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THE TRAINING

OF AN

INFANTRY COMPANY.

CATECHISM ON FIELD TRAINING

(INFANTRY).

A series of Questions arid Answers on
all subjects of field training, extracted
from the latest official TRAINING
MANUALS, together with miscellane-
ous information, practical exercises
and examples progressively arranged.

T^evised and brought up to date by

COL. H. O'DONNELL, p.s.c.

(WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT).

SIXTH EDITION.

CONTENTS.

Elementary — General Principles of Attack
and Defence — Miscellaneous Tactica
Operations — Warfare in uncivilised Coun-
tries— Protection on the Line of March —
Protection when at Rest — Methods of
obtaining Information — Quarters, Camps,
and Bivouacs — Field Engineering — Diary
of Training.

Fully illustrated with 30 pages of Plates and Diagrun-.s.

One of the numerous Press Opinions.

"The book is most comprehensive, for every
branch of the soldier's life is touched upon, and
every situation or emergency seems to be antici-
pated. Colonel O' Donnell's publication is quite
a military encyclopaedia." -Einf>ress, Calcutta.

PRICE 3/- NET.

From the Printers and Publishers,
GALE & POLDEN LTD.,
WELLINGTON WORKS, ALDERSHOT,
And at London and Portsmouth.

The TRAINING

01- AN

INFANTRY COMPANY

By

Major E. KIRKPATRICK, LA.

2ND EDITION.

London: GALE 6? POLDEN, LTD.,
2, AMEN CORNER. PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.

Nelson House. PORTSMOUTH fi?

Wellington Works. ALDERSHOT.

Obtainable from all Booksellers.

T\\<) SHILLINGS & SIXPENCE (Net)

I Copyright undar Act of 191 1 >

ALDERSHOT :

PRINTED BY GALE & POLDEN, LTD.
WELLINGTON WORKS.

1914.

P. 2103.

P R K FACE

This booklet has not been written for
the use and benefit of officers and non-
commissioned officers of long experience
and proved skill in the profession of
training men for battle. To such as
these it may only provide an object of
criticism, for in the course of years spent
in turning recruits into trained soldiers
they will have formulated to themselves,
and adopted, some system of training
which they found productive of the best
results under their own guidance. But
there are many at present, and at a future
time, should certain circumstances arise
in the life of the nation, there may be very
many more who may not have such stores
of experience to draw on, and yet may
be faced with the problem of rapidly
converting an untrained or only partially
trained body of men into a force capable
of acting successfully in real war, both
in attack and defence against trained and
disciplined troops. Again, it is written,
not for officers commanding battalions,

VI PREFACE

nor for officers of cavalry and artillery,
but only for officers commanding com-
panies or other similar units of infantry,
though it may, perhaps, be of use in
training mounted troops for dismounted
action.

Meantime, while the pipes of peace are
still smoking, it is hoped it may be of
some use to officers and non-commissioned
officers when the time comes to prepare
schemes of company training and put
them into execution.

E. K.

September,

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

Since the above was written, the issue of
new or amended Manuals of Training has
necessitated a revision of the book, which
is now presented in a form agreeable to
the four-company organisation.

The Empire is now confronted by those
circumstances to which allusion was made
in the Preface.

E. K.

September,

CONTENTS

PAGE

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

I. — The Intention of the Book ... i

II. — Making- the Best of their Com-
panies to Train the Modern
Man for the Modern Battle 4
III.— The Standard of Training-
assumed to have already
been acquired and its appli-
cation to further Exercises 9

IV. — Ground for Training — Its Use
and Influence — Palliation of
the Lack of a Training-
Ground ... ... ... ii

V.— Company Organisation-
Moral and the Personality
of the Commander 16

VI.— Discipline —Moral and Means

of Supervision 22

VII. — Organisation by Files and its

Effect on Moral — Cohesion 27
VIII. — Method of Training 31

IX.— As to Scouts and Working

Dress ... ... ... 37

A FEW PRESS OPINIONS

UNI IH> SBRVH I- M,\(,.\/.l\

Kirkpatrirk i- the .uithoi of a -mall hook on
"The Training »t an Infamiy Company." There have
• many hook- ami pamphlet? of this kind — short
knowledge — that one is a| 1 each iresh

one with Mispicion and even with ;i version, hut Major
Kirkp.in irk has much that is helpful to say, he
well, and he show^ how much goud \vork may lie done
even in the training of the emasculated companies such
a^ our mill' -ften leaves us. Hisin-inu-

tions cover a wide field, and there trust be few company
officers who will not he grateful to the author for many
valuable hint>.

"UNITED SKRVICE INSTITUTION
OF INDIA."

There are few junior officers of infantry who will not
benefit by a study of this book. The thorough system of
training elaborated in the seventeen exercises, which
form the major portion of the book, is worthy of the
attention of Regular as well as Territorial Officers.

These elementary exercises deal with the essentials in
the war training of the Infantry soldier, from the work of
the individual in advance and retirement, and of the
section in action and on protection duties, to the training
of the company in attack and defence, and outpost.

:i example of a system of training illustrating the
ly of attention to detail in the early instruction of
the soldier, this series of exercises is valuable, and their
value is increased by the constant reference to training
manuals. The author wisely recommends the study of
all the official books referred to, as he recognises that his
exercises and comments are only of value in so far as they
illustrate and explain the principles laid down in training
mam;

THE TRAINING

01

INFANTRY COMPANY.

I. \TROnrCTORY k KM. ARKS.

The authorised handbooks of training
rightly confine themselves to broad prin-
ciples, and do not attempt to give
detailed examples of their application,
the idea being that officers should study
these regulations and apply the principles
by the light of local conditions and their
own experience. Infantry Training and
the Field Service Regulations are, how-
ever, very pregnant little books, contain-
ing, as they do, a summary of the whole
of Modern Tactics, as far as they concern
infantry and the combined action of all
arms. Time and thought are necessary,
if the principles contained in them are to
be translated into such intelligent action
that the men trained on the lines laid
down may be capable of doing their duty
in real warfare, without first undergoing
a bitter and costly schooling of useless

casualties or, perhaps, even of defeat.
But if an officer is called on to achieve this
result, being himself without much pre-
vious experience in training, he will find
himself faced with a task of great diffi-
culty, and, with the best intentions, he
may waste precious time, as well as his
own and his men's patience and energy,
in doing parades and exercises, which are
either not indispensable, or of minor
importance for the main object. As an
extreme example, it would be better, in
a hastily raised corps, to combine the
disciplinary training of obedience to the
word of command, with instruction in the
use of their arms, by practice in smart
work in aiming and firing, than merely
to study precision in " sloping " and
" presenting arms," which look well,
but do not immediately affect fighting
efficiency.

For these reasons, it has occurred to
me that I might do some of my brother
officers in esse or in posse a service by
setting out certain elementary exercises in
training infantry soldiers, which I have
found of value in bringing them up to a
standard of battle training sufficiently
high to need only battalion training and
a baptism of fire to turn them into steady
and reliable troops. It is not contended
that these few examples are anything but

concrete instances of the application of
thr principles of the Training Manuals.
I'hry are intended, as has been stated,
merely for those who are short of time
and experience} and, therefore, references
to the manuals are given when the exercise
illustrates some particular section of those
works, and it is recommended that
officers who intend to use these examples
should look up and read the sections
referred to before going on to the parade.
Though this book is not meant for
officers commanding battalions, I have
one word to say to them, and it is this,
that if they wish to have an efficient
battalion they must let the company
officers have proper opportunities of train-
ing their companies, apart from the time
of company training, when the whole
company is struck off duty. If there are
six parades a week, let three or four of
them be company parades, ordered and
carried out by the company commanders ;
the balance will be quite enough to secure
combination between the companies in
battalion. On company parades, the
battalion commander should supervise,
but never interfere, unless things are
being manifestly mismanaged. (See
M.R., 2 (2 and 3)). The days
• >f the one man battalion are gone
for ever. The company is the thing that

B2

matters; a good battalion can only be

composed of well-trained companies. It
is the work of the battalion commander
to propound the general lines of training
and to use the companies to the best
advantage in combination, but the train-
ing of the individual soldier must be in
the hands of the man who is to lead him
in war.

II.

On ordinary parades, the captain of
an infantry company is seldom able to
get together more than a fraction of his
men. The calls on the company for men
for duties and odd jobs, leave and fur-
lough, and, in the Territorial Force, the
private occupations of the men, allow of
only a few being assembled on any one
parade. This being so, there is a tempta-
tion— sometimes yielded to by officers
who have not much experience, to say to
themselves : " This is rot ; what can I do
without any men?" Such a question is
the result of confusing the individual
instruction of the men with the tactical
practice of the leader in handling his
company as a whole. The answer too
often takes the form of an hour's close
order drill or something similar, which
may do some good, but not nearly as

much as if the officer stoutly made up his
mind to make the best of a bad job and
took out those few men and did some
practical training in field operations. The
fewer men there are on parade, the more
individual attention will the company
commander be able to give them. He will
be able to look at each man's work more
carefully, talk to the men and get to
know their characters as soldiers, spot
who are likely to make good non-commis-
sioned officers, and coach them far more
than if the whole company were on hand
at once. So do not turn up your nose at
a company only twenty strong, but make
up a scheme of exercises to be gone
through, and, since the men who are not
on parade to-day will be so to-morrow,
arrange to do the same exercise on two,
or, if needed, three, consecutive days, so
as to catch all, or, at least, most of the
men, and your non-commissioned officers,
who are not usually so drawn on for off-
parade duties, will become well ac-
quainted with each exercise, learn what
to do and how to run things, and so
become both a help to you as instructors,
and themselves gain authority and power
of command from the knowledge of their
own competency.

It is quite likely that these exercises and
the explanations given, may seem to some

readers to be absurdly simple and need-
lessly long-winded, while there is also a
good deal of repetition. To this I will
make early reply that they are written for
officers who are not too proud to accept
other people's advice in training a com-
pany of young soldiers of the stamp
which would be forthcoming if some
cause* or other tempted or constrained into
military service that great proportion of
our male population who are at present
quite ignorant of a soldier's work, and
who, from apathy, or a hundred other
causes, do not join the Territorial Force.
Such men probably have never in their
lives given a thought to soldiering. The
majority of them are town born and bred,
and have passed most of their lives among
bricks and mortar. If they have ever
looked carefully at the large or small
features of a bit of country, it has been
from an industrial, sporting, or, perhaps,
sentimental, but never from a tactical,
point of view. They have everything to
learn in making use of ground for fight-
ing. Their ideas of using modern arms
are equally crude; the primitive fighting
instinct will be uppermost in their minds,
and would express itself in an incontinent
desire to get to close quarters with their
enemy, when bayonet, butt or hand grips

*A cause now'exists, and the men have^come out.

would seem the proper way to settle the
matter. A very laudable desire it is
this of wanting to close in — and one to
be encouraged by every means, but how-
ever brave troops may be, they cannot in
general indulge their desire to attain
close quarters and the resulting facilities
of fighting by the light of their natural
instincts unless they have first been suc-
cessful in the fire fight — the strife of the
arms of artifice — which is waged by bullet
and shell at distances which Nature never
contemplated.

It is the artificiality of the fire fight
which makes the task of turning town-
bred men into skilful soldiers such a
difficult and lengthy process. They must
be led to look at ground in relation to its
capabilities of increasing the effectiveness
of their own fire and also of diminishing
the result of that of the enemy, i.e., they
must learn to select good fire positions
and good cover. The problem of finding
the latter for himself against a civilized
foe begins, for the individual soldier, as
soon as the enemy's rifle fire becomes
effective and compels the use by his side
of extended order; this is held to be on
open ground about fourteen hundred
yards from the enemy's infantry (I.T.,
118 (4)). Prior to this the responsibility
for cover rests with his leaders, as he

8

will then be in some close formation. Fire
positions he must choose for himself as
soon as his section commander ceases
to be able to indicate his wishes, or
to secure combined action by the whole
unit. This will probably happen at
about six hundred yards from the enemy,
when individual fire is expected to
replace controlled fire by sections. These
two aspects of fighting — the use of
ground, and the use of the rifle as a
far-reaching weapon of almost absolute
precision, if truly sighted and aimed—
are foreign to our instincts, and the
average man has to be trained till he is
able to override his instinct and fight an
artificial war, so as to work his way to
charging distance. Some men need less
training than others; a stalker in a deer
forest is an adept in the use of cover, and
in general, country-bred men should be
easier to train than town-bred, but the
majority of our men being the latter, we
must lay ourselves out to teach them from
the beginning this business of the fire
fight, since success in this is usually
necessary before the assault can suc-
ceed (I.T., 121 (7)). This can only
be done by training them in extended
order and putting them through various
exercises chosen for the purpose. Any
exercise which does not in some way tend

to fit men for battle is mere waste of
time; aimless perambulations of an ex-
tended line fall under this category, but
are quite ot'trn to be seen on parade
grounds. No amount of smartness in
close order drill will compensate for a
deficiency of field training.

III.

The exercises which I have drawn up,
simple though they are, are of the nature
of " Instructional Operations," as defined
by T. & M.R., 40 (12), and it is pre-
supposed that the men have received, or
are in course of receiving, sufficient in-
struction in the use of the rifle (musketry
in all its branches), and of the bayonet
(bayonet fighting), in drill in close order,
and the drill grounding of extended
order work, including signals (I.T.,
90-96). We are then to consider ourselves
to be at the stage in which the soldier is
to be taught to work over broken country
as directed in the latter part of para. '90,
above quoted. But do not think the
lessons learned at musketry instruction are
to be forgotten and left behind by the
men when they begin to work in ex-
tended order across country. Demand
from your men that the rifle shall be
deadly, and, by unceasing supervision,

IO

breed a habit among them of aiming and
firing in extended order, whether with
or without blank cartridge, with the same
exactitude as when firing their course of
musketry on the range. Take the high
standard — a hundred men's lives in one
man's bandolier, instead of a hundred
bandoliers for one man's life. The higher
standard of the two is at least possible,
though not common, but why nofc try and
work towards it, so that when bullets are
flying within decisive range of the enemy,
it will be your men's fire, that is the
deadly close-hitting kind, that makes
afraid, and not the haphazard jet of
bullets whose inefficacy lets unhurt
familiarity breed tolerant contempt ?

In the same way, when men are in close
order at any time during a field parade,
keep up the same smartness, and quick
obedience to orders which are exacted in
close order drills, in order that the men
may become truly disciplined, and not
merely so in appearance, so when they
come under fire without being extended,
as may happen in the early and distant
stages of a fight, they will, as a matter
of course, submit themselves to their
commander's wishes, and ignore their own
inclinations, which, just at the first ex-
perience, even with very brave men, might
be for an immediate and independent

II

rush in -;<»mr direction perhaps forward,
perhaps in another direction — they will
be "in hand," and free of the liability
of raw troops to suffer from sudden panic
or to become a mob, full of fight, per-
haps, but still a mob, and as such, a
force which cannot be controlled or used
in furtherance of any general plan.

IV.

The want of a suitable and accessible
bit of ground on which to train our men
is one of the chief difficulties we have to
meet in the United Kingdom, and, of
course, it is greatest in the case of town
corps, varying with the size of towns,
while in large cities ground is not to be
had at all, save at a distance of several
miles from the men's dwelling places.
Unfortunately, there is little doubt that
the possession or lack of suitable training
grounds has a great effect on the readi-
ness, or otherwise, of troops to give a
good account of themselves when they
come under fire for the first time in their
lives. The lack of it takes away reality
from the work of the men in the ranks
and cramps the initiative of their officers,
who are given no opportunity to exercise
their wits in figuring out practical situa-
tions which might occur on service.

12

I can give no recipe for obtaining the
use of ground, but from what I have just
said I hope it is clear that the officer com-
manding a battalion or company should
use every blandishment or art of which
he is capable to get the use of a stretch
of ground, and also, if it is at a distance,
and the attendance of the men at parades
voluntary, he should try to provide facili-
ties for getting them to and from the
ground. The worst bit of country is
better than the barrack square.

The ideal ground is that which gives
conditions suited to each phase of the
training, the principal requirements being
fire positions and cover, and these should
occur so as to provide illustrations of
the use to be made of them in individual
training, and in the collective training of
sections, platoons, and the larger units.
Thus, for training individual men, good
ground would be that with an irregular
surface, giving many places twenty to
fifty yards apart, which each man could
use in firing and taking cover. The
usual seaside golf course of hummocks,
furze bushes, and occasional watercourses,
is good to teach individual men over — I
say teach, for we must not imagine that
an enemy will be so kind as to leave easy
ground like that in his front, if he can
help it. For section or platoon training,

13

the surface should be similar, so that thr
individuals should still be called on to
look out for their own halting places, but,
in addition, there should be a certain
number of small features, hillocks, banks,
and so on, one to four hundred yards
apart, which will serve as fire positions
and cover for the whole unit, and pro-
vide the commanders with successive
objectives, to which it will be their duty
to bring their men in good order, and
without needless exposure to the enemy's
fire. When the company is training
together, the ground should be similar,
but of greater extent, both broader and
larger, so that sections and platoons may
be practised in supporting each other,
some being halted in these fire positions,
and covering by their fire the movements
of the others who are in process of gaining
fresh vantage points. And so on for
larger units and the combined action of
all arms; good ground for early instruc-
tion is that whose features, from their
nature and distance from each other, lend
themselves to illustrate conditions under
which the power of each unit and arm
may be most profitably employed in con-
junction with others. Troops trained over
ground that gives the above advantages
will acquire an eye for country. A know-
ledge of the uses to be made of ground

will be common to all ranks, so that when
they find themselves fighting on bad
ground, which does not give much cover
or good fire positions, they will be the
more apt to search for such cover and fire
positions as are obtainable, while troops
trained on flat and open ground would be
much slower in making the best of a bad
job. We are not concerned with anything
more than a company; therefore, get for
your own use, if you can manage it —
failing help from higher powers — a bit of
ground of some sort, golf course, common,
city park, or what not. It need not be
very extensive. Even if it gives only three
or four positions suitable for occupation
by a section working in conjunction with
another, say, six hundred by three
hundred yards, it will give room for use-
ful instruction; but, of course, a larger
extent is preferable, as giving room for
more extended and varied exercises. If
your training ground is of limited extent,
it should, nevertheless, if possible, have
a wide field of view on all sides beyond
its own confines, and leave you the right
to send a few men to take positions on the
adjoining country, even if not allowed to
manoeuvre about it, so that when carrying
out your exercises you may be able to use
men with blank cartridge to act as a skele-
ton enemy, when such is needed. But if

15

you are not allowed to send men on
to the neighbouring ground, the wide field
t>f view will still enable you to indicate
certain distant positions as supposed to
be held by the enemy. By this means you
will be able to use the whole area of your
permissible ground to represent a bit of
the battlefield, and escape having to
place the supposed enemy absurdly close
to your manoeuvring troops, e.g., at the
edge of the training ground, or in some
other position which makes heavy calls on
the imagination. Britishers are not
imaginative. Lastly, if all else fails, and
you have nowhere to go except the flat
parade ground, or even the drill hall,
which in large towns is often very spa-
cious, do not, I beg you, become dis-
couraged and throw up all effort to get
your men ready for field work. Do the
exercises on the flat, limiting the extent of
movements, if there is little room, and
use flags or anything else to represent fire
positions for sections and platoons, and let
the men kneel or lie down between
advances, if there is no cover. A great
deal may be done in this way to lay a
good foundation for extended order
work. Your men will know the mechanism
of it, and you will save much time when
you do manage to have them out on a
proper training ground. I.T., 107 (2), re-

i6

quires company commanders, in preparing
their schemes of training, to have regard
to the ground at their disposal; do so,
therefore, even if the ground aforesaid is
only a parade ground, and make the most
of it; it is better than sitting still and
either doing nothing, or . only a weary
round of company drill in close order.
Of course, you must let the men know
what you are driving at, or they will get
bored and lose interest.

V.

Having got a company of men and
ground to train them on, the first step is
to organise that company for its battle
training. A company is organised into
four platoons, each under a subaltern, with
a sergeant as his second-in-command
(platoon sergeant). Each platoon has
four sections, and the sixteen sections
of the company are numbered one
to sixteen. The men of each of
the above units remain permanently in
that unit. // possible, maintain this
organisation on duties and fatigues,
though this is often a counsel of perfec-
tion, but quarter the men together, and
insist on the maintenance of the organisa-
tion, without deviation, on parades. Have
lists made up of the men of each platoon
and section, and let men who so wish,

belong to the same unit. Once these lists
IK- made up, see to it by means of the
section commanders that these men fall in
on parade together in the place in the
company where their section is standing,
no matter how few there are; if there are
but two mon of onr section on parade, they
should fall in as front and rear rank men
of one file. Avoid disseminating the
men of a platoon or section among other
units in order to raise the latter to a size-
able strength. Instead of this: sup-
posing you have three weak platoons and
< >ne strong one on parade ; of the four
sections of one of the weak platoons, send
two to each of the other two weak platoons.
Tins will give you three platoons of, per-
haps, unequal strength, but sufficient for
work — and this without taking the respon-
sibility of section commanders off their
shoulders, and the cohesion of each
unit is preserved. Some further suggestions
on the subject of organisation will be put
forward when speaking of moral.

The officer who aspires to develop what-
ever capabilities his men possess of
becoming individually and collectively
formidable in battle, must pay attention
to much more than mere physical con-
siderations. Napoleon's dictum, that the
moral is to the physical as three to one is
early dinned into the ears of the officer of

C

i8

Regulars, but may stand repetition in
pages meant for the perusal of others.
No officer can expect to get the most out
of his men unless he directs his attention
to the study of the psychical side of the
training. There are two fields in which
the study must be pursued. One is the
officer's own personality, the other that of
his non-commissioned officers and men.
T. & M.R., 8, deals with the former, and
should be read and pondered over.

