chasing the Great Retreat: The German Cavalry Pursuit of the British Expeditionary Force before the Battle of the Marne August 1914” by Col. Joseph Robinson, Sabine Declercq and Randal Gilbert. This is an outstanding continuation of the two previous books I have mentioned. After the German Failure in Belgium, they move on to a similar failure as they enter France. The war should have been over well before Christmas, but the continued poor planning and execution of the advance made it impossible for Germany to win. Previous histories based on British records painted a very different picture of the battles. The German commanders managed to plan for every cup of coffee for the soldiers, but did not bother to plan for fodder for the horses. Given the number of draft and cavalry horses that needed to be fed, a massive train of wagons should have been organized. Making the cavalry forage for feed for their mounts was akin to requiring a motorized force to procure fuel as they advanced. The German advance was destined to fail from conception.
