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Experiences of the Great War

Barbed wire and horses

General Haig describes the capture of 'Uhlans' (cavalrymen) from the German Army in a diary entry of 5 September 1914.

Although it shows how easily barbed wire could neutralise a cavalry attack, Haig was to continue to view cavalry as important to eventual victory.

'Night passed quietly except for attack [by] German troops of Uhlans on outpost of Black Watch near Aulnoy. Canny Scots, they had stretched a strandUhlans of barbed wire across the main road so that when the German horsemen charged down and tried to gallop through the picket in the dark, the horses were tripped up.'

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