Under certain circumstances it will be advisable to detail reconnoitring squadrons to watch the various groups of the hostile army. If we take the campaign of 1870 as an example of a concrete case, the battles of Spicheren, Mars la Tour, and Gravelotte afforded natural periods for the relief of reconnoitring squadrons and the fresh allotment of reconnoitring zones for the First and Second Armies, and later the battle of Sedan. For the Third Army, first of all, the battle of Wörth. Cases may of course occur when the reconnoitring period between the battles is too long, and a relief becomes necessary in the interim. The case of the Third Army is a good example of this. A reconnaissance from Wörth to Sedan could never have been carried out by the same reconnoitring squadron. A relief was absolutely necessary. According to my judgment, the best time for this would have been the days during which the great wheel of the Third Army towards the north was completed. During these days fresh reconnoitring squadrons would have had to be thrown forward in the new line of march, while those which had advanced in the original direction could, according to the situation, have been gradually drawn in. Strong patrols would have been sufficient in that direction. In any case it is clear that the question of the relief of reconnoitring squadrons is extremely important and cannot be solved by routine. It is a matter for consideration whether it would not be of advantage for the "Field Service Manual" to touch on these questions as well as on the circumstances under which a departure from the system of allotment of zones might be desirable. I am inclined to think this desirable, as otherwise the extremely practical dispositions therein laid down are apt to lead to a lifeless formalism. The important service of transmission will naturally be deeply influenced by all these conditions. I have already expressed the opinion that the importance of this service with regard to the increased extent of the reconnoitring rayons may even lead the main body of a division, for example, to advance in separate columns, in order to shorten the routes of information and to afford a not too distant support for the reconnoitring organs. The Head Quarters will often be more quickly informed if the news comes direct from detachments themselves than if it had first to be collected at one point. If it has become so necessary to accelerate the service of communication, it is all the more so to ensure that the system of reports should be properly ordered. In the main body of the army cavalry it is a matter of keeping up communication on the one hand with the army following, on the other with the advanced squadrons. In both these respects the application of technical means of communication must be considered before all else. Communication to the rear is fundamentally the task of wireless telegraphy. But the system of information to the front must be otherwise arranged for.