Les formations de la cavalerie

Formations of the mounted arm differ according to the missions of the various types of cavalry.  Loose formations and deployment of small units are typically adopted for the light cavalry - as for their scouting and screening missions.  A dense formation in the charge provides the shock effect that the heavy cavalry employs to decide the battle.  All cavalry are able to use a charge in line to engage and overpower enemy cavalry.  The basic formations of the cuirassiers are the column and the line.  Since their battle effect depends chiefly on mass and shock effect, they would only use an open order and other dispersed or loose formations outside of the immediate zone of battle.  While the cuirassiers typically maneuver in column, their primary attack formation is the line.  The formations described here are textbook formations - in the reality of campaign, attrition and casualties thin out the formations both in numbers of troopers and unit leaders.

La colonne

The column is typically used for the approach march enroute to a location to be occupied.  It is seldom employed in combat because for the cavalry it does not offer the same advantages in terms of impact as it does for the infantry.  It is only employed in contact with the enemy when a suitable place to deploy and maneuver is unavailable.

Various type of column are employed:  the column of fours (four cuirassiers abreast) is often employed en-route over roadways on the approach march, while the column by group (half-division or about 12 cuirassiers abreast), column of divisions  (a half company or peloton of cuirassiers abreast), and column by companies are usually employed overland when maneuvering during an engagement.  The colonne serré is a dress formation that resembles the squadron drawn up in battle order.  In all cases, the cuirassier companies form two or more rows.

The line is the supreme combat formation for the mounted arm.  In the cuirassiers, the squadron is aligned as two rows of riders abreast.  Spacing between riders is minimized.  A regiment can form its squadrons in line, as a single continuous formation, or place squadrons in echelon, one behind the other, as a column by squadron.  The cuirassiers are rarely formed in an open line as might be employed by the light cavalry.

The open order, irregular order, or loose command are rarely used by the battle cavalry in combat.  Most often employed for reconnaissance, screening, and other detached uses like foraging, these formations are more typically associated with the various types of light cavalry.  Early in the Napopleonic Wars, the Cuirassiers and other battle cavalry provided bivouac security from their own units - with cuirassiers posted to vedette (finger-like deployments of 4 to 5 troopers extending a hundred or more meters from the encampment).  Skirmishing against these outposts caused annoying losses in men and horse - degrading the combat power of the cuirassier unit.  Later in the Napoleonic Wars, and on the Russian Campaign, a light cavalry squadron would be assigned to a cuirassier brigade to provide the detached units as for camp security.