Chapter VIII: Part I: Operations, 1909 (5)

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In practising this opening out under artillery fire, which, as I have said, is the one specific hasty manœuvre performed under conditions nearly always similar, it is inexpedient to lay down any fixed rules for the positions to be taken up by the platoons. It sounds simple to say that the platoons of the leading half-company go to the right, and those of the rear half to the left, but when men are marching at ease, and shells begin bursting round them unexpectedly, I do not think there will be time for anyone to see which half-company is leading. The main thing is to get the platoons instantly away from the road on which the enemy has laid his guns, and from each other. Direct platoon commanders to lead their men at the double in any direction away from the platoon in front, except, of course, towards the rear. In theory, of course, this might result in all four making out towards one flank, but, even so, this is better than having any deliberative halts on the road, and in practice the platoons in rear can see which way those in front are heading, and wheel to go to the other flank. There is no advantage to be had from getting the men in the ranks into extended order, as the shrapnel scatter the whole width of their bursting zone in an impartial manner, nor is it any use to seek such slight cover as gives only a screen from view, unless with a view to getting away from the shell-swept locality without attracting notice. Platoon commanders should, of course, make for any cover that is sufficiently steep on the rear side to shelter them from the downward dropping shrapnel bullets. If there is no cover, the best thing after getting out into the line of platoons separated by fully fifty yards intervals, is to move rapidly forward. If cover exists with open ground round it, the men may be got away by “dribbling” man by man, in the hope that the enemy may not spot the movement, and continue or resume his shell practice, to defeat it.

As regards expedients against rifle fire, I will only suggest a few, and leave you to invent others suited to the nature of the ground you have got to exercise on.

1. The company in close order is surprised by a heavy rifle fire;
there is cover near by sufficient to hold the whole company
crowded together. Order the men to get into the cover helter
skelter, and then advance or retire, by the successive
movement of platoons or sections, who take extended order at
their best speed as they emerge from shelter. If facilities
exist, tell one or two platoons to reply to the fire, from the
cover, till their own turn comes to move, by which time the
first lots that went out should have got into position to open
fire.

2. The company in close order is again surprised by rifle fire, but
there is no cover near to act as a base. Get the company
quickly into extended order, and let men reply to the fire as
soon as they have extended, using studiously slow fire.

3. The company or platoons in extended order have to change front
to meet an attack from a flank. As in the book, call on them
to line a hedge or ditch, facing so as to fire in the new
direction.

4. Coming through a gap in a hedge or wall, either in advance or
retreat, scattering off right and left, so as to get out of
the way of fire concentrated on the gap.

5. The scouts from a position some distance from the company report
a body of the enemy unaware of their presence and exposed to
fire. Bring the company quickly up to the scouts’ position,
halt, load, and adjust sights under cover and just short of
the firing position, and on your whistle the men advance at
once to the edge of the fire position and surprise the enemy
by a simultaneous fire from all the rifles.

6. Taking up quickly an all-round defensive position; the platoons
or sections go off and find the best positions in different
directions which you merely indicate roughly.

7. Hastily organised attacks, to dislodge an enemy unexpectedly
found in occupation of a position, also taking up action as
flank and rearguards under fire.

EXERCISE XVII.

NIGHT OPERATION TRAINING.

I.T., 113, gives some instructions as to how men are to be taught to march and to use their ears and eyes at night, while F.S.R., chapter ix., goes into the subject at length. These operations are divided into night marches, night advances, and night attacks. The men of a company will not be fit to take a useful part in night tactical exercises either in company or in battalion, unless they have had some elementary training as laid down in “Infantry Training,” and have also been practised in the two indispensable duties of maintaining connection (F.S.R., 129 (4)) and in reconnaissance (F.S.R., 130 (1)). Night patrolling and the duties of night sentries have been dealt with under outposts, and I will not say anything more about them here. The rest of the elementary training contained in “Infantry Training” requires no explanation, and you can practise your men in it in small parties. There remains the maintenance of connection, and I have found that training for this is best done at first by daylight. It is very simple, and after one or two daylight lessons the men will work quite well by night, but to begin straight off under darkness will only lead to waste of time, as mistakes cannot easily be corrected, nor the working of a system made plain. The company should parade as strong as possible in this exercise, as, with only a few files on parade, the necessity of maintaining connection, and the difficulty of doing so, are not so obvious as when a fairly large body of men has to be handled without making a noise. Connection has to be maintained within the company itself, and also with the other companies in front or rear, if in column of route, or on the right and left, if deployed. In order to practise this connection with other companies, represent the front and rear, or flank section commanders of the supposed adjacent companies by a man for each company, who should move where those section commanders would be, i.e., in fours, at the head or tail of the directing flank, in line, on the flanks of the front rank. Use these dummies as the recipients of all orders and signals passed along, so that your company may get the habit of keeping touch with the others before it works with the battalion.

