Everett Bailey very rarely spoke about the war, but even as his powers of memory waned, he needed little coaxing to recount the joy he found in his relationship with his horse, Bounce. Most of his photos were in a dusty old box in a closet that had remained undisturbed for decades. This photo was on the bookshelf next to his desk. He had written on the back.
Ft. Lewis 1942, Me and Bounce.
We were good friends. I stayed on post weekends to ride him out with Sgt. Strait, stable Sergeant.
I was exec. Off. D Co. 87th and had charge of horses for 1st Bn Reinf. 2nd Bn just being organized with Dick Reidy C.O. – Although I hated to leave Jack Hay, CO of D Co, I became Reidy’s adjutant – under some pressure from good old Father Bracken. Tom Bracken was our Catholic chaplain and of course close to Dick Reidy, our only Catholic field officer.
We lost our horses late fall ’42 because we didn’t really need them in training or (as proved out) in combat, but I missed Bouncey.
Everett reported to Fort Lewis, Washington, and Lt. Col. Rolfe immediately sent him to Mt. Rainier to “teach the officers how to ski,” as Bailey later put it. For those of high rank, it was unusual to have to take instruction from a 1st Lieutenant. Lt. Col. Rolfe was an old cavalry officer with no mountain experience at all, and it seemed to some almost a form of retribution that he required all of the officers to learn to ride a horse. The horse issued to Everett for this purpose was named Bounce, and they developed a relationship that Everett would remember fondly for the rest of his life. Late that autumn, the officers traded in their horses for jeeps.
But this was not the 10th Mountain Division’s only experiment with mounted troops. At Ft. Meade, South Dakota, the Mountain Reconnaissance Troop was formed out of Troop B, 4th US Cavalry. They became one of the last hold-outs of mounted troops, as other units turned in their horses for mechanized transport. Researcher, Sam Cox, stated that,
Upon conversion of the 4th, Troop B was designated as Mountain Reconnaissance Troop, 1st Btn 87th mountain infantry regiment(reinforced)…They marched overland from Ft. Robinson (Nebraska) to Camp Hale (Colorado) after the 4th Regiment turned in its horses
They trained as a mounted mountain warfare unit, a sort of mounted ski/snowshoe infantry, until it became clear that the tactical viability of such a force was questionable. The unit was disbanded, and the men sent to quartermaster companies, or to become rock-climbing instructors.
The story of mounted ski troops didn’t end there. In the summer of 1944, long after the departure of Lt. Col. Rolfe, the 10th Mountain Division was sent to train at Camp Swift, Texas. It was there, in the autumn, that the 10th Mountain Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop was re-activated. This time they trained not as mounted ski troops, but as a cavalry recon force. When the division was deployed to Italy, the cavalry went too. They saw combat, and may have made what some historians have called the last cavalry charge in American history. One veteran, Donald Hubbard, was quoted in A.B. Feuer’s book, ‘Packs On!’ as having said that,
On April 14, 1945 the Po River valley campaign began with the 10th heading the attack. The division rushed ahead so fast that the enemy was unable to establish an effective defense.
As mounted cavalrymen, we still didn’t have riding boots or spurs but that didn’t deter us. Our horses stood up well to the attack, but they often lacked the correct diet. The Italian people however often came to the rescue with whatever food they could spare.
Our objectives were not always clear, but part of the confusion was due to the large number of Germans who were surrendering. Our instructions were to send the prisoners to the rear. Other orders were to bypass pockets of resistance. It was at one of these so-called pockets of resistance that the Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop fought one of the strangest battles of the war. We had advanced within a few kilometers of the Po River when we came upon a small Italian Village. The troop was moving in formation, single file with the First Platoon in the lead. There were buildings on a side street to our left, giving us a choice of either going straight ahead or turning left and passing in front of the buildings.
The decision was quickly made for us. German machine guns on the second floor of a stone dwelling opened fire on our troops. The Third Platoon commander ordered a pistol charge on the enemy position, but some of his men were unarmed. The First and Second Platoons dismounted and prepared to support the assault. What the Third Platoon lacked in firepower was more than made up for by its overabundance of courage. Our supporting volleys were able to suppress the enemy guns, giving the Third Platoon a chance to recover and withdraw. The pistol charge was un-successful but ended without casualties to men or horses.
The use of horses in this campaign ended when we reached the Po River at San Benedetto. We tied our horses in an orchard of fruit trees, bid them farewell, and crossed the river in boats.
The book, ‘10th Mountain Division,’ edited by Randy Baumgardner, includes the following accounts,
There were the 10th Recon, all eager to catch up with the Germans, who had thrown up a line of machineguns in a peach orchard. “It was kind of like a movie” says Jim Nutt, one of the 176 horsemen, “charging down into the valley and all.” The Germans had a field day. “It was just complete chaos,” says another witness, Jim Hoff. “The shells came in and the horses started bucking and stampeding, and men and horses were going down everywhere.”
While the image of a Hollywood-style cavalry charge is certainly appealing, Sam Cox is not convinced.
