Terrain ExercisesWaldron, William H. (William Henry)
History
Terrain Exercises
Waldron, William H. (William Henry)
Tactics
_The Director_: “Let us assume that the patrol came up the road and that
you opened fire in accordance with your orders. The two leading men and
one of the next group of two were brought down and one of the latter
made his get-away. At least two of the last group were brought down. You
have then inflicted five casualties on the patrol and the three
remaining men got away. Now, Lieutenant A will hear the firing and will
want to know what it is all about. How would you meet this requirement,
Captain Hall?”
_Captain Hall_: “The action will be over in a minute. I would want to
get an identification as soon as possible. I would say to Corporal
Jenkins:
“‘Go out to the leading trooper we brought down and see if you can
get an identification.’
While Corporal Jenkins is doing this I will call Halley, who is the
expert semaphore man to me and say to him:
“‘Go back to the cross-roads and signal Lieutenant A:
“‘“Eight men, Sixth Cavalry fired on, disabled five of them, three
got away.” Bring me any message that Lieutenant A may send.’
“I would assume that Corporal Jenkins secured an identification on
the leading cavalryman. If he did not the message would be modified
accordingly.”
_Lieutenant Barry_: “I do not understand why we go to so much trouble at
this particular time to get an identification.”
_The Director_: “Suppose you were commanding the Blue force and you ran
into the enemy in this locality. Cavalry troops are operating on your
front and flanks. If the advance guard picks up an identification of the
6th Cavalry in its front, the flank guard does the same and we get our
identification here. This information put together indicates to the Blue
command that he is being opposed by a single regiment of cavalry and
considering the front he is covering he cannot be very strong at any
point. But suppose the identification of three different regiments are
picked up. This puts a different aspect on the situation. Our commander
would estimate that he is probably confronted by a cavalry division and
his plans would have to be made accordingly. Make it a general rule that
you secure an enemy identification when it is possible to do so. It may
have little value at the time and again it may be most valuable. You
play safe by getting it and sending it in.”
_Lieutenant Barry_: “I see the point.”
_The Director_: “Lieutenant Hunt, there are five dead or wounded men of
the enemy lying out there in the road. Would you do anything about
them?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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