Caption: "Cavalrymen at a heating/cooking brazier, 1915." The British cavalry were the first British Army units to see action during WWI. Cavalrymen dominated the higher command positions within the British Army during the war. The only officers to command the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front were both cavalrymen. In August 1914 all combatant armies still retained substantial numbers of cavalry and the mobile nature of the opening battles on both Eastern and Western Fronts provided a number of instances of traditional cavalry actions, though on a smaller and more scattered scale than those of previous wars. Once the front lines stabilized on the Western Front, a combination of barbed wire, machine guns and rapid fire rifles proved deadly to horse mounted troops. A brazier is a container for fire, generally taking the form of an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box. Used for burning solid fuel, braziers principally provide heat and light, but may also be used for cooking.