What muddies the waters is when people talk about pistol charges, seperate ski/horse and jeep troops. The few men that actually took part in horsed activities in Italy are quoted, requoted and misquoted.
Talk of charges against machine guns across orchards sounds great, but for an eyes and ears recon troop, at odds with training and mission. Worth noting is that after this “charge” there is only one KIA for the troop…and no one can say where or how he died. The various accounts of the mounted action talk of pistol charges, dead horses, bolting horses and machine guns….It seems more like an ambush rather than a charge.
TO and E (table of organization and equipment) for the Recon Troop lists Carbines and Garands, and not one pistol for the 1944 period. TO and Es are not set in stone but do give a pretty good idea of what should be carried.
It is possible that the sources describe different events, that the events were poorly remembered or poorly described, or that historians have found a textbook cavalry charge by the 10th Mountain Division to be so tantalizing a prospect that they accepted it without due skepticism, and looked for only those sources which might confirm its reality. It can be hoped that further research will allow a clearer picture of the 10th Mountain Reconnaissance Cavalry’s combat actions.
Update: Since initial publication of this article, the son of Lt Col Ernest Cory came forward with this account of a mounted assault by men of the 10th Mountain Division.
When the 10th Mtn. Div. broke out into the Po Valley in pursuit of the German army, which was retreating toward the Brenner Pass, Col. William O. Darby took command of a provisional brigade in what was to be called “Operation Darby,” with units of Australian, Indian, and Italian troops attached to the 10th. Darby chose Dad (LTC Ernest N. Cory, Jr., C.O. 616th FA – Pack) as Executive Officer and Artillery Officer. Dad was 30 years old at the time, and the Italians called him “Il Colonel Bambino.” The Brigade moved swiftly with Dad’s pack artillery units once passing the infantry during the night and directly encountering the German rearguard in firefights. Further on, the Germans hid behind hedgerows on either side of the road and fired on the column with bazookas bringing the column to a halt. Darby gave Dad the job of retrieving some captured German horses from the rear to mount a cavalry troop attached to the 10th. (The 10th lost its horses and mules in a storm on the way to Italy and had to put the “mule skinners” in trucks – without much driving experience!) Fortunately, some of the stock saddles survived. Dad split the mounted cavalry troop on either side of the road and commanded “the last charge” from a jeep on the road. The cavalry briefly “charged” the hedgerows with carbines in stock saddles. This frightened the Germans into surrender without a fight. This happened at the head of the column, which then pushed on to the Po.
Special thanks to Sam Cox for his research on this subject.
Ski Troops on Horseback and the “Last” US Cavalry Charge
(Click photo to view larger)
Everett Bailey very rarely spoke about the war, but even as his powers of memory waned, he needed little coaxing to recount the joy he found in his relationship with his horse, Bounce. Most of his photos were in a dusty old box in a closet that had remained undisturbed for decades. This photo was on the bookshelf next to his desk. He had written on the back.
Ft. Lewis 1942, Me and Bounce.
We were good friends. I stayed on post weekends to ride him out with Sgt. Strait, stable Sergeant.
I was exec. Off. D Co. 87th and had charge of horses for 1st Bn Reinf. 2nd Bn just being organized with Dick Reidy C.O. – Although I hated to leave Jack Hay, CO of D Co, I became Reidy’s adjutant – under some pressure from good old Father Bracken. Tom Bracken was our Catholic chaplain and of course close to Dick Reidy, our only Catholic field officer.
We lost our horses late fall ’42 because we didn’t really need them in training or (as proved out) in combat, but I missed Bouncey.
Everett reported to Fort Lewis, Washington, and Lt. Col. Rolfe immediately sent him to Mt. Rainier to “teach the officers how to ski,” as Bailey later put it. For those of high rank, it was unusual to have to take instruction from a 1st Lieutenant. Lt. Col. Rolfe was an old cavalry officer with no mountain experience at all, and it seemed to some almost a form of retribution that he required all of the officers to learn to ride a horse. The horse issued to Everett for this purpose was named Bounce, and they developed a relationship that Everett would remember fondly for the rest of his life. Late that autumn, the officers traded in their horses for jeeps.
But this was not the 10th Mountain Division’s only experiment with mounted troops. At Ft. Meade, South Dakota, the Mountain Reconnaissance Troop was formed out of Troop B, 4th US Cavalry. They became one of the last hold-outs of mounted troops, as other units turned in their horses for mechanized transport. Researcher, Sam Cox, stated that,
Upon conversion of the 4th, Troop B was designated as Mountain Reconnaissance Troop, 1st Btn 87th mountain infantry regiment(reinforced)…They marched overland from Ft. Robinson (Nebraska) to Camp Hale (Colorado) after the 4th Regiment turned in its horses
They trained as a mounted mountain warfare unit, a sort of mounted ski/snowshoe infantry, until it became clear that the tactical viability of such a force was questionable. The unit was disbanded, and the men sent to quartermaster companies, or to become rock-climbing instructors.
