Terrain ExercisesWaldron, William H. (William Henry)
History
Terrain Exercises
Waldron, William H. (William Henry)
Tactics
_The Director_: “Captain Jones, what is the first decision that Captain
M must make when he receives the order of Major X?”
Captain Jones: “He must decide whether he will employ the whole company
to support the right assault company or only the platoon which had been
directed to support this company at the beginning of the fight. Major X
has not indicated whether the whole company will be employed, so Captain
M must make this decision. The left assault company may encounter more
stubborn resistance, so I should employ only the right platoon.”
_The Director_: “Captain Brown, what do you think about that?”
_Captain Brown_: “I think he should employ the whole company.
Concentration of the fire of the platoons on points that are holding up
the battalion is one of the duties of the captain. The left assault
company is continuing to move forward and does not need the support of
the left platoon so it should be used to help advance the right assault
company. There is an excellent firing position directly in its line of
advance and it can be switched to the support of the left assault
company at any time that it becomes necessary. If the only firing
position available were such that the platoon could not support the
advance of the left assault company, if support were needed, and the
position were so situated as to cause the left platoon to deviate
greatly from its line of advance, the case would be different. In that
situation I think the left platoon should continue its advance in rear
of the left assault company with the purpose of bringing flanking fire
on the enemy a little later.”
_The Director_: “Captain Burt, we shall assume that Captain M decides to
employ both platoons to support the right assault company. What does he
do next?”
_Captain Burt_: “He would send the buglers to have the platoon leaders
report to him in advance of their platoons and would direct the
reconnaissance officer to select the firing positions for the two
platoons and obtain the ranges.”
_The Director_: “The captain has a company headquarters to assist him in
commanding the company and the use that the captain makes of this
headquarters is a sure indication of the efficiency of the company. It
is impossible for the captain to command the company by himself and
attend to all details. Part of this headquarters detail is mounted. The
buglers and reconnaissance officer have horses. By having the platoon
leaders precede their platoons they can receive their orders before the
platoons arrive and be ready to move into position without delay. When
the buglers reach the platoons they would turn over their horses to the
platoon leaders and would remain with the platoons to guide them to
their firing positions. The reconnaissance sergeant would assist the
reconnaissance officer by taking the ranges as soon as the positions had
been selected.
“Captain Smith, where would you select the positions and what frontage
would you assign to a platoon?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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