I know this has been mentioned before, but given today's date, and that fact that there are new folks around who have good information, I thought I'd bring it up again.
All I know about this is that some US troops, paratroopers being the ones I'm aware of, used horses to a very small degree in the days following the Invasion of Normandy. This was an informal arrangment, I believe.
Anybody know more about this?
Pat
Use of Horses by Allied Troops In Normandy
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Pat Truxillo
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The drops were so bad and spread out, troopers were grabbing anything that would move to get back with their units. Horses, mules, bikes, vehicles of all sorts. This was related to me by an aquantance several years ago. He was in the Cav till he heard about the airborne. He was one of the first troops trained to be a paratrooper. He jumped into Normandy on D-Day and said it was totally messed up. They took what they could to try to get to the right place. He thought it was funny that he wound up with a horse after trying for so long to get away from them.
Pat Truxillo
GySgt USMC
Pat Truxillo
GySgt USMC
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Joseph Sullivan
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My mother's cousin by marriage was a paratrooper. He was dropped at some point early on in a deep penetration mission. WOuld up on a mule much of the time, but also a bicycle if I recall correctly. He was selected partly because as a first-generation Belgian, he spoke good French. The story is a bit hazy in my mind, but I think he rode into his father's home town on a mule later in the invasion. His unit also "liberated" a German beer train among other legendary exploits. They found it to be a congenial war.
Joe
Joe
Hey again
The US airborne on horseback were photographed at Saint Mere Eglise on or just after June 7/1944.
They belong to the 505th P.I.R of the 82nd Airborne Division.The horses probably came from the 624th or 624th Cossack Battalions.These were Cossacks in service of the German army(see Pannwitz COSSACKS by Francois de Lannoy Pub HEIMDAL)
A good source of the 505th photos is the Michael De Trez book AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN(check amazon.com)Pages 141 to 144 show the full sequence of the photos.
The use of horse as transportation by Airborne forces is ironic as the Cavalry missions of strategic reconaissance,recon and lightning fast taking of objectives in force,etc had by 1944 become the Paratroopers mission.
Divisional sized Airborne drop,are these the cavalry charge of the modern battlefield?
Regards
Sam
Sam Cox
Edited by - Sam Cox on 06/07/2002 06:48:08
The US airborne on horseback were photographed at Saint Mere Eglise on or just after June 7/1944.
They belong to the 505th P.I.R of the 82nd Airborne Division.The horses probably came from the 624th or 624th Cossack Battalions.These were Cossacks in service of the German army(see Pannwitz COSSACKS by Francois de Lannoy Pub HEIMDAL)
A good source of the 505th photos is the Michael De Trez book AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN(check amazon.com)Pages 141 to 144 show the full sequence of the photos.
The use of horse as transportation by Airborne forces is ironic as the Cavalry missions of strategic reconaissance,recon and lightning fast taking of objectives in force,etc had by 1944 become the Paratroopers mission.
Divisional sized Airborne drop,are these the cavalry charge of the modern battlefield?
Regards
Sam
Sam Cox
Edited by - Sam Cox on 06/07/2002 06:48:08
From the July-Aug. 1944 ''Cavalry Journal:''
''A German Cavalry horse captured in Normandy is immediately utilized by American Rangers. Undisclosed numbers of German cavalrymen and mounts were surprised by the sudden descent of paratroops. Germany has been increasing her cavalry as a result of her experiences on the Eastern Front. Russians report, however, the Germans lack tactical conception for proper handing of large cavalry units. (U.S. Signal Corps Photo)''
Sam:
I have seen some photos but do not have any.
A while back Pat and I tried to track down references to American use of horses at Normandy with only limited success. The best descriptions are in "Currahee!...a Screaming Eagle at Normandy," by Donald R. Burgett (A Co. 506). He describes 101st Airborne being attacked by mounted White Russians. This was apparently at St. Marie-du-Mont. Subsequently some of these horses were captured and used by Americans.
