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Armoured cavalry are military units using armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) instead of horses. They began to replace horse cavalry in the heavy shock and the light reconnaissance, skirmishing and exploitation/pursuit roles in most armies commencing after the First World War. In that succeeding capacity, the obsolete name "cavalry" was retained.
Historically, cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from cheval meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback.Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening, and skirmishing, or as heavy cavalry for decisive economy of force and shock attacks.
The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861 and ceased as a distinct Army branch in 1942. [1]
The light armored cavalry regiment was developed in the United States Army in the first years of the Cold War to replace the mechanized cavalry groups used during World War II. The new regiments primarily tasked with providing reconnaissance and security capabilities at the corps level, although also able to attack and defend either mounted or ...
Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily raiding , reconnaissance , screening , skirmishing , patrolling , and tactical communications .
This reduced the burden of the weight carried by the individual trooper, but left his back unprotected during a swirling cavalry melee. Most heavy cavalry from c. 1700 to c. 1785 wore the tricorne hat, which evolved into the bicorne, or cocked hat, towards the close of the century. In the first two decades of the 19th century, helmets, often of ...
During the Tang dynasty (618–907) the importance of infantry and lighter-armed cavalry and infantry increased while that of the armoured cavalry decreased, with horse armour seldom used. However, armoured cavalry were again used by the Song dynasty (960–1279) and its enemies, including the Jin, Xi Xia, Mongols, and Khitans.
As part of the lessons learned from that war, British regular cavalry regiments were armed with the same rifle as the infantry and became well-trained in dismounted tactics. A version of the standard infantry rifle, the shorter-barreled LEC or "Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mark I" had been introduced in 1896.