In battle good men have sometimes
achieved victory in spite of the short-
comings of their officers, but good officers,
as well as men, are necessary for con-
sistent success in the series of battles
which make a campaign. Now, good
officers, given time for training, will in-
fallibly produce good men, provided the
latter are of the average physique and
courage. Therefore, study thyself, and
try to see what you lack, in order to be-
come a good officer. Cultivate your skill
in handling your men by reading any
books you can get; there are, unfortun-
ately, not very many that deal with the
work of such small units as com-
panies or even single battalions. Go out
into the country, or, if you have
riot time, recall to yourself some bit of
country you know, and import an enemy
into the landscape. Perhaps a few rifle-

'9

men are holding ground on the flank of a
road along which your battalion wants
to march, but cannot, without undue loss,
until these riflemen are driven off; and
your commanding officer tells you to do
the driving. In imagination, or on the
ground, decide what position you would
hold, if you were the enemy, in order to
make yourself as nasty as possible —
though having no hope of being rein-
forced— to the battalion trying to come
along the road. Then settle in your mind
what you, as commanding your company,
would do to get rid of the annoyance.
Be quite clear, what would you do ? Go
at them bald-headed? There are times
and enemies when this is the best way ;
you would have to be fairly close, and
the enemy not shooting very straight, and
rather careful of his skin; or will you
march a long way round till the enemy
sees you are getting behind him, and so
manoeuvre him out ? Then your battalion
will be a long time waiting. Or will you
look at t'he ground and find, let us sup-
pose, a spot to which you will send a
section or platoon to open a fire on the
runny, while another works its way to a
point you have noted from which fire can be
brought to sweep crossways a little knoll,
or some such supposititious feature which
seems to form the enemy's left flank, and

C2

to be occupied by ten or twelve men, and
which gives command over the rest of his
position ? Then, while the second lot is on
its way, you plan to lead the remainder a
little way round, under cover, in order to
get to fairly close range of the knoll, so
that when the second party opens fire on it,
and its defenders are hampered both by
this fire and by that of those you first
posted, you may surprise them by an
outburst of fire from your reserve, and
either drive them off their perch by
cross-fire from three directions, or, if they
do not shift, run in at them with the
bayonet, trusting to get across the inter-
vening space at the cost of a few casual-
ties, when your superior numbers at that
point should ensure your success even if
they actually await the bayonet. Learn
to consider quickly how many ways there
are of doing such a job as the above, and
to decide quickly and rationally which is
the best.

These schemes, involving only a company
or two, will not be presented for your solu-
tion by your battalion commander ; you
must set them yourself, and their solution,
and the thinking necessary thereto are the
best methods an officer can get of training
himself without having his men on the
ground. In your mind's eye, put your
company into every situation you can

21

think of, nnd get it out ;ig;mi, and you
will li.ivr acquired ,in enormou- i
capacity fur acting quickly .md rightly
when your men ;uid your enemv are both
on the ground. But beware of dealing in
too short distances, or you may produce
unreal pictures of war. Do not imagine
mano-uvres ,it four hundred yards from the
enemy when every m;in exposed would he
hit in a few minutes. The clearness and
on of thought you acquire will be
reflected in the orders you give. Your
men will give you their confidence when
they see, as they are quick to do, that you
know your job. There is nothing more
disheartening for a subordinate, be he
private or colonel, than to feel he is under
control of a duffer, whose mistakes he will
have to correct. This feeling saps dis-
cipline, and quickly destroys the fighting
value of a body of men. In peace train-
ing, the men become sulky at being
" bothered about," lose interest in their
work, and wish themselves done with
parade. In war, their personal characters
usurp the control of their actions, and they
become a mob in uniform.

But in addition to possessing the confi-
dence of the men in your tactical ability,
vou should seek all other means to increase
your influence over them. Gain their

22

respect in other ways, by honesty of pur-
pose, by example, tact, devotion to duty,
and so on. Gain their goodwill by watch-
ing over their individual and collective
interests, though in this you must play to
the gallery sufficiently to let them identify
you as the source of benefits received.
Keep an even temper, and do not show
anger without good cause. Personal at-
tachment to their officer shows itself most
when men's powers are taxed by hardship,
fatigue, and danger; it is then a great
auxiliary in maintaining discipline among
the mass.

VI.

As regards the moral of the men,
IT., i (4 to 10) must be referred to.
You must introduce discipline— the habit
of subordinating personal inclination to
the orders of the superior promptly and
without cavil. If your men are raw, you
have to go slow just at first till they all
know what is expected of them. Let
them understand that orders are not given
haphazard, but are invariably based on
some good reason, which, being so, there
is no need for reasons to be always stated,
nor for recipients of orders to feel unhappy
for want of them. If you can induce a
feeling among the men that slackness on
parade, slowness in obeying orders, and so

23

on, arc had form, and tend to disgrace tin-
company, you will do well, and this good
-.pirit \\ill enable you to enforce rlisriph-
without having recourse to punishment, if
you are vested with the power of inflict n
it.

I have already said that when in close
order during tactical exercises, you should
maintain discipline in the ranks. I now
go further and say that you should main-
tain it when the men are extended or
detached from the company singly or in
small groups. Evidently the discipline
here needed is something more than mere
mechanical obedience. What it is, is to
be found in T. & M.R., 39 (4), and F.S.R. 12
(13), and IT., 116 and 117. Make the
pjen understand that when they are ex-
tended they must obey their unit com-
mander's orders and signals as to fire and
movement at once, and without hesi-
tation, and must be always on the look-out
for them. Allow no talking, except what
relates to the business in hand, such as
passing of orders or information, results
of fire, and so on. Hold the men responsi-
ble that if they are out of reach of the
control of their leader, it is their duty to
carry out the spirit of the orders under
which they set out. To bring their
responsibility home to them, you must
make a point of calling men occasionally

24

to give an account of what they did when
detached, and why they did it, so that they
may pause for a moment if they are of the
sort that take advantage of opportunity
to sit behind a hedge and smoke a
cigarette when they ought to be up and
doing.

Here you will naturally say that this is
all very well, but how is one to look after
men scattered here and there over several
hundred yards of rough country ? Here
come in the non-commissioned officers, of
whom, so far, no mention has been made,
and also your subaltern officers. Since
success in battle will depend largely on the
efficiency of fire unit commanders, and the
normal fire unit is the section (I.T., 6 (4)),
it is evident that the section commander is
•a very responsible person, and much must
be expected from him.

Your subalterns and platoon sergeants
you must use as your delegates in super-
vising and leading the platoons to which
they belong, except when they are needed
to act specifically as platoon commanders,
keeping themselves constantly on the
move among the men, looking at the de-
tails of the work, sighting of rifles, aiming,
use of cover, choice of lines of movement,
not lying down themselves nor participating
in the operation as combatants. When you

25

wish to inve them prnrtice in setting

themselves, turn the whole coinpnny
lo OIK- of them ;nul net yourself as
critie, or net .is siibnlteni under liis orders
This is one menus of supervision.

The next is your non-commissioned
officers. They are in direct command,
,ind you must hold them responsible for
their sections, hut when their units
are acting in conjunction with others, it
is evident they cannot act both as com-
mn riders and instructors unless certain
concessions are made, for if the non-com-
missioned officers as well as the men of a
section were to act as they would have to
do under real fire, each non-commissioned
officer might be able only to supervise a
man or two on his right and left, the rest
being too far off. Therefore, at the begin
ning of an exercise, you should tell the
non-commissioned officers whether, in
addition to giving executive commands,
they are to be at liberty to move about
freely and act as instructors also. Need-
less to say, in instructional exercises, and
until the men are quite seasoned, you
should let them do this, but, on the other
hand, in exercises meant to illustrate
actual conflict and the limitations imposed
by the presence of an enemy, they should
pay attention to those limitations so that
they, as well as the men, may be prepared

26

to endure the disabilities imposed by Ser-
vice conditions.

Next comes yourself. Once you have
given your subordinates your orders for
any exercise, leave them to carry it
through, and make yourself as ubiquitous
as may be in supervision. Keep criti-
cism for the end, and interference only
for the prevention of absurdities. To
make yourself ubiquitous, the best way
is to use your horse, and make
the noble animal do the running about
with you on his back. You can then get
through about six times what you can on
your own feet, by cantering from one
section to another, and you get a better
view of the whole performance, but you
must remember when correcting anything
the men are doing that you are mounted,
while they are probably kneeling or lying,
and much that you see is invisible to them.
Equip yourself with a pair of field glasses,
and also with a megaphone, which latter
should be about fourteen inches long, and
carried by a strap over the shoulder, the
strap punched so as to be capable of being
made long or buckled up close under the
arm, according as you need to use the
megaphone, or wish to get it out of your
way. Use your glasses to look at what
sections and individual men in them are
doing. They will reveal to you small

27

mistakes that escape notice at some
distance with the unaided eye. Th<- iii<-g;i
phone saves you a lot of small rx( iirsi<>ns
to get to earshot of men, and also a !
shouting at a distance, which is fatiguing,
and is apt to lead to exacerbation of
tempers, both of the shouter and the
listener. Moreover, it enables you to hear
as well as speak from a distance. This is
done simply by holding it aimed at the
other man with your ear instead of your
mouth at the mouthpiece. Use your
whistle to call attention to orders or
signals, carry it in your hand, not in your
pocket, and put a loop in the cord and
pass the loop over your middle finger, or
von will be always dropping it. Instead
of a cane, carry a small semaphore flag,
and give your signals with it. This saves
a good deal of arm-waving, and tends to
smarten up movement, as it is more easily
seen than the arm. By bringine all these
aids into vour service, you will find that
vou can make your influence felt, although
the sections are separated bv the greatest
distances which they are ever likely to be
called on to take up in battle.

VII.

"Resides discipline, there are certain
other moral influences which give strength

28

to an Army. These are indicated
in I.T., i (4 and 5). The two mighty
forces of religion and patriotism are
not treated of here, as they have their
roots not in any system of training,
but in the upbringing of the youth
of the nation, but there is one force
which you, as a humble commander, can
call into play, and that is shame — the
dread of losing the respect of oneself and
of one's comrades. During peace training
you may make men dread the public
shame of misbehaviour by the aid of those
means of supervision which I have sug-
gested, but in war the power to supervise
is greatly curtailed, and it is very desirable
to find something to replace it, and, at the
same time, to supplement a too absolute
reliance on the stoutness of men's hearts,
for this may prove a broken reed when
the troops are largely composed of un-
seasoned soldiers.

To a certain extent, the organisation oi
the company into permanent sections pro-
vides us with the substitute we desire, as
the men of sections are likely to be
cognisant of how their comrades behave
when out of view of the rest of
the company as long as the whole
of the men of the section are in
view of each other ; but this will not

always be the case: for example, in wood

fighting or in house fighting, both of
which would assuredly occur if our men
have to fight in Europe. In such fighting
everything comes down to the pushfulness
oi the individual soldiers, tor even sections
will lose their leaders. Therefore let us
carry the principle of the company
organisation logically one step further, and
make the men of a file as they fall in on
parade in the section act in conjunction for
the remainder of that parade. This
arrangement is recognised in the last edi-
tion of the Musketry Regulations, and has,
at various times, been adopted in former
drill books of our Army, and has given
excellent results, while, if the present
book does not prescribe it, at least
it countenances it (I.T., 123 (12)), and
I strongly recommend your introducing
it into your company. It is likely
to produce emulation in the fire fight
among men whose hearts are in the
right place, and in the assault it must pro-
duce the advantages of combination, for
two men coming on with the bayonet in
conjunction are far more likely to do
someone an injury than if they each came
on independently, since in the latter case
a cool and skilful antagonist might dispose
of one and then the other, even as the
Japanese are said to have stepped aside

30

when charged by the Russians, who, run-
ning forward blindly and head down, fell
an easy prey to their alert little enemies,
and were bayoneted in succession as they
arrived. The proof of this pudding is the
eating thereof, and if your company ever
happens to be alongside a company told
off daily into haphazard sections, as
is sometimes done, in spite of rules,
you will then see the difference, even
if it is only at manoeuvres. In close,
order they may still look alike, but let
them be extended in rough country, and
you will see that yours is the blade of
steel ; the particleis of its metal are co-
herent ; it will bend, but not break. The
other is of wrought iron, polished on the
surface but of brittle material, and sure to
fly to pieces in any rough usage. By this
file organisation you will produce in the
men in the ranks the highest degree of
cohesion — the habit of regulating their
own actions in accordance with the
actions and needs of others in furtherance
of one general aim.

Having secured this cohesion among the
men, you have still to produce it within
the company as between platoons and
sections. For cohesion is the coping stone
of the edifice of efficiency, and rests on a
basis of discipline, moral and training.
It makes possible the application of

the principle of mutual support which
is indispensable in the attack t T SR ,
(4)), and it enables retirements
and defensive action to be carried out
without disorganisation, and- with the
minimum of loss. Whenever sections
act together, see to it that the non-
i-ommissioned officers keep an eye on the
movements of the others, and question
them as to the extent their orders to their
sections should be influenced by the needs
and movements of the others. By this
means they will be induced to check the
inclination to play only for their own
hands, and to remember always that their
unit is part of a combination which can
best attain success by acting accordingly.

VIII.

Training is the preparation of officers
and men for the duties which they will
carry out in war. These duties consist in
the application of the principles contained
in the training manuals, and it is your
business to provide concrete examples.
But in these days of long range arms com-
bats take a very long time, and you cannot
expect in a parade of perhaps one or at
most two hours, and with a limited extent
of ground, to carry out all the varied
phases of an operation which, in warfare,

would take anything from six to eighteen
hours to complete, and would extend over
perhaps five or six miles of country, even
i-f we limit ourselves to the extreme ranges
of heavy artillery, and take no account of
movements not within the range of possi-
ble fire. Therefore, in your training, you
must be analytical, choosing for one
parade such phase or phases as you have
time and ground for, and doing the others
later on. When your company knows all it
can be taught thus piecemeal, it will be
early enough to try to get time and ground
to perform continuous operations.

For instance, infantry in the attack will
usually have to go through three phases :
first, the advance to fire positions ; second,
the fire fight (IT., 121 (6)); and,
third, the assault, which latter must
be divided into the charge and the steps
which follow it according as it is success-
ful or not. You will have to train for
these three phases. The first, against an
enemy armed with guns and rifles, would
consist in opening out from column of
route into little columns — sections or
platoons — and moving forward in this
formation, the main object being to
escape being smashed to pieces by his
artillery fire before being able to do him
any damage (IT., 118 (3)). Later, you

33

would conic under In, ntle lire, and
little columns must scatter out into
of men in extended Older (I.T., Il8 (s) ).
These movements seem, and are, very -
but still they must be practised in peace
if tin o be done coolly and without

confusion in time of war when the first
intimation of the necessity for opening out
may be the shriek and crash of what will be
to most of the men the first shrapnel
they have ever seen, and withal aimed
at themselves. This phase requires the
presence of all four platoons of the com-
pany, and so may be kept over till the men
have been trained in the phase which it
precedes, namely, that of the fire fight.

The fire fight begins when the attacking
infantry have got as far forward as they
can without having to reply to the enemy's
fire, and it is quite distinct from the pre-
ceding phase of passive endurance. Suc-
cess in the fire fight is an absolute neces-
sity for a successful assault. Possibly your
enemy has prepared your success before
war broke out by abstaining from training
his men in musketry, but even if his shoot-
ing is inferior, the fire fight will call into
play all the qualities and skill of which
your men are possessed, both individually
and collectively. Accordingly you should
practise them in the fire fight from the

D

34

opening of their fire up to the assault, first
individually and then collectively.

The assault can be dissected into the
fixing of bayonets with as little cessation
of fire as possible, the charge itself, fol-
lowed, according as it is held to have been
successful or not, by the rallying of the
troops, pursuit of the enemy by fire and
strengthening of the captured position, or
the withdrawal or such mitigation of the
results of failure as may fairly be at-
tempted Thus, by considering the attack
as made up of phases as above, it is, I
think, possible and instructive to practise
each one of them separately, on a short
parade, and on limited ground, by placing
the men in the order in which they would
be at beginning of any one phase, and
carrying on from there.

Before beginning any exercise, call your
non-commissioned officers out to the front,
and explain to them and to the men, in
very full detail, what the exercise is in-
tended to be, what points particularly
require attention, how you want it done,
and the sequence of events, if it involves
combined action between the different
units ; whether the company is supposed
to be acting by itself or as part of the
battalion, and, if the latter, whether your
side are having the support of artillery fire
or not, where the enemy is, and what he

35

is, i.e., is he infantry only, or has he
cavalry and guns, what he is supposed to
he doing, attacking, defending, retiring,
inarching, or what. Deal with all such
points hefore you start, otherwise you will
find your non-commissioned officers and
men filling in tlu4 blanks each according to

AH bent of imagination, and everyone
in consequence playing at a different game.

>e thus able to define the scope and
arrangements of the exercise, you must
have it clearly planned out in all detail in
your head. This you should do if possible
the day before the parade, so that you will
have the thing well thought out, and events
marshalled in logical sequence.

At all exercises, if possible, have the
enemy represented by a skeleton force, as
directed by T. & M.R., 48, a few actual
men with blank cartridge, and a red range
flag or two to roughly define the enemy's
position. Use for this purpose old sol-
diers, if you have them, or, at least, men
who have already performed the exercise
you mean to do, and it is better to take
one or two men from each platoon than
to send off a whole section, and so
break up the company organisation. Six
or eight men are quite enough to. form any
skeleton enemy that is needed for a com-
pany to manoeuvre against. You must
give the skeleton enemy definite orders as

D 2

36

to what they are to represent, where they
are to go, and what to do and not to do.
If they are given at all a free hand, especi-
ally if under the enterprising British
subaltern, they are very apt to indulge in
far-reaching manoeuvres, and subject you
to sudden raids and onslaughts which up-
set your scheme for the parade, and leave
you no enemy at the very point you wished
to have him. If you cannot arrange for a
skeleton enemy, at least never fail to indi-
cate some position as supposed to be held
by an enemy. If your exercise ground is
Jimited in extent, fix the enemy's position
outside it, regardless of whether you have,
or have not, licence to traverse the inter-
vening space, so as to avoid carrying out
your exercise within impossibly close range
of the enemy. In default of a skeleton
enemy to provide you with a target, tell
your men to aim at any members of the
public who are about the enemy's position.
This is better than snapping at inanimate
objects, as it gives more interest and so
keeps up careful aiming. As regards the
general method of training, follow com-
monsense and the manuals, and work from
individual up to collective, bearing in mind
always that collective work is built up of
the work of the individuals who throughout
have to be kept up to the collar by the
various arts which I have touched on. The

of the iron hand tli.it is ,hown the

better,

IX.

I make no nirntion of scouts, as they are
i lists. They must be selected after
you have got to know all the men of your
company and their capabilities. Their
training as scouts cannot be carried out by
you personally at the same time that you
arc training1 the company. To be really of
use, it will be a whole-time job for one
officer, and you will either have to turn
them over to one of the subalterns, or go
with them yourself, preferably the former,
if the subaltern is capable. When they
are trained and fall in on parade as scouts
in their sections, it is a good plan to have
places permanently reserved for them as
third files from the left of sections (the
blank file's place) so that they can leave the
ranks without disturbing the formation for
forming fours.

As regards dress one thing is quite
certain, and that is that with only
one suit of uniform men cannot appear
clean and smart off duty in it, and yet use
it for field work with all the lying down
and knockabout wear involved. In time
of national danger, appearances will go to
the wall, and men will do their work at the
expense of the fit of their one and only suit
of uniform.

EXERCISE I.

INDIVIDUAL ADVANCE IN EXTENDED
ORDER.

The exercise portrays what men will
have to do when the rifle fire of the enemy
becomes effective, and necessitates exten-
sion of the small columns which are used
to dodge his shell fire (T.T., 1 18 (3) ). This
will be somewhere over one thousand yards
from the enemy, and perhaps fourteen hun-
dred may be taken as a maximum. From
the point at which extension from the small
columns is made up till the time of the
assault, a line of men in extended order is
the suitable formation, unless there is some
covered way leading- forward which can be
traversed in file or other formation. Once
the advance has begun it should be
carried through as quickly as possible
without exhausting the men too much, and
fire should not be opened until it is abso-
lutely necessary to neutralise that of the
enemy, firstly, because it lessens the speed
of the advance and so increases the time
during which the attackers are exposed to
the enemy's fire ; secondly, because once

30

men sl.irl firing it is more difficult to lead
them forward ; and, tliirdly, l>eeausc it uses
up cartridges whose value and difficulty of
replacement increases at every yard
nearer the enemy's position.

The exercise is then to tram men to gain
ground to the front with the minimum of
exposure to the enemy's fire, and as quickly
as may be, firstly, without firing, ana,
sccoiidlV, while firing themselves, but in
tin- latter case speed must be subordinated
to the development of a fire of sufficient
accuracy and volume to largely neutralise
that of the enemy, for at this stage of the
battle advances under fire will only be
possible if it is inaccurate ; and the only
in means of causing it to be inaccurate
is by disturbing the enemy's nerves and
aim by bringing to bear on him the fire
both of supporting troops and of the firing
line itself (IT., 118 (6)).

The regulations do not encourage the
opening of fire by units less than two
platoons at ranges over one thousand yards
as the results do not compensate for the
delay. Under one thousand and up to six
hundred it is desired that fire should
be controlled and directed, i.e., the
lit, and the target should be speci-
fied by commanders (I.T., 116). Under
six hundred yards it is recognised

40

that individual fire gives good results,
and, moreover, control becomes almost
impossible.

Divide your exercise accordingly. First,
teach merely the advance without firing,
letting the men know that they are not to
fire, as a rule, without orders under six hun-
dred yards, and then let them advance
firing at each halt behind cover, choosing
their own target and times of firing as they
would do in the stage of " close fire," i.e.,
six or perhaps eight hundred yards up to
assaulting distance, which latter is about
two hundred yards from the enemy's line of
defences.