I think that the reason so little info is available is because horse use was rare but also was considered rather unremarkable at the time.
I have seen some photos but do not have any.
A while back Pat and I tried to track down references to American use of horses at Normandy with only limited success. The best descriptions are in "Currahee!...a Screaming Eagle at Normandy," by Donald R. Burgett (A Co. 506). He describes 101st Airborne being attacked by mounted White Russians. This was apparently at St. Marie-du-Mont. Subsequently some of these horses were captured and used by Americans.
I think that the reason so little info is available is because horse use was rare but also was considered rather unremarkable at the time.
From "Currahee!":
"Then came a real shock. Horse-mounted cavalry charged in, and after bitter fighting the town was again in enemy hands. We found out from a few prisoners taken in the withdrawal that the horse cavalry was made up of White Russians who had sided with the Germans." (p. 123)
When we finally had time to breath it was on the far side of town. The remnants of the White Russian horse cavalry had withdrawn to the surrounding fields and hedgerows and were regrouping with the shards of German infantry and once proud SS. Horses wandered aimlessly in the streets or grazed in the fields, for they no longer had masters to ride them." (p. 124)
"By this time some of the troopers were riding horses left behind by the Russian cavalry. Some of them wore their rifles strapped across their backs and carried pistols on each hip, cowboy fashion. They rode through the back streets and across fields searching for stray Krauts or snipers."(p. 144)
"One trooper wore a brace of Luger pistols, cowboy fashion, and rode a white horse commandeered from the late Russian cavalry. He was with a group of us that was out foraging for wine, when we ran into a German machine gun in a house on the right side of the road, just this side of the first bridge. The gun opened up on us with long bursts and we hit the ditches on either side of the road, but the trooper on horseback spurred his mount, and yelling, "Hi Ho Silver!" charged the machine gun with both pistols blazing.
He rode within a few yards of the machine gun while it ripped long bursts around him and his mount, then, wheeling around, he dashed back to us and the safety of a hedgerow. I guess the machine gunner was too busy dodging pistol bullets to get a well aimed burst at the trooper. We told him to cut it out or he was going to get it, but he said they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and made two more charges against the gun. "How lucky can a man be?" I thought, as he made yet another run through the hail of bullets. It was unbelievable, but we all witnessed it. He turned, yelled, "Hi Ho Silver!" again and started back for another try. But this time the gun zeroed in and almost chopped the trooper in half as they shot him out of the saddle. The white horse ran past us and the last we saw of him, he was still going at a full gallop." (p. 151)
"Then came a real shock. Horse-mounted cavalry charged in, and after bitter fighting the town was again in enemy hands. We found out from a few prisoners taken in the withdrawal that the horse cavalry was made up of White Russians who had sided with the Germans." (p. 123)
When we finally had time to breath it was on the far side of town. The remnants of the White Russian horse cavalry had withdrawn to the surrounding fields and hedgerows and were regrouping with the shards of German infantry and once proud SS. Horses wandered aimlessly in the streets or grazed in the fields, for they no longer had masters to ride them." (p. 124)
"By this time some of the troopers were riding horses left behind by the Russian cavalry. Some of them wore their rifles strapped across their backs and carried pistols on each hip, cowboy fashion. They rode through the back streets and across fields searching for stray Krauts or snipers."(p. 144)
"One trooper wore a brace of Luger pistols, cowboy fashion, and rode a white horse commandeered from the late Russian cavalry. He was with a group of us that was out foraging for wine, when we ran into a German machine gun in a house on the right side of the road, just this side of the first bridge. The gun opened up on us with long bursts and we hit the ditches on either side of the road, but the trooper on horseback spurred his mount, and yelling, "Hi Ho Silver!" charged the machine gun with both pistols blazing.
