The is a French military training establishment at

Saumur Saumur () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur statio ...

in Western France. Originally set up to train the cavalry of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

, it now trains the troops of France's ''Arme blindée et cavalerie'' (

Armoured Cavalry Arm The Armoured Cavalry Arm (french: Arme blindée et cavalerie, ABC) () is a component of the French Army. It was formed after World War II by merging the combat tank and cavalry branches. It operates the majority of France's armoured vehicles, thou ...

) in reconnaissance and armoured warfare.

History

Saumur - École de Cavalerie - Caserne grille

In 1763,

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

(via the

Duc de Choiseul {{Unreferenced, date=April 2019 Choiseul is an illustrious noble family from Champagne, France, descendants of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix ...

) reorganised the French cavalry. A new school for officers from all the cavalry regiments was set up at Saumur, managed and supervised by the "Corps Royal des

Carabinier A carabinier (also sometimes spelled carabineer or carbineer) is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine. A carbiniere is a carabiniere musket or rifle and were commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is de ...

s" - since its inception the school has been hosted in the carabinier regiment's quarter of the town, latterly in a magnificent 18th century building. This functioned until 1788. At the end of 1814, after the

First Restoration The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon I in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days, in March 1815. The regime was born following the vict ...

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

set up the "École d'Instruction des Troupes à cheval" in Saumur. Its activities declined from 1822 onwards so it was regenerated by

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

under the name of the "École Royale de Cavalerie" (later renamed the École impériale de cavalerie de Saumur). Most of its building complex was taken up with a military riding area and a riding-academy training hall. From 1830, with the disappearance of the École de Versailles, Saumur became the capital and sole repository of the French equestrian tradition, and its knowledge (such as in the

Cadre Noir The Cadre Noir (; en, Black Cadre) is a corps of ecuyers, or instructors, at the French military riding academy École Nationale d'Équitation at Saumur in western France, founded in 1828. It also performs as an equestrian display team. Its na ...

and its training regime in

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined b ...

) is still recognised throughout the world. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the French mounted cavalry (reduced to several squadrons of North African

spahis Spahis () were light-cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the indigenous populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, with personnel now r ...

retained for patrol work and ceremonial duties by this date) and armoured troops merged to form the 'Arme blindée et cavalerie' (ABC), with the École de Saumur becoming the new branch's training centre. After a 1985 reorganisation, the 12th Light Armoured Division (12 DLB) was planned as a mobilisation division of the French Army, with its headquarters to be formed on the basis of the staff of the ''École d'application de l'Arme blindée et de la cavalerie'' (EAABC) at Saumur. The division comprised the 507 RCC at Saumur (AMX-30s), the 3 RCh(T), also at Saumur and also attached to the EAABC, the Legion's

4th Foreign Regiment The 4th Foreign Regiment (french: 4e Régiment étranger, 4e RE) is a training regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. Prior to assuming the main responsibility of training Legion recruits, it was an infantry unit which participated ...

Castelnaudary Castelnaudary (; oc, Castèlnòu d'Arri) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. It is located in the former province of the Lauragais and famous for cassoulet of which it claims to be the world capital ...

, and the 33rd Regiment of Artillery (RA), at

St Maixent Saint-Maixent () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Sarthe department The following is a list of the 354 communes of the Sarthe department of France. ...

, attached to an NCO school.Isby and Kamps, ARmies of NATO's Central Front, Jane's, 1985, 127.

Commandants of the Cavalry School

Date of entering post and surname : *1919 Thureau *1925 Lafont *1929 (de) Marin de Montmarin *1931 (de) Fornel de La Laurencie *1935 Petiet *1938 Bridoux *1939 La Font *1940 Michon *1940 Méric de Bellefon *1944 Préclaire *1945 Lecoq *1945 Miquel *1946 Durosoy *1947 de Langlade *1950 Noiret *1952 du Breuil *1955 de Clerck *1958 de Menditte *1961 de Boisredon *1962 Marzloff *1965 de Galbert *1968 Crémière *1971 Boucher *1973 Guinard *1976 de Launay *1979 de La Motte *1981 Robert *1984 Codet *1987 Arnold *1991 Bonavita *1994 Boucher *1996 Pelletier *1998 Lafontaine *2000 Galineau *2002 Garrigou-Granchamp *2005 de Parseval *2007 Bot *2009 Rives *2012 Sainte-Claire Deville *2014 Saint Priest *2016 De Barmon *2017 Paris

References

Bibliography

* '' Extrait de l’Ordonnance de Cavalerie pour sous-officiers et brigadiers ... par un Capitaine Instructeur de l’École de Cavalerie de Saumur'', Paris, 1860 * Victor Raoult Deslongchamps, ''Considérations sur la fièvre intermittente à l’École de Cavalerie de Saumur'', École de Médecine, Paris, Collection des thèses, tome 10, 1839 * Maurice Durosoy, ''Saumur. Historique de l’École d’application de l’arme blindée et de la cavalerie'', Paris, 1964, 150 p. (rééditions ultérieures) * Pierre Garrigou Grandchamp (ed.), ''Saumur, l'école de cavalerie : histoire architecturale d'une cité du cheval militaire'', Monum, Éditions du patrimoine, Paris, 2005, 325 p. * Robert Milliat, ''Le dernier carrousel. Défense de Saumur 1940'' (illustrations d’un E.A.R. de l’École de cavalerie, ancien combattant de Saumur), B. Arthaud, Grenoble, Paris, 1945 (4th edition), 192 p. * J. L. Tarneau, « Leçons élémentaires d'hygiène militaire, faites à l'école de cavalerie de Saumur, 1873 », ''Journal des Sciences militaires'', 1874 *{{in lang, fr Charles-Maurice de Vaux, ''Les Écoles de cavalerie, Versailles, l'École militaire, l'École de Saint-Germain, Saint-Cyr, Saumur. Étude des méthodes d'équitation des grands maîtres'', J. Rothschild, 1896

External links

Site of the EAABC
Training establishments of the French Army Armoured warfare Equestrian educational establishments