This parade is one that can be done with
very few men present, but it is necessary
to form them up into sections with a large
proportion of non-commissioned officers.
Keep the men in their proper sections, but,
if necessary, join two or three together, so
as to form sections with three or four non-
commissioned officers to each. Thus, if you
form four sections, they should each be in
reality a boiling down of the platoons. In
future exercises I will also suppose that you
thus concentrate your men, keeping the
members of each section together, and
form them into sections of size suitable to
the work of the day, and no further allusion
will be made to this.

faking the men on to th<
Around, you should choose a point on it
from which you intend In sl.irt your ad-
vanee. Some fourteen hundred 01
yards from this choose a position for your
skeleton enemy, who will consist of three
or lour old soldiers with forty rounds of
blank eaeh. If men are not available, put
up a few red range flags. Whichever are
used, put them into some position that an
enemy might reasonably occupy ; do not
simply dump them down on to the ground.
The skeleton enemy must be told to show
up occasionally, and to open a slow but
regular fire as soon as they see your men
advancing, but only to keep it up as long as
your men show themselves in making their
advance. A complete cessation of fire will
denote that your men are making such good
use of cover as to be invisible to the
enemy. Let your men also know that
these instructions have been given, and
that such an advance is the ideal to be
sought for, provided always that it is not
absurdly slow. If neither men nor flags are
available you must make believe and point
out a supposed position at a supposed
distance. I have already pointed out the
advantages of having a skeleton enemy to
work against.

In front of your starting point, and about

42

four hundred yards from it, decide on some
point at which you will let the men halt
after they have made their way across the
intervening space. Here I will refer you to
the diagram. The line AA-' is your start-
ing point, CC' the enemy's position. Your
exercise consists in showing individual men
how to gain ground from AA' as far as
BB', distant about four hundred yards
from A A', with the minimum of exposure
to the enemy's aimed fire. Draw up the sec-
tions, supposing there are two, on the line
AA ', fifty to one hundred yards apart, and
let the men sit down facing away from
CC' and, if possible, under cover, so that
they may not see how their comrades
negotiate the course. Space the available
non-commissioned officers of each section
along the course from A to B and A' to
B ', with orders to supervise and criticise
the advance of each man within the limits
of their beats. Allow a belt of twenty to
thirty yards broad from A to B and from
A' up to B', within which men must seek
their cover. This belt is made broad here
to afford instruction, but when the men
work together in their sections, it will be
much narrower, as they will then be ex-
tended at intervals of five or six paces only.
Start off one man at a time from each sec-
tion to cross from AA' to BB', to move as
if under fire from the enemy in rushes from

43

one cover I- • .mother. A-. soon as .1 in. in
reaches I»B he may fall out and watch the
movements «•!" the remainder. Do not

off ;i fresh III;HI until the preceding one has
nearly reached BB', so that your non-com-
missioned officers may have good oppor-
tunity to look ;it each man as he goes. As
for yourself, In' active in supervising both
sections, using your horse if you have one.
The following are points to be attended
to: — Before leaving their cover, men must
deride where their next halting place is to
he, and make for it quickly, and with
derision. There must be no emerging into
the open, and then looking about for a bit
of cover to go for. The length of each
rush should not be enough to let the enemy
have time for deliberate aim — fifty yards or
so is quite the limit for this. If there is
no cover the men must lie down flat be-
twrcn each rush. Occasionally it is
advisable to make a long rush from one
good position to another at sprinting
pace without stopping at all (T.T., 121
(12)), so this should be practised some-
times, the non-commissioned officers at that
part of the beat being ordered to tell the
men what is needed. Once a man has de-
cided on his next halting place, and is in
wind, he should leave his cover with a
jump. The slow uprising of a figure is
.sure to draw the enemy's attention, and

DIAGRAM I. FOR EXERCISES I. & II.

CC = Enemy's position about 1400* from AA'. Enemy
being represented by men with blank cartridge
or flags.

« -.«-— c-

te* teS. -ferf- -tefr E^SSa.

BB'= line at which men halt after advance from AAI
BB'to CC' is about 1000."

B u-::- ^f^0 B'

-, ;--T- -f"

x One N.C.O.

<.. 30 Yards....,, ...Ij..

Belt within

which men One N c Q

may choose

cover. '* Crosses are

f ••-•« ^ available cover.

S

/\ One N.C.O. x / Chain dot line is

<t *kx x / * line of advance.

i y ...4.,.

*, y One N.C.O. * >«.

..A.... ..A---- ~i :^-:.,-A'

f-^f ^ 50 -100 yards _v.. _..[^... Sections turned

^"^ away from CC'

AA'=Starting points 1400 yards from enemy's
position.

Men start from A A to cross to BB
without exposing themselves to the
enemy at CC.'

Crosses indicate cover, and the chain
dotted lines routes by which men
may advance.

A A' to BB' is about 400X

45

make- In- lnv more accurate than it would
!><• it no intimation wnv given him. Simi-
I.irix, on reaching COVCf, mm should tail
down quickly, and not lower themselves
slowly to earth.

Insist on a careful choice of cover, a very
small depression or elevation, even six
inches, is enough to give cover from view,
and therefore helps in escaping aimed fire,
but in peace time men will not take trouble
over apparently trifling things like this un-
less it is rubbed into them by close super-
vision. Noticeable objects should be
avoided as the enemy may have taken their
range, and they help him to define a point
on which to concentrate fire. If a man
makes mistakes and shows indecision at
any part of the course, call him back to the
last cover he left, and let him start again
from there after pointing out what he has
done wrong.

II. The advance combined with individual
fire.

The second part of the exercise is done
in the same way as the first, the men ad-
vancing and taking cover as before, but
now using their rifles. They have to be
taught to use the cover to advantage, both
protection and as an aid to their shoot-
ing, and to take pains in searching for a

46

good target, and in their sighting, aiming
and firing. For purposes of instruction, six
hundred yards is rather a short range to
open fire at, and I recommend your making
a start at eight hundred or so, i.e., two hun-
dred yards beyond BB ' towards the enemy,
working up to four hundred. This necessi-
tates judging distance at beyond the practi-
cally point-blank ranges of the Lee-
Enfield rifle, and makes the men use their
eyes keenly to spot the enemy, while it
avoids a certain amount of unreality which
is apt to attach to instructional movements
carried on in front of a skeleton enemy at
the deadly short ranges under three hun-
dred yards.

Points which should be considered
are : —

To fire from the right and lower edge of
any cover, not over the top.

Make .the men keep a count of the num-
ber of times they snap over the course (i.e.,
cartridges used), and report to the non-
commissioned officer at the finish of their
course.

Let the men do their own judging dis-
tance, and let non-commissioned officers
drop at once on any man who either fails
to do so, or forgets, as they often do, to
adjust the backsight.

Cultivate a habit among the men of look-
ing about for different targets, not firing

47
onl\ straight in [runt uf themselves, l»iit on

thnr nidi! ;in<l loft, so tli.it when they <

C roller! ivrly they may feel nothing
iu-\\ in bring iold t,, ..pen th,- enfilade fire
nvonmuMided by I.T., ii(> (n), and also
get tlu1 riistnm of watching for the enemy
all along his front.

These two exercises of advancing with
and without firing are the groundwork of
the fighting efficiency of the soldier in the
attack, and will be found to call for c
natural and acquired qualification the in-
dividual possesses. Good shooting, quick
judgment, activity, wind, and everything
else are needed if the work is done with
full observance of the conditions which
would exist under fire. Put the men through
exercises of this sort several times, and,
if possible, on different ground, till they
acquire quickness in choosing cover and
the arts that make an expert fighter. Con-
fidence in themselves will come with the
skill they acquire, and with confidence
comes decision of mind, which is really
more important than bodily efficiency. If
you have time, a useful rider to this exer-
cise is to work the men by pairs, as is re-
commended in the Musketry Regulations
for the observation of fire, and so introduce
them early to the use of the file organisa-
tion which T have advised you to adopt.

48

EXERCISE II.
RETIREMENT BY PAIRS.

A sound provision against panic among
young troops is to accustom them to regard
a retirement as all in the day's work, and
not as an exceptional undertaking which
their anxiety may invest with possibilities
of disaster. The essence of successful re-
tirement in face of an enemy lies in the
continuous opposition, or appearance of it,
offered to the enemy by one portion of the
troops, while others draw off to take post
to cover the withdrawal of the rearmost
portion. IT., 137, gives the idea in
few words. It does not mention individual
training in this, but it is useful to put men
through the movements, both to cultivate
cohesion in the ranks, and as a tactical
exercise. It may happen in war that an
extended line has to give ground when
engaged with the enemy, and this under so
heavy a fire as to make movement except
over short distances impossible without
great loss. Such a withdrawal would mean
that the troops are in a very tight corner,
and would test them very highly, but that
is another matter. It may happen, and

49

M he i A v Ithd

light perhaps be

M! In the alternate movement of

in fill's covered by the fire of tlie

others, until sueh .1 distance from the

y h.id been ohtaim >

tions or companies to take up the

:i. Up to that distance it will he

simply a '1 of what was done in

1, hut. worked hy files a front

rank man and his rear rank man, one

; luck a short distance, and the oilier

Imn^ to cover the movement. Again,

on patrol or otherwise detached may have

;rc to avoid capture1, or for many other

reasons, when they might not be under

close and heavy fire, but still would be

under the necessity of preventing the

enemy closing in on them or surrounding

them. In this case, the length of each

withdrawal \vould be much longer than in

ise; one man would fire while

i her made off perhaps two or three

hundred yards at his best speed. Train

for both contingencies ; it can be done in

one and the same parade. Skeleton enemy

as usual. For the withdrawal under

. fire, let the sections sit down and

fall out at BB' (Diagram I.), and put out

missioned officers between R\

and B' A' as before. Call out the men by

files, tell them to work back to A and A',

E

50

one firing, the other retiring. As a rule they
should retire past each other before halting.
The same points must be observed as in
Exercise No. I, and the quicker they are
in movement the better, but they must be
taught to go in quick time also when so
ordered (IT., 137 (4)).

For the retirement of a file as on patrol,
do exactly the same, but you should work
over six hundred yards of ground or so to
correct any tendency to import the short
rush into this exercise, which would be out
of place, and also to let men have more
practice in looking for suitable fire posi-
tions from which they can both fire on the
enemy, and from which they can get away
when their turn comes, a point they often
neglect at first. The different nature of
the two exercises must be made quite
clear.

At this exercise you should bring before
your men the need of using all sorts of
ruses in a retirement, the use of rapid fire
just before withdrawing, the sham with-
drawal acted by ceasing fire, and retiring
a few yards, but only to halt and re-open
fire after a few seconds if the enemy has
been tempted to expose himself, thinking
the coast clear, the real withdrawal effected
so carefully that the enemy is not sure
whether you are there still or not, and so
on ; and make them put their own ideas of

i ,ind tell them if they
i)le on service or

ir ;ill " m.miruvrr slinn
anything th;it could not be done o:

E2

5.2

EXERCISE III.

INDIVIDUAL TRAINING IN USE OF FIRE
AND FIRE DISCIPLINE.

Early lessons in fire discipline can be
given in single rank on the parade ground,
but the open country and extended order
are wanted for training men to the fullest
extent under service conditions. Only in
the open country can be got the variety
of targets, ranges and the visual training
which are necessary for a complete educa-
tion. Men must be taught, and taught
again, that the taking up of extended
order, and movement over all sorts of
ground, in no way mean that they are
to pass at once beyond the control of
their unit leaders, or that it is optional to
continue to take any sort of pains with
their shooting just because their non-com-
missioned officers cannot stand over them,
but have to shout orders from a distance.

This exercise consists in advancing
and retiring in extended order with fire
and the use of cover when halted ; but to
allow for more prolonged shooting prac-
tice and closer supervision than are possible
when carrying out an attack or retire-

men! 'In' li, ih are 1'

.nid • h'ltdd .it fir-t l>e made

in quirk time.

Put "lit your ^k«-lrt<.n enemy 00

i tr. 'Hi, so as to allow i

change of targfetS, and do not li;i\c them

all in light 1 in- .

-hall call '^hting.

the s work independently of each

other under their section commanders,

who, with the other non-commissi'

officers, will have to act both as

manders and instructors. Bring the

n^ up to about twelve hundred yards

from the enemy; get them into a line with

intervals between them, i.e., spares

uring from the flank of one to the

flank of the other, sufficient to admit of

•ion being extended to two or

three paces between men witnout its flank

men coming too close to those of other

e.g., with two sections of eight

fde, i.e., sixteen men each; you must

room for hnlf of (\-uh to extend to

s towards the other, and keep a

fair interval; that is, from the centre of

each of the above sections ot eight men

in each rank you want 8^2 fhalf the

number in the front rank) x 2 (two ranks)

X2 ft wo pares extension) = 16 paces for

• .he line extended and an interval of, say,

^o yards, which gives 46 yards between

54

each section centre to centre. Now, let
the section commanders order the men tc
extend, lie down, take cover and open
fire. The unit commander, the non-com-
missioned officer in charge of the section, is
to name the target and distance and also
the rate of fire, rapid or slow, at all dis-
tances over six hundred yards from the
enemy (IT., 116 (5)), unless it is desired
on occasion to train men to do this for
themselves. After fire has been delivered,
direct section commanders to proceed
with the exercise, giving orders for ad-
vancing, halting and firing, the advance
to be made from cover to cover as in
Exercise No. I, but in quick time. Your-
self supervise in chief, and tell
tion commanders when you want to give
orders as to the firing or movement, and
let them give the executive commands,
after which you and they should pass
along the lines and scrutinise each man's
actions in carrying out the orders, ques-
tioning them, and repealing hints you
may have given when telling them the
object and methods of the practice, if
they appear not to be giving them effect.
The value of the practice depends on the
orders you give as to the firing and the
following are suggested : —

(a) Switching the fire of all the rifles
on to different parts of the enemy's posi-

lion, somrti:, .ighl in front, hut

in's extii . 1C 11, ink',. This
is to introduce the use of enfilade fire
(i i)) and the h;i1>it < >f giving sup-
port In' fire to other units (F.S.R., 105 (4)),
by concentrating the fire on to particular
targets.

(£) Distributing the fire laterally along
hole or a part of the enemy's front
(I.T., 116 (10)). This may be done by
giving the section a particular extent of the
enemy's front, e.g., " from the dry tree to
the gate in the hedge." The section com-
ler then allots those of the enemy,
who can be viewed within his bit of front
to individual men, or preferably files of
men, who are to treat them as their espe-
cial charge and keep on firing at them
till otherwise ordered, or till the enemy
shifts. Of course, if there is not enough
of the skeleton enemy to give each file in
the section a live antagonist (and there
won't be on your parades), the com-
mander must indicate bits of cover
which individual men of the enemy might
be expected to use and tell his men to fire
at these spots. This is a most important
practice, and needs a good deal of atten-
tion and application before the men get
really quick at it. It means, of course,
that on service you will make it your
business to allow as few of the enemy's

56

riflemen as possible to be free of the dis-
traction of having some bullets landing
about them, to upset their nerves and aim.
Unless some plan is adopted to do this
all along his line, it is all too probable
your men will be exposed to some accur-
ate fire from rifles held in steady hands,
and even one rifle so held has, to my
knowledge, caused a loss of eleven men
in as many minutes. This lateral distri-
bution is rather difficult, but it is easy,
compared with the concomitant task of
spotting where the men of the enemy are
hidden, if they really try to hide, at any-
thing but the shortest fighting ranges.
The only remedy for this is for each pri-
vate to carry field glasses of sorts; you
will not get them from Government, but
if any of your men are keen enough to
go in for spotting a hidden enemy for
themselves with glasses and would bring
their own to parade, forbid them not, but
encourage it. I have been told that in some
of the yeomanry corps in the .South
African war nearly every trooper raised
somehow and somewhere a pair of glasses
• — some were mother o' pearl and silver-
mounted, but did the spotting all right
in spite of that.

(V) Passing orders and changing tar-
gets. Under heavy fire non-commis-
sioned officers will not be able to

57

the line, ;md orders iiiusl
be passed either hy word of UK. nth
Or by written messages passed from hand to
h, ind ; the former is apt to be slow, ;ind tli ••
orders i^irl >lrd en route unless pra<

• •hand ; the latter is not very practical
as men in action are too busy to read bits
ot paper or trouble themselves to sec that
they are passed on (I.T., 119 (4)). To
practise the verbal method while the men
are engaged in firing at any particular
target, give orders to one man in a low
tone (you would have to speak loud if ball
cartridge were being used) to fire at some
other target, and to pass the word. The
man then tells his neighbours on each side,
and yourself and a non-commissioned
officer then follow the order each way, and
when a man varies it admonish him to re-
peat just what he got from the last speaker,
no more and no less. In a little time the
men will become exact in taking and pass-
ing messages. This method should be con-
fined to directions about firing ; orders for
movement should invariably be given by
commanders by word themselves or signal,
and men should not be allowed to repeat
these, as it may lead to grave mistakes on
service, as a signal may be seen and acted
on by someone for whom it was not in-
tended.

(<T) Besides firing at the skeleton enemy

58

or bits of cover, let fire be directed at
civilians who are moving about in the field
of view. Call on some individual man by
name to choose some such target, and tell
him he has to pass the word to the rest of
his squad what target he has chosen and
to fire at it. This gives practice in target
definition, i.e., describing its position so
that other men can know just where to look
for it. It is not easy in a landscape devoid
of noticeable objects to do this quickly,
but it is important, as the difficulty of locat-
ing a well-concealed enemy with smokeless
powder requires that every pair of eyes in
the ranks should be engaged in the search
till all the positions of the enemy's riflemen
are seen, and the information given to
everyone in the firing line. Until this is
done, the affair is one of trying to neutra-
lise aimed by unaimed fire, a pretty hope-
less task. Hence train your men to use
their eyes for seeing and their tongues for
description.

(e) Accustoming the men to judge dis-
tance, and use their backsights without
orders. Judging distance for the men as a
formal practice is confined to ranges under
800 yards, but it does no harm to let them
judge greater ranges. Let the unit com-
manders define targets to be fired at, omit-
ting to state the range, and let the men

judge it for themselves ;uid fire. Walk up
tin- Inn- and see that no man 1
adjust his backsight for the distano
estimates. If possible, havr the o
ranges taken previously with a range
finder, and let the men know what they are
they have aimed. Each chan^
t gives the men a useful lesson in
judging distance.

(f) Having put the men through all
sorts of paces in the way of firing while
advancing and retiring, in quick time do
the same thing again, but with the move-
ments in double time, and, in addition,
cany out the increases and decreases of the
extension, inclines and changes of direction
given in I.T., 93, throughout insist-
ing on the same steadiness in firing as
when in quick time. All this will at first
probably get the men "rattled,''' and the
benefit of it is that after some of it they
will get over being " rattled," and will not
let hurried orders or speed of movement
interfere with deliberation and steadiness
in shooting.

6o

EXERCISE IV.

THE ASSAULT.

Exercise III. can suitably be wound up
by a practice in delivering an assault, as
this does not take long, and the moral
may be pointecT that all fire training is
only a preparation for a successful
assault. The fixing of bayonets before
assault commonly leads to a complete
cessation of fire in the firing line. This
is quite wrong, as such complete cessation
of fire by the firing line must largely sur-
render for the time being that superiority
of fire which facilitates the delivery
of the assault (IT., 121 (;) ), for it
gives the enemy a chance to take aim
again. Supporting fire by artillery or
infantry not in the firing line cannot be
relied on when the firing line has reached
assaulting distance. Therefore, do not
have a simultaneous fixing of bayonets,
but let one-half fix while the other fires,
and the best arrangement is evidently one
that ensures a fire being kept up along
the whole front and not in patches. The
system I have found most satisfactory is
to fix bayone'.-s by ranks, the front rank

6i

fixing while tlu- rear rank continues firing,
«ind then llje rear rank fixing while the
front rank tires. It may be done by odd
and even files, or other ways, but, the
company being organised in files, the
same men are usually in the front and
rear rank, and there is no difficulty in
their remembering which they are. 1 he
important thing is to adhere to one
system once it is adopted, and have it
well understood by all. It does not
matter much if a few men fix bayonets
out of burn, so long as the fire is merely
diminished and not stopped during the
time bayonets are being fixed. In the
charge, the men should work by their
files, i.e., the two men of each file should
act together and run at the same objective.
The meaning of this is that in actual
conflict two men would go together for
the same individual enemy, and between
the two of them they would be pretty sure
to bring him to an untimely end, if the
enemy really waited for the steel, and
with less chance of his doing damage than
if the combat took place man-to-man;
thereafter they could turn their attentions
to some other person.

For the practice choose and indicate
any position for assault ; work sec-
tions up to about two hundred yards
from it, and then order rapid fire and

62

bayonets to be fixed. As soon as all
are ready, order the charge to be sounded.
(I.T., 124). When the men hear the
bugle they must at once jump from their
cover and go straight and hard at the
position ; there must be no waiting by in-
dividuals to fire a last shot or two. The
rush should be made suddenly and
swiftly, so that the enemy has no time to
see what is happening before the men are
well on their way at him. When the
position is reached, pass right through it
and well beyond it, to escape hostile gun-
fire (IT., 124 (5)), and then order the
" Halt," when the men may lie down
under cover and open a pursuing fire.
Walk along the line and see, with the
help of non-commissioned officers, whether
men of each file are together; if so, it will
be proof that they have obeyed the direc-
tions to keep together during the charge.
Allow a minute or two of the pursuing
fire, then let section or platoon com-
manders sound their whistles, close and
re-form their sections under cover. On
the whistle-sound (a succession of short
blasts), men rise and double to where
the commander is, resume their places,
and lie down. This re-organisation
is very important for you as company
commander, for by it you get your
men formed up quickly into platoons

63

.UK! iv;uly i. . be closed info > o unpany or to

Like fresh ordcr^ in the iinniniiiiii <>f time.
I'he usual tiling seen i^ that after the

;lt the ground is covered Nvilh a mix-
ture of men of all companies staring
abunt, and apparently thinking the show
at an end, whereas on service this is the
very time you may expect either a counter-

k by infantry or a burst of artillery
fire directed on the lost position.

To repeat the orders of the assault :
"Rapid Fire; Fix Bayonets; Charge;
Halt and Take Cover; Commence Fire;
Rally and Close Under Cover," and be
ready for further happenings.

64

EXERCISE V.

THE SECTION AND PLATOON IN THE
ATTACK.

