equipment Lancers typically wore a double-breasted jacket (kurtka) with a coloured panel at the front (plastron), a coloured band of cloth (sash), and a square-topped cap (czapka). Their lance usually had a small swallow-tailed flag (pennon), just below the lance head. The pennons were normally removed or wrapped in a canvas cover on active service. With the improved range and accuracy of infantry muskets and rifles, the high profile presented by lancers with their conspicuous weapons became a problem. Lancers were trained to lower their lances when scouting on hilltops. 20th century lancers In 1914, lances were still being carried by regiments in the British, Indian, French, Prussian, Italian, Chilean, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Ottoman, Belgian, Argentinean, and Russian armies, amongst others. Almost all German cavalry branches (cuirassiers, hussars, dragoons, and uhlans) retained a steel lance (stahlrohrlanze) as their primary weapon. As late as 1914, half of the troopers in each Russian regular cavalry regiment (hussars, uhlans, and dragoons) carried lances on active service, as did all cossacks. The British cavalry lost the lance for all but ceremonial use in 1903, following the Second Boer War; but a backlash led to its reintroduction as an active service weapon from 1909 to 1928. The French army did not have lancer regiments as such, but steel lances in length were carried by the twenty-six dragoon regiments and some light cavalry units in 1914. The French had earlier tested the Indian bamboo lances used by the British cavalry, but had rated them as being too fragile for the shock of encounter. The six Italian lancieri regiments still in existence until 1920 and carried the 1870 model of ashwood lance, noted for its balance and manageability. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, there had been controversy as to whether lances or sabres were the more effective armes blanches (i.e., edged weapons) for cavalry, but neither proved a match for modern firearms. Some armies continued to use lances throughout this war, but they seldom saw use on the Western Front after initial clashes in France and Belgium in 1914. On the Eastern Front, mounted cavalry still had a role and lances saw limited use by the Russian, German, and Austrian armies. During the 1920s and 1930s, the use of lances ceased for active service in most armies. The German cavalry retained the lance as a service weapon until 1927, as did the British cavalry