would have to do if there were signs of unsteadiness. (_b_) _As a Section or Platoon Acting Alone._ Act on the same lines as before, but let the commander run the show, which he should be able to do, after having done it under supervision. One party (a file or two in the case of a section, or one or two sections in that of a platoon) gets back to a fire position and opens fire to cover the retirement of the other. In general, it is better that both parties should not fall back on one and the same fire position; on the contrary, if they act on a wide front in ordinary country—say, three hundred yards apart—their fire is equally effective, but the enemy is broken up, and the danger of their being outflanked or surrounded is less. For the same reason it is good practice, if the platoon is strong, to send out groups of four or five men still further on the flanks, and a group to precede the whole on the line of retirement by six hundred yards or so, in order to occupy positions and deny them to the enemy, and after one or two turns of this exercise tell the skeleton enemy to follow on harder and try to work round the flanks. In this part also continue to order casualties of leaders. EXERCISE VII. THE SECTION AND PLATOON IN INDEPENDENT ATTACK. It is very important to secure the intelligent co-operation of section and platoon commanders in the operations in which their company or battalion is taking part. I have read that in the Russo-Japanese War the result of one of the battles—I think at Penlin, 31st July—turned on the action of an infantry section who gained a footing on the extreme flank of the Russian line, and drove off the defenders in the immediate vicinity, opened a way for the advance of the greater numbers, and led to the outflanking and retreat of the whole Russian force. If you give your unit commanders some chances of carrying out attacks, acting as if unsupported by other troops, they will find themselves faced with the same problems which confront commanders of larger bodies in the attack, and they will be more likely, when acting in combination, to look beyond just the limits of their own commands; they will be led to comprehend the object of operations and the difficulties in the way, and will become quick to seize any opportunity to further the general plan without waiting for orders. It is true that so small a body as a section would seldom be formally told to attack an objective single-handed, but there are often occasions on service when a platoon might have to carry out an attack on a small scale, as when a few of the enemy’s riflemen are making themselves unpleasant, while not in sufficient force to do more than “snipe,” or to require the diversion against them of a whole company. Though a section as now constituted is a very small unit to work with, I think no excuse is needed for performing the attack with the smallest unit, having in