Having trained the individual men in the
work needed of them, the next step is to
make use of that individual skill to the best
effect in combination under orders of a
commander. The section is the lowest unit
recognised for training (I.T., 107), and
it also is the normal unit used in firing
(I.T., 6 (4)). When the company is ad-
vancing in the attack, or retiring, its sec-
tions and platoons will often be widely
separated from each other, and the com-
pany commander cannot look after each
one in detail, so that the platoon
commanders, and under them the sec-
tion commanders, must be fully com-
petent to lead their men without super-
vision, in accordance with the general
intention given them before the com-
pany opened out. So the training of men
in combination must be accompanied by
the training of your section and platoon
commanders.

The duties of fire unit commanders are
laid down in I.T., 116 (5), and those of

65

'inm;m<I(Ts 1:1 I.T., I I<> ,ind I 2j
e you proceed with this
isr h.ive up these non-commissioned
officers and devote ten minutes to an ex-
;on of what is contained in the above
p.inigniplis. Dilate on them, and show
how neglect of those duties hampers the
company commanders. At the same time,
desire them to maintain among the men
during sectional exercises the standard of
individual training which was obtained in
the preliminary exercises. Unless they
do so the men will soon cease to apply what
they then learnt, and so forget it in battle
until the occurrence of casualties impresses
its value afresh in their minds. Also
give them the gist of what follows as to the
advance and description of fire phases.

The exercise gives commanders the
opportunity of doing what they will
have to do when the company is attackir.g
or retiring, but without their having to keep
an eye on the movements of the other
platoons. The men should now be extended
at full intervals as on service, five or six
yards apart, this being held to be the most
that is needed. Put out the skeleton
enemy in groups, one group as objective
of attack for each section or platoon on
parade, and the groups sufficiently apart to
nt them interfering with each other
when extended as above, for they are to act

F

66

independently. Take up the advance as if
at fourteen hundred from the enemy, when
his rifle fire on open ground would compel
you to change from small columns of sec-
tions or platoons into the line of extended
men (I.T., 118 (5)). The advance up to
assaulting distance, from fourteen hundred
yards, consists (I.T., 121 (7)), in the first
place, of an advance to fire positions. Now
Musketry Regulations lay down that fire
by less than two platoons is of little effect
over one thousand yards, so do not
encourage commanders to open fire till
one thousand yards at least, and use the
space fourteen hundred to one thousand
yards for instruction in getting their
sections or platoons forward as quickly,
and with as little exposure, as possi-
ble. Secondly, the advance consists
of a fire fight combined with further
advances up to the assaulting position. In
this fire fight controlled collective fire is
better than individual fire (I.T., 116 (/)
(iii) ), so up to six hundred yards let firing
take place/ only on the specific orders of
commanders, who accordingly are to name
the targets and ranges. In this phase
therefore make them choose forward fire
positions and work their units forward,
using controlled collective fire at the same
time.

Under six hundred yards it is apparently

6;

held : - ept the inevitable and allow

individual fire, the unit commanders !>•
still responsible for getting their men For
ward up to the4 position of assault — about
two hundred yards from the enemy. Still
at this close range unit commanders slioiild
do what they can to direct the fire, and
i.illy they should see that men fire
-Jowly and carefully. In general the rate
of firing or snapping is far too fast, and
pouches would be empty long before the
iidting position would be reached.

( hving to the great importance of train-
ing the see; ions, it is advisable to let them
do this exercise, though both the phases
below, separately from each other, and not
in platoon. When they know all about it,
let them work in platoon.

II axing drawn up your sections in line
at fourteen hundred yards, order the sec-
tion commanders to extend and move on,
and signal the skeleton enemy to open fire.

First Phase : Fourteen to One Thousand
Yards, Gaining Ground Without Firing.

Practise the section commanders in all
ways of getting their sections forward
without undue exposure or delay, by
rushes of the whole section, man-by-
from one and both flanks and
bv files, together, and any other way

F2

68

that suggests itself. Stand over the
section commanders in turn and tell
them to advance the section by one
method and ihen by another, and ask them
which seems most suitable for various con-
ditions of fire and ground (IT., 118
(4) ). The advance should be steady
and determined. Before starting the
advance from one position to another,
section commanders are to decide and
must tell the men to what point they mean
the next advance to be made (I.T., 108
(2) ), in the same way as individual men
were taught to mark their next halting
places.

Attention must be paid to the way in
which advances are inaugurated. Rushes
must be sudden and simultaneous
(IT., 92 (5) ). The men have been
trained to leave their cover quickly.
The unit commander must give his
directions for the next move with-
out getting up (if himself lying) and
tell the men to be prepared ; when
all are ready, he and the men must
jump up together and rush at once on the
word or signal. The object of this, of
course, is to avoid a concentrated fire being
directed on the unit commander, and,
perhaps, the two or three men nearest him,
if they get up before the others, which
would make it likely that some of them

69

would hi- hit inmicdiiitrK , while lli.

ul the unit looked for a new leader, and so

IvanCC t;ike pi KV ; \\h< i
»>ne gets on the move together a casualty
or two will not bring the whole to a stand-
still. Of course, commanders should lead
the way, but they must get in front by
sprinting the first few yards.

Second Phase : One thousand to Six Hun-
dred Yards (Collective Fire) and Six
Hundred to Two Hundred Yards (Indi-
vidual Fire}.

As soon as a section begins to fire, it
becomes possible for it to practise the
lessons in the use of fire which were learnt
in Kxercise III., such as concentration and
distribution of fire. From one position the
commander must choose his next fire posi-
tion, and work his section up to it in what-
ever way is most suitable. On flat and
open ground this position may simply
be the halting place of the next rush,
thirty or forty paces to the front, but
it i? more instructive and practical t«i
have positions far enough from each other,
say one hundred and fifty or two hundred
y;irds, to necessitate the advancing section
making several successive rushes and using
various devices to gain ground without
attracting the enemy's attention. Practise

;o

sections in all ways of advancing from one
position to another, as was done before
firing began, and encourage the use of
covered ways. This exercise, if pro-
perly done, represents what the section
would have to do in battle. For the pur-
pose of instruction, the unit commanders
should be allowed to move about as in-
structors, but when all ranks have been
through the exercise and know what is
needed, you should practise it under ser-
vice conditions, and tell unit commanders
to behave as if under fire; this is impor-
tant, as it lets all see how much will be
asked of the individual man under fire,
and how difficult it is to exercise any wide
control.

For the same reason you must in this
exercise begin the practice of ordering
casualties of leaders, and carry it on
through the whole of the rest of the train-
ing. Order section commanders to
be casualties, and let the next senior
man carry on, then order that man
to become a casualty, and let the next one
take command. Collect these casualties
with you and let them go round with you,
and have for a time the onlooker's view
of the game. Do not stint in ordering
them, but let every man be ready to take
up command. This readiness to assume
command and to carry on the advance in

N|)llc Of tl v Jllll-

al>le in battle ;ind on parade 1'or training,

I trnl ion lixed on the IHI-I
and help, to counteraet disorder who)

mixed up in
reinforcement in battalion alt.

1'nder six hundred yards let the men
us£ individual fire, choosing their own
ts; at this time try to get them into
the way of looking for the targets which
most require to ho shot at at the moment —
they must be always looking along the
enemy's line, and must hot acquire the
paralysing habit of only seeing straight in
front of themselves.

Call on unit commanders to keep in
view the question of expenditure of am-
munition. It is no good ordering men to
snap-fire 200 times in the course of an
advanoe when they would only have 100
rounds in their pouches on service, and no
as of getting more; when blank is
• used they should see that the am-
munition of casualties is collected and
redistributed.

At some time in the course of this exer-
cise the section must be practised in im-
;ig <over as if under fire, i.e., working
lying down. The nature of the work
depends on what tools you have, but it
should bo attempted if possible. Order
the section to do it when halted together

72

in some fire position. At first they will
shape badly and expose themselves a lot,
but if you have time for practice they get
into the way of digging in very quickly.
If there are stones pile up "schanzes."
Attention should be paid to concealment
of the cover, so as not to make it a target
for the whole countryside, and it must g\ve
cover from fire or view, or both ; one often
sees men making molehills which show up
their position without being capable of
stopping a bullet. Better not make them
at all than that way.

Wind up the advance occasionally by an
assault, as it is a mistake to let the idea
take hold that the fire fight is the end of
all things. This, I think, is the reason
that the word " skirmishing " has dis-
appeared from the book of training, as it
connoted an indecisive action, whereas the
whole spirit of the present training is that
it shall be directed to the delivery of an
assault and the ousting of the enemy from
his position. Scouts are the only people
who may have to skirmish in the former
accepted meaning of the word, and they
only do so until the firing line joins them,
or they withdraw after reconnoitring.

In Platoon.

Next work the sections together in
their platoons on similar lines. Practise

73

.ill \\.iys of gilining ground; by
3 (»f tlu- whole platoon, or if one or
more sections, in, in l>v ni;ui, and so on, ns
taught to the section. Fire should be
directed by the platoon commander, and
controlled by the section commander.
Teach the lateral distribution of fire along
a given front among the four sections of
the platoon. Teach also the principle of
covering fire, one section being sent to
make its way with every use of cover to a
forward fire position, while the remainder
continue firing. The first section, on
arrival at the new fire position, opens fire,
and the others follow in due course, one
section only being dumb while the move-
ment is in progress. If there is a choice of
good lines of advance it is better that
sections should not follow each other on
one line, as the enemy may have noticed
the move and be waiting for them.

74

EXERCISE VI.

THE SECTION AND PLATOON IN
RETIREMENT.

For the general principles of retirements
see I.T., 137. The platoon, when working
with the company, will take its turn at
being the rearmost portion of the troops,
and will have the difficult task of getting
away while in touch with the enemy, but
its retirement will be covered by the fire
of other portions of the company. On
the other hand, if a platoon or section finds
itself beyond support from other troops, as
might happen often enough, it will have
to act itself as a rearguard and retire by
alternate parts.

In both cases great advantage is gained
if the position held can be vacated so
stealthily that the enemy shall not be
aware of its having been vacated till the
defenders are well on their way to the rear.
For this reason it will be worth while to
accustom the men to employ, when prac-
ticable, a procedure used in mountain
warfare, withdrawing the bulk of men
first and leaving only a few quick-
footed men to keep up appearances and

75

hie as lone; as possible and then
them at speed. Also all men must be
taught to grovel backwards on their
stomachs fioin the crest of their fire posi-
tion till sufficiently under (-over, if their is
cover, to stand up without being seen, after
which they rise and make oft.

Send out tin1 skeleton enemy with in-
ductions to follow up the retirement
slowly, and not to close in on the sections,
as it is easy and tempting to do this when
there are no bullets in the rifles.

i ft Sec/ion or Platoon Acting with the
Company.

1 )o the practice first by sections and then
in platoon. Draw up the unit on a fire posi-
tion about eight hundred yards from the
enemy, the men in extended order, lying
down, and open fire on the enemy. Tell
the commander to choose his next halt-
ing place and retire his unit on it,
which he should do on the lines before
indicated. The halting places should be
chosen as far apart as two to four hundred
yards; short retirements merely prolong
the time exposure to fire and should not be
used unless the enemy are very close or the
fire very heavy. Once the men are clear
of the position, they should move as fast
as they can, trusting to escape casualties,

76

by speed, the alteration of range, and the
fire of the few men left on the position
As a rule, carry out all retirements at the
double, so that the men shall not be con-
fused by the hasty movement. As soon
as the first party has reached the new
position, the fringe of men left on the
old one should creep back and go as
hard as they can to rejoin their
section or platoon, and they should be
taught to judge the time of going for
themselves, so as not to " let in " ths sec-
tion or themselves, by going too early or
staying too late. Repeat the movement to
one or two further positions. It is a
strenuous practice and makes demands on
the men's limbs, wind, and willingness,
but the rearguard is the post of honour
and danger. Order casualties of leaders
from time to time, and let the men be
called to move in quick time sometimes,
which they would have to do if there were
signs of unsteadiness.

(Jj) As a Section or Platoon Acting Alone.

Act on the same lines as before, but let
the commander run the show, which he
should be able to do, after having done it
under supervision. One party (a file or two
in the case of a section, or one or
two sections in that of a platoon) gets

77

Kirk to a fire position and opens fire to
cover the retirement of the other. In
i^iMirnil, it is U'ttiT th;it both purtir^
should not fall back on one and the same
fire position; on the contrary, if they act
on a wide front in ordinary country — say,
three hundred yards apart — their fire is
equally effective, but the enemy is broken
up, and the danger of their being out-
flanked or surrounded is less. For the
same reason it is good practice, if the pla-
toon is strong, to send out groups of four
or five men still further on the flanks, and
a group to precede the whole on the line
of retirement by six hundred yards or so,
in order to occupy positions and deny them
to the enemy, and after one or two turns
of this exercise tell the skeleton enemy to
follow on harder and try to work round
the flanks. In this part also continue to
order casualties of leaders.

EXERCISE VII.

THE SECTION AND PLATOON IN
INDEPENDENT ATTACK.

It is very important to secure the intelli-
gent co-operation of section and platoon
commanders in the operations in which
their company or battalion is taking part.
I have read that in the Russo-Japanese
War the result of one of the battles — I
think at Penlin, 3ist July — turned on
the action of an infantry section who
gained a footing on the extreme flank of
the Russian line, and drove off the de-
fenders in the immediate vicinity, opened
a way for the advance of the greater
numbers, and led to the outflanking and
retreat of the whole Russian force. If you
give your unit commanders some chances of
carrying out attacks, acting as if unsup-
ported by other troops, they will find
themselves faced with the same problems
which confront commanders of larger
bodies in the attack, and they will be
more likely, when acting in combination,
to look beyond just the limits of their own
commands; they will be led to compre-
hend the object of operations and the

;Q

difficulties in tli .ind will b>

quirk to seize any opportunity to further
the general plan without wailiiu;
orders It is true that SO small a be d\
section would scldmn be formally told to
attack an objective- single handed, but there
are often occasions on service when a
platoon might have to carry out an attack
on a small scale, as when a few of the
enemy's riflemen are making themselves
unpleasant, while not in sufficient force to
do more than " snipe," or to require the
divert n against them of a whole company.
Though a section as now constituted is a
very small unit to work with, I think no
excuse is needed for performing the attack
with the smallest unit, having in view the
excellent training it forms for non-com-
missioned officers and men. However, for
this practice, it is advisable to form sections
somewhat above the usual strength, by
joining two together, so as to give at least
eighteen rifles in the whole. After having
put the sections through the exercise, you
will, of course, let the platoon commanders
eirry out the attack with their platoons.

Put out a skeleton enemy of three or
four men for each platoon or section, or
one only for all to attack in turn, and
post this enemy in some commanding
place, with a good field of view and

8o

fire so that if possible the unit shall
have twelve to eight hundred yards to
manoeuvre over before coming to close
quarters. As an example, give out the
supposition that this enemy are a cavalry
patrol of the enemy, who have dis-
mounted and are using their rifles on the
company as it is on the move from some-
where to somewhere else. The section or
platoon is ordered to drive them off, neutra-
lise their fire, or hold them in check, in case
they should be the forerunners of a greater
number. The enemy should begin to fire
on a signal from you (with your flag),
which you should give as you tell off
the commander for the duty. If the
other units are to attack the same
enemy in turn, you should halt them
under cover or turn them to the rear, so
as not to see too much of the method the
first lot choose to carry out their job.

The method of the attack will depend
on the nature of the ground — what suits
one case may not suit another, and there
may be two or three courses open in
attacking any one position. The com-
mander should accordingly look well
at the ground before deciding how he will
carry out the attack, but there are certain
principles common to attacks, great or
small, which he should put into practice.

8i

COrc himsrll I'n.m interrup-
tion on his Hanks and rear, and he should
provide a supporting fire to distract the
enemy and cover the advance of his mam
lie cannot make large detach-
ments or indulge in wide patrolling, nor
would such small bodies ;is platoons be sent
<>lt to attack if such were advisable; but,
,:t least he can post a file or two
on some high ground, or, failing that,
on one flank out of decisive range of the
enemy, i.e., about eight hundred yards
from him, with orders to keep up a steady
fire until his advance masks their fire.
This will prevent, or at least give warn-
ing of, an attempt to cut in on the rear.
He may also send a file perhaps two or
three hundred yards to either flank, to
move parallel with his advance and pre-
vent his being enfiladed at short range,
if the enemy should be tactless enough
to avail himself of a chance of meeting
the advance by a counter-attack. Until
he sees pretty well what he has in front
of him, he should divide his party
two, sending one to engage the
enemy and keeping the other as a
e t.o support the first by fire if they
get into difficulties, and to be available
to carry on the attack after the other has
got the enemy well busy, either by rein-
;ig it directly, or, better still, by

G

82

continuing the advance along a fresh line
leading to some position from which the
enemy can be finally turned out, either
by fire or by a charge, the first half
joining in and advancing as soon as the
enemy has turned his attention to the
new attack. Both parties should keep
scouts or a patrol of some sort out in front
of them until the foreground is proved
not to contain any hidden body of the
enemy, or until the opening of fire by
their own side makes it necessary for the
scouts to merge into the firing line. I
have seen on service a half -company go
off to take post as a piquet on a long
ridge; it neglected the above precautions,
beyond having some scouts in front.
There were four or five of the enemy on
the ridge, and they waited till the scouts
were close, shot some down and drove
the others to cover, and then turned their
fire on to the half -company, who were
also driven to ground, and, as there was
little cover, they were tied up till set free
by some more infantry, who had to be
specially sent off to move along the ridge.
Had the half -company moved in two
portions, the first would have contained
this weak enemy, and the rear party
could easily have circled round and got
on to the ridge farther along, which would
at once have caused the enemy to clear

83

out. Sec F.S.R., I., I, as to the results
of the violation of" tin- primiplr, of lead-
ing troops, and as therein directed, im-
the principles taught en the minds
of your non-commissioned officers, who
;uv commandcT*, albeit only of pl.r
and sections.

G 2

84

EXERCISE VIII.

THE PLATOON AS AN ADVANCED GUARD
AND AS A FLANK GUARD.

(a) When the company is on the march,
it should always be preceded by an ad-
vanced guard — either a party of scouts,
or, more usually, by one of the platoons.
After the advanced guard comes in con-
tact with the enemy its further action
becomes either an attack to drive off the
enemy, or a defence to delay his ad-
vancing, according to his strength and
tactics ; so I propose here merely to indi-
cate suitable formations of march in
ordinary, i.e., non-mountainous country,
so that the platoons may be practised in
taking them up without delay on being
told off for the duty. The exercise takes
little time, and can be done on the same
parade as the flank guard exercise.

An advanced guard may come under
fire at any moment, and to provide
against surprise (F.S.R., 64), its leading
portions may move in extended order.
The duties are given in F.S.R., 68, and
apply quite completely to so small a body
as a platoon. The platoon should be

85

divided into a vanguard and .1 main gu.ird.
For the vanguard, a common plan i
simply to extend a seetion on either side o(
the ro.id, l>ut I prefer to dividr ihe section
into three patrols, or more if 5tr< ngth per
mits, who work along in a general line —
«>ne to search the road and its immediate
vicinity, and one on each side. The
nature of the country regulates the
breadth of ground the centre patrol can

h from the road, and the distance to
which the others are sent out on each side.
The oth-.T sections follow as main guard,
not so close as to be at once mixed up
with the vanguard if fire is opened on the
latter, nor so far as to be unable to sup-
port it quickly with fire. The advanced
guard is responsible for keeping touch
with the main body (the company)
(F.S.R., 64 (4)), but the company com-
mander should satisfy himself that this
is being done. If view is restricted, the
mi in ^iiard must drop a connecting
file to keep connection. This file must
march with their beards on their shoulders,
to see what the company is doing, and

ihe commander know, and also
to signal to the company, if the platoon
has had to halt. If the country is open,
the commander should still tell off
a file for this duty, who will march with

platoon, but be continually on the

86

look-out to the rear. The platoon
commander ought, 'of course, to keep a
watch himself, but may have other things
to attend to, and it is well to take pre-
cautions against the platoon either getting
too far in front or letting the company
get too close to it, by marching on while
the platoon is investigating some suspici-
ous locality.

(£) The Platoon as a Flank Guard.

A platoon may sometimes be used as a
flank guard, as when a small convoy is
on the march with only a company or two
as escort. Flank guards are dismissed in
a few words in F.S.R., 70. It is worth
while to practise them once or twice to
avoid delay in taking up the formation
when the march is being started, or in im-
provising a method of fighting off the
enemy if he attacks.

Represent the convoy or whatever it is
by a man with a red flag to move along
the road ; the platoon is then to move alons*
parallel to the road, and far enough off
to afford protection from effective rifle
fire, i.e., at least eight hundred yards in
open country. The skeleton enemy should
be instructed to keep about the same dis-
tance again on the flank beyond the
platoon, and to move along parallel with it

8;

•ng in, opening fire on an
agreed signal.

The in, in h formation should be on the
same principles as those for the advanced
I he plalnnn should move in two
•s, and patrols or scouts should pre-
cede it, both in the direction of the march
and towards the flank which is being
guarded. It is important to keep touch
with the main body by connecting files at
all times, otherwise if the road changes
direction out of view of the flank guard
it may separate them too far or bring
them too close to the company.

The method of fighting merely to hold
off the enemy resembles that used by a
rear guard for the same purpose, i.e., fire
and movement by alternate portions.
When the enemy opens fire on your signal,
the patrol on the flank either falls back,
or the platoon reinforces it. The patrol
in the line of advance should still con-
tinue to precede trie movements of the
platoon in that direction, and should be
told to conform to its movement. The
platoon replies to the enemy's fire as soon
as possible and begins the lateral fight —
one half is sent, if possible under cover,
to take up a fire position farther along the
direction of the line of march, preceded
by the patrol, which, to some extent,
secures it from surprise from that direc-

tion. As soon as the leading party has
found a fire position and opens its fire,
the other follows it, and either halts
alongside it, so allowing it to go off to a
new position, or continues its movement
beyond it and takes up a third position to
cover the further movements. The latter
method is the quicker, as it saves the time
of replacing men of the first party in
their fire position by those of the second.
The exercise need not be prolonged, as a
few of these lateral movements are quite
sufficient illustration to enable the men in
future to take up their duty quickly.