The story of mounted ski troops didn’t end there. In the summer of 1944, long after the departure of Lt. Col. Rolfe, the 10th Mountain Division was sent to train at Camp Swift, Texas. It was there, in the autumn, that the 10th Mountain Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop was re-activated. This time they trained not as mounted ski troops, but as a cavalry recon force. When the division was deployed to Italy, the cavalry went too. They saw combat, and may have made what some historians have called the last cavalry charge in American history. One veteran, Donald Hubbard, was quoted in A.B. Feuer’s book, ‘Packs On!’ as having said that,
On April 14, 1945 the Po River valley campaign began with the 10th heading the attack. The division rushed ahead so fast that the enemy was unable to establish an effective defense.
As mounted cavalrymen, we still didn’t have riding boots or spurs but that didn’t deter us. Our horses stood up well to the attack, but they often lacked the correct diet. The Italian people however often came to the rescue with whatever food they could spare.
Our objectives were not always clear, but part of the confusion was due to the large number of Germans who were surrendering. Our instructions were to send the prisoners to the rear. Other orders were to bypass pockets of resistance. It was at one of these so-called pockets of resistance that the Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop fought one of the strangest battles of the war. We had advanced within a few kilometers of the Po River when we came upon a small Italian Village. The troop was moving in formation, single file with the First Platoon in the lead. There were buildings on a side street to our left, giving us a choice of either going straight ahead or turning left and passing in front of the buildings.
The decision was quickly made for us. German machine guns on the second floor of a stone dwelling opened fire on our troops. The Third Platoon commander ordered a pistol charge on the enemy position, but some of his men were unarmed. The First and Second Platoons dismounted and prepared to support the assault. What the Third Platoon lacked in firepower was more than made up for by its overabundance of courage. Our supporting volleys were able to suppress the enemy guns, giving the Third Platoon a chance to recover and withdraw. The pistol charge was un-successful but ended without casualties to men or horses.
The use of horses in this campaign ended when we reached the Po River at San Benedetto. We tied our horses in an orchard of fruit trees, bid them farewell, and crossed the river in boats.
The book, ‘10th Mountain Division,’ edited by Randy Baumgardner, includes the following accounts,
There were the 10th Recon, all eager to catch up with the Germans, who had thrown up a line of machineguns in a peach orchard. “It was kind of like a movie” says Jim Nutt, one of the 176 horsemen, “charging down into the valley and all.” The Germans had a field day. “It was just complete chaos,” says another witness, Jim Hoff. “The shells came in and the horses started bucking and stampeding, and men and horses were going down everywhere.”
While the image of a Hollywood-style cavalry charge is certainly appealing, Sam Cox is not convinced.
What muddies the waters is when people talk about pistol charges, seperate ski/horse and jeep troops. The few men that actually took part in horsed activities in Italy are quoted, requoted and misquoted.
Talk of charges against machine guns across orchards sounds great, but for an eyes and ears recon troop, at odds with training and mission. Worth noting is that after this “charge” there is only one KIA for the troop…and no one can say where or how he died. The various accounts of the mounted action talk of pistol charges, dead horses, bolting horses and machine guns….It seems more like an ambush rather than a charge.
TO and E (table of organization and equipment) for the Recon Troop lists Carbines and Garands, and not one pistol for the 1944 period. TO and Es are not set in stone but do give a pretty good idea of what should be carried.
It is possible that the sources describe different events, that the events were poorly remembered or poorly described, or that historians have found a textbook cavalry charge by the 10th Mountain Division to be so tantalizing a prospect that they accepted it without due skepticism, and looked for only those sources which might confirm its reality. It can be hoped that further research will allow a clearer picture of the 10th Mountain Reconnaissance Cavalry’s combat actions.
Update: Since initial publication of this article, the son of Lt Col Ernest Cory came forward with this account of a mounted assault by men of the 10th Mountain Division.
When the 10th Mtn. Div. broke out into the Po Valley in pursuit of the German army, which was retreating toward the Brenner Pass, Col. William O. Darby took command of a provisional brigade in what was to be called “Operation Darby,” with units of Australian, Indian, and Italian troops attached to the 10th. Darby chose Dad (LTC Ernest N. Cory, Jr., C.O. 616th FA – Pack) as Executive Officer and Artillery Officer. Dad was 30 years old at the time, and the Italians called him “Il Colonel Bambino.” The Brigade moved swiftly with Dad’s pack artillery units once passing the infantry during the night and directly encountering the German rearguard in firefights. Further on, the Germans hid behind hedgerows on either side of the road and fired on the column with bazookas bringing the column to a halt. Darby gave Dad the job of retrieving some captured German horses from the rear to mount a cavalry troop attached to the 10th. (The 10th lost its horses and mules in a storm on the way to Italy and had to put the “mule skinners” in trucks – without much driving experience!) Fortunately, some of the stock saddles survived. Dad split the mounted cavalry troop on either side of the road and commanded “the last charge” from a jeep on the road. The cavalry briefly “charged” the hedgerows with carbines in stock saddles. This frightened the Germans into surrender without a fight. This happened at the head of the column, which then pushed on to the Po.
Special thanks to Sam Cox for his research on this subject.
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