>From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>
>Reply-To: HeroQuest-RPG_at_yahoogroups.com
>To: HeroQuest-RPG_at_yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: Spearing men on the ground
>Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 12:42:37 +1200
>
>Greg wrote:
>
> >I recall reading someplace that a study done on the dead on a Napoleonic
>(I
> >think) battlefield revealed that the corpses generally had a half dozen
>or
> >more
> >lance stabs, made as the lancers rode over them who would stab the corpse
>just
> >to be sure.
>
>IIRC this was done after a battle (or two) against Russian infantry. The
>infantry threw themselves on the ground in the face of a cavalry charge to
>let the cavalry run over them. Since the horses wouldn't trample them,
>the Russians then got up and emptied their firearms into the backs of
>the cavalry. The French put lancers among their cavalry after that.
>
>--Peter Metcalfe
>
The Russian and Polish lancers in the Czar's army presumably had always
speared prone soldiers when they could, of course. The reach of the lance
also gave a big advantage over the foot soldier [and his musket or rifle
plus bayonet] in a skirmish, which was the big reason behind its widespread
reintroduction as a light horse weapon in the 19th century. It was less
useful as a weapon against cavalry by most accounts, since once a swordsman
got beyond the point, the lancer was defenceless until he threw his weapon
aside and drew his sabre.
Alexei
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