8g

EXERCISE IX.

PRELIMINARY FOR THE ATTACK BY THE
COMPANY IN BATTALION.

A company attacking as part of the
battalion is sure to find the men of differ-
ent platoons mixed up in the course of the
,itt;ick with those of other platoons, both cf
that company and of others. Before
practising the attack, accompanied with
this mixture of platoons, it is advisable
to train them and their non-commis-
sioned officers for their duties without
allowing any mixing up. This may be
done by bringing all the platoons of the
company up into one line, and then
extending each on its own ground. The
result is that each platoon may be taken
to represent the leading platoon of four
companies told off to furnish the firing
line and supports (I.T., 122). The four
platoons form thus the firing line, the
other three supposititious platoons of each
company being in support. This forma-
tion would be taken up when the enemy's
rifle fire began to be effective, i.e., at or
under fourteen hundred yards. Within
this distance the firing line has to

go

on through the zones in which it uses col-
lective and individual fire up to assaulting
distance, being reinforced as needed,
firstly by the supports, and finally at the
time of the assault by all or part of the
local reserve, which, in this case, would
be composed of the four companies of the
battalion not detailed to furnish the firing
line and supports.

Put out a skeleton enemy with orders to
remain in one position, and fire slowly,
but continuously. Draw up the four
platoons, or as many as are present of the
company at fourteen hundred yards or
so from the enemy, in one line and at
sufficient intervals to allow of their ex-
tending to five paces, plus some space
between flanks of sections after extension,
to allow plenty of choice of lines of ad-
vance. Indicate to each platoon a part of
the enemy's position which it is to regard
as its final objective of assault (I.T.,
121 (3) ). Have the men extended to five
paces, and carry out the attack right
through on the lines of Exercise V., and
finish with an assault and rally after it.
Each company would have an officer with
its platoon in the firing line to diredt the fire.
If fire is opened between fourteen hun-
dred and one thousand yards, it will not
be effective against ordinary targets unless
the whole four platoons direct their fire

on tin- same target. Under one thousand
yards fire should he controlled by section
Commanders and duvrted 1)V plat< on .
manders.

Practise concentration of the fire of the

ft uir platoons on one part of the enemy's
line and lateral distribution of fire within
the limits of that part. Give each platoon
a fraction of this fraction of the enemy's
frontage to deal with, and let the platoon
commander again tell off his sections to fire
at various marks inside his limits. Again
switch the fire of all four platoons on to
some other particular bit of the enemy's
position, as done in previous exercises.

To do this you must introduce and work
with thoroughness a system of inter-com-
munication (I.T., 1 19), but it should be
one approved and adopted by your
battalion commander, otherwise each com-
pany of the battalion may be found using
a different one. It is to be understood
that orders as to the direction of fire in
no way interfere with the gaining of
ground to the front, a platoon firing at
one object ceases fire in order to advance,
but resumes its fire on the same object
when it again halts.

As soon as section fire is opened,
encourage mutual support, some part of the
line firing while others advance, and make

section commanders continue to observe
this principle.

At some one parade for this exercise
halt the whole line during the attack and
practise entrenching under fire, the men
working lying down (I.T., 121 (13))-
Thereafter resume the advance.

Move about yourself and let your sec-
tion commanders do so also, and check
any slovenly work on the part of the men
in using, quitting, or getting into cover,
and in the use of their rifles and judging
distance if, as should often be done, it
is left to them to estimate how far they
are from the target of the moment.

93

EXERCISE X.

Tin-; COMPANY IN ATTACK WITH THE
BATTALION UNDKK ARTILLERY FIRE.

When the battalion is moving forward
to attack, and before the enemy's rifle fire
is more than a distant and future danger,
that of his artillery becomes an imminent
and formidable menace as soon as the
limits of its range are crossed, because of
the suddenness with which it is capable
of dealing destruction. Whether his
artillery actually opens on the battalion
is another matter. If the battalion shows
up as a tempting target in column of route
or mass, he most certainly will fire
on it, but if it is skilfully led it may
possibly escape his notice altogether; at
the same time, it is hardly likely that it
can move from five thousand to fourteen
hundred yards from the enemy's infantry
without giving some indications of its
movement, and the probability is, that at
some part of the advance it will find
itself the recipient of the enemy's atten-
tion. To escape the effect of this fire,
the battalion and the company will have
to break up into small shallow columns

94

such as platoons or sections at least 50
yards from each other laterally (IT.,
1 1 8) and two hundred yards from
front to rear ; in fact, a lot of little
groups of men sufficiently apart to
prevent the burst of one shell cover-
ing more than one group. The advance
in this order constitutes the first phase of
the infantry attack. The company must
be practised in getting into this forma-
tion, and moving in it so as to avoid con-
fusion in action, and also to let non-
commissioned officers and men understand
that this formation does not free theto
from the control of their commander.

At manoeuvres and exercises the adop-
tion of this formation is sometimes
burked on various pretexts, of which the
most heinous is to say that the results of
artillery fire are overrated; and the risk
run in keeping in closed formation is more
than compensated for by the comfort of
the men, maintenance of control and
saving of time. This theory I fancy had
its origin in the South African War,
where the Boer artillery was skilful but
exiguous, if judged by European stand-
ards. I have not been under shell fire
myself, but I have seen' the results of it
on a column of about two hundred men
who came along a watercourse two
thousand yards or so from the guns, in

95

something resembling a inarch formation.
I he guns had the range, and the < -nciny
left about fifty dead in that waterr*
in a few minutes, so personally I am
going to open out my company and trust
to my peace training of it to keep it in
hand and get it along fast enough to be
on the spot when wanted.

I need hardly give details how to prac-
tise this. The point is, to get the
company opened out quickly and without
confusion, and this is to be done by tell-
ing your platoon commanders what you
want and where they are to go, and n»t
by any drill. Platoons may further split
up into columns of sections. Leave it to
your platoon commanders to have the sec-
tions moved apart to intervals of fifty yards.
If the enemy's artillery is straight in front,
a diamond formation seems suitable — a
platoon at each angle — the length of the
diagonal front to rear being over two hun-
dred yards and side to side over one hun-
dred ; or the platoons may simply follow
each other at two hundred yards distance,
though this is not a very handy arrange-
ment. But, subject to keeping the dis-
tances large enough, it is not the formation
that matters, but the way it is taken up,
and I will leave it at that.

At the end of this phase of endurance
of the enemy's artillery fire the company

96

comes under rifle fire and has to take to
extended order, and on service it would
perhaps have to do this and plunge into
the attack without the platoons closing in
from the scattered formation in which
they have so far moved. But for the
first few times you should close up at
fourteen hundred yards and start from
there, so as to tell the men what is next
to be done when they come under rifle
fire, and in any case the size of your exer-
cise ground would probably necessitate
your doing the two phases over more or
less the same bit of ground.

97

EXERCISE XI.

THE COMPANY IN ATTACK WITH THE
BATTALION, UNDER RIFLE FIRE.

I IK- immediate objects of the fire fight
within effective rifle range are to pro-
duce a fire sufficiently heavy to over-
come the fire of the defence, and to reach
a position from which the assault can be
drlivcTcd (I.T., 121 (5 and 6)). In theory,
then, the desideratum is to get so many
men up to about two hundred yards from
the enemy that they form a line practi-
cally shoulder to shoulder, in order that
their fire may be at least as heavy as that
of the enemy, if the latter are also in one
<. .ntinuous line, and in default of cir-
cumstances admitting of effective cover-
ing fire being maintained from positions in
rear or on a flank. On this supposition it
is frequently argued that a battalion and
its companies, when advancing to the
attack, should do so on a front not
greater than that which the battalion
would occupy if it were in single rank, but
this does not really follow. The nature
of the ground may be such that to attempt

H

98

to build up a shoulder-to-shoulder firing
line all along the enemy's position within
charging distance, may be merely to send
men to useless destruction by exposing
them on fire-swept spaces, where they are
sure to be knocked over before they can do
any good. On the other hand, there may
be other points where men may be massed
so as to give not only a firing line of
maximum density, but also a supporting
force both to replace casualties and to
carry out the assault. These are the points
which it is of importance to gain and
hold in strength sufficient to carry out the
object of the attack — the assault. It is
the duty of the battalion commander to
give each of his firing line companies
some such point as their objective, and to
define the frontage and direction of
their attack. It is similarly the duty
of the commander of a firing line
company to give each of his sections
an objective within the limits assigned to
his company (IT., 122 (4) and 123 (3-)).
The problem for solution is, how to get to
those points, and so it does not appear to
matter much what frontage the battalion
and its companies occupy when they start
off for the attack at the fourteen hundred
yards limit of effective rifle fire, provided
of course, they do not encroach on the
frontage of other units. Indeed, an attack

99

whu h st.irts (.11 ;i wide base and con-
centrates only in its later stages seems
much more likely than one which starts
i'rcin lusr rquul to a single rank front-
age to keep the enemy uncertain of its
objective, and to be able to bring oblique
or enfilade fire to bear on portions of his
line. Therefore, when practising the com-
pany in attack, do not be bound by cast
iron rules as to the breadth of the zone of
ground within which you are to bring
your company from fourteen hundred
yards up to the charging position. Four
platoons following one straight behind the
other, at two hundred yards distance,
make a very unwieldy procession, and, in
general, I would advise you to use some-
thing in the nature of a diamond forma-
tion at first, the three platoons in rear
making their own way forward till they
reinforce the leading portion which finally
consists of the whole company.

Put out the skeleton enemy on a front
of, roughly, what your company will
occupy in single rank, and let the position,
if possible, have within it two, or at
most, three points, which you can assign
as objectives to the platoon commanders.
You must consider this position as having
been assigned to you as objective by your
battalion commander, the ground on the
right and left of it being the prey of other

H 2

IOO

companies, and not the object of your
assault, though it should, nevertheless,
frequently be the object of your -fire
during the advance.

Draw up the company at about fourteen
hundred yards from the enemy. Tell
the platoon commanders the relative posi-
tions the platoons are to take up when the
advance begins, roughly the distances
between them (I.T., 123 (7)), the direction
of the attack, if the enemy's position is not
quite clearly to be seen, the frontage on
which the company is free to manoeuvre,
and the points which the sections are .to
regard as their objectives; the details
contained in IT., 123 and 124, may
also be enumerated if the commanders
are not experienced. As regards these
details, I recommend that scouts be
formed not in a line of men ex-
tended at wide intervals, but as a line
of patrols of four or six men each, and
you or a subaltern should halt them early
in the attack and tell them to send back
word that they are held up by fire, or
that they have defined the enemy's posi-
tion: on this the nearest platoon reinforces
them, and the process of building up the
firing line begins from that point. As
regards inter-communication, use connect-
ing files and semaphore signalling to join
up the various parts and make real use of
them, but avoid sham messages.

101

\ I the ob i manner of

tlu- .itt.uk have been detailed to all, tell
tin- platoon commanders to mOVC "It their
platoons to their p«>ilions and extend them
to advance, and the scouts to get
oft" in front. Five paces is the least ex-
tension to ensure that a bullet aimed at
one man may miss him with a fair chance
of not hitting1 his neighbour. Do not let
the scouts go too far away, because at
this time of getting to grips with the
enemy, their usefulness, when acting with
their companies is mainly limited to
guarding against ambush at close range,
and as ground scouts to prevent the com-
pany coming against some unseen obstacle,
barbed wire, donga, canal, or what not.

As soon as all are in position, the com-
pany may be considered as being in the
formation in which it would have arrived
at the point where, in addition to the
enemy's artillery fire, it comes under
heavy and fairly accurate rifle fire. Give
the signal to advance, and let the platoon
commanders begin to work their platoons
forward, using what covered ways they
can find. After a little of this, have the
scouts halted and reinforce them by one
platoon, order fire to be opened, bearing
in mind that one platoon's fire is probably
useless at over one thousand yards from
the enemy, but if your company is in the

102

diamond formation the platoons on each
flank will probably be able to fire, and
with favourable ground, e.g., a knoll, or
bluff somewhere on the line of advance,
the rear platoon also will be able to fire
over the heads of the firing line. There
is no danger in this if the men hold their
rifles straight, and it would assuredly
be done in war. I have myself seen it,
and the chances of an accident are mini-
mised by practice in peace. During this
early opening of fire use every effort to
keep the fire from being merely a make-
believe, i.e., send word round by your
connecting files or semaphore to fire at
certain targets, and see that section com-
manders direct their fire accordingly.
In battle the information as to which part
of the enemy's position seemed most to
demand attention would, of course, reach
you from those of your side who were
suffering fire coming from that part of the
position, and the result of your passing
the word to fire at it as above would be
that a shower of bullets would come drop-
ping all round it, to the upsetting of the
aim of the hostile marksmen. Under
cover of this fire your firing line may be
allowed to gain a little ground, platoons
moving alternately so as to avoid a cessa-
tion of fire. Thereafter continue to gain
ground, and gradually reinforce the firing

103

line till all your supports are absorbed
and the whole o>iiip;my is in the firing
line. \\'hen , taken place the line

will of a mixture of men of

different sections and platoons. Avoid
I movements in attempting to keep
the men of each unit together in rein-
•.g and recognise that admixture is
unavoidable. (I.T., 93 (ii) and 123
(9) ). The organising of the result-
ant disorder is one of the essential
objects of training for the attack. Make
your section commanders call on the
men to right and left of them, if
they are nearer them than any other unit
commander, to act under their orders.
Thus : " Private A to Private J under my
orders." Have this done constantly till
it becomes a matter of course. The men
of files can always hang together, but
prove that this is being done by asking
men where their file mates are. Get this
system started as soon as reinforcement is
begun, and keep it in full swing through-
out. Once it is started, these extempor-
ized fire units must apply the principles
learnt by the intact sections and squads in
Exercise IX., i.e., supporting fire by part
to cover movement of the others, control
and distribution of fire, etc., and so work
on up to assaulting distance and deliver
an assault. After this, let section and

104

platoon commanders reform their men
and units as quickly as possible, and
then reform the company under your
own orders. At subsequent parades
introduce casualties among the section and
platoon commanders, and let the senior
privates in each of the mixed up fire units
step into their places and carry on the
attack without halt or confusion.

EXERCISE XII.

TIIK COMPANY IN ATTACK ACTING
ALONE.

On service a company may often have
to attack some post of the enemy without
having the support of either artillery or
infantry, and exercises framed to illus-
trate these conditions are very useful in
developing the initiative of all ranks. In
paragraph Y. of the preamble I gave an
example, and I think, if you will peruse
it again, you will see what sort of thing
you should arrange for the exercise. At
inspections one sometimes sees a company
sent off by itself to carry out such an
attack, and the method often adopted is
to tell off the company into the firing line
and supports, and, perhaps, a reserve.
The whole then go straight for the object
and perform a sort of travesty of what
the company does when acting as part of
a battalion. By this time I trust you will
be quick to perceive that this is just what
it ought not to do. As an isolated force
it has to do much more than simply to
form a firing line and bring off an assault.
It must secure its flanks, have a real

io6

reserve, employ a flank as well as a
frontal attack, provide for its own with-
drawal if worsted, be prepared to deal
with a counter-attack, and observe all
the principles laid down in IT., 121.
Mutatis mutandis, your reserve may con-
sist of only a platoon, your flank
guards a file or two of men, your
flank attacks a section or platoon with
a subaltern accompanying it, and so
on, but the precautions must be taken
and the principles put into practice,
or your attack would run risk of failure.
You would do it all on service; therefore,
do it all in peace. Carry out such exer-
cises, carefully planned, and with observ-
ance of service conditions, and I am quite
sure you will see what a great deal there
is to be done in this direction before you
feel yourself and your company quite
competent to undertake a similar task in
the field. That first exercise against a
skeleton enemy will be the forerunner
of many others. Your criticism of the
action of your non-commissioned officers
must be carefully considered, as there are
usually several justifiable ways of doing
a thing, and it should always be construc-
tive and not merely destructive (T. & M.R.,
2(2)).

EXERCISE XIII.
THE COMPANY IN RETIREMENT.

The men have been practised in retire-
ment in pairs in Exercise II., and the sec-
tions and platoons have also learned their
part in Exercise VI. It remains to train the
company for this duty, which it might have
to do either as acting as rearguard to
the battalion, whether the latter was, or
was not, in conjunction with other troops,
or as if effecting its withdrawal when
isolated. In both cases the procedure and
distribution are pretty much alike. In the
former case, the company, if it gets into
difficulties, may be able to get help from
the rest of the force, but in the latter it
will not be able to do so, and the com-
mander should be especially careful to have
in hand some portion of his company which
he can use to extricate any detachment
which gets " tied up." On the other hand,
it is very desirable that the main body
should not be called on to reinforce the
rearguard when the company is not acting
alone. So that in both cases you should be
prepared to meet eventualities from your
own resources. Again, a rearguard is

io8

bound to have the majority of its force in
action in order to hold back the enemy
and present an appearance of force, so that
it is not always possible to set apart a
portion of so small a body as a company to
act solely as reserve, and to remain con-
tinuously outside the actual combat. The
solution of the difficulty seems to lie in
an intelligent application of the principles
of rearguard fighting given in F.S.R., 71 to
73, and the early but timeous withdrawal
from the fighting line of a portion of the
company who move back to a position in
rear from which they can cover the with-
drawal of the remainder, but are still avail-
able to be thrown into the fight, if it is
necessary to inaugurate some sort of a
counter attack to give portions heavily
engaged a chance to break away from close
grips. It is important in this exercise to
teach non-commissioned officers and men
to be ready to adopt quickly any method
of withdrawal that may be ordered, be-
cause the nature of the ground must
determine the way in which a withdrawal
can best be effected, and the nature of the
ground may vary every few hundred yards.
Therefore I merely suggest some ways of
practising retirements, and during the
course of the exercise you should change
from one to another, and also encourage
commanders to act on their own initiative,

log

when, ;is will pr«'b;il)ly h.ippen, your s\

of inter-communication fails to act with
sufficient speed and accuracy. I.T., 137,
^iMirnil rules as to the action of pla-
toons and sections, ;ind the standard set up
in Exercises II. and VI. should be adhered
to. Send out the skeleton enemy with
orders to follow up the retirement, but not
to close in under six hundred yards.

(a) Get the whole company deployed
into one line of platoons, with intervals be-
tween them, occupying a wide front, four
to eight hundred yards, the men at five or
more paces extension. This may seem too
wide a front, but, after all, the intervals
between the platoons are only two hundred
and forty yards, and an enemy trying to
break straight through the line would be
under fire at one hundred and twenty yards
or less, while a wide front is the best
precaution against having your flanks
turned and your retreat intercepted.

Send back a platoon from one of the
flanks to take up quickly a position in rear
clear away from the firing line ; three hun-
dred to six hundred yards is not too much ;
let it open fire, and let the remainder of the
firing line work back by retirement of
alternate sections, each running back thirty
or forty yards, beginning this movement
from the flank from which the first platoon

no

went, the platoon on the other flank holding
on and only giving ground when the two
centre platoons have got well on their way
to the line on which the first platoon is
halted. This is a slow retirement, but
gives a maximum of continuous fire and
the flanks are strong.

(ti) With the whole company extended in
one line, and no intervals between platoons.
Retire by short rushes of alternate sections ;
the rushes must be quite short, twenty
yards at most, so that the sections that have
retired can fire through the intervals of the
rear portion of the line the instant that it
begins to retire. This is meant for use
after an unsuccessful assault, and only on
flat ground.

(c) With the company extended in one
line, but with intervals between the
platoons. Order the flank platoons to
retire and take post to cover the with-
drawal of the two centre platoons, who
remain in position till the flank platoons
are ready to open fire. Watch how the
platoon commanders handle their pla-
toons ; they should do so artfully, as taught
in Exercise VI.

(cT) Retire by half-companies, two pla-
toons together, using your subalterns as
half-company commanders, and putting the
onus of finding suitable covering positions

I II

on them, nuTrly telling llu'in to cover each
other's retirement.

(e) With the company all holding one
position, leave the scouts or picked men to
cover the retirement by nipid fire, and
withdraw the remainder at full speed, then
cover the retirement of the scouts by the
fire of the whole from a position in rear.
\Yateh that the scouts creep back from
thrir cover without letting the enemy know
they are going ; and of this screen of scouts
the flank men ought usually to be the last
to go in order to make the enemy believe
that the position is still occupied.

112

EXERCISE XIV.
OUTPOSTS.

L

The general rules for outposts and the
part played by an outpost company are to
be found in IT., 147 to 157, and it is neces-
sary accordingly to train for those duties in
peace. Let us begin from the beginning,
and see what infantry outposts are and
what they have to do. A line of infantry
outposts will very often have to be taken up
after a day's fighting, or in close proximity
to the enemy before a battle. The com-
mander of an outpost battalion will be
told by the staff to take up with his batta-
lion a certain length of the front, say,
from Farm A to Hill B, inclusive—
perhaps a mile or even two in extent. He
cannot possibly have time to ride all along
the front and fix places for piquets and
sentries. Instead of this, he looks at the
ground and comes to the conclusion that
it will require, say, all his four companies
in the outpost line. He divides up his
front into four parts, and gives each of

ompanies one part. It is hi, duty to

see that the eight companies form nl<>n^
the line that combines the be^t facilities

defence and reconnaissance to the
front. Accordingly, he tells the captain
of A Company to take from Farm A to,
die wood X, inclusive, the captain of
• iiipany from the wood X, exclusive,
to, say, the stream ML, inclusive, and so
along. The captains of companies then
have to go off and take up their frontages.
As beforesaid, infantry outposts must
expect to take up their line close to the
enemy, and often when dusk is falling.
This gives you your clue as to how it
should be done. You must march your
company in fighting formation, so as not
to be ambushed — a screen of scouts
or other covering troops in front and
on the flanks, a party, section, or platoon
ready to succour the covering party, and
hold up the enemy, and a reserve ready
to act under your orders, either for attack
or defence. Your movement and the
taking up of your line should be unseen by
the enemy; therefore, move carefully
under cover both from distant and close
positions, from which you may be seen.
The line must be taken up quickly. The
main thing is to get it occupied ; there-
fore, it is a mistake to halt the company
while you plod round the whole of the

I

H4

front and plan just where each piquet and
sentry will be. Instead, take a good look
at the line as you march and decide what
are the essential points to be held for
defence and as observation points. As
soon as your scouts have made good the
ground a little in front of those points,
send off what you think are neces-
sary, sections or platoons, to seize these
points, and act as piquets till you go
round and adjust details. Thus your
company will occupy the line in rough-
and-ready fashion as quickly as they can
advance. When the company breaks up
to go to the piquet posts, go with any one
of the piquets which is to be on one flank
and settle the exact position of the piquet
with reference to the line you intend to
hold as your line of resistance, and any
other details which you think the piquet
commander should attend to, such as what
localities should be patrolled, and estimate
the number of men required Any surplus
sections should accompany you from this
piquet, and you and they then go along the
line to the other piquets which you arrange
similarly, using the surplus to reinforce
those piquets that need them, and if at the
end you have still a surplus of men you
may either form them as a support in rear
or dismiss them to remain with their own
platoons. For purposes of messing on ser-
vice the latter is convenient, but, tactically,

US

.) >M|)|)ort is olten needed, in wlneh ease the
men's <-<>mf<»rt must take -erond place.

