Around the 22nd of August, Lt. Manfred von Richthofen with 15 Uhlans advanced into a woods near Virton, Belgium and when they got the other side of the woods, fell into a French ambush.
According to his account in his autobiography (pages 53-56), the horses of two of his Uhlans leaped the barricade blocking the path and and rode towards the French because the horses were in panic of the sound of all the gunfire.
His orderly’s horse was shot and fell down, trapping the orderly beneath it.
Richthofen and the rest of the Uhlans retreated back through the woods. The orderly returned two days later minus one of his boots, which was trapped under the horse. Richthofen claimed that there were about 100 rifles opposing them and they were firing from 50 to 100 yards. The orderly claims that “At least two squadrons of French cuirassiers had issued from the forest in order to plunder the fallen horses and brave Uhlans.”
This sentence gets my attention, as it tends to indicate that there were additional Prussian casualties besides the two men and horses who jumped the barricade and the orderly’s horse. As Richthofen’s autobiography was probably censored, it is possible that any reports of German killed might have been removed. Yet the sentence “…plunder the fallen horses and brave Uhlans” strongly indicates that there were indeed additional losses among the Uhlans and their horses that were not detailed in this book.
Has anyone examined this engagement in depth, checked the unit records, etc. and determined what actually occurred and what were the losses?
Reasonable to be skeptical, but the two “brave” Uhlans who went along for the ride when their two “brave” horses bolted toward the French does fit with the plural implied by Uhlans. Two is enough for plural. It’s interesting that Manfred didn’t disguise the fact that he abandoned his orderly. Fits with Manfred not “putting a spin” on taking a priest as a hostage or reporting about civilians “going to the wall.” All in a day’s warfare for Manfred. Overall, did he have a history of engaging in personal PR?
Except the two squadrons of French cuirassiers came out “…to plunder the fallen horses and brave Uhlans.” So the first two Uhlan’s horses lept the barricade and disappeared off toward the French, never to be seen again. So who were the “fallen horses and brave Uhlans” left there besides his orderly?
It is unusual that in the opening pages of his book he details three war crimes and him being ambushed.