Book description
The U. S. Cavalry, which began in the nineteenth century as little more
than a mounted reconnaissance and harrying force, underwent intense
growing pains with the rapid technological developments of the twentieth
century. From its tentative beginnings during World War I, the eventual
conversion of the traditional horse cavalry to a mechanized branch is
arguably one of the greatest military transformations in history.
Through Mobility We Conquer recounts the evolution and development of
the U. S. Army's modern mechanized cavalry and the doctrine necessary to
use it effectively. The book also explores the debates over how best to
use cavalry and how these discussions evolved during the first half of
the century. During World War I, the first cavalry theorist proposed
combining arms coordination with a mechanized force as an answer to the
stalemate on the Western Front. Hofmann brings the story through the
next fifty years, when a new breed of cavalrymen became cold war
warriors as the U. S. Constabulary was established as an occupation
security-police force. Having reviewed thousands of official records and
manuals, military journals, personal papers, memoirs, and oral
histories-many of which were only recently declassified-George F.
Hofmann now presents a detailed study of the doctrine, equipment,
structure, organization, tactics, and strategy of U. S. mechanized
cavalry during the changing international dynamics of the first half of
the twentieth century. Illustrated with dozens of photographs, maps, and
charts, Through Mobility We Conquer examines how technology
revolutionized U. S. forces in the twentieth century and demonstrates
how perhaps no other branch of the military underwent greater changes
during this time than the cavalry.