You must make a clear distimlion
between day and night outposts, though
you practise the latter by daylight. In-
fantry outposts by day and until the
Ivances, are firstly patrols and
look-out men, whose business is to look
for any movement on the part of the
enemy, and to prevent his seeing their
own side's doings, and to report what
they see of the enemy's, and, secondly,
a line of piquets who occupy the line de-
cided on as the line of resistance, and who
may fall out and rest while things are
quiet, with supports and sometimes a
ve behind them. The patrols are
active agents in getting information in
front of the outpost line, and they
will mostly consist of mounted troops
>t in close country or thick weather.
The look-out sentries are passive ob-
stacles to the enemy's patrols or scouts
penetrating the line; the piquets are the
reserve of force ready to be called into
action when needed. But a line suitable
for observation and resistance by day is
seldom suitable by night also. Fighting
by day is done by shooting, and rough
ground affording cover is likely to be
chosen for the advance of the attackers.
By night, however, the attack will be

12

made with the bayonet, and the attacker
will avoid broken country, which will
confuse and delay his advance. Choose
your outpost line accordingly. By day
seek for a good field of fire, mutually
supporting positions, and good facilities
for observation, and strengthen the posi-
tion you mean to fight on. By night
close the likely ways by which an enemy
may advance by putting piquets on them
in strengthened positions with obstacles
prepared in front, and patrols lying out
on intervening ground to intercept scouts.
Thus, in an undulating hedge-covered
country with many roads, by day your
piquets would be behind the crests of the
undulations, sentries only on the look-out,
and patrols scouting in front. By night
your piquets would be on the roads, which
they would block with barbed wire or
abattis of cut hedge stuff, and your patrols
in the fields between and lying out along
the road in front at some place where they
could watch anything passing, and get
back to the piquet line without running
risks of being shot by their own side. We
will see below what training is required
for non-commissioned officers and men in
their duties on piquet, patrol and sentry.
When you have trained them in these
duties, take up an outpost line as a tacti-
cal exercise with your company, acting as

"7

;in outpost company by day, ami then as
hy night, and if you have scouts send
them out to act as an enemy's patrol in
front to see how much of the operation
of taking up the line is visible to them;
then, after a certain hour, let them try
to make their way through the line unseen.
They must not work round the flanks as
ex hypothesi; these are held by other out-
companies; finally, let them start
sniping the outposts as if ushering in an
attack, and let your piquets take up the
line of resistance, your patrols falling
back on the firing beginning.

II.

The Training of Men and Platoons in
Outpost Duties.

An outpost company will more often
consist of two or more small piquets of
one or more platoons with a support, than
simply of one large piquet with its support,
so that when you come to train the whole
company, as above, in taking up a part
of an outpost line, the performance of the
work will depend largely on the ability
of your platoon and section com-
manders to direct the men in their duties.
Unless they are capable of doing this,
time will be wasted as you will be occu-
pied with one portion of the line while

Fl8

the rest are doing nothing and awaiting
your arrival, for in this class of work the
instructor must remain for some time with
each piquet while the men are being put
through the various duties, and cannot
supervise concurrently at all points.
Therefore, it is best, before taking the
men out for instruction, to give a day or
two solely to the instruction of subalterns
and non-commissioned officers. When
they have got a knowledge of what is
required, have the men out, divide them
into piquets under subalterns and section
commanders, who will put them through
the duties, and the work will go on on
proper lines, and you will be free to go
round and supervise each in turn.

You will have four subalterns, sixteen
section commanders, and other non-com-
missioned officers, a total of twenty rifles
or so, but if you are short of non-commis-
sioned officers, have out enough privates to
give you sixteen or twenty rifles. Form
them up as a piquet and make the supposi-
tion that it has just received its orders to
break off from the company and go to a
certain point in the outpost line and take
up its duties there.

Day Piquets.

Indicate some such point as a day piquet
position at a reasonable distance from

ng

win-re tin* piquet is when you give it its
orders, ;ind let tin- senior non-commi
sioix march it there, as on service,

the point rh< sen beiiiv^. if possible, such <i
mid be occupied on service.

(a) This advance to the piquet is the
first duty. In spite ol the company cover-
ing troops being supposed to be somewhere
in advance, the piquet on its march should
be protected by a small patrol (F.S.R.,
64 (i)). In taking up the position, it
must not let the enemy see it; that is,
neither the men nor their commander
should show themselves. Very often the
men are kept under cover, but the com-
mander wanders about fixing places for
sentries in full view of everyone. He
should lie down and peep over the crest
or whatever it is while making his plans.

Having arrived at the piquet position,
indicate a position on the right and on
the left where other piquets are supposed
to be and proceed with : —

(£) Duties of outpost sentries. — These
are given in I.T., 152. Post as many
groups as will use up the whole
strength in places which would need
watching on service; if there are not
enough such places near by, then merely
for the purpose of this semi-drill, post two
or more groups close together. A
ip consists of one or two men

120

on duty, and their reliefs, who lie
down near them. These groups are re-
lieved every eight or twelve hours. Let
it be understood that the position of their
own piquet is occupied by the reliefs of
these groups and of patrols, and it is a
good plan to show the position by a flag.
The sentries must see without being seen,
know where other groups are, where their
own and other piquets are, be told to
challenge and halt anyone approaching as
in I.T., 152 (3), and what to do if
attacked. Let them do this to you per-
sonally, as if you were someone not be-
longing to the troops, and impress on
them that they must be careful to teach
it to their men so that no stranger may
ever be allowed to get close to a group,
and to shoot if he does not halt. Neglect
of this simple rule has led to many mis-
haps in all armies. Concealment is not
easy, but must be got somehow — by
artifice, if the ground is unfavourable.
After putting all through " sentry go "
close to the groups and teach them : —

(c] Patrolling, for which see IT., 1 1 1 and
156. Patrols are not meant for fighting,
but to get information or watch dangerous
places. But they may have to fight
to avoid capture, and they do no good
by walking blindly into an ambush.
To bring back information or news that

I 2 I

tin- ninny are coming on, it is evidently
lial that whatever happens to the rest
of the party, one man at least should
always br able to escape, "and to avoid
ambush the patrol should move in a for-
mation which will prevent a surprise over-
whelming the whole party. In short, one
portion must scout, and the other be pre-
pared to cover their movement and help
them to get away, if possible, but in any
case to get away itself and carry news of
the enemy. But patrols must be limited
in strength, or they will not be able to
escape notice, and must make up for their
weakness by cunning and stealthiness of
movement.

For patrolling by day, tell off the whole
strength into patrols of four or six men,
one of whom will command in each patrol.
Let each take up the formation it would
usually adopt; that is, one or two files in
advance, followed by the rest at a distance
sufficient to prevent the surprise of the
whole by one and the same opening of
fire. Teach the method advocated for
movement across country, i.e., a careful but
rapid advance from one cover to another,
also how to approach suspicious locali-
ties. The leading file halts and looks
for any signs of the enemy ; mean-
while the rear file comes nearly up to
it ; the leading file then moves forward

122

while the rear file lies down with
rifles loaded and sighted, ready to fire
at once to cover the others if the enemy
shows himself. If the locality to be
searched can be outflanked, the leading
files should move round one or both flanks
before closing in on it. If it is one that
cannot be outflanked, as, for instance, a
straight edge of a large wood, they should
approach it under cover, creeping up a
hedgerow perhaps, and so get inside. If
there is no cover they may try some ruse
to draw the enemy's fire before getting
too close, halting as if they had seen
something, shading the eyes with the
hand, pointing and then starting to run
back as if alarmed, which might lead the
enemy to open fire to prevent their escape.
But it is rather hard to get men to do
this play-acting unless there is a real force
of "Blue" or "Red" enemy against
them. The commander of the patrol,
when approaching any place, should tell
his men what they are to do if it is seen
to be held by the enemy, i.e., to lie still
and watch, or retire. If the latter, he
should fix some place in rear where the
patrol could rally after getting out of
harm's way.

Show them how to look over a ridge,
wall, or hedge, without attracting notice,
taking off their headdress and raising the

head slowly, keeping the rest of the body
idly under cover, and also to move
mi een, k -epin^ in the shadow of hedges
or roadside trees, and covering up any
polished metal work of their uniform; to
lie up on any place that commands a good
view, and look long and carefully all over
the country to catch sight of anything.
Finally to report what they see, and to
do this at once, if there is need, by send-
ing one, or better, if the patrol can spare
them, two men back to the piquet with a
written report, the rest still remaining in
observation. Without having an actual
force opposing you, you can only do this
exercise with some appearance of reality
by giving out verbal situations to the
patrol. Thus : " Go and reconnoitre that
wood which an enemy may be holding."
On this the patrol would get into forma-
tion and move forward. Then, when
approaching the wood, " You have seen
small parties of the enemy beyond the
wood both on its right and left, and they
are perhaps in the wood also; try and get
into it unseen," if there is any cover, or,
if not, " show what you would do to draw
their fire before getting close." Then
" the wood is held by the enemy, with-
draw your patrol if you can." As the
patrol attempts to retire " a heavy fire is
opened on you as you retire, showing that

124

there is at least a company in the wood,
your first duty is to send news of this
to your piquet — how and whom would you
send, and how would you frame your
message?"

(d) Duties on piquet. — Close the platoon
and take it to the place where the piquet
is to be. A piquet on arrival at its posi-
tion has at once to strengthen the position
against attack, and this without waiting
for orders (I.T., 151 (4)). But as we are
here only training the non-commissioned
officers in their duties we will not ask them
actually to dig trenches or make loopholes
and entanglements ; indeed, this, as one
may term it, executive work, has its proper
place in " Defence." Bearing in mind,
then, that we are dealing with a day out-
post, ask or show the platoon how to
strengthen the position. Bring out a few
picks and let them spitlock on the ground
the lines of any trenches that might be
needed, paying great attention to the siting
of the trench so that fire could be brought
over all the ground in front. Let them
indicate with exactness where and how
they would improve and adapt existing
cover. Great regard need not be had to
the number of men in the piquet, as out-
posts, if attacked, should make as much
show of force as possible, and it does good
and not harm if there are alternative loop-

ho|. ! I .icing in different direct ioii> ,

ninodation must be provided for
tin- support. The comiii.mder should
look for ground outside the outpost
line from which enfilade rifle or artil-
11 re might he brought to bear on
him, and mark how he would protect
his men from it hy traverses, breaking the
line of loopholes into short lengths, keep-
ing under lee of existing cover and so on.
The strengthening of the piquet must be
done with the aid of common-sense. It will
seldom be enough to propose to dig one bit
of trench all in one piece and hope the
enemy will Be good enough to come and
knock his head against it. Cover may be
made or adapted in several separate
groups, if this is needed, so as to make it
possible to bring fire to bear on any part
of the ground in front. The piquet must
be prepared to make as brave a show as
possible, therefore the commander, while
strengthening the point near which his
piquet is to rest, must decide what he will
do if attacked. Probably there will be
within the limits of his piquet's frontage
one or two other points which might be
useful for defence, and he must not ex-
pect attack just from one direction. With
regard to such alternative positions he
should settle when and how he will use
them, and whether he can afford time and

126

men to strengthen them, and, last but
not least, whether he will be able to get
men from one to the other if the enemy
does develop a strong attack. If he can
do all these he will have added immensely
to his power of defence, provided he
handles his men skilfully, as he will be
able to hold one position till the enemy
thinks he has denned its location, then
dodge to another, while they will go
on firing at the old one, and so make his
piquet appear many times stronger than it
is. Concealment of the defence is very
important, and the non-commissioned
officers should be reminded that this must
be attended to. They may forget it as
there is no actual digging.

(e) Duties in Piquet. — The position of
the piquet and alternative defence positions
having been fixed, and trenches or other
defences marked out on the position, and
on the alternative positions if any, assem-
ble the platoon at the piquet and show the
non-commissioned officers how to tell off
reliefs and other duties. Each group fur-
nished by the piquet consists of
three to eight men, and mounts one or two
men as sentry, as the circumstances of the
post require (I.T., 152 (3)), the sentry,
single or double, being relieved in turn by
the others of the group. The whole group
is under command of the senior soldier or

127

non-commissioned I he

arc to form the reliefs of the gi
stay with the j)i(|uel, which nsii.illy is •

i solely «'f the reliefs of ^roups and
' r,i men who h.ive no Specific
duties are not ;i<lvis;il)le unless the position
i- very exposed. Suppose your group
sentries ;ire single, and the groups ol three
men each, ;ind relieved every eight hours,
then for every group posted and in position
there will be six men in the piquet resting
.uid wailing their turn, each group thus
needing a total of nine men — three out, six
in. Patrols start from the piquet or sup-
port, as the commander of the company
directs, and the piquet commander may

them out on his own initiative, if he
thinks it needful. As they are practically
all on duty as long as they are out, a turn
of four hours is enough for them, or, rather,
a third of the daylight time. Take your
patrols from this piquet to be four strong,
there will be for each patrol eight men in
the piquet and four out on patrol, a total

elve needed to furnish each patrol.
In telling off a piquet on the above con-
ditions of relief, and before dismissing the
men to rest, the commander must pay at-
tention to two main points. Firstly, he
must tell off the reliefs, and give each re-
lief a place to rest in. Men on outpost
are usually tired and need all the rest they

128

can get, especially if they are up all night.
Therefore reliefs should be kept together
and rest in one place, so that the com-
mander can find them at once without
stirring up the others to see who's who.
Secondly, the men must be told off to alarm
posts, which they are to occupy in case of
attack — each relief and each man of it
should be given a position on the entrench-
ment which he is to hold. To ensure that
they will do this at once and without con-
fusion they should be made to go to these
places and occupy them before being dis-
missed. There will then be no needless
running about with consequent casualties
if fire, either of artillery or infantry, sud-
denly opens.

Say you have sixteen rifles (non-commis-
sioned officers and others) in your instruc-
tional piquet give out that it is to furnish —

1 Sentry over the piquet.

2 Groups of three men each, Nos. i

and 2.
2 Patrols of four men each, Nos. I

and 2.

The sentry over the piquet alone being
actually posted, the two groups and two
patrols being supposed to be out in front,
as this part of the lesson is only concerned
with the inside work of the piquet, and
you have already shown them this work on
sentry and patrol. As your strength is not

I2Q

sufficient you must make a further sup-
position, and make believe that for the
reliefs of the groups one of your rifles re-
presents three, and for those of the patrols
one rifle represents two. Appoint one of
the non-commissioned officers in turn as
commander, and let him tell off accord-
ingly.

•; Rifles for piquet sentry, one of

whom he actually mounts,
i Rifle (representing three) as second

relief, No. I group.

1 Rifle (representing three) as third

relief, No. i group.

2 Rifles (representing two each) for

second relief, No. i patrol.
2 Rifles (representing two each) for

third relief, No. i patrol.
And a similar number for No. 2

patrol and No. 2 group.
Having told off these reliefs the com-
mander should then tell them where they
are to have their resting places and where
their posts are in case of alarm. At this
time also he would give out any special
orders which concern the piquet. Then
without dismissing the men he should
order them to go to their resting places,
and as soon as they are there order them
to occupy their alarm posts, which should
be done in double time, the men lying
down on the places that have been marked

K

I 30

out for entrenchment or improvement of
existing cover. Make this falling in on
alarm posts a standing order in the com-
pany. After this has been done, and each
man knows exactly what he has to do on
the alarm, the men should be dismissed to
their resting places, which, as before said,
should be separate for each relief and apart
from each other. After being dismissed,
the men would on service be allowed to
make themselves as comfortable as possi-
ble. Other duties of the piquet com
mander are : —

(1) The opening of communication

with piquets in right and left
and the support.

(2) The fixing of places for purposes

of nature.

(3) The arrangements for getting up

food to his men if they have not
their rations with them.

(4) Keeping his piquet in a state

of readiness ; besides keeping
accoutrements on, the men
should have their rifles at their
sides when resting, and take
them with them wherever they
go. There should be no such
thing as piling arms on outpost.

Night Piquets.
In the dark the bullet is a fool unless

i at dose quarters. No practicable
.mmimt "I -li<">tin^, «'veii at only a
hundred yards distance, will dislodge de-
termined men posted under cover, and a
serious atUck must be made with the
net or by shooting within the distance
at which a man may be distinguished —
ten yards or so. F.S.R., 138 (2), lays
down for the British Army that the
bayonet only is to be used in night attacks,
and we may assume that any civilized
army we may have to meet will pursue
similar tactics. Aerial reconnaissance may
nowadays allow an enemy to locate the
position held by the main body of his
opponent, in spite of its being covered by
outppsts, but such reconnaissance does not
admit of any hope of a successful night
attack being made on that main body by
eluding or passing through the outposts,
because the surface of the ground cannot
be sufficiently searched from above to dis-
cover the small obstacles which must he
avoided or known if the advance of a
1 irs^e body of men is to be carried out at
night. So we may take it that now, as
formerly, any large attack will fall first
on the outposts, supposing, as we must,
that these are placed so as to hold or
watch all possible lines of advance. In
addition to this, outposts must expect iso-
lated attacks made against one or two

K2

132

points held by them which the enemy
desires to gain possession of. The duties
of outposts by night are, then, to hold
and defend the outpost line in sufficient
strength to prevent any large body of the
enemy breaking through, or getting a
footing in some tactically important posi-
tion on the line, and also to prevent the
enemy's scouts from getting through and
making observations, and, lastly, but of
most importance, to get news of the enemy
both as a means of forestalling any
attack, and for the use of the force com-
mander in framing his plans. Bringing
the matter down to the level of a piquet
of an outpost company, it seems to resolve
itself into night patrolling and night
defence of a position. As before pointed
out, enclosed country allows of piquets
closing the lines of advance by which
large bodies can only hope to move undis-
covered, while intervening ground can be
searched by patrols. On the other hand,
open country leaves the front vulnerable
everywhere, and calls for a greater num-
ber of piquets and closer patrolling than
are needed by day.

Of course, elementary instruction in
these duties must be carried out by day-
light to allow of supervision; so now
assemble your platoon of non-commissioned

'33

officers and give out that you are going to
practise night work. Choose some place
"in night piquet, realistic as may be,
a bridge, a cutting, or anything else that
constitutes a defile or otherwise blocks a
likely line of advance from the enemy's
direction. Also choose, and point out to
tin* platoon, positions where the adjoining
piquets on the right and left would be.
(iive out the following instructions to the
non-commissioned officers: —

(1) Piquets must take up their night

positions when it is getting dusk,
the strengthening of the piquet
and construction of obstacles
being done in advance, secretly if
possible, and towards evening the
working party should withdraw
and leave the intended night posi-
tion empty till it is time to move
into it, further work being com-
pleted by twilight.

(2) The provision of obstacles is

more necessary than entrench-
ment, as securing the piquet from
being rushed while completing
the latter.

(3) Men must rest on their alarm

posts, and bayonets may have to
be kept fixed by all, if there is
a possibility of a sudden attack

134

(I.T., 151 (/)), to ensure instant
readiness.

(4) All piquets must stand to arms
one hour before light and remain
ready for action till the patrols
have found that there is no sign
of an immediate attack. When
relief takes place in the morning,
night outposts will not return to
camp till the patrols report all
clear.

After this, let the non-commissioned
officer in command withdraw the piquet
from its day position and march it to the
night position. On arrival ask the non-
commissioned officers in turn where they
would place the piquet exactly and where
they would put their obstacles. Obstacles
for a night piquet should be under close
fire, i.e., ten or twenty paces, but, in
addition, booby traps and alarms may be
placed further in front. Barbed wire is
the best of all obstacles. The actual
defensive measures to be taken do not
differ from those taken for the defence of
any position not on outpost.

The position of the piquet and obstacles
being decided on, let the non-commis-
sioned officers mark on the ground the
actual work they would undertake, having
regard to the time available, which you
should tell them, and, on the same lines

135

as for the day piquet, let them as com-
manders in turn divide the men into re-
liefs of sentries and patrols, tell them off
to their alarm posts, and order them to
occupy them once as if on alarm.

A piquet by night, no matter how well
entrenched, has a very limited field of
action. Even with most carefully arranged
night rests for the men's rifles its fire effect
is small except at close ranges, and to re-
sist attack by relatively larger bodies it
must in general keep behind its defences.
Hence a well organised scheme of patrols
is necessary to supplement the passive op-
position which the piquet can offer. The
patrols are charged with the duty of bring-
ing news of any advance of the enemy to
attack, and, if he is close enough, of spying
out his movements on and within his out-
post line, of preventing his patrols or scouts
penetrating their own line, of watching any
localities which are of particular import-
ance and unoccupied by piquets, such, for
example, as villages beyond the outpost
line which the enemy might try to occupy
by night, and, lastly, of keeping up com-
munication between the various bodies of
the outposts. The strength of patrols is
limited by the necessity of their being able
to do this work without making a noise,
and a strength of three to eight men is
advised- A patrol performs its duty of ob-

servation either by going from point to
point, or by watching one particular place,
when it is called a " standing patrol." If a
piquet posts any group sentries by night,
away from the piquet, such groups have
just the same work as standing patrols,
except that they may be ordered to main-
tain their position in case of attack as
they are near support, whereas patrols
would fall back as soon as they had made
sure the enemy was advancing, and possi-
bly, if in accordance with their instructions,
after treating him to a short burst of
rapid fire. An ordinary patrol will also
have to halt and listen perhaps for long
periods, and so becomes for the nonce a
standing patrol.