_I. Connecting Files._

The only sure way of keeping connection between bodies of troops moving in separate parties is by connecting files, who keep within sight of each other and so can seldom be at more than twenty yards distance apart. These files must be taught to pass commands with exactitude, and never to open their mouths otherwise, i.e., they must never speculate between themselves “Are they advancing?” or so forth, or talk at all, because the next file may hear some word of their talk and mistake it for an order. When connecting files are needed they must take up their places without its being necessary to tell them off loudly, and when no longer needed they must close into company in silence and in good order.

Form the company into fours, turned to a flank as in column of route: tell the dummy section commander of the preceding company to march off; string the company out after him, the men marching off in files at about ten paces between each file without further command after the first one has gone, each as it moves off touching the next to follow, to give it notice. When they are all strung out, let the rear dummy section commander follow. Then pass orders up the line; use only the form given in I.T., 96 (3). To make sure that such verbal orders have reached the intended recipient, the only way, though a slow one, is to require him to send back a report that he has taken the action required. Thus, a message from the rear to the leading portion to halt would be answered from the leading portion by a report passed down the line to the commander “The leading portion, or, etc., has halted.” Let your first order be to halt, passed from the dummy company in rear up to that in front “From Colonel A. to all companies—halt.” On receiving the order one man of each file halts on his ground and turns to the rear, the other goes forward to the next file as quickly as he can without noise, delivers the order, and returns to his former place, when he halts and faces the other way from his comrade. Thus, on the completion of the order to halt, one man of each file will be facing each way. Bayonets will usually be fixed in night operations, and it is important, especially in Rifle Battalions, to accustom men to carry the rifle on the right shoulder, with the hand round the small of the butt and never at the trail, otherwise there is much danger of someone getting a stab as well as an order.

After the halt, get on the move again by passing up the word to advance, and practise any other likely orders:—“Go fast in front,” “Go slow in front,” “The rear cannot keep up,” and so on. Follow the orders up the line and see that men do not tamper with the form of the order en route, and that they speak in a whisper when giving it over. Section and platoon commanders must be told all orders as they pass, see that their units conform, and look after the maintenance of the distance between files.

Next practise lateral communication, the four platoons in one line in close order, with company intervals between each, representing the leading platoons of four companies drawn up in line of columns of platoons at deploying intervals and ready for a night advance. Lateral connecting files need to be closer than when following each other, so put out connecting files to the flanks in a similar way to what was done before, but at six, or eight yards interval. Then move, halt, and deploy the supposed column by means of these files, dressing and interval being kept up by the files moving up or stepping short, and closing on or inclining from any named company of direction without specific orders.

_II. Marching and Formations._

Form up the company and get it into fours as if in column of route, dummy company section commanders as before. Practise marching off from the halt, and halting, passing the word from the front or rear company along the men on the flanks of the fours. As the order comes along, the flank men of the fours nudge or shove the other men in their respective fours, and whisper to the flank men in the four in front or behind. There is seldom any need to speak, as a push or pull is enough. The platoon commanders get the word from the flank men of the sections of fours, and from one another as well, as they are to follow the order along their own platoons, and go forward or back to the commander of the next platoon to whom they must repeat it, and then resume their proper places. The platoon commander of the leading, or rear, platoon is responsible for passing the word to the nearest platoon commander of the next company. The company officers must arrange also to hear all orders, and should have fixed positions, known to all, which they will only quit temporarily. In marching off from the halt, the rear portion of the company should step out well, as soon as the order reaches them, so as to avoid straggling, while the leading fours preserve a uniform pace. In halting in battalion, the leading fours should close up on the company in front, and continue to do so, till it is seen that it has finished closing up; there is always bound to be a good deal of straggling at first owing to the method of giving orders. When this system is in good working order, move and halt the company on your own audibly whispered word of command, the platoon commanders repeating it, the system of communication being kept up as before, but the men moving at once on the word; this will give a fairly simultaneous action throughout the company while ensuring against loss of touch.

On the same lines, practise forming line from column of platoons, mass, and column of platoons from column of fours, and marching in line, paying attention throughout to dressing and the covering of files in line.

