5. Outflanking detachments, or troops in the following lines, turn
against the enemy's Reserves, or remain in reserve. They must never,
except in most pressing circumstances, throw themselves into a melee
already formed (Section 313). Following Lines must therefore not keep
too close to the leading ones--a mistake often committed in peace--as
otherwise they are committed to an attack in the same direction. They
should therefore keep so far to the rear that they can overlook the
line of collisions, and move in full freedom wherever their
intervention is most called for. This important principle was always
observed by Frederick the Great's Cavalry.
6. One must always try to cover at least one flank by obstacles of the
ground or by one's own troops; but having satisfied this condition,
then attack on the outer Lines, and endeavour to gain them by previous
strategical directions.
7. Superfluous forces, which do not follow the front as supporting
squadrons, echelon themselves in general, forwards or backwards of the
outer (unsupported) wing, to protect one's own flank and threaten
that of the enemy, also to be ready to engage the enemy's Reserves
(Sections 323, 343, 345), or they are kept together as Reserves behind
the fighting line, if it is not possible to foresee in what direction
they may be required. They must not be too weak.
8. Attempts to surround us made by the enemy are best met by a flank
movement on the original line without change of front (_cf._ Section
338). Defensive flanking cover, with the front turned outwards, gives
the worst conceivable direction for attack, since in case of failure
one is thrown back across the line of retreat of one's main body.
9. Being in 'rendezvous formation,' the leading units are, if
possible, sent off for offensive flank movements, as they have the
shortest way to traverse. Such attacks only then promise success if
they are unnoticed by the enemy--_i.e._, can be executed under the
concealment of the ground--or if the enemy has neither time nor space
to encounter them. The object of flank attacks is to induce the enemy
to use up his rearward Reserves to oppose them, or to induce him to
undertake manoeuvres before attacking.
10. Those units which are to be committed to the attack simultaneously
must never be arranged so that a part follows in echelon
backwards--they must always be disposed on the same alignment.
11. In case of a melee, which threatens to terminate unsatisfactorily,
the Reserves must be put in on a broad front and straight forward, not
directed against the flanks. For the longer the line of collision, the
less effect do such flank attacks exercise; they are only too often
mere blows in the air, and lead to waste of energy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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