Today for Gus’ Gear, I have another book report. “The Last Great Cavalry Charge. The Battle of the Silver Helmets, Halen 12. August 1914” fits in with the other books written by Col Joeseph Robinson. The respected Belgian collector and historian, Francis Hendriks and COL Janet Robinson shared in this work. This tells, very precisely, the events leading up to and during the Battle for Halen. It shows that the Belgian forces were not well led and poorly equipped, but they were still able to defeat what should have been a formidable foe. Some might call this a Pyric Victory, but I believe that the Germans lost the Great War on Belgian soil. The loss of two brigades of cavalry in a single afternoon crippled the intelligence gathering capacity of an already inadequate invading force.
I find it unbelievable that the German high command would not bother to provide fodder for their equine contingent. The importance of supply was placed on ammunition, neglecting the point that they did not even consider suppling feed for the horses pulling the ammunition wagons. How can this be so badly overlooked? My suspicion is it can be traced back to the Kaiser and the men who planned the logistics, they were all aristocracy, and as such, they knew that men had to eat as they would get hungry themselves, but when it came to the horses, they had never had to feed a horse, I suspect they did not even know what it took to keep a horse alive and able to work.
The delays in getting across Belgium were a big blow to the “Home by Christmas” battle cry. The loss of an important part of the intelligence gathering arm allowed the BEF and French the ability to retreat to the Marne, where they were able to regroup and defeat the spent German forces. The German’s retreat to the Sigfried line was the moment that they were defeated, they just would not admit it.