Translation of a Cavalry rank?

[Crossroads]

Anyone familiar with rank titles in English, of US or Commonwealth variation, do you have anything similar to this:

Captain of cavalry:
- German rittmeister,
- Swedish: ryttmästare,
- Finnish: ratsumestari,

but apparently there doesn't seem to be any equivalents in English?

So, if I want to point out this particular officer comes from Cavalry, and possibly even commands a Cavalry unit, would the translation then indeed be Captain of Cavalry?

The unit he would command would be of course not a Company but a Squadron of men (ahem: dragoons), so perhaps a modern or contemporary Armored unit rank would be available?

Or, would that be just plain confusing, and Captain be the proper generic title to use?

There are other peculiarities in lower ranks but I'll put those aside. However many of these men served as Battalion commanders too and I would like to get their ranks properly displayed in the OoBs.

Thanks!

[David G]

Well, I'm no expert, but a British cavalry regiment at the time of the Napoleonic wars might have (nominally) say 5 squadrons, each squadron being divided into two troops. Each troop would be commanded by a captain. This captain might be referred to as the "troop commander" or "troop leader".

A check on Wikipedia suggests "troop commander" is the phrase you are looking for, although not quite unique to cavalry/armour. It is also not necessarily a captain.

Not sure if that helps you - clearly there is no direct translation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troop_commander
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troop
http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonis...avalry.htm

[Crossroads]

Thanks! Captain it is, with my apologies to all who've served in Cavalry