_III. Night Assault._

Choose a position as objective, and form the company, in line or in column of platoons, about three hundred yards from it, with scouts about eighty yards in front of the company (F.S.R., 137 (4)). This is the formation which would usually be adopted at the position of deployment. When the scouts have got about one hundred yards from the position, or up to a line which they would recognise in the dark as being in close proximity to it, they should halt, and wait for the arrival of the company. The whole then move silently forward towards the position till you give the word or signal for assault, when all charge. Practise this stealthy advance right on to the position, as if the enemy were not alert, and also make the charge from some distance, as would be done if the enemy opened fire, which is recognised to be what will most often happen. After the assault the men should be rallied by the non-commissioned officers taking all men within their reach, and forming them into extemporised sections ready to be reformed into platoons and to begin entrenching.

If by chance you get material, you may introduce refinements, in the way of wire-cutting men with each section, sand bags with each man, and bags stuffed with straw carried ready to throw on to abatis or to fill up trenches, to be carried in a fixed place in the company.

_IV. Night Entrenching._

Practise marching with arms and tools, and taking up a position to be entrenched, with especial regard to avoidance of noise. When entrenching by night, the trenches cannot be chosen to give a field of fire unless it has been possible to obtain access to the locality by day, and mark them in advance; failing this the company commander, as soon as the position is reached, must send patrols, and go himself, to ascertain that no commanding ground, at least in the immediate vicinity, has been left unoccupied, and, at the first light, all other such points within effective range as it is possible to hold, should be secured and entrenched, without orders from higher commanders. A full illustration of this, however, can only be done by parading at night.

_V. Search Work._

Practise the company in going off, as if detached from the column to get touch with other troops, or to find a gate or bridge by which some obstacle, wall, canal, etc., met with, can be passed. The company moves off dropping connecting files to keep touch with the halted column, the files halt at their distances, and pass word if the company has achieved its mission, and close on the company when the column comes up, but not before, else the column will be left out of touch; or, if the need has passed and the company is recalled to the column, the connecting files again remain at their posts till the company is gathered back on them.

_VI. Surprises._

When only a few men are on parade, advanced education, combined with some amusement, may be got by experimenting in the best ways of laying out obnoxious persons, such as hostile patrols, who have to be rushed in silence (F.S.R., 138 (5)). Before beginning a stalk, the quarry should be kept under observation to see which way he looks when halted, and any other idiosyncrasies. The assailant should creep up to him either on his flank, or from behind, moving one foot at a time, and bending down, though not on all fours. If the sentry looks his way, he must stay absolutely motionless, till he again looks away. My informant on this matter was a friend of a successful rifle thief in Upper India.

After putting the company through the above daylight course, you should, of course, put theory into practice and do some real night work whenever you get the chance, putting out a skeleton enemy or some observers to tell you how much noise you make, and follow out the full instructions as to orders, watchwords, etc., given in F.S.R., 138 and 139. Test your men as to their ability to see in the dark; some men can see much more than others; spot these men and tell them off as “Night Scouts.” Even if they are not otherwise qualified as scouts, they are most useful in guiding the company over rough ground.

A SCHEME OF A COMPANY TRAINING.

I give below, as an example of the application of the foregoing exercises, a scheme of company training which I actually carried out. This was in the days before platoons, so I have altered the scheme to show what I should have done had the company organisation been what it now is. I was given from Monday in one week to Saturday the next week to march out into camp, about 10 miles, and get back, i.e., two days of march, and ten halted working days. I had thirty-five rounds per man of ball cartridge available for field practice musketry, and a sufficiency of blank for the requirements of skeleton enemy and for use with the men in one or two of the exercises. My men were Regulars, and during the previous furlough season I had grounded them piecemeal in field work.

Transcriber’s Notes

Catalog page Changed Miscellaneous Tactica to: Tactical
pg 62 Changed close and re-form to: reform
pg 63 Changed expect either a counterattack to: counter-attack
pg 67 Changed this exercise, though to: through
pg 76 Added period after: left on the position
pg 124 Changed trenches or make loopholes to: loop-holes
pg 125 Changed the line of loopholes to: loop-holes
pg 136 Changed: (I.T, 156 (5)) to: (I.T., 156 (5))
pg 182 Added comma after: entrenchments, made loop-holes
pg 183 Added period after: 7 rounds ball per man
pg 184 Added period after: Friday Night attack

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The training of an infantry companyChapter VIII: Part I: Operations, 1909 (5)

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