Very definite instructions must be given as to when and on what targets fire is to be opened, and the temptation to fire at patrols or small bodies of the enemy must be resisted. Fire should only be opened in the first instance by the order of the senior officer present, and in all cases should be reserved as long as possible. The battery of machine guns may also be used during the cavalry combat as already described in the last chapter, and when used as a reserve on a flank, should take up “positions of observation” if the ground permits, from which they can repulse a flank attack, while remaining ready to move off at a moment’s notice to any point where they may be required. Machine-gun commanders with the Protective Cavalry must bear in mind that their object must always be to help their cavalry in attaining the end in view, be it reconnaissance, attack, or resistance, and that close co-operation with the cavalry commander is essential. The most brilliant action causing loss or defeat to a portion of the enemy is useless if it does not directly further the object of the Protective Cavalry; and if we are unable to give here many examples from recent campaigns, it is principally due to this want of co-operation and consequent inability to make effective use of the machine guns. The report made by Captain Golochtchanov, who commanded a detachment of six machine guns attached to the 11th Orenburg Cossacks during the last few months of the war, contains a vivid description of the reconnaissance of the Japanese position made on August 14th, 1905, at Sitasi, by the regiment forming the advanced guard of Major-General Grêkow. “At about 4 a.m. the Russian cavalry attacked the Japanese outposts, consisting of three companies of infantry and two squadrons. While waiting for the situation to be cleared up, the machine guns were kept in reserve. Two and then four were sent against the enemy’s flank; the Japanese retired from position to position. At one o’clock the fight stopped; the Russians had carried three villages and determined the line and direction of the enemy’s trenches. Their task was accomplished. On the Russian side there were only 100 rifles in the firing line, with four machine guns.”[12] “Instead of marching at a uniform rate and distance in front of the main army it may be advantageous at times for portions of the Protective Cavalry to move rapidly forward to some natural feature, such as a ridge or river, along which it will establish posts of observation, the intervening country being watched by patrols, the line being divided into sections with suitable supports for each. The remainder of the force will continue to maintain a line of observation in rear, until the new line of observation is taken up; it will then concentrate and move up to support the latter, or pass through it to form a more advanced line.”[13]