He rode within a few yards of the machine gun while it ripped long bursts around him and his mount, then, wheeling around, he dashed back to us and the safety of a hedgerow. I guess the machine gunner was too busy dodging pistol bullets to get a well aimed burst at the trooper. We told him to cut it out or he was going to get it, but he said they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and made two more charges against the gun. "How lucky can a man be?" I thought, as he made yet another run through the hail of bullets. It was unbelievable, but we all witnessed it. He turned, yelled, "Hi Ho Silver!" again and started back for another try. But this time the gun zeroed in and almost chopped the trooper in half as they shot him out of the saddle. The white horse ran past us and the last we saw of him, he was still going at a full gallop." (p. 151)
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Pat Holscher
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Atkinson, The Guns at Lat LIght, page 117, speaking of Cherbourg.A horse was shooed into the city carrying a German corpse lashed across the saddle with a note: "All you sons-a-bithces are going to end up this way"
Atkinson gave a talk on C-span II last weekend. I taped it but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. It is accessible from their archives.
Last edited by selewis on Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Pat Holscher
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selewis wrote:Atkinson gave a talk about his new book on C-span II last weekend. I taped it but haven't had a chance to watch it yet. It is accessible from their archives.
The book is absolutely excellent.
It also demonstrates that not only is a familiar topic worth revising by historians from time to time, but often aspects of a topic that were skipped over by earlier historians, or regarded as unimportant or obvious to them, is not to later audiences. The book is truly revealing in all sorts of ways, and the degree to which is brings out the extent of German horse use in 1944 is unparallelled.
Not the one I was looking for but I found this:
http://www.booktv.org/Program/14610/In+ ... inson.aspx
http://www.booktv.org/Program/14610/In+ ... inson.aspx
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Pat Holscher
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Tom Muller
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Hi Guys,Sam Cox wrote:Hey again
The US airborne on horseback were photographed at Saint Mere Eglise on or just after June 7/1944.
They belong to the 505th P.I.R of the 82nd Airborne Division.The horses probably came from the 624th or 624th Cossack Battalions.These were Cossacks in service of the German army(see Pannwitz COSSACKS by Francois de Lannoy Pub HEIMDAL)
A good source of the 505th photos is the Michael De Trez book AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN(check amazon.com)Pages 141 to 144 show the full sequence of the photos.
The use of horse as transportation by Airborne forces is ironic as the Cavalry missions of strategic reconaissance,recon and lightning fast taking of objectives in force,etc had by 1944 become the Paratroopers mission.
Divisional sized Airborne drop,are these the cavalry charge of the modern battlefield?
Regards
Sam
Sam Cox
Edited by - Sam Cox on 06/07/2002 06:48:08
French para units keep Cavalry traditions, which isn't too far fetched, as Sam mentions.
Regards
Tom
Hi Tom,Tom Muller wrote:Hi Guys,Sam Cox wrote:Hey again
The US airborne on horseback were photographed at Saint Mere Eglise on or just after June 7/1944.
They belong to the 505th P.I.R of the 82nd Airborne Division.The horses probably came from the 624th or 624th Cossack Battalions.These were Cossacks in service of the German army(see Pannwitz COSSACKS by Francois de Lannoy Pub HEIMDAL)
A good source of the 505th photos is the Michael De Trez book AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN(check amazon.com)Pages 141 to 144 show the full sequence of the photos.
The use of horse as transportation by Airborne forces is ironic as the Cavalry missions of strategic reconaissance,recon and lightning fast taking of objectives in force,etc had by 1944 become the Paratroopers mission.
Divisional sized Airborne drop,are these the cavalry charge of the modern battlefield?
Regards
Sam
Sam Cox
Edited by - Sam Cox on 06/07/2002 06:48:08
French para units keep Cavalry traditions, which isn't too far fetched, as Sam mentions.
Regards
Tom
French have whole Hussar para regiment! I think I saw them last summer in Versaille.
Who else have such exotic?
I find this to be an odd picture: http://historylink101.com/bw/battle_bul ... T2484.html