Form up the platoon at the piquet posi-
tion, and let the commander tell it off into
three patrols to practise this duty, disre-
garding reliefs, all three to be sent out at
the same time in different directions, one
man in each to be commander. Before
they start off, tell them the following, which
piquet commanders must see to : —

(1) If there is no countersign pub-

lished for the force, piquet com-
manders must arrange either a
word or a sign by which men may
know their own side in the dark.

(2) Patrols going out are to tell the

nearest sentry which way they are
going (IT, 156(5))-

'37

(3) For patrols a code of signals

should be arranged, e.g., a hiss or
half-whistle, to call attention,
answered by the same to show
that the man called has heard it,
followed by the signal, whatever
it is : — a double hiss for " come up
to me," a click of the tongue for
" retire," but anything will do pro-
vided it cannot be clearly heard
much further off than the listeners
for whom it is intended, and is
neither a very common nor a very
uncommon sound.

(4) The piquet commander must tell

patrols how long they are to stay
out and any places he thinks must
be visited, in addition to what they
themselves may find advisable, on
closer acquaintance with the
ground.

A suitable formation for a night patrol
of six men would be four in the advanced
party, followed at ten to fifty paces by the
rear party or two. The reason for the
stronger party being ahead is, firstly, that
fighting at night begins with suddenness
and ends rapidly, while reinforcement of
one party by another is slow and uncer-
tain, and, secondly, to ensure that some
part of the patrol may have a good chance
of getting away with news, whatever hap-

'38

pens to the rest. Bayonets should be fixed
and rifles sloped on the right shoulder, the
right hand holding the small of the butt so
as to come to the charge at once, and not
to have any chance of a rifle falling on the
ground.

Tell patrol commanders to get their
patrols into formation and practise move-
ment in silence along a road and on
ordinary road. If along a road, let them
move on each side of it, off the metal on
the roadside grass or dust, and under trees
or close to the hedge or wall. On ordinary
country the ball of the foot should be put
down first as if to feel the surface^ before
putting the full weight of the body on the
advanced foot. A stick or broom-handle,
a la " boy scout," is invaluable in moving
over unexplored ground, as by it the real
nature of objects dimly seen at one's feet
can be made out, and awkward spills
thereby avoided. The movement of
patrols under these conditions will be very
slow over any but quite level ground. As
the patrols move let them practise the code
of signals, halting, advancing, coming up
into one line, etc., also the keeping up of
communication by one file moving back and
forward between the two parts of the
patrol. They should practise also break-
ing up and scattering as if attacked by
overwhelming numbers, each individual

'39

getting away as quickly and quietly as
possible, and the whole rallying again at
some place in rear. The patrol com-
mander as he goes out must fix these rally-
ing places, usually one is enough over the
whole of a patrol's beat, and they should be
outside the outpost line. Have the patrols
moved so that on their beats they may
meet each other once or twice, and use the
sign to reply when challenge is made. As
a second practice, direct one of the meet-
ing patrols to consider itself hostile, and
let the commander of the other patrol
excogitate how he would deal with men
who did not stand fast on being told to
halt and could not give the countersign.

Next tell the patrols to get into position
to watch various localities, a farm steading,
a ravine, or such like, as they would have to
do for limited periods as patrols recon-
noitring on their beats, or for the whole
night as standing patrols. One of the best
ways in which patrols can fulfil their office
is by halting and listening with ears near
the ground for sounds of human movement.
There is no rule for thus lying up except
that they must not get caught themselves.
A couple of men should be left quite clear
of the patrol to get away if the others
strike trouble, and the commander of the
patrol should have word passed to these
two from time to time that all is well with

140

the rest, or they may wait in their place
while the others have been quietly
downed.

Lastly, let patrols return to the piquet,
and learn how to approach without getting
themselves fired on, or causing useless
alarm. A good way is for two of the patrol
to advance a few steps at a time when near
the piquet, halting and quietly code-signal-
ling the "piquet sentry till they get his at-
tention and warn him that the patrol wants
to come in.

It has taken longer to write about out-
posts than it may take you to put your men
through them, and I have purposely been
discursive because a knowledge of what is
needed from outposts is more important
than any set exercise, and also because
this duty is the one which newly raised
troops are most likely to perform negli-
gently, and at the same time the one which,
if neglected, allows the enemy to bring raw
troops to quick demoralisation. I have also
purposely written as if unlimited ground
were available, and, speaking generally, I
think it is. You can, and should, practise
your piqueting and patrolling on the
ordinary countryside, with its main and
bye-roads, paths, fields, and hedges. The
practice of outposts when piquets are not
entrenched, causes no damage, so that
leave to move over the fields should not be

hard to get, but even if it cannot be got,
the principal and most important work of
patrolling and watching all roads and paths,
will he done on the ground on which they
would he done on service. If fighting ever
takes place in Britain, which Heaven fore-
fend, outpost lines will be along the ordin-
ary country and not on Salisbury Plain, so
do not go into wild and desolate places
f. >r your outposts, but take the ordinary
country round where you are.

142

EXERCISE XV.
DEFENCE.

The subject of defence is treated of in
F.S.R., 107-110, IT., 125-135, and in
Chapter VII. , M.F.E., 1911. The duties
required of the company commander and
his subordinates are briefly denned by I.T.,
132, to be similar to those they carry out in
the attack. The whole spirit of the regula-
tions is that the active Defence is merely a
means to an end, viz., the ultimate assump-
tion of the offensive, which may be carried
out either by the same troops which have
acted on the defensive or by fresh troops
detailed for the purpose. In both cases
the troops that have acted on the defensive
must be ready to become the aggressors.
Therefore, in training your men, you
should keep this constantly in view and
conserve a spirit of aggressive mobility.
Men must not be allowed to think that
once a position has been taken up and
entrenched it is to be their location till
fighting ceases; on the contrary, they
should be encouraged to look for oppor-
tunities while still on the defensive,
to occupy alternative positions which

'43

will make the task of the attack-
ing enemy more difficult. Quickness
in seizing and strengthening a posi-
tion must be combined with mobility in
leaving it to take up and strengthen a
new one. Of course, the time available
regulates the work that can be undertaken
(M.F.E., VII. (2)); deep trenches and
concealed head cover cannot be made with
an enemy pressing in to assault, but the
first requirement is the ability to choose
positions that give a good field of fire
and to strengthen them as thoroughly as
the time available and the proximity of
the enemy admit.

In dealing with a company, the onus of
choosing what localities it is tactically
necessary to occupy and strengthen rests
with the company commander, subject to
the orders of his battalion commander.
In the same way as on outpost, you will
be given a bit of ground to defend, either
acting with the battalion or as an isolated
company, and the rest will be on your
head. I do not propose to deliver a
treatise on the tactical occupation of
ground, but instead I will ask you to pro-
cure and read two books. The first is
"The Defence of Duffer's Drift," by
Backsight Forethought (W. Clowes and
Sons), the second is " A Staff Officer's
Scrap Book," by Sir Ian Hamilton

144

(Edward Arnold). They are both most
readable books, and are quite free of
soporific effects. The first is small, and
deals with the efforts of a half -company,
under Lieutenant B. F., to defend a drift
over a South African river. In the second
the author takes you along with him
through the Russo-Japanese War, of which
he was a privileged spectator, and in your
journey ings you look on at victories and
defeats in the making, while the causes
that led to them, great and small, are set
forth, along with many shrewd comments
on human nature and how it translates
itself in the day of battle. Every fight
bears its own lesson of what to do and
what not to do in defence, and this told
in no pedantic strain, but with the saving
grace of humour, to mitigate the darker
side of human carnage. Read them both,
get to yourself the wisdom and under-
standing with which they are filled, and
you will know how to take up a position
for defence.

Having educated yourself to choose the
points of a defensive position that must
be occupied if the position is to be effec-
tively held, you have still to train your
men to the work of defending them, and
they must learn to be able to do without
the help of a supervising officer, as will
often be the case on service.

vlight defence is almost entirely a
[Matter 01 lue, the immediate; object being
to m. ike it impMssilile IW tin1 enemy to come
Id elosr i|u,irt«Tv IMaloon ;ni(l section c< >m
inanders then must he al>le to dispose their
with this in view to the best advan-
tage within the limits of the ground
allotted to their iinils, and the men mu >t
be able to site their I renches or whatever
form of cover has to be constructed so
as to use their rifles to the best effect. It
is no good to teach men to dig trenches
and make loop-holes unless they know the
proper places for them. (M.F.E., 18 (7)).

At the same time, practice in digging
and the use of tools is very necessary for
men who are not accustomed to such work.
The hands of the untrained man blister
and his muscles tire under the unusual
effort, while he expends much energy with
results small in comparison with what he
can accomplish once he has learnt to use
his strength well. Moreover, a certain
amount of technical skill is required in
making any but the most simple cover.

To practise the execution of work, you
must have ground which you are at liberty
to turn up, as well as some materials for
loop-holes and obstacles. These may not
be obtainable at any and every parade,
but you can give practice in the selection
and siting of trenches on any bit of

L

146

country without causing damage, the men
merely spitlocking or marking with stones
or anything else the position of the
trenches on the surface of the ground, and
describing what they propose doing.

I would, therefore, advise that you
make your training consist of two parts,
firstly the siting of trenches and the plan-
ning by unit commanders and men of
defensive work, the choice and occupation
of alternative positions, and the assump-
tion of the offensive from the defensive,
all this without actually breaking ground,
and, secondly, ground and tools being
then available, the performance of a course
of making real cover and obstacles.

But the first part cannot be carried out
unless the men have a knowledge of what
trenches, loop-holes and so on are like,
and the objects with which they are made.
In a company of raw recruits taken from
the populace at large, there will be plenty
who have no ideas on the subject at all.
You must then precede your exercises either
by a short lecture, materials for which you
will find in plenty in the " Defence of
Duffer's Drift," and the manuals of train-
ing, or, better than a lecture, by showing
them specimens of entrenchments made by
regular troops. The main points to insist
on are the securing of a field of fire, the
necessity of concealment of the defences,

the importance of head cover as a help to
the delivery of an accurate fire by letting
mrn keep the enemy in view without show-
ing up themselves, the avoidance of en-
til, ule fire- by making traverses, or by tak-
ing .t<lv,int;i£e of intervening high ground,
the provision of cover from downward
shell fire by making the trenches deep and
> enough to let men stand close up
to the edges, and, in the case of isolated
posts and points held as pivots of a posi-
tion, the necessity of preparing an all-
round defence so that these pivots will be
able to continue fighting whatever happens
«>n the intervening ground. The course
of work actually performed for the second
part should include digging all kinds of
trenches, by which the men will learn to
use their tools to the best advantage, and
their hands and muscles will become
hardened, the use of the excavated earth
to form parapets and parados (cover from
fire from the rear of the trench; forty
inches of earth are needed to keep out a
bullet), the drainage of trenches, the mak-
ing of traverses against enfilade fire, the
making of loop-holes and head-cover with
the aid of all sorts of materials, sand
bags, brushwood and heather, straw and
twigs, stones and bricks (which must be
covered with earth to deaden the effects
of splinters), packing boards, and so on,

L2

14$

the concealment of trenches and loop-holes
so as to be invisible to the enemy (this is
of great importance), the masking of loop-
holes when not in use to prevent light
showing through, the making of dummy
trenches and loop-holes to draw the
enemy's fire away, the improvement of
existing cover, such as loop-holing walls
and the use of hedges with or without
ditches, making sangars, if stones are
available, the making of obstacles of
barbed and plain wire, and measuring and
marking of ranges round a position, which
should be done by some means not obvious
to the enemy, and clearing the field of
fire. It will seldom be practicable to
obtain subjects for practical demonstra-
tion of some of the latter in peace time;
people will object to their walls being
experimented on or their shrubberies laid
low, and so even here a description of the
method will have to be substituted for
actual performance. For night defence
the construction of night rests for rifles is
needed. The best I know is a packing
case, filled with earth, with the front and
rear edges notched to hold the rifle stock.
The magazine is laid hard up against the
outside of the rear edge and the notches,
front or rear, slowly deepened with a pen-
knife till the sights bear on the target;
afterwards earth is banked up outside the

149

bux ,ui(l head cover made al>« Tin-

going may Seem a formidable liM , l)iit
they arc things that will undoubtedly be
requited 9S soon as you get on shooting
terms with an enemy; while if you exhaust
this list and feel the want of further
occupation, the Engineering Manual will
supply you with further subjects for your
activities.

Pending your getting facilities of
ground, tools, and materials to execute
work, you can proceed with the first part
of training outlined above. If your non-
commissioned officers have not had experi-
ence, take them out as an instructional
section in the same way as when teaching
outpost work, and put them through the
exercises which follow. But if they are
already fairly competent, take the men
on parade, forming them, if possible, into
not less than two sections.

Instruction in Siting Trenches.

Choose any position on undulating
ground, form the men in extended order
in one line in rear of it, and order them
to move up, and mark where each would
place his trench in order to fire on an
enemy advancing from the front. In
doing this it should be an invariable rule
that men must lie down, bring the rifle into

ISO

the firing position, look along the sights,
and move forward or back till they see that
they have got the best position to sweep the
ground in their immediate front (see
M.F.E., 31 (3)). Dead ground close to
the trench gives the enemy a place in which
to collect and organise an assault. Take
the men in the same way on to other posi-
tions and repeat the lesson till they all
understand that the -first thing to be done
is this aiming with the rifle to secure a
good field of fire. At first halt them
close to what you see is the best line, and
afterwards halt them thirty or forty yards
from it, and then give the order to choose
sites. For instance, halt them on the top
of a convex slope and let them find out
that the best place to bring fire on to flat
ground at its base is somewhere on the
enemy's side of the convexity, for if the
trench were made on the top of the slope
the ground immediately in front would be
hidden by the convexity. The section
commanders must help the men in choosing
sites.

After the men have fixed and marked
the proposed sites, let them lay down their
rifles three paces in rear and kneel or lie
down at the rear edge of the site as if
waiting to commence work while you and
section and platoon commanders go round
and examine the line. Ask details from

tin* mm how hi^h they would m.ikc tin-
par.iprt, how thick it: should be, how they
would make head-cover, how they w<»uld
the work, ;md so on.

T rarer ses and broken lines of Trenches.

Repeat the exercise as above, but this
time have the men in sections or small
groups, and the trenches made not in one
line, but in short lengths, separated by
traverses. You will have to explain the
construction and use of these to prevent
enfilade fire (if not from long range), and
to localise shell bursts. Again, have lines
of trenches mapped out in short lengths
on an irregular front, some a little for-
ward, some a little back, with the earth
at each end, banked up on the flanks with
the same object (M.F.E., 33).

Short Trenches for Two Men.

Bring the men extended to six or eight
paces on to a position, and let the men of
each file close to two paces from each
other. Each file is then to choose and
mark a site for a short trench to hold both
of them, or, as it would formerly have
been called, a rifle pit, marking where
they would make loop-holes to fire both
to the front, and obliquely towards the
right and left, so as to rake the ground

'52

in front of the line of the other men's pits.
This arrangement is not officially recog-
nised, and it does not give the closest
possible firing line, but it is an excellent
way of making men think for themselves.
When the men have got their bearings
in the matter of taking up a line for en-
trenchment, make them get into the way
of changing from defence into attack.
Take up a position as before, and as soon
as the trenches are marked out, indicate a
position at some distance as an objective
for attack and start an advance against
it, as done in the attack practices, forming
a firing line rapidly of some named
platoons and the support of the others. A
skeleton enemy kept hidden till needed
adds much to the realism.

Defence of Pivots (M.F.E., 50 (j), and

IT., 129).

Find a position in which there are some
points separated from each other which
command the ground between, and also
form such pivots for defence of the posi-
tion as are described in the paras,
above. According to the nature of
the ground, such pivots might be, for
platoons, as much as four hundred yards
apart, i.e., attackers coming between them
would be under fire at not more than two
hundred yards. Send a platoon under a

153

commander to c:\c\\ pivot, and let him
pliin iind nrnrk out hi
which must include : —

1 . An arrangement for all-round de-

fence, so that the pivot may be
self-contained and capable of
continuing the fight, although
others may have been captured.

2. The siting accordingly of trenches

and loop-holes to fire all round
and especially to sweep the front
and rear of adjoining pivots.

3. The adaptation of existing cover to

save labour.

4. The provision of protection against

enfilade and reverse fire, and the
recognition of distant localities
from which such fire, whether of
artillery or rifle, might be
brought to bear on the post.

5. The marking of ranges in each

direction.

6. The provision of obstacles.

7. Any feasible scheme for alternative

positions which his men could
reach and occupy under fire.

8. The concealment of the defences,

provision of dummy trenches,
and loop-holes and any other
shifts.

9. The telling off and posting of
look-out men and fixing and
occupying of alarm posts when
work has been completed.
10. Drainage and sanitation.

The concealment of defences from aerial
reconnaissance will, perhaps, soon claim
more attention than it gets at present.

Practise an attack after defence, start-
ing off one platoon under your own orders
to "go for" an indicated enemy, and
sending word either by messenger or by
semaphore to the others, either to join
you and form a firing line, or to move out
in support, but, if the latter, do not fail
to finally call them up to reinforce the
firing line; counter-attacks must usually
be made with a relatively strong firing
line and small support.

The Company in Defence Acting Alone.

When you have put non-commissioned
officers and men through the preceding
course, plan some scheme on the lines of
the defence of Duffer's Drift, to deal with
a company isolated and beyond reach of
immediate reinforcement. Any bridge
over a railway line, a group of buildings
supposed to contain stores, or a ford or
bridge over a river, will provide you with
an object to defend. Choose a line of

155

defence round it and determine what are
the essential pivots to be held. To do
this, so as to furnish an instructive lesson,
it will usually be necessary for you to
pay a visit to the place by yourself and
formulate your proposed defence before
bringing the company on to the ground.
Pay great attention to crossing and sup-
porting fire from the pivots, and look at
the surrounding country with a view to
meeting attack from any direction, for
in this case the company, as well as the
pivots in its line of defence, must be self-
contained. Also have regard to the cer-
tainty that you will have artillery fire
against you, to which you will not be able
to reply, and in consequence your pro-
posed defences must include deep trenches
or recesses to shelter the men from shell.
Your defences will take the form of a
chain of isolated groups about the point
to be defended and separated from each
other by possibly several hundred yards.
It is no use simply to go /and sit inside a
group of buildings which the guns would
knock about your ears and against which
the enemy can concentrate. The better
plan is to break up his attack and hide
your weakness by occupying well-strength-
ened pivots, behind whose protection you
may have some freedom of movement, and
so be able, if the weakness or rashness of

1 56

the enemy gives opportunity, to inaugurate
local counter-attacks. These, if success-
ful in inflicting a sharp and sudden loss,
will make him hesitate to deliver a de-
cisive attack till he has found out all about
you. With one company you cannot
expect to achieve decisive results against
any considerable body of the enemy, but
must be content with keeping him in play
for as long a time as possible, and an
attitude of active bluff is the best means
of doing so.

When you have got your plans com-
pleted, take out the company as strong as
possible and complete in its proper pla-
toons and sections — if there are too few
men let one man count for two or three.
Send off platoons to occupy and plan the
defence of the pivots as done when prac-
tising it before. Do the same scheme
on two separate occasions. The first time
do not send out a skeleton enemy, so that
the men may have time to look round, but
for the second time send out some scouts
under a subaltern, and let the platoons fall
out on their positions with patrols out in
front. Fix a certain hour by which you
expect the arrangements to be all ready,
and arrange for the enemy to advance at
that time, and open fire on the patrols if
they are met. When the patrols have
fallen back the enemy closes in and starts

157

sniping ;it the position. Then bring off a
counter attruk, withdrawing some men for
the purpose from pivots that are not
threatened, and coming in on the flank of
the attackers. In theory, of course, you
should have a support or reserve available
for this, but it does no harm to move men
out of their trenches with the object of
assuming the offensive, while the men learn
thr essential part of their work by all being
employed on the perimeter.

Have out the company yet a third time
on the same or a similar scheme, pivots
and skeleton enemy as before. On this
occasion, if the scheme is the same, change
round the platoons to different pivots from
what they occupied before, and when the
arrangements for defence have been
settled, leave only sentries and their groups
on the pivots as look-outs, but have patrols
in front. Form the remainder of the men
into a support in some central position, and
tell them off to occupy as alarm posts the
pivots from which they were withdrawn.
When the skeleton enemy attacks, rein-
force the threatened part of the line by the
men of the units told off for its defence,
and with part, or even the whole of the
rest, make a counter-attack.

It is very desirable, though unfortunately
not often possible, to perform these last
three practices on ground where you are at

I58

liberty to dig, and with an enemy of three
or four companies instead of a few snipers.

