I was reading through old /r/AskHistorians posts on the war and one response mentioned the fluid nature of battles outside of the Western Front and the effective use of cavalry in those locations as a small note in their larger point about the war. How did cavalry go about their duties in myriad of fronts in the war?
On a somewhat different note: Are there any good books on the use of traditional cavalry in warfare during the post-World War II era? I imagine that few if any occurrences involved the big players, but these sorts of smaller scale confrontations with a mix of newer weapons like guns and older ones like horses are kinda fascinating for me.
That response was probably by me ;), as its something I repeat quite often as I parasite off of /u/elos_ and his excellent posts.
How did cavalry go about their duties in myriad of fronts in the war?
Much as it always had, for lack of a better phrase. In terms of employment, Cavalry units would reach the excellence in equipment standards just as they were beginning to become anachronistic on the battlefield; but the basic needs, usage and campaign treatments would remain similar to the 1870s. The Eastern Front and the Middle Eastern campaigns were waged against modern enemies, yes, but in relative terms not up to par in terms of industrial capacity of the Central Powers in Europe. This, coupled with less men involved (in the middle east) and wider spaces meant that Cavalry had room to maneuver from the outset. They could conduct classical 'turning movements' against open flanks (something that simply did not exist in say, 1916 Western Front) of an enemy army, for example. More importantly, Cavalry and Mounted Rifles were not immediately footnoted because they did not need to wait for a breakthrough to exploit - something that never happened in depth or strongly enough on the Western Front until 1918.
On a somewhat different note: Are there any good books on the use of traditional cavalry in warfare during the post-World War II era?
I'm sure there are...buuuuuuut none that I have read. I know the Rhodesian Light Infantry used horses sparingly during their rather disastrously waged COIN. More recently Special Forces used horses for transport and in at least one case as a move-to-contact facilitator while operating with the Northern Alliance in Iraq. There is a book published more generally on their actions.
Going back to your first question, here's a few questions I answered or ghostwrote on the subject that you may find helpful: