Before seeing the movie
War Horse, Deb Diers and I debated on the extent that horses were used during World War I. She had her laptop and the internet, so it wasn't really much of debate.
How could horses possibly withstand the extensive new weapons of WWI? Mustard gas, flame throwers, machine guns, and heavy artillery were incredibly destructive.
But, yes indeed, there were horses in WWI!
In the movie's opening war scene, British soldiers attack a German division camped in the French countryside. With their swords drawn, charging thru the open field mounted on horses, the Brits are mowed down by German machine guns.
They learned quickly that this was not a war of swords and horses; it was a war of the trenches.