'Night Defence,

A night attack may be delivered as a
sequence to fighting by daylight, in the
course of which the enemy has established
himself sufficiently close to the defences
held by his opponent to see clearly the way
to reach the point against which he intends
to lead his force. Or he may deliver an
attack without previous fighting, hoping to
get the better of the defenders by sur-
prise, and basing his plans solely on the
results of reconnaissance. In the latter
case the attack must be preceded by a
night advance, long or short, according as
the defenders' outposts and their patrols
have succeeded in keeping the hostile
troops at a distance or not', unless, indeed,
the troops or their scouts or spies have not
been in touch at all during the day in
which case an attack would not be a wise
proceeding, because the needful infor-
mation about the ground and your forces
is lacking. Such attacks as require a night
advance as a preliminary are likely to be
made either over open ground or along
roads, for the difficulties and delays oc-
casioned by moving troops over broken
ground which is not thoroughly known are

153

great. But in the first case, when
fighling has been going on by day, and the
two forces arc in close contact at night-
fall, separated perhaps by only a few hun-
dred yards, the presence of broken ground
in front of the defences is no guarantee
that the enemy may not consider an attack
by night to have a reasonable chance of
succeeding against any of the points which
he has been trying to carry by daylight.
It follows then that in preparing a position
for defence the pivots must be ready to
withstand attack by night as well as by
day, and also that roads or paths leading
into the position from the surrounding
country should be held and defended by
night, in spite of their being innocuous by
daylight owing to being swept effectively
by fire from the adjacent pivots. It will
be admitted, I think, that fire by night is
ineffectual unless at very short ranges, or
when delivered by men of extraordinary
skill such as the up-country Boer and the
American backwoods-men were pictured
to be. A European enemy will seek to
bring off his attack with the bayonet. The
defenders will try to foil this attack, firstly,
by the use of fire at the close range, which
allows it to be effective, and, secondly, by
the use of the bayonet. This plainly
translates itself into obstacles to keep th£
enemy under fire, obstacles to hamper him

i6o

when at bayonet distance, and night rests
to help the accuracy of the fire in certain
desired directions. I have told you one
good form of night rest, and there are
several others, but all require some material
if they are to be even approximately ac-
curate. Failing material of any sort, tie
white rags round the muzzles of the men's
rifles if you can get them. After a week
in the field your men will have nothing that
is not very dirty, but in a civilised country
some member of the population may per-
haps be found ready to oblige a soldier.

Working still on your daylight scheme
show your non-commissioned officers and
men how to make night obstacles in addi-
tion to those meant for daylight defence,
which latter may be any distance up to one
hundred yards in front of the trenches.
The night obstacles, on the other hand,
should be quite close, the fire obstacles as
close as ten yards, the bayonet obstacles,
say a narrow ditch and a wire, close under
the trenches so as to make a man stumble
when trying to reach the defender with his
bayonet. Make or plan these arrange-
ments round the pivots, and then practise
blocking and defending paths or roads by
the same methods as for pivots, but with
this variation, that a parapet which can
only be used for defence at night may be
as high as you consider needful without

paying regard to its invisibility, while
to be used by day are kept as low as
possible. Iii .1 practical exercise the men
to hold these night posts would have to be
furnished either from your support or l>y
thinning some of the pivots.

Vet the most carefully arranged trenches
and obstacles will be of no value unless the
men occupy them in time to avail them-
selves of their advantages. Time suffi-
cient to allow of this must be got by
p, it rolling in front as for outposts, by mak-
iitomatic alarms in front of the ob-
stacles (M.F.E., 55 (12)), by having alert
sentries on the defence line, and by having
a good and well understood arrangement
of alarm posts by which each man shall be
ready to occupy at once, in silence, and
without confusion, the place which has
been assigned to him. Patrolling has been
dealt with under " Outposts," the alertness
of your sentries will depend largely on the
state of discipline to which you have
brought your company, and on the com-
monsenseness, to coin a word, of their
training. Alarm posts are practised in the
same way as on outpost. In many corps
a standing order that when in camp or
bivouac, on manoeuvre as well as on ser-
vice, men are to fall in on their alarm posts
once a day, the usual times being at re-
treat or on arrival in camp (F.S.R., 48

M

1 62

(2) ), and this is done whether in Brigade
(F.S.R., 47 (2)) or not. If such is the order
in your battalion, adhere to it within your
company when detached, if not, do it
off your own bat. It does not fatigue the
men and ensures attention being paid on
all occasions to this important duty.

EXERCISE XVI.
HASTY EXPEDIENTS.

I.T., 93 (iii.). directs the training of the
section to include rough and ready ex-
pedients so as to form a fighting front in
any direction. This training is of great
value, both from a disciplinary point of
view, as it makes men quick to move on an
order, and also from the point of view of
moraly as men accustomed to get sudden
and unexpected orders given under
imaginary circumstances will be more
likely to keep cool, when such orders are
necessitated by the stress of actual battle,
than men who have always been trained
in a deliberate fashion.

Such sudden orders must in general
mean one of two things, either that the
enemy has got you, or you have got him,
"on the hop," if I may introduce an ex-
pression from the cricket field, and that
there is every chance of the bowler, who-
ever he is, being badly scored off, unless
he treats the batsman to something more
difficult than the expensive half-volley.
If you are fortunately able to find the
enemy at a disadvantage, you will act

M2

164

against him by rifle fire alone ; but, on the
other hand, you may find yourself caught
in a bad situation, by either artillery or
rifle fire, or possibly by cavalry, who
mean to use the steel. It follows then, in
practising expedients, based, as they
should be, on some possible situation, that
you should make the central idea either
offensive, as if attempting to bring your
men into a position to get the best results
from their fire, or defensive, as if to
escape, or mitigate shell fire or rifle fire,
to which you are subjected under adverse
conditions.

Against artillery fire from ranges or in
positions at which you cannot reply effec-
tively with rifle fire, your action at first,
at all events, must be purely defensive,
i.e., all you can do, will be to escape
being overwhelmed by the shell fire, and
even at effective rifle range, the shields of
modern field guns, enable them to engage
infantry on very equal terms, so long as
the infantry is in front, or not far on a
flank, of the line of guns.

In the days of muzzle-loaders, it was
the cavalry who possessed the power of
suddenly annihilating infantry, when
caught unprepared to withstand their
charge. The magazine rifle has reduced
this danger, but the quick-firing cannon
has now equal, if not greater, powers of

drilling out swift destruction to any in-
fantry Unit it finds exposed in close
formation, if only the range be ki.
At least once in the Russo-Japanese War,
and again in the Turko-Bulgarian war, it
\ve may believe the somewhat ill-authenti-
cated reports yet to hand, have artillery
wiped out of existence in a few moments
several hundred unfortunate infantry-
men, who were caught in the rafdle
fired at a range either ascertained previ-
ously, or got at the moment by good luck
or good judgment. The contingency of
being thus caught by artillery is evidently
one that should be prepared for by infantry,
as was the forming of squares in the old
days, when a cavalry charge was an ever
present peril. In this case of artillery fire,
the conditions and the object desired are
practically always the same — the infantry
is in close order of some sort, and wishes to
break up into a congeries of small groups,
so as to isolate the effect of the burst of
each shrapnel. The matter of rifle fire is
different, as there are any number of ways
in which you may seek either to escape the
results of the enemy's fire or attempt to
use your own, and this is the proper field
in which to practise expedients.

Whenever you intend to carry out some
such movement to meet a supposed situa-
tion, you must let the men know exactly

1 66

what you are picturing, so that they also
may understand what is needed. The
essence of these practices is that they
should be performed without time for de-
liberate thought — the men must learn to
think and act quickly. The most satisfac-
tory way is to be yourself mounted, as you
can then get the whole company to hear
you at once, whereas, if on foot, the men
who are farthest from you often lose the
first part of what you say ; you then have
to repeat it, and the thing loses its char-
acter of surprise for the rest, who have
already heard it once. Give out the
situation in a loud voice, and in as few
words as possible, then try and give the
very order you think you would give, if
the situation was a real one on service ;
use your own imagination, in figuring what
you would say, and how you would say it.
To call attention, it seems legitimate to use
your whistle, as on service the men would
have some warning that things were about
to happen, either by the arrival of shell or
bullets, the sight of the enemy, or by the
signal of their own scouts. In giving the
situation, if you are receiving fire, give out
what kind of fire it is, the enemy's position,
if it is allowable to suppose it known, or
if you are going to be on the offensive, give
out where the enemy is, and what he is
doing, and how you learn this, i.e., by your

i67

scouts, or 1>v first-hand observation. For
example, while the company is marching in
fours aim. 1, you see, in imagination,

two shells burst simultaneously near by,
nnd about two hundred yards from each
other, and you wisely deduce that the
enemy is ringing on your company. Blow
your whistle and give out "Artillery fire
is opening on the company, from such and
such a direction — open out to columns of
sections." If you have taught your men
\vh;it to do to escape artillery fire, they will
open out at the double into columns of
platoons, at not less than fifty yards interval,
measuring roughly at right angles to the
direction of the supposed fire (I.T.,

"8(3)).

In practising this opening out under
artillery fire, which, as I have said, is the
one specific hasty manoeuvre performed
under conditions nearly always similar, it is
inexpedient to lay down any fixed rules for
the positions to be taken up by the
platoons. It sounds simple to say that the
platoons of the leading half -company go to
the right, and those of the rear half to the
left, but when men are marching at ease,
and shells begin bursting round them un-
expectedly, I do not think there will
be time for anyone to see which half-
mv is leading. The main thing
is to get the platoons instantly away

1 68

from the road on which the enemy has laid
his guns, and from each other. Direct
platoon commanders to lead their men at
the double in any direction away from the
platoon in front, except, of course,
towards the rear. In theory, of course,
this might result in alL» four mak-
ing out towards one flank, but, even so,
this is better than having any deliberative
halts on the road, and in practice the
platoons in rear can see which way those in
front are heading, and wheel to go to the
other flank. There is no advantage to be
had from getting the men in the ranks into
extended order, as the shrapnel scatter the
whole width of their bursting zone in an
impartial manner, nor is it any use to seek
such slight cover as gives only a screen
from view, unless with a view to getting
away from the shell-swept locality without
attracting notice. Platoon commanders
should, of course, make for any cover that
is sufficiently steep on the rear side to
shelter them from the downward dropping
shrapnel bullets. If there is no cover, the
best thing after getting out into the line
of platoons separated by fully fifty yards
intervals, is to move rapidly forward. If
cover exists with open ground round it, the
men may be got away by " dribbling " man
by man, in the hope that the enemy may
not spot the movement, and continue or
resume his shell practice, to defeat it.

6g

<nls expedients ;i^;iiiisl rifle lire, ]
will only suggest a few, ;ind leave yi
invent others suited to the nature of the
Around you have got to exercise on.

i. The company in close order is sur-
prised by a heavy rifle fire ; there
is cover near by sufficient to hold
the whole company crowded to-
gether. Order the men to get
into the cover helter skelter, and
then advance or retire, by the suc-
cessive movement of platoons or
sections, who take extended order
at their best speed as they emerge
from shelter. If facilities exist,
tell one or two platoons to reply
to the fire, from the cover, till
their own turn comes to move, by
which time the first lots that went
out should have got into position
to open fire.

2. The company in close order is again
surprised by rifle fire, but there is
no cover near to act as a base.
Get the company quickly into ex-
tended order, and let men reply
to the fire as soon as they have
extended, using studiously slow
fire.

3. The company or platoons in ex-
tended order have to change front
to meet an attack from a flank-

I/O

As in the book, call on them to
line a hedge or ditch, facing so as
to fire ij^the new direction.

4. Coming through a gap in a hedge

or wall, either in advance or re-
treat, scattering off right and left,
so as to get out of the way of fire
concentrated on the gap.

5. The scouts from a position some

distance from the company re-
port a body of the enemy un-
aware of their presence and ex-
posed to fire. Bring the company
quickly up to the scouts' position,
halt, load, and adjust sights under
cover and just short of the firing
position, and on your whistle the
men advance at once to the edge
of the fire position and surprise
the enemy by a simultaneous fire
from all the rifles.

6. Taking up quickly an all-round de-

fensive position ; the platoons or
sections go off and find the best
positions in different directions
which you merely indicate
roughly.

7. Hastily organised attacks, to dis-

lodge an enemy unexpectedly
found in occupation of a position,
also taking up action as flank and
rearguards under fire.

EXERCISE XVII.
NIGHT OPERATION TRAINING.

I T., 113, gives some instructions as to
how men are to be taught to march and
to use their ears and eyes at night, while
I .S.R., chapter ix., goes into the sub-
jrrt at length. These operations are
divided into night marches, night ad-
vances, and night attacks. The men of a
company will not be fit to take a useful
part in night tactical exercises either in
company or in battalion, unless they have
had some elementary training as laid down
in " Infantry Training," and have also been
ised in the two indispensable duties of
maintaining connection (F.S.R., 129 (4))
and in reconnaissance (F.S.R., 130 (i) ).
Night patrolling and the duties of night
sentries have been dealt with under out-
posts, and I will not say anything more
about them here. The rest of the
elementary training contained in " In-
fantry Training" requires no explana-
tion, and you can practise your men
in it in small parties. There re-
mains the maintenance of connection,
and I have found that training for this is
best done at first by daylight. It is very
simple, and after ope or two daylight

172

lessons the men will work quite well by
night, but to begin straight off under dark-
ness will only lead to waste of time, as
mistakes cannot easily be corrected, nor
the working of a system made plain.
The company should parade as strong as
possible in this exercise, as, with only a
few files on parade, the necessity of main-
taining connection, and the difficulty of
doing so, are not so obvious as when a
fairly large body of men has to be handled
without making a noise. Connection has
to be maintained within the company itself,
and also with the other companies in front
or rear, if in column of route, or on the
right and left, if deployed. In order to
practise this connection with other com-
panies, represent the front and rear, or flank
section commanders of the supposed ad-
jacent companies by a man for each com-
pany, who should move where those
section commanders would be, i.e., in
fours, at the head or tail of the direct-
ing flank, in line, on the flanks of the front
rank. Use these dummies as the recipients
of all orders and signals passed along, so
that your company may get the habit of
keeping touch with the others before it
works with the battalion.

I. Connecting Files.
The only sure way of keeping connec-
tion between bodies of troops moving in

173

separate parties is by connecting files, who
keep within sight of each other and s<
seldom be at more than twenty yards dis-
tance apart. These files must be taught to
roinmands with exactitude, and never
to open their mouths otherwise, i.e., they
must never speculate between themselves
" Are they advancing ?" or so forth, or talk
at all, because the next file may hear some
word of their talk and mistake it for an
order. When connecting files are needed
they must take up their places without its
being necessary to tell them off loudly, and
when no longer needed they must close
into company in silence and in good order.
Form the company into fours, turned to
a flank as in column of route : tell the
dummy section commander of the preced-
ing company to march off ; string the com-
pany out after him, the men marching off
in files at about ten paces between each
file without further command after the first
one has gone, each as it moves off touching
the next to follow, to give it notice. When
they are all strung out, let the rear dummy
section commander follow. Then pass
orders up the line ; use only the form given
in I.T., 96 (3). To make sure that such
verbal orders have reached the intended
recipient, the only way, though a slow one,
is to require him to send back a report that
he has taken the action required. Thus, a

174

message from the rear to the leading por-
tion to halt would be answered from the
leading portion by a report passed down
the line to the commander " The leading
portion, or, etc., has halted" Let your first
order be to halt, passed from the dummy
company in rear up to that in front " From
Colonel A. to all companies — halt." On re-
ceiving the order one man of each file
halts on his ground and turns to the rear,
the other goes forward to the next file as
quickly as he can without noise, delivers
the order, and returns to his former place,
when he halts and faces the other way
from his comrade. Thus, on the comple-
tion of the order to halt, one man of each
file will be facing each way. Bayonets
will usually be fixed in night operations,
and it is important, especially in Rifle Bat-
talions, to accustom men to carry the rifle
on the right shoulder, with the hand round
the small of the butt and never at the trail,
otherwise there is much danger of someone
getting a stab as well as an order.

After the halt, get on the move again by
passing up the word to advance, and prac-
tise any other likely orders : — " Go fast in
front," " Go slow in front/' "The rear can-
not keep up," and so on. Follow the orders
up the line and see that men do not tamper
with the form of the order en route, and
that they speak in a whisper when giving

175

it OVer, Seelinn .Hid pl.it.. on ( <>nmi.in<|ers
iiiust be told all orders ;is they p.iss, se«
their units conform, ;md l<n»k -ifter the
m.iinteiKince of the distance between dies.
Next practise lateral communication, the
I <iit pliitoons in one line in close onl<-r,
with company intervals between each,
representing the leading platoons of
four companies drawn up in line of
columns of platoons at deploying inter-
vals and ready for a night advance.
L;iter;il connecting files need to be
closer than when following each other,
so put out connecting files to the flanks in a
similar way to what was done before, but
at six, or eight yards interval. Then
move, halt, and deploy the supposed
column by means of these files, dressing
and interval being kept up by the files mov-
ing up or stepping short, and closing on
or inclining from any named company of
direction without specific orders.

II. Marching and Formations.

Form up the company and get it into
fours as if in column of route, dummy com-
pany section commanders as before. Prac-
tise marching off from the halt, and halt-
ing, passing the word from the front or rear
company along the men on the flanks of
the fours. As the order comes along,
the flank men of the fours nudge or

shove the other men in their respective
fours, and whisper to the flank men in the
four in front or behind. There is seldom
any need to speak, as a push or pull is
enough. The platoon commanders get
the word from the flank men of
the sections qf fours, and from one
another as well, as they are to fol-
low the order along their own platoons,
and go forward or back to the commander
of the next platoon to whom they must re-
peat it, and then resume their proper
places. The platoon commander of the
leading, or rear, platoon is responsible for
passing the word to the nearest platoon
commander of the next company. The
company officers must arrange also to hear
all orders, and should have fixed positions,
known to all, which they will only quit tem-
porarily. In marching off from the halt,
the rear portion of the company should
step out well, as soon as the order reaches
them, so as to avoid straggling, while the
leading fours preserve a uniform pace. In
halting in battalion, the leading fours
should close up on the company in front,
and continue to do so, till it is seen that it
has finished closing up ; there is always
bound to be a good deal of straggling at
first owing to the method of giving orders.
When this system is in good working order,
move and halt the company on your own

'77

audibly whispered word of (-oinni.-ind, the
pl.itoon commanders repeating it, the
tern of communication hi-ing kept up as
hefore, hut the men moving at once on the
word; this will give a fairly simultaneous
ad ion throughout the company while en-
suring against loss of touch.

On the same lines, practise forming1 line
from column of platoons, mass, and column
of platoons from column of fours, and
marching in linn, paying attention through-
out to dressing and the covering of files in
line.

///. Night Assault.

Choose a position as objective, and form
the company, in line or in column of
platoons, about three hundred yards from it,
with scouts about eighty yards in front of
the company (F.S.R., 137(4)). This is the
formation which would usually be adopted
at the position of deployment. When the
scouts have got about one hundred yards
from the position, or up to a line which
they would recognise in the dark as being
in close proximity to it, they should halt,
and wait for the arrival of the company.
The whole then move silently forward to-
wards the position till you give the word
or signal for assault, when all charge.
Practise this stealthy advance right on to
the position, as if the enemy were not alert,

N

178

and also make the charge from some dis-
tance, as would be done if the enemy
opened fire, which is recognised to be what
will most often happen. After the assault
the men should be rallied by the non-com-
missioned officers taking all men within
their reach, and forming them into extem-
porised sections ready to be reformed into
platoons and to begin entrenching.

If by chance you get material, you may
introduce refinements, in the way of wire-
cutting men with each section, sand
bags with each man, and bags stuffed
with straw carried ready to throw on to
abatis or to fill up trenches, to be carried
in a fixed place in the company.

IV. Night Entrenching.

Practise marching with arms and tools,
and taking up a position to be entrenched,
with especial regard to avoidance of noise.
When entrenching by night, the trenches
cannot be chosen to give a field of fire
unless it has been possible to obtain access
to the locality by day, and mark them in
advance; failing this the company com-
mander, as soon as the position is reached,
must send patrols, and go himself, to
ascertain that no commanding ground, at
least in the immediate vicinity, has been
left unoccupied, and, at the first light, all

'79

other such points within effective range as
it is possible to hold, should be secured
;m<l entrenched, without orders
higher commanders. A full illustration
of this, however, can only be done by
parading at night.

7. Search Work.

Practise the company in going off, as if
detached from the column to get touch with
other troops, or to find a gate or bridge by
which some obstacle, wall, canal, etc.,
met with, can be passed. The company
moves off dropping connecting files to
keep touch with the halted column, the
files halt at their distances, and pass word
if the company has achieved its mission,
and close on the company when the column
comes up, but not before, else the column
will be left out of touch; or, if the need
has passed and the company is recalled
to the column, the connecting files again
remain at their posts till the company is
gathered back on them.

VI. Surprises.

When only a few men are on parade,
advanced education, combined with
some amusement, may be got by ex-
perimenting in the best ways of laying out
obnoxious persons, such as hostile patrols,
who have to be rushed in silence (F.S.R.,

N 2

i8o

138 (5)). Before beginning a stalk, the
quarry should be kept under observation
to see which way he looks when halted,
and any other idiosyncrasies. The assail-
ant should creep up to him either on his
flank, or from behind, moving one foot at
a time, and bending down, though not on
all fours. If the sentry looks his way,
he must stay absolutely motionless, till he
again looks away. My informant on this
matter was a friend of a successful rifle
thief in Upper India.

After putting the company through the
above daylight course, you should, of
course, put theory into practice and do
some real night work whenever you get
the chance, putting out a skeleton enemy
or some observers to tell you how much
noise you make, and follow out the full
instructions as to orders, watchwords,
etc., given in F.S.R., 138 and 139. Test
your men as to their ability to see in the
dark; some men can see much more than
others; spot these men and tell them off
as " Night Scouts." Even if they are not
otherwise qualified as scouts, they are
most useful in guiding the company over
rough ground.

A SCHEME OF A COMPANY
TRAINING.

I give Ix-lmv, as an example <>f the ap-
plication of the foregoing exercises, a
scheme of company training which I
actually curried out. This was in the days
before platoons, so I have altered the
scheme to show what I should have done
had the company organisation been
what it now is. I was given from
Monday in one week to Saturday the next
week to march out into camp, about 10
miles, and get back, i.e., two days of
march, and ten halted working days. I
had thirty-five rounds per man of ball
cartridge available for field practice
musketry, and a sufficiency of blank for
the requirements of skeleton enemy and
for use with the men in one or two of
the exercises. My men were Regulars,
and during the previous furlough season
I had grounded them piecemeal in field
work.

182

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